FMB Tutorial - Home
PART ONE: Player Ground AttackIf you're all sorted with your level-bombing missions, let's have a look at fighter-bombing and dive-bombing.
We'll need to take a different approach for this part of the tutorial. Tech Help questions about fighter-bombing and dive-bombing missions usually go something like this: "My [insert pet plane here] doesn't [insert one: dive, level, skip] bomb... why not?" Truthfully, the answer is that the game doesn't care much what you
want it to do, it just does what it does. The trick is to understand what your game
can do (and
your game might be quite different to mine or the next guy's) and build the best missions you can accordingly. That means you have to actually
test your game first, and that's what this tutorial is all about.
Hopefully, in discussing how you might go about setting up some effective 'operational evaluation' missions, we'll also cover off everything you need to know to go build some rocking ground attack missions for
actual gameplay too.
First of all, we need a mission template: just some stationary planes, vehicles and objects will do nicely. I chose Haleiwa Field. During the war, Haleiwa Field was a temporary training field and fighter strip, with a couple of wooden buildings and not much else. Air and ground crews stationed there might bring some trucks and tents for an overnight stay. This is going to be the scene for our evaluation missions...
This time I haven't used 'proper' artillery or tanks etc, rather the stationary object versions
instead, the ones that don't actually open fire. We
don't want any friendly fire at Haleiwa... I'll explain why shortly. We'll want to spend a little time on it, Haleiwa is a forgotten battlefield now, but is actually where Taylor and Welch won their Pearl Harbor Distinguished Service Crosses:
Bellows was palatial beside Haleiwa Field, which had no installations at all. Originally used as an emergency landing field, in 1941 it had only an unpaved landing strip & it was in use to simulate real battle conditions for gunnery training. Those on temporary duty there had to bring their own tents & equipment.
On 7 December, the 47th Pursuit Squadron was at Haleiwa & there had its first taste of actual combat: The Americans took off - or tried to take off - in 3 distinct groups. The most successful were 5 pilots from the 47th Pursuit Squadron who survived a wild ride in 2 separate cars up from Wheeler Field, where they had spent the night, to Haleiwa Field, where their squadron was training. Just enough aircraft were available - five P-40s & a P-36A.
These 5 fliers accounted for as many as 7 aircraft.
The most successful, 2nd Lt. George Welch (4 victories), took off first & engaged the enemy over Ewa & Wahialua. Taylor & Welch were both awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
From the book "The Way It Was: Pearl Harbor, The Original Photographs" (via Tom Kramer)
...so make sure to give Haleiwa some love.
And, because I ain't
mean, here's a ready-made mission file you can use to get started, complete with some objects and two calibrated range facilities:
[MAIN]
MAP Hawaii/load.ini
TIME 12.0
CloudType 1
CloudHeight 1500.0
player UN_NN00
army 1
playerNum 0
[SEASON]
Year 1945
Month 4
Day 15
[WEATHER]
WindDirection 0.0
WindSpeed 0.0
Gust 0
Turbulence 0
[MDS]
MDS_Radar_SetRadarToAdvanceMode 0
MDS_Radar_RefreshInterval 0
MDS_Radar_DisableVectoring 0
MDS_Radar_EnableTowerCommunications 1
MDS_Radar_ShipsAsRadar 0
MDS_Radar_ShipRadar_MaxRange 100
MDS_Radar_ShipRadar_MinHeight 100
MDS_Radar_ShipRadar_MaxHeight 5000
MDS_Radar_ShipSmallRadar_MaxRange 25
MDS_Radar_ShipSmallRadar_MinHeight 0
MDS_Radar_ShipSmallRadar_MaxHeight 2000
MDS_Radar_ScoutsAsRadar 0
MDS_Radar_ScoutRadar_MaxRange 2
MDS_Radar_ScoutRadar_DeltaHeight 1500
MDS_Radar_HideUnpopulatedAirstripsFromMinimap 0
MDS_Radar_ScoutGroundObjects_Alpha 5
MDS_Radar_ScoutCompleteRecon 0
MDS_Misc_DisableAIRadioChatter 0
MDS_Misc_DespawnAIPlanesAfterLanding 1
MDS_Misc_HidePlayersCountOnHomeBase 0
MDS_Misc_BombsCat1_CratersVisibilityMultiplier 1.0
MDS_Misc_BombsCat2_CratersVisibilityMultiplier 1.0
MDS_Misc_BombsCat3_CratersVisibilityMultiplier 1.0
[RespawnTime]
Bigship 1800
Ship 1800
Aeroanchored 1800
Artillery 1800
Searchlight 1800
[Wing]
UN_NN00
usa0101
[UN_NN00]
Planes 1
Skill 1
Class air.F6F5
Fuel 100
weapons default
[UN_NN00_Way]
TAKEOFF 244681.34 58686.43 0 0 &0
NORMFLY 241510.00 58670.00 300.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 238740.00 58680.00 500.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 238710.00 65420.00 1000.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 246250.00 66300.00 1000.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 250882.69 62180.19 1000.00 300.00 &0
GATTACK 244005.82 59114.59 1000.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 238910.00 59120.00 1000.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 238870.00 65580.00 1000.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 246320.00 66430.00 1000.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 250798.65 62471.25 1000.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 249279.18 59419.17 1000.00 300.00 &0
