More Dcs Mission Editor Question

Is there away to make multiple routes for a flight. Example. Player one fly to waypoint 2 at waypoint 2 orbits for taking. And then based on what ever targets spawn in goes east or west.

Can I have two sets of waypoints loaded in and the correct set activates based on what targets spawn. Or would I have to do that all inflight?

In the ME you cannot do that. To take advantage of waypoint sets for say, the Hornet - requires the data cartridge system we don’t have yet, but you can program them all manually in-flight now.

For AI, what you do is set all the waypoints as one big string and then use the Go To Waypoint function. So orbit at waypoint 2.
If flag set for task 1 - go to waypoint for that route section.
If flag set for task 2 - 
and so on.

At the end of a section, use a go to waypoint to skip to the go home waypoint so they don’t fly all the other profiles.

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What Wes said.
The waypoints could be prefixed with “E-” and “W-” for the East and West paths. But a lot of waypoints get overwhelming.
You could add a Message To All depending on which target is active, to help the pilot choose the correct waypoints.

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Yes, I was going to say something like T1 and T2 for task 1 and 2 prefixes. That works just as well.

Although, this only applies to airframes with digital displays that can show waypoint names.

Otherwise the messages is a great idea and use the waypoint #s if the plane only shows waypoint #s.

For the older ones without digital display, you’d likely have to just say “fly towards the town called _____” and allow people to use the map.

It would be nice if AWACS could give us vectors to ground targets.

I can set a f10 map point with triggers right?

I’m trying to get some unpredictability in my normal missions.

Actually, that would be a J-STARS aircraft (E-8C) which DCS does not have. E-3A only do A2A. (Same for E-2D and A-50 Mainstay)

Technically the only AWACS (Airborne Warning and ControlSystem) aircraft is the E-3A. The E-2 is designated as an AEW (Airborne Early Warning) aircraft although it has many control functions. The A-50 is designated by the US/NATO as AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control).

My understanding of the real world is that the distinctions are subtle
that all three perform essentially the same mission to various degrees of capability; the E-3A does it best.

In DCS, they all do AWACS mission pretty much equally well aside from different radar ranges

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You can put zones on the map and when a plane flies through them that can set a flag.
With MIST you can specify what type of unit, even by name, that will set a flag.
The zone could have a smoke marker or a flare, but you have to be pretty close to notice those.

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Map markers? Yes. In the editor they require a zone, but there’s a series of script commands for markToAll, markToCoalition, and markToGroup, which can be set at a point on the map without needing a zone.

https://wiki.hoggitworld.com/view/DCS_func_markToAll

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I want to make a mission where you go to a way point let’s say waypoint 2 and once there you get a tasking. For example a group of tanks to the east. Once you take that group out you would return to waypoint 2 or rearm refuel and return to waypoint 2 and then get another tasking.

I think I can pull this off with the random flag.

My question or questions would be would this be a once, switched, or continuous action at waypoint 2.

Also how could I keep from getting tasked to destroy the same group again?

If you use regular event conditions then it is a Switched Condition. If MIST it is a Once, but the flag will go On every second so I use a ‘latch’. I am happy to look at your mission tonight.

Making multiple random tasks is a bit trickier. Put in a lot of Messages To All as you develop the events so you can tell what is happening.

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Havent made it yet. Just at work thinking about it.
Can you write a condition with and or?

Example flag 1 false and flag 2=1 or flag 3=1.

I would want it to check flag 1 is false but then either flag 2=1 or flag 3=1

AND is the default behaviour of conditions. All described conditions must be true in order to allow a trigger to pass and perform its actions. There is indeed an OR function that allows you to make several conditions and only requiring a certain amount for the trigger to pass.

This is most certainly possible. You could make the following setup:

Flag is false (Flag 1)
Flag is true (Flag 2)
[OR]
Flag is false (Flag 1)
Flag is true (Flag 3)

the conditions between the [or] functions are automatically grouped with an invisible AND.

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What is the end state you are trying to achieve? It sounds like the idea is to be tasked randomly to hit various targets but at the end of the day, all the targets are attacked. If so, you just need to use some flags and Boolean logic.

Not being assigned the same target twice can be done with a trigger that looks to see if something at the target is not damaged or dead. So if you had an SA-6 site as the target, check the StraightFlush STR radar unit and a couple of launchers. Pick one or two units per target. That way, the system can reassign you to the same target if the target hasn’t been sufficiently damaged. But if it is, then it needs to run its random flag game again.

It’s all Boolean logic which makes my head hurt but in the end you can make almost anything work.

Right now my end game is random takings with all targets dead or at least tasked.

I was hoping I could do it all with flags. You said boolean and my head hurt. Lol

Does it have to be wrote like that or could it be

Flag is Flase[flag 1]
Flag is True[flag 2]
OR
Flag is True[Flag 3]

No. Because then it will check if either (flag 1 is false and flag 2 is true) OR (flag 3 is true) is correct. Whatever you want to be true needs to be on both sides of the OR function.

Gotcha. That makes sense.

Flags can be booleans :slight_smile: All my statements so far have been booleans. It simply means that they can be either true of false. Flags can also be integers, a number. For now they cannot be more complicated programming structures such as functions, strings or arrays.

I love DCS and its mission editor, you can get really far with just the flags. In other simulation type games you’ll have to resort to scripts much earlier to get a similar level of fidelity in mission making.

Good luck and have fun with mission making!

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I wondered why my hair hurt when I read your posts. :wink:

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Type string, expected bool