Cargo additions for scenario designers

[Peter66]

Cargo was my most anticipated feature and it certainly delivered. It's expanded my operational capability tremendously. However I do miss the old generic cargo. Just to confirm what I'm on about it was the old 2t / 4t etc variants labeled just "Cargo 2t", although I can't remember exactly how it was written.

I for one like to focus on non combat operations such as humanitarian aid, resupply among others. The current cargo is very specific and an addition I'd like to see personally is generic cargo labeled just "Cargo [Weight]". This way the scenario designer can choose whether that's aid boxes. Ammunition. Spare parts for aircraft. Mail. Along with anything else you can think up.

[thewood1]

Couple things because maybe I am misunderstanding what you are looking for...

1) Isn't there a bunch of weapons listed as cargo of varying sizes?
2) Can't you just rename cargo to what you want them to be?

[Rory Noonan]

If I'm understanding correctly you want a 'generic cargo' entry added to the cargo list? Seems reasonable, would allow the player to pick-up/offload cargo in a non-abstracted way.

[Peter66]

Could you explain how to rename the cargo? I could not work out how to do it. Also that would allow someone to, for example, deploy tanks when instead it should of been just supplies that had no individual capabilities.

[thewood1]

Haven't tried it. Was just thinking about it the other day through the ini files.

btw, isn't what your asking for already in the game as generic cargo. I have seen it in the weapons db.

[Gunner98]

btw, isn't what your asking for already in the game as generic cargo. I have seen it in the weapons db.

Yes generic cargo is in many loadouts, this has been around since the original game came out. I think the issue is mixing the old and the new.

The generic cargo is not 'unloadable' except by landing the aircraft and changing the loadout to something else (ferry) which will deposit the cargo in the base magazine. This doesn't work for ships (I don't think) nor does it work for Para drop etc. It is not part of the new 'Cargo' feature from the CoW DLC. Dev's - if I'm wrong here please jump in.

The 'Cargo' feature allows players to do a lot more with the contents of a cargo carrying unit (aircraft or ship), deposit on beaches, para drop etc. What it doesn't do is handle generic cargo.

I hope that makes sense.

I do believe that handling 'generic cargo' as 'cargo' in the new cargo handling function has been requested as an additional game feature but am not 100% sure.

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[thewood1]

I guess I am missing why you can't do that now. I would think events and lua would be a fairly simple task. IIRC, that is how it was done before the full cargo feature. From my memory, that is why the devs put so much effort into the cargo function...people were complaining that it was too generic.

[Gunner98]

That's true, you can use events and lua to do the job with generic cargo. Particularly useful for stocking airbases with ammo. You can conduct para drops and everything using standard events and teleports or lua spawning, no issue.

The new cargo feature however is where you can load specific equipment onto a carrier unit and when you hit the 'unload cargo' button the specific equipment (or men) you loaded will unload. No fuss, no muss, no Lua.

The difference is that in the first (old and still useful) method, the scenario designer decides what you will load and drop, and where, including ammunition and pretty much anything with a DBID. The new feature is much more player friendly, but is limited to the items in the cargo listing.

I prefer the original method, but I focus on designing scenarios. I cannot see why you would want to drop a 10 ton blob of generic cargo somewhere, not particularly useful I wouldn't think.

The original method does have some drawbacks, if you have a ferry mission between bases with cargo aircraft for instance. The mission will force the AC to do the complete ready routine at each end of the base taking up 3-4 hours. I get around this by putting the ferry mission on a non-player side and setting them to the ferry loadout so it is only a quick turn around 30 min at each end for a hot refuel and quick pallet load. You just need to measure the distance and calculate the load weight to make sure things are realistic. Add the right stuff (usually ammo) to the receiving bases magazine and do a repetitive trigger for unit entering. Easy enough to manage if you know your way around the editor.

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