LANDING 246165.75 59084.17 0 0 &0
[usa0101]
Planes 1
Skill 1
Class air.C_47
Fuel 100
weapons default
[usa0101_Way]
NORMFLY 247243.14 59633.50 100.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 245772.59 59231.33 100.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 246256.81 57752.92 150.00 300.00 &0
NORMFLY 251260.47 55886.86 300.00 300.00 &0
LANDING 252518.25 53145.05 0 0 &0
[Chiefs]
0_Chief Vehicles.P40_Plane 1
1_Chief Vehicles.FireEngine 1
2_Chief Vehicles.JapanCarsColumnC 2
[0_Chief_Road]
245627.77 59011.75 120.00 0 2 2.0833334922790527
246060.97 59128.34 120.00 0 2 2.0833334922790527
246037.06 59165.62 120.00 0 2 2.0833334922790527
246013.19 59151.34 120.00
[1_Chief_Road]
246101.03 58996.05 120.00 0 2 4.722222328186035
245348.73 58791.18 120.00 0 2 4.722222328186035
245342.22 58749.98 120.00
[2_Chief_Road]
255700.05 55700.05 120.00 0 5 3.055555582046509
255700.00 55900.00 20.00
255700.00 56100.00 20.00
254300.00 57500.00 20.00
254100.08 57699.96 120.00 0 8 3.055555582046509
253900.00 57700.00 20.00
253300.00 57700.00 20.00
253100.00 57900.00 20.00
253100.00 58500.00 20.00
252300.00 59300.00 20.00
251500.00 59300.00 20.00
251300.00 59299.95 120.00
[NStationary]
26_Static vehicles.planes.PlaneNewStatics$F8F2 1 245245.06 58717.68 360.00 0.0 us
108_Static vehicles.planes.PlaneNewStatics$F8F2 1 244488.33 58850.85 397.20 0.0 us
109_Static vehicles.planes.PlaneNewStatics$F4U_4 1 245494.99 59016.71 450.30 0.0 us
110_Static vehicles.planes.Plane$A_20G 1 245154.17 58702.50 290.10 0.0 us
111_Static vehicles.planes.PlaneNewStatics$F4U_4 1 244935.16 58480.38 229.30 0.0 us
112_Static vehicles.planes.PlaneNewStatics$F4U_4 1 245631.87 59057.14 415.60 0.0 us
113_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$_50calMG_water_US 1 246037.59 58886.79 421.90 0.0
114_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$_50calMG_water_US 1 244406.22 58914.08 555.10 0.0
115_Static vehicles.stationary.Campfire$CampfireAirfield 0 244456.50 58879.18 555.10 0.0
116_Static vehicles.stationary.Smoke$Smoke7 0 244456.52 58878.78 555.10 0.60
117_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$DiamondT_US 1 244475.35 58850.02 426.30 0.0
118_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$DiamondT_US 1 244470.37 58843.39 647.20 0.0
119_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_radio_US 1 244483.96 58873.20 689.10 0.0
120_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_medic_US 1 244486.55 58868.76 647.20 0.0
121_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_flatbed_US 1 244483.84 58879.45 499.10 0.0
122_Static vehicles.stationary.Smoke$Smoke7 0 245255.19 58719.56 555.10 0.60
123_Static vehicles.stationary.Campfire$CampfireAirfield 0 245255.17 58719.96 555.10 0.0
124_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$DiamondT_US 1 245603.43 59049.10 697.20 0.0
125_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$DiamondT_US 1 245616.41 59055.76 686.30 0.0
126_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$DiamondT_US 1 245224.06 58724.91 554.71 0.0
127_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$DiamondT_US 1 245258.37 58690.31 426.30 0.0
128_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 244000.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
129_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 244020.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
130_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 244040.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
131_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 244060.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
132_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 244080.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
133_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 244100.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
134_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 243980.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
135_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 243940.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
136_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 243920.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
137_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 243900.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
138_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 243960.00 59100.00 540.00 0.0
139_Static ships.Ship$USSEssexCV9 1 246208.58 66486.60 381.70 0.0 120 2 1.0
140_Static ships.Ship$USSKiddDD661 1 246222.22 66152.49 381.70 0.0 120 2 1.0
141_Static ships.Ship$USSFletcherDD445 1 238790.47 65477.85 405.90 0.0 120 2 1.0
142_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$WillisMBt_US 1 250829.55 62360.45 403.09 0.0
