Questions about "Command:AttackArea" effect of Priorities? Combination of Attack Air Targets and Attack Ground Targets?

[kraut1]

Hi All,

 

In general I have some basic experiences with Attack Area and I read the description in IL-2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual.

In a mission with combined ground action and air action I would like make the fighter patrols not always to attack straight forward only the enemy leader plane.

My Questions:

 

1.) Combination of Attack Air Targets with the different Priorities:

What is the difference in the behaviour?

Attack Air Targets + high?

Attack Air Targets + medium?

Attack Air Targets + low?

 

2.) Does a combination of Attack Ground & Air Targets works well?

 

3.) If I combine Attack Ground Targets with low does that mean that they only defend themself against attacks or will they even sometimes attack Air targets?

 

Many Thanks in Advance!

 

[357th_KW]

What I've generally observed is that the priority determines their level of freedom to deviate from the order in question.  With fighters, if I give them a low priority objective (say a waypoint, or an attack command directed at a specific aircraft) they will break off from that and attack me if I get within 2-3km.  If I set it to medium, they'll usually ignore me until I'm about to open fire - 500 meters or so.  And a high priority, they'll just ignore me and carry out the order, even if I'm attacking them (up until they hit the damage threshold for "AI return to base" if you have that option selected).

 

In the case of an Attack Area command, I think this is only going to apply in the transit to the area in question - once inside it, they seem to attack the closest enemy to them.  I haven't tried mixing attacks to air and ground targets.  I believe the Attack Ground Targets with a low priority should result in them sometimes attacking air targets as well. 

 

Keep in mind, that aircraft seem to react differently based on whether they are a "fighter" or a "bomber" - this is a loose definition, but for instance if you take a Ju88A and send it to a waypoint, set to medium priority, it will fly to the objective and the gunners will fire back at you (if set to high, the gunners won't engage anything).  Do the same thing with a Ju88C, and as you close in, it will turn and try to engage you like a fighter.

[kraut1]

On 2/25/2024 at 8:29 AM, 357th_KW said:

 

Keep in mind, that aircraft seem to react differently based on whether they are a "fighter" or a "bomber" - this is a loose definition, but for instance if you take a Ju88A and send it to a waypoint, set to medium priority, it will fly to the objective and the gunners will fire back at you (if set to high, the gunners won't engage anything).  Do the same thing with a Ju88C, and as you close in, it will turn and try to engage you like a fighter.

Thanks for your answer. In respect of the priorities I experienced a similar behaviour for the cover command. In the Template of EMG I change frequently the default priority for cover from high to medium or low because otherwise the enemy escorts will not defend themselfs.

 

Concerning the behaviour depending in respect of the plane type: yes, and it seems be possible to modify that by creating a small mod of the data\luascripts\ai file of the plane. For using the Pe2-s87 as a Potez630 that should behave a bit like a multipurpose plane/heavy fighter I changed to:

 PriorityType = 2                //FIGHTER=1,HEAVY_FIGHTER=2,LIGHT_BOMBER=3,BOMBER=4,LIGHT_RECON=5,RECON=6,SHTURMOVIK=7,CARGO=8

And this worked, at least for attacking bombers.