Waypoints and Force Complete - No bug

[IckyATLAS]

After multiple tests I have seen that the Trigger Waypoint for Trains, Ships and Vehicles has multiple functions and one is to act as a Force Complete command.

The Trigger Waypoint has as a primary function to create trajectories, define speeds , set altitudes and the Priority function for planes has the behavior of acting in different ways, like following the trajectory blindly (High)  or evading attackers (Medium) or attacking the attackers and forget the next point.

But this is not so for Trains, Ships, (Not tested yet on Vehicles). The parameter Priority of the Waypoint that can be set to High Medium and Low will act on Trains with railcars that have AAA and artillery on them and ships with guns like a Force Complete command for static Artillery or AAA to switch fire from No fire (High), Medium fire (Medium) and Full fire (Low).

 

This explains why we had trains with armoured railcars not firing when running and attacked by airplanes. Probably because many of us set the Priority of the waypoints to High. Change it to Low and all the guns go blazing and firing like hell. Put four railcars on a speeding train with flak and machineguns and you will be torn apart when trying to attack it. You can also play with the AI level about the firing precision. So you can tailor the firing capability according to where your train goes. When he is in the middle of a city or in the country side and this just by adding waypoints with Priority set accordingly.

 

Exactly the same with ships. If you take the destroyer and set a Waypoint with Priority to low, he fires all the guns ablaze to any target around him.

 

So Trains, Ships firing issues is no bug. The Waypoint has been designed this way but this was not documented to my knowledge. At least I did not find this information on the forum and in Jim's manual.

 

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by IckyATLAS

[Jaegermeister]

You make some good points I had not fully considered about trains and ships firing according to waypoint priority. I will play with that and see if I get more resistance from the trains I have been setting as mission goals. They do not fire back much, and it could be the waypoint settings. I'll post back what I find tonight or tomorrow. 

[Gambit21]

Yep

Useful for getting aircraft to “bug out”, or getting a tank to advance where you intend without stopping to fire. Maybe you want an enemy aircraft “fly by” for effect, etc.

[Jaegermeister]

All of my train waypoints were set to low and the AI set to high so that is not why they were not firing. I will test further but the recent update seems to have fixed them. I will have to reevaluate their lethality now and possibly adjust  

[IckyATLAS]

Just in case my comments are valid for single missions or scripted campaign and not for server missions.

[jollyjack]

Bombing SP experiment with moving trains, some buildings and a later phase of bridge bombing, all targets set as linked entity. 2 active bombers set to loose formation.

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I set German Train Waypoints to medium, they move alright according speed and tracks, and all A20b USSR bomber Plane Waypoints to medium too. Bombs fall down on a moving train alright, but the train Flak won't shoot back before the attack (AttackAreaCMD) set to ground targets. Which WPs should be set to Low to make the train Flak work?

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Also i set plane height to 400m, but the A20s fly as high as 1400m, wonder what's causing that. I checked all heights and speeds, think i got them all OK, between 400 and 500m, and 250 speed. 

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Actually i set 3 times an AttackArea, and a Force Command plus timers and counters meant to make the plane move on to the next target zone after they BingoBombs,  and RTB after the last. Alas a lot of cycling, bombing and no RTB.

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I got this setting to work earlier on a single run Ju52 para-dropping experiment, but how do you force a stop of the first actions, and get the bombers to continue to the next job down the road? Feel a little stuck, and couldn't find solutions in the FMB manuals etc. yet.

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Added the partly working mission file, in case someone wants to have a look; at mission start set the A20 player to autopilot to see what happens (8x speedup works), the mentioned MIG viewer plane from the description i took out ... thanks!

 

EDIT 1: new file uploaded with 3 different groups of active elements, 2 trains, and one planes. (Not valid anymore)

 

EDIT 2: replaced the file with a better working version. Groups slightly repaired, but Planes still fly too high, cycle too much, and won't follow the route directed by bingo bombs it seems, addressing pointed the Waypoint after the 2nd and 3rd AtackArea Command actions. Maybe the (Stop) Force complete commands are set wrong.

 

Added extra Bomber, and set Plane Waypoints to High. Set the train Waypoints to low: Tip from IckyATLAS ...

Now the trains shoot planes down when latter are set to vulnerable.

 

 

A20b Attack Vluki Railway Yard.zip

Edited January 18, 2020 by jollyjack
changes and edits