143_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$WillisMBt_US 1 250886.45 62306.93 411.09 0.0
144_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$WillisMBt_US 1 250898.41 62240.09 446.33 0.0
145_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$WillisMBt_US 1 238716.97 58742.87 403.09 0.0
146_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_flatbed_US 1 238675.22 58753.97 366.77 0.0
147_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_flatbed_US 1 249299.76 59314.20 630.51 0.0
148_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_flatbed_US 1 249299.60 59544.41 630.01 0.0
149_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_flatbed_US 1 249299.59 59653.18 630.20 0.0
150_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_radio_US 1 241734.38 58715.09 566.43 0.0
151_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 62000.00 630.00 0.0
152_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 61980.00 630.00 0.0
153_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 61960.00 630.00 0.0
154_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 61940.00 630.00 0.0
155_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 61920.00 630.00 0.0
156_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 61900.00 630.00 0.0
157_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 62020.00 630.00 0.0
158_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 62040.00 630.00 0.0
159_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 62060.00 630.00 0.0
160_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 62080.00 630.00 0.0
161_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Truck_Type94 2 252000.00 62100.00 630.00 0.0
162_Static vehicles.planes.Plane$F6F5 1 244879.46 58464.23 253.60 0.0 us
163_Static vehicles.planes.Plane$F6F5 1 244861.67 58475.37 293.30 0.0 us
164_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_flatbed_US 1 244852.24 58465.22 499.10 0.0
165_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_medic_US 1 244854.95 58454.53 647.20 0.0
166_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$Chevrolet_radio_US 1 244852.36 58458.97 689.10 0.0
167_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$DiamondT_US 1 244879.81 58434.75 647.20 0.0
168_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$DiamondT_US 1 244887.47 58434.39 426.30 0.0
169_Static vehicles.stationary.Smoke$Smoke7 0 244824.92 58464.55 555.10 0.60
170_Static vehicles.stationary.Campfire$CampfireAirfield 0 244824.90 58464.95 555.10 0.0
171_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$_50calMG_water_US 1 244773.73 58508.48 555.10 0.0
172_Static vehicles.planes.PlaneNewStatics$F8F2 1 244905.43 58471.95 262.20 0.0 us
173_Static vehicles.planes.Plane$A_20G 1 245128.85 58657.84 311.50 0.0 us
174_Static vehicles.planes.Plane$A_20G 1 245090.91 58629.63 340.90 0.0 us
175_Static vehicles.planes.Plane$C_47 1 245593.66 58753.23 369.21 0.0 us
176_Static vehicles.stationary.Stationary$DiamondT_US 1 245580.73 58743.05 438.59 0.0
[Buildings]
0_bld House$FurnitureSandbags_Round 1 246037.69 58886.77 626.50
1_bld House$FurnitureSandbags_Round 1 244405.76 58914.32 400.59
2_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 244402.90 58914.40 642.20
3_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 246034.73 58888.10 470.39
4_bld House$Tente-abri 1 244478.61 58886.92 556.00
5_bld House$Tente-abri 1 244464.66 58851.52 622.50
6_bld House$Tente-abri 1 244440.61 58890.44 369.21
7_bld House$Tente-QG 1 244437.52 58861.76 674.49
8_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 244479.64 58888.71 391.50
9_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 244481.28 58887.20 474.72
10_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 244441.16 58892.18 555.10
11_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 244442.13 58890.74 649.00
12_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 244439.98 58864.94 589.09
13_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 244440.35 58863.72 682.92
14_bld House$46TRBoxes 1 244407.43 58915.57 397.20
15_bld House$46TRBoxes 1 246034.42 58885.70 607.60
16_bld House$46TRBoxes 1 245620.98 59064.07 712.20
17_bld House$46TRBoxes 1 245620.89 59065.66 447.70
18_bld House$46TRBoxes 1 245485.54 59009.65 397.20
19_bld House$46TRBoxes 1 244486.75 58848.50 372.70
20_bld House$46GRBoxes 1 244464.62 58851.48 397.20
21_bld House$46SteeLadder 1 244487.25 58853.48 661.29
22_bld House$46Radio 1 244478.24 58887.85 373.40
23_bld House$46MCycle 1 244438.51 58868.97 462.39
24_bld House$46MCycle 1 244435.84 58867.59 599.30
25_bld House$46FTankRU 1 244473.28 58855.22 430.69
26_bld House$Human_01 1 244439.29 58869.78 499.10
27_bld House$Human_02 1 244435.25 58867.79 709.13
28_bld House$Human_04 1 244439.23 58863.72 469.30
29_bld House$Human_05 1 244436.62 58867.37 499.10
30_bld House$Human_10 1 244436.44 58868.49 479.39
31_bld House$Human_10 1 244438.37 58865.66 621.43
32_bld House$Human_10 1 244473.65 58847.80 651.80
