Can This Be Done?

[Beebop]

I am making a dogfight mission where the player is to destroy an object. 

"The Thing" is a moving object in the mission.
What I want to do is randomize, at the start of a mission, where "the thing" is located.  There are two ways to move "the thing", a train and a convoy.
Now as the mission builder I know where "the thing" is.  What I want is to not know any more than any other player.  In other words every time the mission starts "the thing" will be randomly either in the convoy or on the train.
I looked at the random (2 Way) switch described in the ME Manual but am not sure that will do what I want.

At first I thought of putting "the thing" in both the convoy and the train and that by using some kind of deactivate logic to do the trick but then realized that the first conveyance destroyed would give the 'Mission Success Message' so the next time the mission was played the players would know what to attack.  I wanted it so that on a replay if they attack the same group they might not get the message.
In fact I'm not sure this can be done at all.
I understand that some of the functions one can create in the ME work haphazardly or not at all in Multiplayer missions hosted on one's own machine or even sometimes on a DServer..

So, Enquiring minds want to know, "Can this be done"?

[JimTM]

Maybe the general idea given in "Example: Spawn an AI Fighter at Random Locations Whenever a Player Enters a Zone" on pg. 112 of the manual would help you.

[Nolly]

Have the ondestroyed event message from each object that may be the "thing" feed into a non repeating randomiser, as provided by SAS storebought on this forum.

[Sketch]

Yes it can be done. Use timers in front of the mission objective. The random generator will disable one timer and activate the other. Players can kill all the entities but only one will give them the mission objective completed. Highly recommend adding subtitles after killing a group of entities that lets the player know if they hit the right target or not. 

[JG1_Butzzell]

Make 2 trains, and two convoys.

 

None of the objects are enabled.

 

Put a timer linked to an activate an another timer for each train and convoy.  This second timer is for first waypoint.

 

For convoy you may need a third timer for command formation MCU

 

Use a 4 way random to the first timer of each group.

 

Targets you do not want do not appear in game.

 

Large variety of target position. Higher replayability.

[Sketch]

Here's the logic:

 

Questions? Ask away.

  

Random Target is Correct Target.zip

Edited October 6, 2020 by Sketch

[Beebop]

WOW!  ?  Thanks for all the input!
First let me say thank you to everyone who has responded.  I appreciate the help.

I knew when I asked this question I would be stepping into the deep end of the pool.  thank god all you 'lifeguards' were on duty.

 

At this point in my mission building I have barely scratched the surface and only at a point where I feel confident to make a reasonably OK mission.  I feel I have n acceptable level of understanding about the very basic basic's of the process and now an interested in stretching out, finding what all can be done with the ME.
So let me first address the individual responses...

 

@JimTM, Thanks for pointing me to that.  I looked it over and am not sure it will do what I want.  I see how it can be useful for planes and in fact has given me some rudimentary ideas for using it for vehicles, sort of a "sketchy intel" situation.

 

@-RS-Nolly, I am too new to quite figure out how to effectively used a 'repeating randomizer' but am looking for more information on it.  Thanks for pointing that out.

 

@JG1_Butzell, Thanks for your input.  Again I am too new to the more complex side of mission building to quite grasp your concept but have copied it down for further investigation.  I still need to better understand the 4 Way Random Switch.

 

@Sketch, Just reading your first response struck a chord in my underdeveloped brain (lol) and it seemed to be what I was looking for.  Then you so graciously put together the logic and made it into a Group.  It sure looks complicated but I can open it in the ME and dissect how things go together.
A HUGE Thank You!

As for questions, you bet.  I will be asking plenty I am sure.

Again a big thank you to all who have responded.  This is a great Community.