Formation Editor Question

[msin]

I have what I hope to be a simple question regarding the assignment of air assests within the formation editor. If I assign 2 aircraft to CAP they will launch immediately will the AI attempt to keep that number of aircraft in the asigned formation/role until cancelled? For example once the CAP reaches bingo fuel and land, will the AI launch 2 more aircraft to take their place automatically or will I need to manually assign new aircraft to that role?

It would seem ideal if the formation editor allowed you to apply the 1/3 rule as is available in the mission editor.

[mikmykWS]

Two more aircraft as long as it has aircraft of that type. IIRC they even got rid a bug where tons of AC would launch or the wrong types would. Fact I think only the proper type will be displayed for the mission type you choose (this was a feature-fix).

[hermanhum]

That's a good question. I did a bit of testing. I had a CVBG and assigned 2 separate formation patrols:

A) 2-plane CAP in the Formation Editor consisting of F-18C with 2x AIM-120 AMRAAM
B) SH-60B on Sonobuoy patrol with 2x Mk46 Mod 5 torpedoes

When the CAP ran low on fuel, there were no replacements with the same AMRAAM ordnance. So, I *think* that the AI tried to re-arm some other F-18Cs that were currently on deck with Bombs and launched one with an AIM-7 loadout and another on minimal loadout (unarmed) as replacements. There was a whole bunch of F-18D and F-14s (with AMRAAM and Phoenix) that could have been launched for CAP since they all had AAW loadouts, but I guess the AI prefers to stay in the same category of aircraft.

When the SH-60B ran low on fuel, there were other SH-60Bs in the CVBG but they all had Barracuda torpedoes loaded. The AI took one of them, re-loaded it with Mk46 Mod 5, and launched it to relieve the returning helo.

My conclusion is that the AI will try to keep your formation patrol up with the assets it has on hand. However, I would caution you to keep an eye on them or else you are going to get results that you had not anticipated (i.e. unarmed aircraft on patrol). Also, as a personal preference, I don't use formation patrols all that much because I find them to be very awkward to cancel once assigned. In one instance, I found it easier to just break up the CVBG and re-group them rather than going about and cancelling each and every formation patrol.

[mikmykWS]

Tend to agree  that the formation editor really isn't so strong with aircraft. The AI tends to stay with the same category of aircraft. Not entirely sure though how it defines its category beyond looking at some fields in the database and the pool it may have drawn from. Some changes may need to be made in the various databases to make that work a little better (hint hint). [;)] Not sure if time is well spent doing that though as its fixing something that may not work that much better.

Formation Editor does have alot of value with ships etc. however. AAW axis/patrol zones are particularly useful as you can shift your defenses easily without having to reassign etc. [:)] Tracking is pretty nice too if you're ever in the situation to use it.  You can also set various emcon's for each ship and play with patrol patterns etc. It really is worth your time to look at it.

[jkruny]

Being a long time player of Harpoon, I agree with Mike. From almost the beginning of my experience I have played with the AI air formation option turned off, with few air patrols set up manually.

One useful air patrol I do use is an ASW patrol using dipping sonar helos. Another I use somewhat is setting AEW air patrols in the formation editor where large CVBG are present.

I almost invariably set my CAPs, SuCAPs, long range ASW, and extended AEW patrols using the mission editor. This allows much more flexibility, and really only becomes a pain moving ref points when the originating task force has a long transit.