33_bld House$Human_10 1 244483.01 58876.38 472.39
34_bld House$Human_10 1 244405.61 58911.99 538.30
35_bld House$Human_10 1 244488.80 58846.04 610.21
36_bld House$Human_04 1 244489.60 58851.56 635.23
37_bld House$Mechanic_02 1 244486.94 58853.04 499.10
38_bld House$46SteeLadder 1 244488.92 58848.91 411.40
39_bld House$Mechanic_01 1 244483.85 58880.21 366.00
40_bld House$46TRBoxesRaised 1 244484.77 58880.28 397.20
41_bld House$AirdromeBarrelBlock3 1 244486.22 58880.48 381.80
42_bld House$Human_04 1 244487.04 58880.59 514.10
43_bld House$Human_01 1 244459.30 58877.96 554.90
44_bld House$Human_02 1 244458.55 58880.96 489.50
45_bld House$Human_10 1 244461.09 58879.99 538.40
46_bld House$Human_10 1 245237.04 58706.44 621.43
47_bld House$Human_10 1 245235.11 58709.27 479.39
48_bld House$Human_05 1 245235.29 58708.15 499.10
49_bld House$Human_04 1 245237.90 58704.50 469.30
50_bld House$Human_02 1 245233.92 58708.57 709.13
51_bld House$Human_01 1 245237.96 58710.56 499.10
52_bld House$46MCycle 1 245234.51 58708.37 599.30
53_bld House$46MCycle 1 245237.18 58709.75 462.39
54_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 245239.02 58704.50 682.92
55_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 245238.65 58705.72 589.09
56_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 245240.80 58731.52 649.00
57_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 245239.83 58732.96 555.10
58_bld House$Tente-QG 1 245236.19 58702.54 674.49
59_bld House$Tente-abri 1 245239.28 58731.22 369.21
60_bld House$Human_01 1 245257.97 58718.74 554.90
61_bld House$Human_02 1 245257.23 58721.74 489.50
62_bld House$Human_10 1 245259.76 58720.77 538.40
63_bld House$Human_10 1 245619.32 59068.35 691.23
64_bld House$Human_10 1 245632.52 59073.30 434.39
65_bld House$Human_05 1 245633.44 59072.64 454.10
66_bld House$Human_04 1 245617.07 59067.61 424.30
67_bld House$Human_02 1 245632.18 59071.97 664.13
68_bld House$Human_01 1 245633.62 59076.23 454.10
69_bld House$46MCycle 1 245632.73 59072.24 554.30
70_bld House$46MCycle 1 245633.65 59075.11 417.39
71_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 245617.86 59068.40 637.92
72_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 245616.73 59069.00 544.09
73_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 245631.26 59076.03 604.00
74_bld House$kucha_meshkov_2 1 245629.55 59076.36 510.10
75_bld House$Tente-QG 1 245617.24 59065.01 629.49
76_bld House$Tente-abri 1 245630.39 59074.74 684.21
77_bld House$Human_10 1 245620.32 59054.35 547.60
78_bld House$46FTankRU 1 245611.61 59052.78 691.69
79_bld House$46GRBoxes 1 245627.18 59059.13 712.20
80_bld House$Tente-abri 1 245614.22 59045.67 577.50
81_bld House$Human_10 1 245227.73 58721.53 708.40
82_bld House$46FTankRU 1 245255.92 58695.89 430.69
83_bld House$46GRBoxes 1 245225.01 58721.09 397.20
84_bld House$Tente-abri 1 245232.15 58706.27 674.71
85_bld House$DBmbTargetRing 1 245199.46 59100.17 494.71
86_bld House$BannerLW 1 245000.00 59100.32 449.71
87_bld House$BannerLW 1 244900.00 59100.00 449.71
88_bld House$BannerLW 1 244800.00 59100.00 449.71
89_bld House$BannerLW 1 244700.00 59100.00 449.71
90_bld House$BannerLW 1 244600.00 59100.00 449.71
91_bld House$BannerLW 1 244400.00 59100.00 449.71
92_bld House$BannerLW 1 244300.00 59100.00 449.71
93_bld House$BannerLW 1 244200.00 59100.00 449.71
94_bld House$BannerLW 1 244100.00 59100.00 449.71
95_bld House$BannerLW 1 243900.00 59100.00 449.71
96_bld House$BannerLW 1 243800.00 59100.00 449.71
97_bld House$BannerLW 1 243700.00 59100.00 449.71
98_bld House$BannerLW 1 243600.00 59100.00 449.71
99_bld House$BannerLW 1 243400.00 59100.00 449.71
100_bld House$BannerLW 1 243300.00 59100.00 449.71
101_bld House$BannerLW 1 243200.00 59100.00 449.71
102_bld House$BannerLW 1 243100.00 59100.00 449.71
103_bld House$WhiteZero 1 244000.00 59080.00 360.00
104_bld House$WhiteOne 1 243900.00 59080.00 360.00
105_bld House$WhiteTwo 1 243800.00 59080.00 360.00
106_bld House$WhiteThree 1 243700.00 59080.00 360.00
107_bld House$WhiteFour 1 243600.00 59080.00 360.00
108_bld House$WhiteFive 1 243500.00 59080.00 360.00
109_bld House$WhiteSix 1 243400.00 59080.00 360.00
110_bld House$WhiteSeven 1 243300.00 59080.00 360.00
111_bld House$WhiteEight 1 243200.00 59080.00 360.00
112_bld House$WhiteNine 1 243100.00 59080.00 360.00
113_bld House$WhiteZero 1 243000.00 59080.00 360.00
114_bld House$WhiteOne 1 244100.00 59080.00 360.00
115_bld House$WhiteTwo 1 244200.00 59080.00 360.00
116_bld House$WhiteThree 1 244300.00 59080.00 360.00
117_bld House$WhiteFour 1 244400.00 59080.00 360.00
118_bld House$WhiteFive 1 244500.00 59080.00 360.00
119_bld House$WhiteSix 1 244600.00 59080.00 360.00
120_bld House$WhiteSeven 1 244700.00 59080.00 360.00
121_bld House$WhiteEight 1 244800.00 59080.00 360.00
122_bld House$WhiteNine 1 244900.00 59080.00 360.00
123_bld House$WhiteZero 1 245000.00 59080.00 360.00
124_bld House$BannerLW 1 244900.00 59100.00 360.00
