Assigning Cargo Elements to a Mission

[DWReese]

In a practice scenario that Whicker sent to me, I was able to see helo-deployed attack vehicles approach a target (on a strike mission) and attack it. After the attack, they were out of ammo and they continued on their same path, passing their target as they had nothing to shoot at or shoot with, and continue moving in the same direction to the other side of the island that they were on. It was because each one had cleared the initial area so fast that the second, third, fourth, and fifth units were able to follow the original unit toward the target because the original had left the designated Trigger Area. My problem was caused by the fact that my units were all on foot, travelling at 5 kts an hour and therefore, would never clear the zone for the duration of the scenario.

I really do enjoy that the cargo concept, and I believe that it is vitally important. But, the way that it is set up could be improved upon in the future.

Doug

[MagpieS]

I don't see the problem with having multiple units in the trigger area. I used "enters area" event trapping so maybe that works better.
I also assigned the units to a anti surface patrol, rather than attack so they originally would move about within a given region, fighting the defenders. But eventually the scenario itself seemed to become corrupted in some way and they would just go bananas.

I don't see how the current system can be improved as "cargo" being a separate entity is fairly fundamental to the system and is the main failing of the present sysyem.

[Whicker]

to get the lat lon of a spot you left click on that spot and then press cntrl + x and it will copy it to the clipboard.

I have seen the cargo units go a little crazy too, I think it had to do with no ammo. I think the main issue I have with them is there is no way to RTB them - other than that I think they work pretty well.

I didn't try the enters area trigger, that may be the easier way to do it, I was trying to give them time to hypothetically regroup before going on the attack.

[DWReese]

Thanks for the tip on "enters area" being the trigger. Like Whicker, I thought that they should have some time to "form up", but if that will make it work, then that's the way to go.

Doug

[DWReese]

Whicker,

You observation about the single unit movement solved the issue. After the first unit leaves, then the second unit will begin. Because I was using ground infantry units, they were only moving at 5 kts, so it was taking forever. The mystery has been solved.

Now, here is a new one. I loaded ONE HUMV with several guys armed with rifles, AND a couple of guys with armed with Milan ATMs. When they landed, they separated into two groups. The Milan armed guys took off first at 25 mph, followed later by the guys in the HUMV. The only issue is there was only one vehicle. Since the second group was actually in the vehicle, how were the Milan-armed guys travelling that fast? I noticed that in the scenario that you sent to me with the Javelin-armed guys travelling at 30 kts without a vehicle. Have you seen this? Am I missing something?

Thanks.

Doug

[MagpieS]

ORIGINAL: Whicker

to get the lat lon of a spot you left click on that spot and then press cntrl + x and it will copy it to the clipboard.

I have seen the cargo units go a little crazy too, I think it had to do with no ammo. I think the main issue I have with them is there is no way to RTB them - other than that I think they work pretty well.

I didn't try the enters area trigger, that may be the easier way to do it, I was trying to give them time to hypothetically regroup before going on the attack.

Simple test would be to set an event that triggers on a unit leaving the area and have it reload the unit when it does.
That would determine for sure it's an out of ammo issue. You could use that routine to simulate that the unit has been resupplied.

You could also use that trigger to reassign the unit to another mission, perhaps a support mission of some kind, in an area in the LZ/DZ so as to simulate them withdrawing from the battle or simply remove them from the patrol mission and give them a direct course to a resupply area.

At this stage though I think the key is to keep the ground warfare component fairly simple as, to be fair, that is only an incidental part of the game at the moment. Scenarios should really be confined to a short fight for a facility or LZ or similar.

What's really needed is better functionality of the cargo/transport module.

[MagpieS]

ORIGINAL: DWReese

Thanks for the tip on "enters area" being the trigger. Like Whicker, I thought that they should have some time to "form up", but if that will make it work, then that's the way to go.

Doug

It wouldn't take too much to have an event that triggered on a unit entering the area to then look for a group within a given radius, if there is no group it forms one with any units within the area or if there is a group it joins that group.
You can then finish the routine with a test to see how many units are in the group and if there is enough it can move away or be assigned to a mission etc.

It does add up to a fair bit of processor overhead though

[DWReese]

I stuck with the concept that Whicker originally had, that being a trigger based on how long the unit had been in the area. I like the idea of "forming up" before heading out. I then greatly reduced the area around the the cargo/military units. That meant that the unit escaped that zone much quicker. The first left as it should. The second left, but only after the first had cleared the area as hoped fir (and expected). The third followed, and so on. In other words, it worked perfectly.

Now, what happens when they run out of ammo, or enemy run out of enemy? I guess that is the next issue to conquer. <lol>

Doug