FSCAI & FSX@War

[xpel]

I added the FSCAI bombs to an FSX@War pack (about Normandy 1944) and destruction by AIs is normal @war targets by the bombs.

The thing is that AIs use guns also against targets. So, they took out a train wagon, which was substituted by FSCAIs destroyed target,
but in FSX@War map, the train wagon was there, intact (expected).

1. Is there a way to declare the .50cal guns at Weapons of FSX@War pack ? Are they simobjects ?

2. I saw in Log that AIs fired LAU rockets also. Do they work ?

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And the picture of the day : 3 x P47s with primary role Ground Attack at Bayeux, France Railstation, taxiing for Take off at 
Advanced Field 1, escorted by my Typhoon to provide cover from 2xBF109s that will appear in the area... More to come... 



 

[Dutch Owen]

Well, the FSCAI weapons definitions let you define guns either with or without using SimObjects. The purpose of not using them is performance and reducing the number of objects spawned in the world. My worry is that with a 4 on 4 furball or even more, which happens, if everyone is using guns and every gun is spitting simbobjects the sim might come to its knees.

If you put an * in the SimObject title then FSCAI calculates the odds of a hit but doesn't actually shoot bullets. If you put the name of any simobject then that object becomes the projectile and FSCAi just shoots and tracks it, it doesn't calculate odds or anything; if it hits it hits.

You'll notice many guns are * weapons. Some ground AAA units shoot tracers. Flak is a special category. If you change any of these * titles to something like AAM_Tracer you'll see the simobjects shoot out of it. The title can be any simobject - you could have a gun that shoots Cessna 172s if you wanted

Of course that leaves a gaping hole for FSX@War which needs to track simobjects. In the case of both flak and * guns there are none.

I'm not sure what to do about this.

Dutch

[xpel]

Thank's for the info. I realize your concerns about gun simobjects.

[Dutch Owen]

I just flew the bomber escort mission again, this time with flak from the airfield as well as tracers, and in the A2A BF-109E instead of the FR BF-109G.

I'm having much more success with the 109E. It not only has a gun-sight (which helps a lot!) but it's more maneuverable, although a bit slower and with much less fuel. I really feel the short range of the 109, I shot down one spit and damaged another, then had to head for home because of low fuel!

Performance: I lost a kill because as I was closing in on the rear of a Hurricane when the lines of bombs went off the sim froze up and stuttered several times and I lost the target. At least it didn't crash, and neither did I, but the Hurricane got away.

Dutch

[xpel]

As I fly this more & more, new matters come up that need attention to

Here are some more remarks, regarding the interaction FSCAI/FSX@War & FSCAI/Tacpack :

1. Secondary FSCAI explosions (by weapons of other AIs), may "kill" a target an AI is commited to and
is turning to re-engage, resulting in "Searching" for the AI. Problem is that AI can't "see" anything now...
It slowly takes height & leave the area or more commonly crashes on ground.

So, it seems that, an AI can realize properly that a target He was commited to, is destroyed & switch to another
target, only if target is destroyed by this AI. If target is destroyed by any other reason, malfunction occurs, leading to
crash of the AI.

2. While FSCAI/Tacpack interaction seems to work properly in A2A mode, this is not the case in A2G mode :
An AI of my team was doing circles to re-attack a ground target. I shot him with guns trying to shoot him down.
My feel is that he was resistant to take damage to my hits. But I'm sure, that though on fire & smoking & "disabled"
in FSCAI screen, he was still trying for the target while Tacpack struggled to make him go down.
Resulted in severe FPS drop.


Dutch, I would ask you to consider the ability of user to disable the "FSCAI target destruction System " when FSX@War
is present (the substitute damaged target part of it).

Also, in time, the FSCAI substitution of FSX@War targets that have been destroyed, with FSX@War destroyed targets
(ie, not the "tank" that is spawning right now. But you probably have already plans for this).

[Dutch Owen]

All good observations that we'll need to address probably next release. I think things are stable enough that we can collect a bug list to address rather than pushing out a new release every other day, unless some horrible showstopper rears its head like a crash situation, which I think we have now with a sound issue in p3d.