125_bld House$BannerLW 1 244800.00 59100.00 360.00
126_bld House$BannerLW 1 244700.00 59100.00 360.00
127_bld House$BannerLW 1 244600.00 59100.00 360.00
128_bld House$BannerLW 1 244400.00 59100.00 360.00
129_bld House$BannerLW 1 244300.00 59100.00 360.00
130_bld House$BannerLW 1 244200.00 59100.00 360.00
131_bld House$BannerLW 1 244100.00 59100.00 360.00
132_bld House$BannerLW 1 243900.00 59100.00 360.00
133_bld House$BannerLW 1 243800.00 59100.00 360.00
134_bld House$BannerLW 1 243700.00 59100.00 360.00
135_bld House$BannerLW 1 243600.00 59100.00 360.00
136_bld House$BannerLW 1 243400.00 59100.00 360.00
137_bld House$BannerLW 1 243300.00 59100.00 360.00
138_bld House$BannerLW 1 243200.00 59100.00 360.00
139_bld House$BannerLW 1 243100.00 59100.00 360.00
140_bld House$BannerLW 1 243150.00 59100.00 360.00
141_bld House$BannerLW 1 243050.00 59100.00 360.00
142_bld House$BannerLW 1 243250.00 59100.00 360.00
143_bld House$BannerLW 1 243350.00 59100.00 360.00
144_bld House$BannerLW 1 243550.00 59100.00 360.00
145_bld House$BannerLW 1 243450.00 59100.00 360.00
146_bld House$BannerLW 1 243650.00 59100.00 360.00
147_bld House$BannerLW 1 243750.00 59100.00 360.00
148_bld House$BannerLW 1 243850.00 59100.00 360.00
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151_bld House$BannerLW 1 244150.00 59100.00 360.00
152_bld House$BannerLW 1 244250.00 59100.00 360.00
153_bld House$BannerLW 1 244350.00 59100.00 360.00
154_bld House$BannerLW 1 244450.00 59100.00 360.00
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160_bld House$BannerLR 1 244000.00 59100.00 449.71
161_bld House$BannerLR 1 244000.00 59100.00 360.00
162_bld House$BannerLW 1 243000.00 59100.00 449.71
163_bld House$BannerLW 1 244500.00 59100.00 360.00
164_bld House$BannerLW 1 244500.00 59100.00 449.71
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166_bld House$BannerLW 1 243500.00 59100.00 360.00
167_bld House$BannerLW 1 243000.00 59100.00 360.00
168_bld House$BannerLW 1 245000.00 59100.00 360.00
169_bld House$BannerLW 1 244000.00 59000.00 540.00
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171_bld House$BannerLW 1 244000.00 59000.00 450.00
172_bld House$BannerLW 1 244000.00 59200.00 450.00
173_bld House$BannerLW 1 244100.00 59000.00 360.00
174_bld House$BannerLW 1 243900.00 59000.00 360.00
175_bld House$BannerLW 1 243900.00 59200.00 360.00
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177_bld House$BannerLW 1 243900.00 59200.00 630.00
178_bld House$BannerLW 1 244100.00 59200.00 630.00
179_bld House$BannerLW 1 244100.00 59000.00 630.00
180_bld House$BannerLW 1 243900.00 59000.00 630.00
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192_bld House$BannerLW 1 252000.00 62500.00 630.00
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264_bld House$DBmbTargetRing 1 252000.00 60850.00 585.00
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266_bld House$BannerLW 1 251900.00 61900.00 630.00
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268_bld House$BannerLW 1 252100.00 62000.00 630.00
269_bld House$BannerLW 1 251900.00 62100.00 630.00
270_bld House$BannerLW 1 252100.00 62100.00 630.00
271_bld House$BannerLW 1 251900.00 62100.00 540.00
272_bld House$BannerLW 1 251900.00 62000.00 540.00
273_bld House$BannerLW 1 251900.00 61900.00 540.00
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275_bld House$BannerLW 1 252100.00 62100.00 540.00
276_bld House$BannerLW 1 252100.00 62000.00 540.00
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280_bld House$Human_04 1 244855.44 58466.36 514.10
281_bld House$AirdromeBarrelBlock3 1 244854.62 58466.25 381.80
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[Target]
1 0 1 30 1000 243990 59107 150
3 1 1 45 501 245429 58884 850
3 2 1 50 501 244899 58488 100
1 1 1 35 1000 252004 61996 150
0 1 1 35 1000 254001 57459 0 1 2_Chief 254100 57699
[StaticCamera]
243999 58898 100
252200 61999 100
[Bridge]
[House]
Text code like this is a nice easy way to share mission files. To use it, first make a copy of an existing .mis file in one of your Single missions folders (in the root directory of your game) and rename it e.g. '
Bearcat Bomber_Demo'. Then just click 'select' in the header line '
Code: [Select]' immediately above the code box to select
all the code, then right click the now highlighted code and 'copy'. To finish off all you do is delete all the code in the Bearcat Bomber_Demo.mis file and paste in the new code from this thread. Now, open 'Bearcat Bomber_Demo' in the FMB and finish the mission design off to
your taste, and add some pilot notes to the briefing to reflect the important things
you want to remember when you are loading up the mission. I've swapped out the Bearcat for a stock F6F-5 (just in case you don't have the Bearcat installed yet - why the hell not!?) and the nice thing about mission files (unlike maps) is that any objects in
my code that don't exist in your install will simply be deleted when
you save the .mis file inside
your FMB. Nice, right?
