Is it possible for Ships to fire flares

[GSHWK_Houndstone_Hawk]

Title pretty much sums it up. I wanted ships to fire flares so did the usual logic using the following: Mission Begin -> 2s Timer -> trigger checkzone -> 2s timer -> Command Flare (then object link the flare to a ship). No show with the flare!

Is it a case of needing to somehow attach a 'fake vehicle to the ship maybe?).

 

Thanks for any help.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

I successfully fired flares from a ship, with pretty much exactly the logic you describe. In my case it's a Schnellboot, not sure if the ship type matters?

[Sketch]

I've done it with all the ship types with exactly the same logic as you described. Is the Checkzone MCU correctly set to closer and the correct faction? 

 

Maybe post the mission and screenshots?

[GSHWK_Houndstone_Hawk]

Hi Sketch. Here's what I've got so far. (I sent the Single Player version so that the time acceleration can be utilised).

I wanted the illusion of the odd ship sending up a friendly identification flare.

It's on trhe Normandy map, using Daks & the group files can be found by 1st opening the 'Neptune_Flight' group (in the middle of the channel), then the groups are split ... Invasion_Group & Invasion_Group2.

Thank you.

(I've also disabled the media files so hope the mission won't ask for them).

 

HH

D-Day Para Drop.rar

[Sketch]

Okay, I did a little bit of investigating... Here's my findings:

 

 

 

Firstly, you do not have the Plane Coalition setup correctly in the Checkzone MCU. I asked about it previously, but maybe it was missed; so I've highlighted it below. For other mission designers out there, you have to double check this stuff!  It's basically the semi-colon of the mission editor and I miss stuff like this too.

23 hours ago, Sketch said:

I've done it with all the ship types with exactly the same logic as you described. Is the Checkzone MCU correctly set to closer and the correct faction? 

 

Maybe post the mission and screenshots?

 

 

If you change the faction to true, then the Checkzone will fire correctly.

 

Don't forget to set the faction you want to trigger the Checkzone as true!

 

 

Next, only the leader will fire a flare, not the children ships. So, you'll have to work out how you want to handle that. Honestly, I do not really build ships as children. Each ship has its own waypoints and commands.

Not all commands are equal... Command: Flare being one of them, and will only work on the leader. The children do not shoot a flare too.

 

Because the ships are linked, only the leader is firing a flare.

 

 

In this image, only the red marked checkzone will work and force the ship to fire a flare. That's because it's linked to the leader. The blue marked checkzones will not work because these ships are children of the parent and do not really have a 'brain'. They only follow the commands of their parent ship.

 

Here we can see the ships all firing flares once I've delinked them from their parent. (I set all ships to fire repeatedly once I crossed the Checkzone MCU in my enemy plane, to take a screenshot, but your mission will only fire once.)

Edited December 30, 2022 by Sketch

[GSHWK_Houndstone_Hawk]

Sorry Sketch, I should've explained that I prefer NOT to use the factions with CZ's  as there is too much in the mission that could trigger the event (mosquitos flying there & back etc)... so I 'always' object link the trigger Checkzone to the unit I wish to trigger the event, which has always worked for me.

Thank you for your findings though ... I'm guessing I'll have to create a whole plethora of waypoints for the different ships. A lot of work for a single flare but hell ... wouldn't be an IL-2 mission without blood, sweat & tears.

 

Thanks Sketch. I always value your time given, findings shared & help greatly.

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by GSHWK_Houndstone_Hawk

[Sketch]

Ah I see the object links from the Checkzone to your planes. Yes, that will work too. My fault! 

 

For ships, I normally make one ship completely with all the logic I want, then duplicate it over and over again for as many ships as I need.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

5 hours ago, Sketch said:

Firstly, you do not have the Plane Coalition setup correctly in the Checkzone MCU. I asked about it previously, but maybe it was missed; so I've highlighted it below. For other mission designers out there, you have to double check this stuff!  It's basically the semi-colon of the mission editor and I miss stuff like this too.

You don't need the Plane Coalition if you've object-linked it to an object. It'll trigger when the linked object enters the CheckZone regardless of its coalition. In fact, it changes its behaviour if you do set the Plane Coalition as that'll make it trigger on *any* plane of that coalition rather than only the plane you want.

 

You're right about ships though, they all need their separate waypoint otherwise they often won't work as expected.

 

EDIT: I see you already noticed your mistake and corrected it yourself

Edited December 31, 2022 by AEthelraedUnraed

[Sketch]

It's better that everyone comes in and corrects any misinformation. Thanks guys! 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Sketch