How can I change the default RTB speed?

[thewood1]

I'm awaiting answers on one or two technical issues with the ops planner. But in the meantime, I'll highlight a couple solutions to both issues below, even though they are really separate issues.

1) Lua can always solve this issue. But a full solution to either issue requires a special skillset and can be time consuming.

2) Use the event editor and some reference points. Set a small area that the returning plane has to pass through on egress. You can then deactivate the strike mission and activate a return home mission with different speed and AAR settings. Before "tiny", this still required some attention without using lua because units could not populate more than one mission. It was still doable, but required more attention to timing. Post-Tiny, no tight timing is required. Just deactivate, activate, and make sure you have the missions set up. The downside to this as a player is it can only be done in the scenario editor. There is no downside to playing in the editor unless you are mentally weak to the point you can't resist "Ctl-v".

3) Use the ops planner to build the two missions and then trigger and "satisfy" missions based on a reference point of an area. In more complex operations, this might require a line or two of simple lua.

4) Use the flightplan generator and editor. When building the mission, generate the flight plan. You can then go in and adjust speed and AAR setting for each leg. I have actually only recently used this and it worked. You can do it as the player and its VERY flexible. But parts of it are still a mystery and its where I am having some technical issues getting it working right. The AAR setting seem to work, but adjusting speed seems to be hit or miss.

The short of it is Missions Flightplans, and Ops Planner give you the tools to do just about anything on speed, altitude, AAR, formations, etc. But it requires some planning up front of wheels up or mission start to work right. These approaches also solve the issue of egress going over known SAM threats. Either swap out missions on egress with new flight plans and ROEs or use the flightplan generator to adjust egress paths, speeds, height, EMCON, etc.

[thewood1]

Because I'm already working on documenting some of these approaches, I'll share some of the screenshots...

For #4...

This happens to be for a patrol mission so you have to go to Mission Settings tab in the Mission Editor. Then go to the Flight Plan tabon the lower right. Check Use Fligth Plan. Then hit Create or Update Flightplans.

Screenshot 2023-07-06 120822.jpg (361.68 KiB) Viewed 743 times

Then you can see the flight plan if you go back to the Units tab in the editor and click on the units assigned to the mission. At that point, you can move some of the points around. Though it appears that some are locked due to timing issues for the flights. But it helps to see what the AI is going to do with your flight.

Screenshot 2023-07-06 120909.jpg (696.87 KiB) Viewed 743 times

Note on the above: If the patrol is set around two RPs, make sure they are far enough apart for the unit to come close to making the turns. Other wise you'll get an error when closing the Flight Plan editor. Also, if those two RPs are set to be relative to a moving unit, the flight plan waypoints tied to those RPs will be left behind until the next set of units take off to replace the current units. The flight plan gets refreshed on each unit launch. This is not a problem most of the time, but is the relative unit is much faster than the patrol units, it might eventually cause an issue. Again, nuances.


Now go back to Mission Settings tab and press the Flight Plan Editor button to see the flight plan legs in detail. As i Have highlighted, there are sections for both speed and AAR. You can see I have pulled down the Tankers (AAR) column options for the Station End leg. Those are your options. They work very well. Adjusting speed is a little more complicated because you have already told the AI I want to start and land at base at specific times with a patrol time of X. So you'll have to put a little thought into what you really want to do and how it impacts your overall mission performance. But its not really hard once you understand some of the nuances.

Screenshot 2023-07-06 121048.jpg (438.68 KiB) Viewed 743 times

Eventually, this walkthrough will be part of the manual, using a different scenario. This is just my overall testing scenario.

[MyP]

So you want them at military speed to egress. Isn't that the opposite of the OP? Either way, I have been using the multi-mission planner to create an ingress mission and then when that mission is complete, it triggers an egress mission with different parameters. If you use the flight plan, you can set any parameters you want. It gives you an ton of options to play around with.

Great! I need to learn how to set up and automatically trigger these egress missions.