You
will need Jones' Runway Numbers v1.2 for the full desired effect (not included in DBW AFAIK):
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,12940.0.htmlOk. The concept for this set of missions is that we've laid out some range facilities at Haleiwa, and placed some targets to test techniques for building ground attack missions.
Why bother?
Here's the thing. Over the years, patches, mod-packs, AI mods, new aircraft and objects - have all changed the parameters for ground attack missions to a greater or lesser degree, such that there is no one answer to how best build fighter-bomber missions. We can provide some general guidelines, but the only way to know for sure how a particular AI aircraft will perform, or whether a particular weapon can defeat a particular target... is to test it yourself and observe the results,
then use the intel in your mission designs.
To give you an example: when mod aircraft are created, the designer can choose to implement one or more aircraft 'types' for his plane, such as:
TypeAcePlane
TypeBNZFighter
TypeBomber
TypeDiveBomber
TypeFighter
TypeFighterAceMaker
TypeScout
TypeSturmovik
TypeTNBFighter
... to name a few.
Potentially each of these types can produce a different AI behavior in any given scenario. Add on top of that different flavors of AI mods, and modified weapon values, and modified target armor values... You can see there's an exponential set of variables a mission designer is confronted with, even if you
can read the java files, and most of us can't and probably don't want to because we value our sanity!
The good news is though, that once you've tested something, the results are highly reproducible (it is all ones and zeros after all!) so you
can build effective missions - provided you don't mod your install (at least
too much) every five minutes. If you're building missions for your mates, take into account that a consistent base is desirable, which is where big packs like
Dark Blue World and
UltraPack really shine, although even DBW
is regularly updated.
Makes sense, no?
OK, since we're all agreed that testing and evaluation missions
are a good idea, especially for ground attack, let's have a look at our range facility:
Hopefully, this layout will make sense as we go along. Since we now have a range facility, let's set up our first mission.
The most basic form of ground attack is strafing - to start with we need just one aircraft (the player's) and some waypoints: takeoff, navigation, initial point, target GATTACK point, egress/rally point, navigation, approach and line-up. There's a lot to learn in even such a simple solo mission, and with some challenging target objectives added, why not make it fun as well?
The primary target is eleven trucks, evenly spaced 20 meters apart on our range facility at -100 to + 100 meters. Waypoint '5' is our initial point, Waypoint '6' is a GATTACK waypoint (
not set to a target) and waypoint 7 is our egress/rally point. In a 'real' mission waypoint 7 is a bit too close for a proper rally point, but it will be fine for our purposes here.
These targets are the reason we have no 'live' artillery in this mission - the artillery would take out the targets while we're still dicking around taking off!
There's a serious point to consider here - I've flown plenty of missions where my objective has been taken out by ground or naval fire before I even arrive, and cursed a thousand poxes on the mission builder for wasting my time -
don't you make the same mistake. The pox is nasty.
The target objective is DESTROY GROUND and includes all eleven trucks. I've set a 'TimeOut' to keep things interesting, and the destruction value is 100%. Even with just one fighter - the trucks don't stand a chance!
One thing I hope you test in your research are the different views available to the player.
F7 External Padlock Enemy Ground is great for helping the player find the target, and works very reliably.
F5 Internal Padlock Enemy Ground is really important (I'll explain why soon) but unfortunately is poorly implemented in the game. (I have all my favorite views mapped to my HOTAS by the way.) I hope you try it out, but I expect you'll find the F5 view works not at all down by the beach at the primary range. The F5 view seems to be badly affected by terrain, and especially by water and coastline. So, I've built a secondary range facility at map reference DH-67 and given it a secondary DESTROY GROUND target objective. At this secondary range you'll probably find that the F5 view works
sometimes - I was able to internally padlock about half of the (secondary range) trucks myself. The secondary range also simulates 'targets of opportunity' since there are no waypoints or GATTACK points assigned to the target area. We'll explore this more in our next mission with an AI wingman, but in the meanwhile please have a crack at it solo, and especially please try all the different views.
I've also added a mobile 'target of opportunity' at map reference DH-66: a truck convoy of three waypoints. I've assigned a target objective to the middle waypoint - so if your difficulty settings include map icons, the icon will appear at this middle waypoint to help the player locate the target area.
The convoy also has a secondary target objective attached. The DESTROY objective is perfect for convoys and moving ground targets, and works just like the DESTROY objective in our previous interception missions. I've set the destruction level at 100%.
Convoys and moving vehicles are selected from the the Vehicles menu. Convoys especially are perfectly suited to placing on the road network. Place a few waypoints on the road network and the game engine has some limited pathfinding ability to 'fill in' the route automatically. For a cross-country route (perfect for tracked vehicles e.g tanks) place or drag the waypoints away from the road network.
