Bombers Reforming after an Area Attack

[TP_Fritz]

I'm working on what I hope to be my first released mission, and have a question about planes reforming after an Area Attack is complete.

 

Currently I have a rather large group of attack planes (12 planes, separated into 4 Kettes, each as a separate group).  Friendly fighters - 2 groups of 4 - escort the bombers into the target area, where the bombers then attack for approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds.  Once that's complete, the bombers egress the area to the next waypoint.  The problem is that the bombers are so strung out after the attack that when the fighters receive their Force Complete command for the escort and fly off to head home, half the bombers are still over enemy territory.

 

How I'm working this at the moment is via a Complex Trigger command - so when the bombers enter the Complex Trigger the Force Complete command is triggered for the fighters and they head home.  I'm not sure this is the best option however.

 

I thought about using a Counter for the bombers, and only after X number of them fly through the Complex Trigger then the Force Complete is tripped; the problem with that though is that there's no way of knowing how many bombers will survive to that point, and if enough of them are shot down the Counter might never fire.

 

The only other option I've thought might work is to set up a "reformation waypoint" - in other words, the waypoint after the Area Attack would have the bombers fly to it, but then the next waypoint wouldn't trigger for about 30 seconds, forcing the bombers to orbit, which should allow the stragglers to catch up.  I don't know if that option would work well though (particularly with enemy fighters still in the area... I haven't tried testing this option yet).

 

Does anyone have a better option by chance?  The goal is to have all the bombers cross into friendly territory before the Force Complete command is triggered for the fighters to end their escort duties and fly home.

[SCG_Schneemann]

All those should work. I know it can be a pain, when the bombers get strung out. The reformation waypoint works, as the leads should circle until the timer kicks the next waypoint. In reality, I think bombers weren't waiting for everyone to form up, and would head home, the stragglers would get picked off or need escort. Just set the waypoint speeds low to allow them to regain formation, and I usually use a timer and Force Complete for the bombers too. If you are dinking around and don't drop bombs in the allotted time, it's not the flight lead's fault. Give it a 45sec timer after bingo bombs (leader) and then bomber force complete, and activate next waypoint.

[TP_Fritz]

I tried setting up another Formation waypoint immediately after the egress waypoint and lowering the cruise speed to about 170, but that didn't really change much... the lead bomber in each Kette was still strung out from the other lead bombers and while they'd try to form up, the Kettes themselves would be scattered.

 

What's strange is that this mission is basically a reworked one I'd been messing with earlier.  The bomber formation, targets, and waypoint / area attack setup is exactly the same.  With that older one all the bombers would fly in pretty much still in rough formation and drop bombs, then circle around in a scattered group and drop their second bomb, and then fly off.  The group would be spread out, but it would be in a rough 1km circle - which was workable.  With this new version though, for some reason 2 of the 4 Kettes break off right before the attack and come in from a completely different angle - and I can't figure out why they're doing that.  This is the primary reason why they get so spread out after the area attack is complete.

 

I haven't had a chance to try anything yet, but I'll see what I can find out tonight now that I have some time to work with this.

[TP_Fritz]

So, I figured out what the issue was with the 2 Kettes breaking off.

 

I'm sure this is probably well known to most mission designers, but it boiled down to altitude.  The bombers were coming in at 1500 meters - I had them staggered at about 50 meters altitude (1400, 1450, 1500, 1550, respectively).  The lower two would come straight in, while the higher two Kettes would go around, apparently trying to lose altitude.  By dropping their altitude lower, it resolved it - now the entire group flies straight in and bombs, and as a result they don't get strung out much at all, thus solving the initial issue as well.