Back to the original post - could RTB trigger a flight plan that has a short leg (1/5 distance) at military, then a long leg (4/5 distance) at cruise? That is probably what I would do with an egress plan to start with.

[thewood1]

I would suggest re-reading my past post and playing with the flight planner and see. While the docs aren't complete in detail on ops planning and flight plan operation, between my post, the updated manual, and various videos on youtube, you should be able to figure it out.

Post how it goes and we can all learn from it.

[DaveFromCTX]

Because I'm already working on documenting some of these approaches, I'll share some of the screenshots...

For #4...

This happens to be for a patrol mission so you have to go to Mission Settings tab in the Mission Editor. Then go to the Flight Plan tabon the lower right. Check Use Fligth Plan. Then hit Create or Update Flightplans.


Screenshot 2023-07-06 120822.jpg


Then you can see the flight plan if you go back to the Units tab in the editor and click on the units assigned to the mission. At that point, you can move some of the points around. Though it appears that some are locked due to timing issues for the flights. But it helps to see what the AI is going to do with your flight.


Screenshot 2023-07-06 120909.jpg


Note on the above: If the patrol is set around two RPs, make sure they are far enough apart for the unit to come close to making the turns. Other wise you'll get an error when closing the Flight Plan editor. Also, if those two RPs are set to be relative to a moving unit, the flight plan waypoints tied to those RPs will be left behind until the next set of units take off to replace the current units. The flight plan gets refreshed on each unit launch. This is not a problem most of the time, but is the relative unit is much faster than the patrol units, it might eventually cause an issue. Again, nuances.


Now go back to Mission Settings tab and press the Flight Plan Editor button to see the flight plan legs in detail. As i Have highlighted, there are sections for both speed and AAR. You can see I have pulled down the Tankers (AAR) column options for the Station End leg. Those are your options. They work very well. Adjusting speed is a little more complicated because you have already told the AI I want to start and land at base at specific times with a patrol time of X. So you'll have to put a little thought into what you really want to do and how it impacts your overall mission performance. But its not really hard once you understand some of the nuances.


Screenshot 2023-07-06 121048.jpg


Eventually, this walkthrough will be part of the manual, using a different scenario. This is just my overall testing scenario.

Point of clarification: there's no way to integrate flight plans with continuous coverage correct? Flight plans always have to have aircraft assigned to them and an assigned takeoff time right?

[thewood1]

You mean for patrols and support missions? Just create two separate missions. One gets satisfied at end of patrol route and triggers the next one on egress. Will still be a small gap, but there are ways around that too when you play around with the satisfy and trigger settings.

[DaveFromCTX]

You mean for patrols and support missions? Just create two separate missions. One gets satisfied at end of patrol route and triggers the next one on egress. Will still be a small gap, but there are ways around that too when you play around with the satisfy and trigger settings.

What I would like to do is have a patrol area that maintains continuous coverage but has set Ingress and egress routes for all flights. Instead of flying from base directly to patrol area, all flights - including ones generated automatically upon on-station flights RTB'ing (Winchester) - would fly the same ingress & egress.

Sounds like I would need three separate missions: a one-way support mission (ingress route - marked satisfied upon reaching reference point) -> triggers patrol station [flights on station determined by combat\missile expend] -> and then another egress mission.

Something I've suggested more than once is expanding the "no-nav" zones from the "side level" to "mission level".

[thewood1]

I would think you could do it with two. If you want to keep two on station, I would create two separate missions. I would adjust the ingress routes and speeds you want. Then I would set the second to either a time trigger. That way the two duplicate missions are out of phase with each other. A slightly more complicated way is to have a simple lua statement that triggers the out of phase mission at something like bingo+10% or something like that. It would require some thought and coordination of follow on patrols. Thats playing in the game itself. If you play in the editor, events are opened up to you to create all kinds of non-lua triggers and actions.

edit...thats assuming you are using flight plans and flight plan editor. You might even be able to use dynamic units that allows all 12 aircraft to be assigned to each mission and then use the ops planner to coordinate. I have never tried that.