Convoys look like this in the FMB, but once you get in-game they will spawn in a single column with the correct facing to begin their route. F5 view works very well for moving targets:
The F5 internal padlock is great for
identifying mobile targets from inside the cockpit (it'll help you sort out those targets you've already killed too) but it's recommended to switch back to normal gunsight view for your weapons pass - the padlock view rotates very quickly as you pass near the target, and you
don't want to be disoriented this close to the ground!
So, we already have some basic 'rules' for effective ground attack missions. DESTROY GROUND targets and F7 View are great for stationary vehicles; DESTROY targets and F5 View are great for mobile vehicles. What else can we learn from a mission like this?
Swap your loadouts for rockets and bombs, and swap out your targets for tracked vehicles and tanks. Make notes of which loadouts are effective against which targets you're interested in for your missions. You can also note how many effective passes you can make with a given loadout, which will help you balance your missions before you even start designing them - saving you time and effort in the long run. Think of your test flights as real operational evaluations. You can make notes on minimum stall recovery altitudes, minimum speeds, dive angles, effective weapon damage radii, sight 'pictures' for effective weapons delivery... Include pilot notes to flesh out your mission briefings if you like. Really, the only limit is your imagination.
Practice locating targets with the different view modes, and identifying targets with the magnified gunsight view. Try out different strategies for using landmarks to orient your attacks - following roads is a great trick for locating vehicle columns, or follow the tracks to nail trains. Mix and match tactics: you might find you like setting up enfilade strafing runs against the long axis of a target array to take out multiple targets in one pass (six-gun fighters like the F6F-5 or the eight-gun P-47 are great for this!) or a broadside or oblique approach with slower firing cannon (like the Bearcat) for precision strikes on individual targets. Develop awareness of terrain (terra firma and cumulus granite are the arch enemies of ground attack pilots everywhere - even virtual ones!) and patience to pull out of a bad approach. All this knowledge can be used to improve your mission designs and bring your briefings and pilot notes to life. If you read about an interesting tactic employed by your favourite pilot or squadron, try to replicate it here on our weapons range, then add it to your missions.
Cool huh! I could listen to Dart chatting about this stuff all day. Frank 'Dart' Giger is a contributing editor at SimHQ.com so he's well worth a watch.
Try designing a mission or two to test Dart's ideas out for yourself... our 'Bearcat Bomber_01' mission is a perfect template for this sort of stuff. For example you could replace the trucks at the primary range with some live 'red' artillery (red so they don't blow the shit out of everything else already) and add a 'blue' air-start flightplan to practice your AAA suppression. I've added some static cameras for you (Ctrl-F2) so make sure to record your missions (Keyboard Q) and the calibrated range(s) will hopefully help you evaluate your performance.
Here's just one example of how you could use our range facility: On this occasion, I'm working on a high-speed, low altitude, lay-down attack with bombs.
Make a quick NTRK recording of the mission and play the weapons run at slow-speed.
Pause the recording at weapons release.
You have a wealth of information at your fingertips: Speed and altitude...
... alignment to the target...
... and sight picture, for example. Throttle and pitch settings are important to note too.
And with the range camera, we can see how I did. 175 metres long... so not very good. ( I completely fluffed the first run - my joystick button assignments were screwed up, so I came around again from the 'wrong' western end of the range.) But, armed with this intel, and I can adjust my technique and do better next time:
Only 20 meters long (from the east this run) that'll get the job done most days!
This time we can also see the damage radius of our weapon against a particular target - let's say 80 meters for this example. Good to know.
Next sortie I scored
all the trucks from the primary target and one secondary target, with bombs and cannon inside the time limit - so well worth the effort I think.
Okie Dokie! Did you have some fun with that? Save different versions with your favourite planes and loadouts, call 'em 'CorsairF4UD_HVAR_v_Tanks' or something similar and you'll be able to quickly come back to them if you want to evaluate something new, say a new AI download or whatever.
You
should also know that chicks
dig dudes who do FMB... even Angelina.
"How
you doin' FMB Guy?"
See. Told you.
PART TWO: AI Ground AttackIt's one thing to build fighter-bomber missions for the player - all you need is some targets, fly straight, shoot straight - Bob's yer Uncle. You can dive bomb, level bomb, strafe, rocket... whatever you like. Getting the AI to fighter-bomb? That's a
different story all together.
Go to the FMB and reload trusty old 'Bearcat Bomber_01' with default cannon loadout and trucks. This time make just one change:
add a single wingman. Refly the mission and observe the AI behaviour. Refly the mission on auto-pilot and accelerated time, observe the action on the in-game mini-map with icons and paths activated in the difficulty options - you'll easily see how the AI responds at different waypoints: for example your AI wingman will fall into 'line astern' formation as you pass the ingress waypoint prior to the GATTACK waypoint (remember the AI has the properties of the waypoint it is flying
too). Swap out the Bearcat for a plane you're particularly interested in, swap out loadouts and targets for those you're planning to use in your next mission design; add more wingmen, try the wingman and flight command menus in game and see what happens. Once you observe the 'rhythm' of how the AI flys ground attack, you can co-ordinate your own weapons passes with your AI wingman in quite a satisying way.
