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Unit start time issues


eFirehawk

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Hello everyone,

 

I'm building a slightly elaborate mission and I'm having problems related to airplane units on the ramp of an airfield. :helpsmilie:

 

What I want to do is having a bunch of bombers stationed on an airfield right from the beginning of the mission, and have them start their engines and take-off some time later like 30mins. :) My goal is to be able to bomb them but if the player takes too long they will start to take-off and escape.

 

My problem is that by assigning a late activation the plane only spawns after the assigned time and takes off immediately. And if I uncheck late activation it spawns right at the beginning of the mission and takes off right away, regardless of what I set in the waypoint times. :noexpression:

 

Does anyone know what I can do to fix this? :)

 

Thanks in advance

Pentium II 233Mhz | 16MB RAM | 14.4kb Modem | 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive | Windows 3.1 with TM Warthog & TrackIR 5

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Sounds like a job for triggers.

 

Add the bomber group to the mission. Define a trigger "AT MISSION START" and set action "GROUP DEACTIVATE" or "GROUP AI OFF" (dunno which is better here). Add another trigger with a condition "TIME MORE" and with an action "GROUP ACTIVATE" / "GROUP AI ON".

 

edit:

I guess, you can disregard what I wrote ... :(

Seems that GROUP (DE)ACTIVATE also makes the group dissapear - similar to what you get with late activation. And GROUP AI ON/OFF only works for ground units .... *sigh*

 

Perhaps MIST can be usefull here ...?


Edited by Flagrum
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Use "uncontrolled" box, and inside group's menu open "triggered actions" and add "start"..

 

In the trigger's menu add a trigger with the condition you want and the action would be "AI TASK" (I remember) -> start.

 

This form aircraft will spawn stopped on parking and start engines/taxi/TO will conditions will be.

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hmmm I've been trying to get it to work but no success so far. I've unchecked the Late Activation checkbox and checked the Uncontrolled checkbox. I found the perform command > start but it has no time option. If I just add this command and leave it there the plane spawns but that's it, it doesn't ever start. Where exactly do I assign the spawn time and where do I put the desired ramp start and takeoff time? :book:

 

Thanks for the help so far!

Pentium II 233Mhz | 16MB RAM | 14.4kb Modem | 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive | Windows 3.1 with TM Warthog & TrackIR 5

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if you want they spawn in determinate hour, only you have to modify the option "start" in Wp0

 

if you want spawing depend of a trigger you need to follow my upper post ;) (do not check "late activation", if it, a/c will not spawn uncontrolled, simply not spawn, if unchecked, it spawn without pilot, and he/she became on cockpit when triggered action happens)

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hmmm I've been trying to get it to work but no success so far. I've unchecked the Late Activation checkbox and checked the Uncontrolled checkbox. I found the perform command > start but it has no time option. If I just add this command and leave it there the plane spawns but that's it, it doesn't ever start. Where exactly do I assign the spawn time and where do I put the desired ramp start and takeoff time?

 

Open the trigger menu and create a trigger Once>Time More 1800>Push AI task(Group whatever> start)

 

 

Its important to note the different ways to spawn aircraft.

 

Late Activation Checked: You have to spawn the group with a trigger Once>Whatever>Group Activate. The group is not visible until it is activated. Does not consume fuel, weapons, or aircraft until it spawns.

 

Late Start Time: On the first waypoint of the group you can adjust it to be whatever you want it to be after mission start. If mission start is at 12:00:00/1 and the time on the first waypoint is 13:00:00/1, then the group will spawn exactly one hour into the mission. You can also use the trigger action Group Activate to spawn the group earlier if you wanted. Does not consume fuel, weapons, or aircraft until it spawns.

 

Uncontrolled Checked + "Start" command: Group is spawned in with weapons, fuel, and aircraft consumed. "Start" command spawns a pilot into the aircraft and it begins start procedure. "Start" command must be done via triggers.

The right man in the wrong place makes all the difference in the world.

Current Projects:  Grayflag ServerScripting Wiki

Useful Links: Mission Scripting Tools MIST-(GitHub) MIST-(Thread)

 SLMOD, Wiki wishlist, Mission Editing Wiki!, Mission Building Forum

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Thanks guys! Now it works :) The actual problem was that I was completely unfamiliar with the triggers menu :doh: When you were talking about triggers I thought you were referring to the Waypoint Actions :)

 

Some other quick questions, not related to the main topic subject but somewhat simple things I believe:

 

I've put about 4 air units ( not united by a group, I did this to force them to fly in very close formation ) from the blue coalition against 4 from the red colatition and set each of them to attack a specific fighter from the other coalition, the problem is, they fire one missile at the specified target and then immediately engage the other fighters, emptying their whole loadout right away. On one-to-one fights the AI behaves the right way, they fire one missile, and if it misses they fire another until one of their missiles ends up killing the target. Is there any way to force a fighter to get a confirmed kill on his assigned target before engaging others? :)

 

Thanks!


Edited by eFirehawk

Pentium II 233Mhz | 16MB RAM | 14.4kb Modem | 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive | Windows 3.1 with TM Warthog & TrackIR 5

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I'm only guessing but if you did "attack this target" in the waypoint actions for ALL the aircraft- that should help. If memory serves it won't proceed with the next task until that one is completed.

 

My only doubt is that technically it isn't obeying that logic by firing off a missile at the target and then engaging others the way you have it set up now- but it might be worth a shot.

 

Another thing to consider is how you linked the flights of 4... do you have them "escorting" or "following?"


Edited by ENO

"ENO"

Type in anger and you will make the greatest post you will ever regret.

 

"Sweetest's" Military Aviation Art

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Its important to note how AI prosecute tasking and targets.

 

A flight of 4 aircraft will attack targets differently than 4 flights of single aircraft. Each flight will attack the most threatening valid target to it at a given moment. If a flight has more than 1 aircraft then the wingmen will either help attack the target, attack the next threatening target, or "hold to support" until a new valid target arises. In the case of a 4v4 the AI in each group will automatically prioritize which unit should attack which unit.

 

"Attack Unit" should result in AI attacking that one and only unit until it is destroyed. However other tasks assigned might take precedence over that specific task.

 

In most cases its more practical to have a single flight of 4 aircraft than 4 flights setup to escort each other. Besides you can use the Waypoint Option "Formation" to get the AI in a little closer form. Use "finger four" and set it to "close". Its not a super close formation that looks cool, but its way closer than the default formation.

The right man in the wrong place makes all the difference in the world.

Current Projects:  Grayflag ServerScripting Wiki

Useful Links: Mission Scripting Tools MIST-(GitHub) MIST-(Thread)

 SLMOD, Wiki wishlist, Mission Editing Wiki!, Mission Building Forum

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