Vehicle in Vehicle: scripts to force a vehicle to load.

[Ex3B 265]

I would like to make a mission where a blackfish drops off an amphibious assault team over water. So far what I have is two fully loaded assault boats in a Blackfish, but I'd rather drop off a SDV.

It seems that it should fit, but the editor won't let me place it in the cargo.

Is there anyway to force the SDV into the cargo of the blackfish (vehicle transport)?

[johnnyboy 3741]

Use attachTo, and fiddle with relative position until it looks good.  You might need enableCollisionWith  so it doesn't collide with blackfish and bump it when you detach it.  

 

[Ex3B 265]

Hmmm, I had thought about attachto, but I was worried about collisions.

I guess you mean https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/disableCollisionWith not https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/enableCollisionWith

 

How would I go about making the SDV parachute into the water? otherwise I'll have to try a very low flyInHeight/flyInHeightASL setting and a waypoint with speed limiting to get the SDV to survive the detach (although I guess I could also use a trigger with setVelocity.. but this seems a bit crude).

 

disableCollisionWith is not working:

I guess I'll have to have them move from inside, then to the outside, then detach

[johnnyboy 3741]

I believe this will work:

// Execute this code to load sdv in blackfish
sdv1 enableSimulation false;
sdv1 attachTo [bf1,[0,-4,1]]; // tweak relative position until looks good

// Later, via a trigger or script, execute following code to put sdv outside of blackfish for paradrop
detach sdv1;
sdv1 setpos (getpos bf1 vectorAdd [0,-12, -2]);  // adjust relative position to get good exit position, and not collide with blackfish
sdv1 enableSimulation true;

// Now your sdv will free fall, so you need to add code for attaching parachute here.  See Kylania's
// post linked below.

@kylania's solution for paradropping vehicle: 

 

[Ex3B 265]

Well, what I ended up doing was putting two subs in the back, and using the attachTo command. I had the blackfish fly with a low fiyInHeight (10 meters). One waypoint's on activation field moved them outside the blackfish and displayed a hint saying "Dropping in 5"; and set Dropping = true;

I then had a trigger with the "Dropping" condition and a 5 second countdown, after which it detached the SDVs.

 

They don't seem to need a parachute to survive, and the low level deployment seems kind of cool and reminiscent of LAPES https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-altitude_parachute-extraction_system without the extraction mechanism... so it seems like a fun way to insert a team of 8 to the coast.

[johnnyboy 3741]

1 minute ago, Ex3B said:

They don't seem to need a parachute to survive, and the low level deployment seems kind of cool and reminiscent of LAPES https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-altitude_parachute-extraction_system without the extraction mechanism... so it seems like a fun way to insert a team of 8 to the coast.

Sounds cool.   How about posting your final script so the next guy can benefit?   And a short vid of your insertion would be fun to see.

 

It seems we often fight the Arma Engine to get the effect we're looking for, and its a smart move to go with a simpler variation that meets your mission needs (rather than invest countless hours to implement the original idea).  This is what an ex-Army friend of mine called the principle of FIMO:  "F*** it, move on".

[Ex3B 265]

Well, its actually not working so well, I was testing with 2 SDVs, but I was the only one in any of them... the SDV I was in always landed fine, so I assumed all was well. I then tried it with a full SDV, and noticed the other 4 team members were lost... the 2nd SDV seems to very very often have a glitch when it hits the water, and goes bouncing off at very high velocity (+1600 km/h). If I switch to a crew member in the 2nd sub before drop, then it lands fine. - but in this case, the 1st sub has a tendency to go bouncing quite a bit, so I don't know what the issue is, but I suspect its not a good solution for a coop scenario, as half the team may go flying off the map if its a host/global/local issue.

Its working fine 100% of the time for 1 sub though.

 

*edit* found and solved the problem. The problem was AI behavior combined with crazy Arma physics. When I was in control of the sub, I gave no control input, and the SDV stayed parallel to the water upon entry and Arma3 physics behaved reasonably. The AI controlled sub pitched its nose down as it fell, and nosed into the water, and Arma3's physics engine modeled the collision very unrealistically, sending it tumbling and bouncing off at ridiculous speeds.

