Why does my aircraft AI fly so erratically, and how can I fix it?

[CaptainDawson 93]

Hi,

 

I'm playing around with some simple test missions to learn the Eden editor. When I place an fighter aircraft and make a Move or Attack waypoint or whatever, the AI often pitches the plane up and down and does ridiculous maneuvers. If I try to put them in a formation and attack something, it's even worse. They just fly erratically and lose their speed, then they all just fly directly over the target at minimum speed and get shot down instantly. I know this is an infantry sim and not a flight sim, but this still seems a bit ridiculous. Is there some trick I need to know to make them fly straight and normally, or is this just a limitation of the game?

 

Thanks in advance

[JohnKalo 657]

@CaptainDawson The AI in Arma 3 can act really crazy. In a mission it is advised to use as few and as simple waypoints as possible. Now fighter aircraft and helicopters too have the worst behaviors. 

 

The trick when editing is to keep trying until you find a way to make things work. For example, in your case, if you want a unit to be attacked by a fighter jet you can attach a close air support module on the target and then activate the module whenever you want. If you want the fighter jet to just fly straight in the pilots init field you can place:

 

this setBehaviour "CARELESS"; this flyInHeight 100;

 

while knowing that once the jet reaches a waypoint it will start going around in circles if there is no other waypoint. 

 

In general editing can be really   .......    

 

 

 

[CaptainDawson 93]

Thanks @JohnKalo, I'll try those things. I'm used to the advanced IL-2 Full Mission Builders, so learning to use Arma's waypoint system and seeing aircraft behave the way they do is painful for me to say the least!

 

Is there a way to change the speed of the aircraft during straight flight and attacks so they won't just stall over the target and get shot down? Another script maybe?

 

Thanks

[JohnKalo 657]

Maybe in the units init:

 

this setSpeedMode "FULL";

but it may be over-riden by the vanilla, and also suicidal, attack strategy of Arma 3. 

And if you want to stop the jet from getting shot down maybe you can use in the init of the jet:

 

this allowDamage false;

which can be cheating however. I would not do it. I would just use the module.

 

 

 

[beno_83au 1362]

You might be able to use this to get them flying level, as by default they will attempt to maintain their altitude above ground level:

 

flyInHeightASL

[CaptainDawson 93]

Thanks guys. I'll give these a try!