Fighters, Trying to figure something out. Options

[Arsenal 121]

I've been trying to figure out how to make the Orca Fighter and the Harpy gunship act in a manner similar to the Rocketeer and Siege Chopper in RA2/Yuri's Revenge.

What I'm trying to do is make them act more like Close Air Support but not make them game breakers. I know I managed to glitch the Jumpjet infantry into staying airborne once but I can't remember what tags I messed with. So any help is appreciated.

[KajiTetsushi]

Wait. You mean keeping the aircraft airborne permanently?
You can try Landable=no, but if I can remember properly, aircraft can never land after they liftoff. Yet they'll still attempt to make a landing and crash.

[Arsenal 121]

Tried that. It crashed the game. Then again I was using The First Decade, so I'll try again with the original.

[KajiTetsushi]

When I tested Landable=no, I was running the original. Good luck.

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

Landable=no just causes bugs.

Try one of the 2 ways described in my BalloonHover Workaround topic.

[Arsenal 121]

Alright, nice...

One more question: Is it possible to give them secondary weapons?

Okay, I'm going to hold off on the secondary weapons until I can figure out how to fix the Fighters.

I did the balloon hover however at most the Orca Fighter gets one shot off then starts flying around like the pilot's got a wasp in the cockpit.

This post has been edited by Arsenal 121: Jun 21 2010, 08:21 PM

[Devastator]

I've always wanted to know how to do that. Thanks for linking the research LKO
Now if this is fixed, do you plan on an attempt for an actual siege chopper? (Can deploy from air and fire) Probably tons of exe editing or its impossible.

Okay modding, I'm coming back for you. Thats right, I'm going to start modding again since the TS Modding forum got two topics within the past two days.

This post has been edited by Devastator: Jun 21 2010, 09:12 PM

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

One more question: Is it possible to give them secondary weapons?

No. Aircrafttypes don't and can't use a Secondary weapon.

I did the balloon hover however at most the Orca Fighter gets one shot off then starts flying around like the pilot's got a wasp in the cockpit.

There are 2 different approaches for the BalloonHover workaround described in the topic.
Only the technique which involves an aircraft with a speed lower/equal 3 can use homing weapons like the Orca Hellfire missiles.
Outgoing from your description it seems that you used the SlowdownDistance=0.01-BalloonHover-Workaround and this special workaround allows only the usage of bombs or proton cannons as the aircrafts weapon. Else it won't fire the weapon and just fly around the target.

So if you want to keep the missiles you have to change them into a proton or bomb similar weapon (reducing the projectile ROT to 1 or 0).
Maybe it also works if you use the reaper split logic to let the aircraft drop a dummy bomb which splits into the actual missile.

Now if this is fixed, do you plan on an attempt for an actual siege chopper? (Can deploy from air and fire) Probably tons of exe editing or its impossible.

AircraftTypes can't be deployed. They have no code that allows them to use the special deploying logic.

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Jun 21 2010, 09:31 PM

[KajiTetsushi]

Oh, wow... I didn't know that. Interesting insight, LKO.
Looks like there's hope for your CAS fighters after all, Arsenal. =)

[Arsenal 121]

I'm going to have to redo the code for Rocket Pods and, when I figure that out, get to work on strafing runs for the Harpy.

When I get it to work I'll post the code.

EDIT: Okay, good news. I got the Rocket Pods to work again.

[RocketPods]
Damage=23
ROF=3
Range=5
Projectile=RocketStrafe
Speed=30
Warhead=ORCAAP
Burst=5
Report=MISL1,MISL2

For the projectile use this:

[RocketStrafe]
Arm=2
High=yes
Shadow=no
Proximity=yes
Ranged=yes
Image=MISLSAM
ROT=1

I'm going to try and get an actual machine gun strafing run going for the Harpy. I might needs some help...

And before I forget there's an issue that's been haunting me:

The Orca and Harpy have a bad habit of wanting to head back to their respective helipads after they've destroyed a target. They orbit the helipads like they want to land but because of the changed code they can't. Even selling the pad doesn't help, they try and head for the nearest friendly structure. If there's a way to make them come in from off the map without occupying the airfield I'd love to hear it.

This post has been edited by Arsenal 121: Jun 22 2010, 09:29 PM

[KajiTetsushi]

Remove Ammo=5 from the Orca Fighter and Harpy. The landing problem should disappear. They'll seek out targets on their own, though. If the Orca destroys an Attack Buggy, it'll find another target to shoot even if the closest enemy is halfway past the map.

This post has been edited by Chris Ichikawa: Jun 23 2010, 08:59 AM

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

^^since they'll never be able to land again and reload, it's a necessity that they have unlimited ammo.

I might be wrong, but i think it's impossible to stop them flying back automatically after they have killed an enemy.

I'm going to try and get an actual machine gun strafing run going for the Harpy. I might needs some help...

That's not very difficult, if you use the orca overrun missile as a pattern. Just make sure you remove the Inviso=yes key from the harpy projectile as this prevents overrun attacks too.

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Jun 23 2010, 04:01 PM

[KajiTetsushi]

^^since they'll never be able to land again and reload, it's a necessity that they have unlimited ammo.

I'm not so sure. I based this on my experience with landable modded Harpies that had unlimited ammo (which I'm currently using). The unlimited ammo somehow made them look for fights on their own than return to a Helipad. If I got it right, Arsenal also has to remove Dock=GAHPAD,NAHPAD also for this to work. I know my modded Harpy had those two important things.

[Arsenal 121]

I'll give it a try. I'm also going to see if I can apply the Jump-Jet tags to them, see if that works any.

EDIT: The normal Harpy weapon seems to work just fine. It gets a shot in, backs off, then moves in for another shot.

Also, I took out the Dock= tags. Causes it to crash.

EDIT2: I'm going to see what happens when I apply Jump-Jet locomotor tags.

EDIT3: Okay, that just makes it land...

This post has been edited by Arsenal 121: Jun 23 2010, 10:26 PM

[Lin Kuei Ominae]

A jumpjet locomotor applied to an aircrafttype makes it invulnerable. You can damage it until it should explode, but then it will simply land on the spot and will never be destroyable again nor can be ordered to move to a different point while still being selectable.

This post has been edited by Lin Kuei Ominae: Jun 24 2010, 10:04 PM

[Arsenal 121]

Thanks for that tidbit.

Until I figure out how to make the Harpy strafe I'm using an automatic grenade launcher. Once I figure it out I'll give it to the Harpy as an elite weapon. Here are the tags:

[GrenadePods]
Damage=23
ROF=5
Range=5
Projectile=GrenadeStrafe
Speed=30
Warhead=ORCAAP
Report=GLNCH1,GLNCH2,GLNCH2,GLNCH4
Anim=GUNFIRE
Speed=100
Burst=6


[GrenadeStrafe]
Arm=2
High=yes
Shadow=no
Proximity=yes
Image=120MM
Range=yes
ROT=1

I should have mentioned this earlier. I'm using SMIFFGIG's Tiberian Sun Retro and have been mutilating the rules.ini for well over three years now. All those extra reports may not be available to some.

This post has been edited by Arsenal 121: Jun 25 2010, 02:55 AM