Dropping the other sub with no AI driver had it land with no problem. I was also able to get both subs to land just fine if I simply used https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/disableAI

I of course re-enabled it after a few seconds after the drop

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/enableAI

 

 

[Jnr4817 215]

id love to see and use your final script, for a similar mission I am wanting to make.

 

Would you be willing to make a sample mission?

 

Thanks

[Ex3B 265]

Well, I'm not sure it qualifies as a script, its more of a series of triggers and "on activation" stuff.

I guess I can try releasing the mission as a sample, I'm still making it though. 

Mission details:

Spoiler

Its meant to be the 3rd mission in a series/mini campaign. The first 2 missions are jet missions (with custom pylon loadouts) which destroy the AAF fixed with airforce, SAM defenses, and early warning radar stations. 

It starts at dusk, and the weather is too bad for para-dropping, or its just not what I want. A blackfish flies low and parallel to the coast, and drops 2 SDVs into the choppy water like a torpedo bomber dropping torpedoes.

The mission's ultimate goal is to establish a beachhead and take Oreokastro

Ammolofi bay is the landing site, but its defended, and within range of mortars from a military outpost south-southeast of Abdera (the outpost is already there on the vanilla map).

Though the radar is gone, lookouts at the radio masts just west of the output can see approaching craft. Obviously, they won't see the SDVs approach if they are submerged.

APCs and MRAPs are patrolling the coast, there's even an MBT positioned by a rock outcrop overlooking the bay.

So the mission is to insert somewhere along the coast, then neutralize the mortar and lookout position. From the lookout position, you can laser designate targets for 2 CAS aircraft (black wasps, 1 with LGBs, 1 with clusterbombs).

Then the airfield near the bay should be secured (or the beach). (Presumably after securing the airfield) you can radio for 2 blackfish to drop off 2 fully loaded AMV-7s, which will help secure the beach. (Presumably after securing the beach) You can call in the speedboats, which will drop off 4 squads of infantry, which will help secure the airfield, and then hold the beachhead.

Then the final phase will be to commandeer a vehicle or two, and proceed with the AMV-7s to take Oreokastro.

 

I'm thinking of making a mission earlier in sequence where the goal is a distraction... where the fiction is that the goal is to get the enemy to divert forces away from the true landing site.

 

So go in, seize a location next to a nice beach suitable for amphibious landings of APC/ladning craft/LCACs (I'm thinking a hill about 2km away from Kavala with line of sight to it), wait for the enemy to divert forces, probably call in some airstrikes, and then retreat back to the subs and flee, having accomplished the goal of diverting forces, where the goal was never to hold a beachhead)

 

So, I've got:

1 blackfish, named T1

2 SDVs, named S1 and S2

 

T1's init: this flyInHeightASL [10,10,10]; this flyInHeight 10;

S1's init: S1 attachTo [T1, [-0.8, 2, -3.75]];

S2's init: S2 attachTo [T1, [0.8, 2, -3.75]];

 

Now, for starting the drop sequence, I have two methods, one is a trigger for radio alpha (to detach at the player command), the other is via a waypoint of T1, so that the SDVs will be dropped anyway if the player does nothing, in both cases, the on activation field is the same:

 

S1 attachTo [T1, [-1.4, -10, -5.5]];

S2 attachTo [T1, [1.4, -10, -5.5]];

DetSeq = true; hint "prepare to drop";

S2Driver disableAI "All";

S2 disableAI "All";

 

Now, "DetSeq = true" activates the detachment sequence (3 triggers that have DetSeq as their condition).

The first one has a 2.6 second countdown, and its on activation field is: " detach S2; "

The 2nd trigger has a 3 second countdown, then it does: " detach S1; "

The 3rd one has a 10 second countdown, and then it does: " S2Driver enableAI "All"; S2 enableAI "All"; "

 

So... to summarize, the SDVs are attached to a blackfish that is set to fly low, the SDV that isn't player control has its AI disabled (all this done via the init field)

A waypoint or radio message activates the detachment sequence.

That sequence is three triggers on timers: 1) Detaches S2, 2) Detaches S1 3) re-enables S2's AI after its safely in the water.

(I could get away with two, but staggering the SDV detachment avoids the occasional explosions due to them colliding during splashdown)