New aircraft takeoff formations and delay

[II/JG77Hawk_5]

Just a bit of technical info from 4.11.1/HSFX and not an SEOW feature.

Just checking out the new takeoff waypoint features and found that aircraft can now takeoff in normal (Straight Line), pairs side by side or line abreast. I hadn't noticed these things till now.

You are able set the spacing distance of the aircraft apart sideways which is clearly important with various planes having different wingspans. 20mtrs apart is a good start point for fighters. The spacing is based on fuselage to fuselage distance and must take into account the aircraft wingspan for safety.

You can now also delay engine start as well as delayed start time.
Both times operate from start of mission.
This allows for flight to spawn at beginning of mission but not start their engines for the time dictated.

Eg.1 A flight spawns at start of mission but delay set to 10 mins. Planes will not start engines for 10 minutes.
Eg.2 A flight spawns at 20mins after mission has started but the start delay is set to 25 mins. The planes will spawn but engines will not start for another 5 minutes.

Planes spawning in create the usual "wave off" message from tower if other flights are attempting to land at the same time.

Cheers,
5

[II/JG77Hawk_5]

Landing
For Landing you can choose one of the 5 landing patterns: Right, Left, Short Right, Short Left
and Straight In. Left Pattern is the default pattern present in previous versions of the game.
The Straight In landing is rather tricky to get correct and can cause planes to crash into each
other. You can set several flights with different pattern to land on the same airfield. AI seems
to handle this fairly well, but there are no guarantees that they will not collide. All settings are
ignored if the flight is landing on a carrier (i.e. they use default Left pattern).

From the 4.11 Readme PDF.

The takeoff and landing features are all explained there.

The new landing patterns I think will be helpful for airfields that are in difficult areas for AI. If this is implemented then maybe that would be a commander option for landing waypoints?

The takeoff options would be difficult as the takeoff direction for the new types is dictated by first waypoint. Planes can start from anywhere heading in any direction. Commanders would need to be very skilled at setting up the takeoff parameters and plan according to the specific airfield.

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

I think I will put in MP support for landing patterns, but I will leave take-off patterns out - too difficult to get right for all circumstances.

Cheers,
4S

[22GCT_Gross]

Shades,
What about the Stationary plane spawning feature?
Have you made your coding evaluation?

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

Hi Gross,

I am going to have to write something similar for seaplane tender operations , so I might end up writing the airbase spawn stuff too. But I suspect that it would be a feature that is tried once and then never used again.

Cheers,
4Shades

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

Added: MP v.4.813

Support for landing patterns, defined for each Airbase.

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

Added MP v4.814 and DCS v3.4.0

C&C Dead Zone support at air Resupply/Withdraw points. These don't work perfectly in multiplayer coops, but they can still perform a useful function in preventing AI aircraft circling and potentially colliding/crashing.

[PA-Dore]

Very nice Mike ^^

I run some checks about RESCUE (ground) and SAR (sea) objects: They work well Online missions but both sides have messages. It's not irrealistic (as listening ennemy frequence), but to avoid too many messages, only one RESCUE ou SAR would be ordered.
RESCUE works with Fi156, Fw189, L-5, Magister, U_2V and some others...
SAR works with seaplanes.
Without change any SEOW code for the moment, would it be possible to add these objects manually in a SEOW mission without issue , just for test?

--> Today, from my home, I will see and applause Cadelevans in the Tour de France (first hard step Albertville - La Toussuire)^^

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

Hi Dore,

I was watching for you near St JdM, but I didn't see you!

Let me know how the RESCUE and SAR test goes.

Cheers,
4S

[PA-Dore]

It was not a good day for Cadelevans...

Rescue objects work nice (RESCAP and SAR) in coop missions (except that both sides have informations). My idea is to manually add sometimes one rescue mission for bailed pilots of the latest mission. By the fact this object has a color, I wondered how DCS will analyze it?