Rail-Based System for Vehicles and Aircraft

[RangerX3X 0]

Please implement a rail-based system for pathing of vehicles and aircraft so that mission designers can finally develop missions that contain working convoys & patrol routes, realistic attack profiles & reliable landings-under-fire.

Is this realistic? Of course not – But neither is the system we have had to work under since Cold War Crisis – derelict pathing, impossible flight management and the untold frustration brought about by the inability to correct these shortcomings.

I would venture to say the number of missions that were broken and not released because of incoherent AI routines regarding traveling from one path to another and performing a specific action is incalculable.

As the mission editors (and community mods) have kept this series alive since 2001, providing us with a rail-based solution to effortlessly implement vehicle and aircraft maneuvering would be a gold mine for the true beneficiaries – those who download and play missions and mods.

Imagine the missions that could come out if a mission designer could place a waypoint down and have that helicopter land exactly at that spot and perform exactly that task relegated to it instead of convulsing at the presence of anti-aircraft batteries and MANPADS.

If the pilots dies, or the cargo being transported is shot to hell or even if the aircraft takes a direct round from a T-80 and vaporizes – fine!! It will tell the mission designer to go about it in a different way. Put the transport unload waypoint a few hundred meters back, bring in some CAS beforehand, etc.

But stop putting us through the utter turmoil of having to try every trick in the book scripting or otherwise to accomplish this, only to have it work out 6 out of 10 times.

A convoy group of 20 vehicles with an infantry platoon in trucks should be able to travel from point A to point B without regurgitating on rearranging the convoy into some byzantine hierarchy that neither we nor Yoda can surmise.

They should be able to roll out at a specified speed, keep an assigned spacing to the next vehicle, and be assigned an assessment protocol of when to stop, dismount, fight of an ambush, cut bait and run.

If the developers would simply stop tweaking a failed system with the inevitable end result of only providing a ginned-up failed system, and implement a rail-based system found in – dare I say – arcade shooters, this game would take a huge step forward in the quality and depth and number of user created missions.

[Millenium7 0]

I agree 100% as long as it's an addition rather than a replacement

'open' AI is fantastic in that it can work in any environment, with any weapon, against any enemy without writing a single line of code, it just does its thing. Unfortunately it also does its own thing when it really shouldn't.

Whether it's considered arcade or not, it's far more viable to be able to force a driver to move forward, or force infantry to sprint out of it's current position, or force it to suppress a location, or force it to do anything WITHOUT disobeying like an insubordinate S.O.B.

Ideally I think it should be available in the form of some new combat behaviours

I.E. safe, alert, danger, stealth. And then

suppressive (stays within range but moves up when necessary, far more aggressive fire, even on blind targets)

objective (puts its designated task FIRST, i.e. move WILL MAKE IT MOVE! it will sprint between cover to follow leader/waypoint, only stop or return fire when no other tasks are given, this will turn 'railing' on for drivers/aircraft)

[maturin 12]

+1

While they're at it, they should make full skill AI actually shoot well, rather than having snipers struggle to make shots at 300m in perfect conditions.

And let us force AI to shoot at anything we want, even if its a chicken 1000m away and the soldier is holding a Makarov.

These should be easy-to-use editor tools.

[Armoredfury193 10]

I agree with Millenium7 - the system you're describing should not be added as a replacement, but as an alternative method.

[instagoat 133]

This is already possible. If you noticed, the helo in Coltan Blues which you insert with is on rails. So are the SU-25s in the same mission.

The CSLA mission "Patrol" also seems to have the Landrover you insert with on rails.

Don´t know how this works, though, not being a missionbuilder myself.

[Cyteless 10]

This is already possible. If you noticed, the helo in Coltan Blues which you insert with is on rails. So are the SU-25s in the same mission.

The CSLA mission "Patrol" also seems to have the Landrover you insert with on rails.

Don´t know how this works, though, not being a missionbuilder myself.

It used the BIS function UnitCapture, where the player is able to record a flight path of the helicopter.

[ryguy 10]

Yea, UnitCapture and PlayCapture, which was introduced methinks around the arrowhead times, is already a function. Very hard to implement though IMO.

[RangerX3X 0]

UnitCapture and PlayCapture are not solutions - and they exponentially increase the file size of the mission.

[Cyteless 10]

On your actual point, I do think it would be very handy. Since some groups don't have dedicated pilots, it would be a good solution to have a safe and player-achievable flight pattern carried out by the AI. That means there's no immersion breaking chopper dumping out in the middle of a field.

[wilf55 10]

I'm not overly sure what a 'rail-based' system is, but I'd like to see an land convoy system that has a visible planned route (ie: it can be seen beforehand, and altered to take different routes), has a set speed (ie: 30, 40, 50, speed of slowest unit, or as fast as possible), a spacing/formation option, and a way to deal with enemy resistance (ie: drive through and engage on the move, or halt convoy/dismount and fight).

I would say that implementing this 'on-the-fly' in a mission may not be easy - and may not be required often, but giving this option to mission editors would be great.

[RangerX3X 0]

A rail-based system is basically the units roll smoothly along as if they are attached to a rail, such as a train or roller coaster. They maintain uniform spacing with other units in the same group and maintain a consistent speed along the designated route.

For aircraft, it is the same - the units will progress along the intended path (waypoints in the editor) and land exactly where you tell them to, regardless of the situation on the ground.

Even with extreme scripting this simply is not possible in the current game engine. While some may get close, it is never spot-on, and is always inconsistent - factors that make the effort to script daunting to say the least.