Automating AI helo search pattern in a large AO

[Jeanfeels 0]

So this is a little complex for me to explain but I'll try to be clear. I'm still relatively new to arma 3, though I've done a good amount in arma 2 it was mostly quite basic. 

 

I have an AO in mind which would have a target or targets plus some false positives/red herrings scattered across a large area. 

 

I want to have a helo run a search pattern where it flies low, on a dead straight heading, slows to turn for the next pass, lining up properly for the next pass so it doesn't drift out of alignment, and repeats for each lane of the search grid.

 

Even though i could probably do this with a metric buttload of manual waypoints, i wanted to check first if there is a better way to automate a lawnmower-esque search pattern being flown, especially given how helicopters seem to view waypoints as more of a suggestion than an actual rule unless you set their speed and altitude very low, which they sometimes fail to respect anyway.

 

The helo wouldn't have to do anything about spotting targets of course since i can just have a trigger at the helo's altitude to order ground units to investigate, that bit isn't so much the issue as is making the ai follow a convincing search pattern without manually adding every single checkpoint or shrinking the ao. 

 

Though it would also be nice to have a way to make a trigger that selected a group not currently on task dynamically from the list of available groups to assign to each area of interest, without having to manually make one group for every location or faking it by having each group pre-assigned a handful of locations such that they immediately move to the next one, regardless of whether the helo has passed it, once they clear the first one. 

 

tbh I'm probably going to lower the scope of this but i want to get out of my comfort zone and learn new techniques and maybe unlearn some bad habits i picked up in arma 2 and this feels like a good excuse to do so. 

 

I'm very open to different approaches and ideas to modify or rethink this, as well as suggestions on exercises to look into.

[JohnKalo 657]

Just a few thoughts till the experienced scripters come in. You would have to place all targets in an array and then constantly check the distance between the chopper and the targets. Then once the chopper comes near one of the targets you would need to have all available groups in an array, check which one is closer and then create a waypoint so as to send the group to that target or false positive coordinates. For the helicopter waypoints, from experience, in careless mode they tend to follow the path when the waypoints are attached to an invisible helipad for example. And the flyInHeight and limitSpeed commands seem to work as well. Best of luck with your project. Welcome to the forums 👍