F18s not sticking to patrol mission

[CaptCarnage]

Hi -
In the Scenario Green Tide, I created an AAW Patrol Mission and assigned it to 3 groups of F18s.
I had the "Investigate contacts outside area" switched off.

One of my F18 groups flew outside the area apparently chasing new Bogeys coming from the Northern Morrocan airport. That flight group is heading north exactly following the no-fly zone border. Really exactly as I suppose the group wants to turn towards Morocco but it can't, as its heading is continuously switching between 018-20 as it flies north.

I don't think it should do that.

As you see on the screenshot, there are incoming hostiles (I marked them as such, they were all multiroles) but this F18 group is not doing anything about it - still going north. I unassigned the group from the mission, then re-assigned: nothing. I reassigned it to another Patrol mission (south of the platforms) - nothing. It still went north.
Until at some point it turned around and headed back to the CAP area.

[ParachuteProne]

Would be nice if a plotted course would override the mission requirements.
The unassign sometimes does the trick but not if the enemy is real close.


Something else that happened to me.
I was doing an anti piracy mission and was trying to close to gun range.
I manually allocated a weapon but was still out of range - couldn't figure out how to get the weapon de-allocated and my vessel
changed course away from the target. Unassign wouldnt work.

[ComDev]

ORIGINAL: ParachuteProne

Would be nice if a plotted course would override the mission requirements.
The unassign sometimes does the trick but not if the enemy is real close.

Yeah I'm starting to see the need for this one too. Will look into, thanks [8D]

[Tomcat84]

I would really like if for a patrol mission you could specifically set what area to actually commit on targets in. It is more realistic imho to set for example two points for a CAP and then an area around it in which they will commit on a target once it enters it.

[CaptCarnage]

ORIGINAL: Tomcat84

I would really like if for a patrol mission you could specifically set what area to actually commit on targets in. It is more realistic imho to set for example two points for a CAP and then an area around it in which they will commit on a target once it enters it.

+1

[CaptCarnage]

Here another example.

Scenario Green Tide.
AAW Patrol area in bottom left. I think the F18s went after some Bogey contacts NE. But I don't want them all the way up there - we are on the defensive after all and I want them to stay near the oil platforms and my fleet. But they just won't return to the Patrol area by themselves even though the mission says not to go after contacts outside the area.

When I toggle the Ignore Plotted Course off, they will return. But as soon as it's toggled on again, they go back to Engaged Offensive and turn around to NE again.

[$trummer]

I've experiences this and would also prefer not to have to babysit AAW patrols in order to stop them wandering off, "engaged offensive" on distant targets. For example, in the new Falklands scenario, if a periscope-depth sub spots aircraft off the coast of Argentina, the Harrier CAP above the British battle group about 400 NM away. This behavior makes no sense. I use U to unassign them from their offensive posture and then they need to be reassigned to their original mission.

[Dimitris]

Alright, it looks like something's off with the "investigate outside patrol area" option. Give us some time to look into it. Thanks!

[Tomcat84]

D, if I may also point this thread out to you in closed forum which seems to deal with this as well and maybe provide useful info.

[CaptCarnage]

Coming back to this, I *think* this problem is solved by a workaround that involves a Support Mission and setting a few waypoints. It seems now (but maybe I need more testing with this) that they are sticking to the waypoints and not venture out. At the same time they have their radars on (should you wish) so that's all good.

After seeing my Orions move through an area while they set their own waypoints, I thought why not set it like that myself?

If the situation calls for it, it is easy to switch with the mega-useful Mission Editor to another mission and have them A/C do their own thing.

[Dimitris]

Fixed in Build 460.

[JCR]

Not really

[Dimitris]

No? Please elaborate.

[JCR]

I played the "Brass Drum" Scenario and my F/A-18s were all over the map chasing every radar contact there was.
Only copious amounts of exclusion zones could keep them from the worst of SAMs

[Dimitris]

Can you post a save of this _prior_ to the F-18s going away? Thanks!

[JCR]

Ok

[thewood1]

I noticed the mission had the box to investigate contacts outside patrol area checked. Does that cause this behavior?

[smudge56]

I thought I read in the last release notes that the issue you raised had been fixed. That aircraft told to investigate outside the area didn't go wondering 100s of miles outside the box to investigate bogies.

ORIGINAL: thewood1

I noticed the mission had the box to investigate contacts outside patrol area checked. Does that cause this behavior?

[thewood1]

I don't know, I had thought the issue was wandering off if the box wasn't checked. I was asking.

[thewood1]

Again a questoin...how far should an F18 wander outside its patrol zone if you want it to investigate contacts? 50 mi, 100 mi, 200 mi, ???