Can you limit how many times an aircraft refuels AAR

[marke144]

Hi,

I have a number of AAW patrols set up, which allow AAR. I have assigned tankers to the support mission. The aircraft on AAW successfully refuel from the tankers, but they then stay airborne for hours and refuel multiple times. ie is there a way to limit how many times an aircraft can refuel before it RTB? I had an Etendard airborne for over 24 hours, which is not really ideal as an example. thanks

[AKar]

A very good point, and something I guess I should post to the wishlist: a maximum continuous airborne time (in reality, sometimes maximum continuous engine run time, in case of hot refueling on ground). It could very well be the limiting factor for fighter aircraft in some CMO scenarios.

The driver behind is usually the maximum specified consumption of, well, consumables, such as, importantly, the engine oil.

[SeaQueen]

ORIGINAL: marke144
I have a number of AAW patrols set up, which allow AAR. I have assigned tankers to the support mission. The aircraft on AAW successfully refuel from the tankers, but they then stay airborne for hours and refuel multiple times. ie is there a way to limit how many times an aircraft can refuel before it RTB?

The simplest solution is to click on the unit that's been flying too long and push 'B' to send him home. I'm floored he stayed up that long, though. I usually Winchester out way before I bingo out.

[thewood1]

I would think you could set a timer and activate/deactivate missions. Maybe have duplicate missions that alternate active and non-active. Not sure if that could be done by events, special actions, or lua, but am pretty sure its doable.

The other option is using lua to move aircraft on and off the mission list after a set time or set number of refuels. A little more complex, but might be better than cluttering up the mission dialog.

Either would take a little work, but if its that important to you, you can make it work.

Just double checked: You can do this without lua by using a timer as the trigger for the units entering the patrol zone. Set the time for maybe 6 hours. The when the time times down, deactivate the mission, and active a new mission that is a duplicate of the first mission. You can keep alternating them every 4/6/8/10 hours or whatever.

I also just realized that you can using lua you can do the equivalent of what seaqueen mentioned by using lua to hit "B". that way only one mission has to be built and mission logic automatically takes care of everything else.

[pbrowne]

What happens about the tankers? Do they automatically RTB to refuel and go back on the mission? What would happen if you limit the tankers, would the AAW auto RTB when tankers/fuel isn't available?

[tylerblakebrandon]

There several options to limit the number of tankers for a mission and how long they fly both using the existing mission planner and with LUA.