A.I Spawning then Attack Area not working

[F-Dog 23]

Hi there Ace pilots! 

 

I was hoping you could help me with an issue I can't seem to be able to resolve, I'm making my own Dog Fight maps, during which I have set for A.I planes to spawn after certain intervals. 

 

I can successfully get them to spawn, but once they do they don't follow any commands.

 

What I'm trying to do is Spawn, move to and area and attack, but what happens is they spawn and just fly around in circles doing nothing unless provoked. 

 

Example of what I have setup:

 

Mission Start MCU - Timer - Spawn - Timer - Attack Area. 

 

Your help most appreciated. 

[JimTM 1411]

Please post your mission.

[Citab 3]

Jim, I have the same kind question but not sure how to post my mission so attached my .Mission as .txt. hope that is OK.

I want to have a couple of HE-111 spawn east of my doghfight area.

Training.txt

Edited March 24, 2020 by Citab
dumb

[JimTM 1411]

3 hours ago, Citab said:

Jim, I have the same kind question but not sure how to post my mission so attached my .Mission as .txt. hope that is OK.

I want to have a couple of HE-111 spawn east of my doghfight area.

Training.txt 59.76 kB · 1 download

 

Here is a revised mission. I haven't tested it so give it a try.

Training Mission - JimTM Edits.zip

 

Here are the changes I made:

• Dogfight area 300m:
  • Set Position Y in the properties to 300m.
  • Object link this MCU to each He111.
  • Target link the 20s timer to this MCU.
  • Clear all the Attack targets check boxes except for Attack Ground Targets".
    - The He111s defend themselves against air targets.
    - Alternatively, you can select Attack Ground to get the He111s to carpet bomb. 
    - I have not tested this MCU in quite awhile so you may need someone else (or existing forum posts) to help with attack behaviour.
• The He111s are in the air already, so:
  • Remove the Takeoff command.
  • Delete OnPlaneTookOff message link from 1st He111.
• Clear the Enabled checkbox for the 2nd He111 (it is enabled when it spawns).
• Add a 2s timer that re-triggers the Dogfight area 2 seconds after the spawn occurs.
  Re-triggering causes the 2nd He111 to fly towards the attack area.

FYI, to post a mission:

1. (Optional but recommended) Place the mission files in a folder with the name of the mission.

2. Zip the mission files or the folder they are in.
    Some options:

    - Win 10: Select files, right click, select Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder.
    - Use 7-Zip (free download)

3. Drag the zip file into the portion of your new/revised post that reads "Drag files here...".

4. Position your cursor where you want to attach the file and click the "+" icon beside the file you dragged in. 

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by JimTM

[Citab 3]

Thank you so much for the help.  In the old days we used S! to salute but I don't see that much now. Anyway S!

[F-Dog 23]

Thanks for the example Jim

 

Essentially this is the setup for spawning an enemy after 5 mins then 2 secs later receiving an attack area command. 

 

 

This is exactly the same setup I have with my Maps and it does not work for me, they just fly round in circles like morons! 

 

Below is how mine are setup.

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by F-Dog

[JimTM 1411]

56 minutes ago, F-Dog said:

...

This is exactly the same setup I have with my Maps and it does not work for me, they just fly round in circles like morons! 

...

 

You can spawn formations but they do not respond to commands given to the leader (see "Usage Notes" for Spawner Trigger in the editor manual, pg. 283). Does the leader fly to the attack area?

[F-Dog 23]

28 minutes ago, JimTM said:

 

You can spawn formations but they do not respond to commands given to the leader (see "Usage Notes" for Spawner Trigger in the editor manual, pg. 283). Does the leader fly to the attack area?

That's quite possible, should I just object link the whole lot then do you think?

[JimTM 1411]

1 hour ago, F-Dog said:

That's quite possible, should I just object link the whole lot then do you think?

 

Rather than spawning the formation, activate it with the activate trigger. As far as I know, you only need to activate the leader to activate the formation. See "Deactivate or Activate an Object While a Mission is Running" on pg. 114 of the editor manual. Clear the Enabled checkbox for all the He111s. 

[PatrickAWlson 5730]

3 hours ago, F-Dog said:

That's quite possible, should I just object link the whole lot then do you think?

 

If you want to stick with spawn you can either link them all to the same attack area or do a separate attack area for each.  Alternatively you can enable the flight and make it active from mission start, avoiding spawn.

 

In PWCG I programatically create full flight paths for each spawned aircraft.  WP offsets etc. are offset to emulate a formation.  If the planes are flying without interruption they look just like a formation.  Once the split up, however, they will never reform.  

 

I noticed that my ground vehicles also run into each other because formation does not work on spawned planes or vehicles, so they all converge on the same spot when going to a WP.  Going to have to do the same for every bleepin vehicle that moves.

[F-Dog 23]

I got it to work last night! but much like you said @PatrickAWlson they started off looking like a formation but then all crashed into each other over the target location!

 

It was interesting to see not only bombs but planes showering down over the airfield they were attacking...… but not the desired outcome haha! 

 

Thank you @JimTM for the advice I will experiment with the activations. 

[IckyATLAS 709]

3 hours ago, F-Dog said:

I got it to work last night! but much like you said @PatrickAWlson they started off looking like a formation but then all crashed into each other over the target location!

 

It was interesting to see not only bombs but planes showering down over the airfield they were attacking...… but not the desired outcome haha! 

 

Thank you @JimTM for the advice I will experiment with the activations. 

After all what counts is stuff that fall from the sky on the enemies. On that term it was a successfull bombing mission. A falling airplane is worth an incendiary bomb in terms of damages.

You have invented the IL2 Kamikaze Sturmovik concept. 🙂 

With the next update from Jason, we understand the planes wan't fall so easily from the sky anymore. The will keep flying until they become true colanders 🙂