Player positioning within flights in Campaigns and Missions.
Setting up your Flight Regiments, Squadrons, and Flights in the FMB to work properly in your campaigns.
Player side information:
When a player accesses your campaign several things must be furnished.
The player has to make a choice of a pilot, and starting rank before starting a campaign.
If the player picks a low rank he will follow the AI in missions and be directed by the AI.
The player must meet target goals until he has made enough target goals and completed enough missions to be promoted in rank.. The player will be promoted to higher ranks by meeting target goals. It is possible to attain enough rank in a campaign to command a flight and eventually a squadron of up to 4 flights.
If a campaign is not built properly with the various Squadron and flight combinations the progressive nature of achievement by the player is non-existent. It has been common practice in campaigns to just tell players to select the highest rank and have full charge of Squadron and flights to start.
Campaign Builder information:
Setting up your flight regiments, squadrons, and flights is not difficult, but it does require some planning.
Single Mission building is simpler than campaign building, even though the Campaign is comprised of multiple missions in sequential or random playback. Normally in each single mission the "Plane 1" of the subfolders in the Object /aircraft has the player checked. In fact, normally the Squadron 1 and flight 1 will be set for the player. This normally should indicate the Player will be first in line in the first group of planes to take-off. In single mission building that would be the case unless the take-off order has been changed in the mission file.
Actual take-off order is specified in the respective mission file as below:
[MAIN]
MAP Kuban/load.ini
TIME 20.25
CloudType 0
CloudHeight 1000.0
player g0100
army 2
playerNum 0
[Wing]
g0100
g0101
g0102
r0100
[g0100]
Planes 4
Skill 3
Class air.BF_109G2
Fuel 100
weapons R6-MG151-20
The [Wing] specifies the takeoff order,.i.e. g0100 (squadron) would be first, g0101 (squadron) second, g0102 (squadron) third.
In campaigns this take-off order would remain the same.
The difference is that in campaigns the player rank will determine his actual take-off position and flight. The player box may be checked in Squadron 1 Flight 1, but that doesn't mean the player will take-off with squadron 1 Flight 1. The player rank and Squadron is the criteria for placement of the player, and the campaign builder must always be aware of this. The campaign programming will place the player in the flight regiment and then the player will be further placed according to rank. If the player is the lowest rank then it would be normal for placement as the last numbered flight in the last numbered squadron. Effectively, the player could end up in above described mission file in g0102 in Plane 4. The wingmen commands are only available when the player is of high enough rank to command a flight.
The campaign builder must be aware of this rank and squadron placement of the player constantly, especially if air starts are mingled with ground take-off starts.
An example might help at this point:
The player is defined in the FMB mission in Object/Aircraft/ as plane 1 and the player is checked for placement in squadron 1 flight 1 in a single mission. That would be the placement of the player regardless of rank in a single mission play.
If the mission is included in a campaign, then the player rank and squadron would determine the placement of the player…Squadron 1 can have up to 4 flights, and the players rank determines which of the 4 flights the player will be placed for play. Usually the lower the rank the further back the player is placed, i.e., oberwebel would probably be in Squadron 1 flight 4 and be in plane 4 of the flight.
This can be a bigger issue than it appears, because in a scramble with a could of flights in front of the player it would probably mean the player could be destroyed before take-off. If air starts are set for several flights of the player squadron the player could be air start. If you're building a campaign and want take-offs only for your players this could be issue.
It can be fun for players to start with lower rank. When building your campaigns remember that might very well be the case and prepare for it.
Example:
There are four flights of four aircraft or 16 aircraft from Squadron one taking off from the airbase. in sequential order at the starting waypoint time. If the player has been checked in Squadron 1 then the player will fly with squadron 1, but placed according to rank.
There are two flights of two aircraft or eight aircraft of Squadron two making an airstart at the starting waypoint time. If the player has been checked for Squadron 2 then the player will fly with squadron 2, but placed according to rank.
Conclusion: Your readme should tell the prospective player to take a high rank to start the campaign, or the player gets to follow the AI around. Some say it is a good way to learn. That is player choice of course.