I can't tell you exactly what will happen - it
depends, which is the whole reason for this tutorial.
Activate the auto-pilot and observe the action in the in-game map, accelerate the time... the overall AI behavior is easy to observe this way. AI mods may alter the behavior of your transistor-head wingmen. CY6's 'ground attack upgrade' AI mod is particularly recommended for fans of mud moving:
AI Ground Attack Upgrade ModThere are several versions now, where CY6's mod has been incorporated into other new mods as well.
Note: You'll need to do your
own research as to which version is best for
your setup. Here's a couple:
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,23327.0.htmlhttps://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,12301.0.htmlAnother very useful fighter-bombing AI mod is this one, by CY6 again:
Attack Ground Targets Order Range Increase ModI use all these mods, and highly recommend them.
Example A: Here's a reminder how to set up a basic DESTROY GROUND mission against stationary targets (the truck column at our primary range). Your AI wingmen will attack ground targets they find near the GATTACK waypoint with no intervention from the player (depending on wingman and flight orders issued previously in the mission). It's useful to observe the weapons delivery profiles that the AI employs, and factor that information into your mission designs too:
Example B: To setup a mission targeting the mobile column at map ref DH-66, we 'Set' the GATTACK waypoint to the mobile target, and this time 'Set' a DESTROY target objective (note again that the DESTROY objective is context sensitive). When your AI wingmen 'see' the target, they'll attack.
Tip: Note that as your wingmen approach the GATTACK waypoint they automatically adopt a line-astern formation - so don't plot the previous waypoint (initial point)
too close, preventing the formation from shaking out: 7-10kms should do.
Example C: Lots of guys seem to have trouble with getting their AI fighters to use bombs effectively. With either the stationary target setup in Example A, or the mobile target setup in Example B, it is easy to evaluate the bombing performance of different aircraft using our mission 'template' (above). The official IL-2 manual tells us that fighters will level-bomb under 1300 meteres, and in our mission template the 'Initial Point' waypoint and the GATTACK waypoint are both set at 1000 metres and 300kph, and there is 7,000 - 10,000 metres between them to allow for the bomb run. The 'rally point' (waypoint
following the GATTACK waypoint) is 5,000 metres further on in our template mission, although I'd usually recommend 7,000 - 10,000 metres for most missions (and in fact this is a very good rule-of-thumb minimum for
all waypoints). The rally point in the template is also 1000m altitude and 300kph like the GATTACK and IP waypoints (another good rule-of-thumb).
This simple formula will work for most missions I would suggest, and the Bearcat certainly does very well, entering a shallow dive to the target...
... and bombing accurately.
Example D: You're going to
love this!
In Examples A to C, the AI is so designed that it performs very nicely indeed for 'cab-rank' style fighter-bombing, say of the type that 2nd Tactical Air Force Typhoons performed over the Falaise Pocket in 1944. Your AI fighters and fighter-bombers will make multiple, shallow diving passes until there are no more targets, or their ammo is expended... or they're shot down.
But... what say you want to build a mission for a Luftwaffe 'Jabo' unit in 1942/3; or recreate a low-level presicion strike, such as that by the RAF Mosquito 'Gestapo Hunters'; or a 'One-Pass Haul-Ass' jet era mission? Well then... you need
this:
CY6 Command and Control ModIf you don't already have this astonishingly clever mod, give yourself an uppercut and get it now. Right now! If you've made it this far in the FMB tutorials, you can consider yourself a
true fan, and that being the case, I'll
guarantee you spend months exploring this treasure chest of mods - or you'll get your money back. From CY6. Kidding. Major kudos to CY6 - these mods are simply brilliant. For now, we need to look closely at the 'Aimpoint' object.
What does the Aimpoint object do you might ask? I can't explain it better than the 21 page (!) readme that comes with this mod/s, which says the aimpoint is amongst other things a "level drop-point for fighter bombers". The readme explains how it works:
"Place over the target you wish to bomb, and make sure the friendly a/c you wish to drop over the target will pass over it. Do NOT set a GATTACK waypoint, just a NORMFLY waypoint, preferably somewhere past the object, so that the plane will simply overfly it. Fighter-bombers will release all ordnance and continue on their way. This is a good way to simulate 'one pass, haul ass' type strikes."Let's add the Aimpoint object to our mission template and see how it looks. I've saved the template as a new mission: the first thing to do is swap the Bearcat out for a 'proper' fighter-bomber - by which we mean an aircraft that has been modelled with the appropriate java class as we discussed above. How do you know which planes? Like we've been saying, you need to test 'em and see. Let your intuition guide you to a degree, then jump in and test your bird right here in our evaluation template. It's this, or learn java.
Hopefully, the point of this tutorial is making more and more sense? The Aimpoint object
doesn't work for the Bearcat mod, which (as yet) doesn't include the 'fighter-bomber' code, and is in that sense a 'pure' fighter.
OK. I chose the AD-4 Skyraider ('cos I could!) for this example. Of course, the Skyraider is another fab CY6 mod, which is only fitting. I've also made the primary flight an AI only job, and given myself an observer Bearcat so I can keep an eye on things in-game. I've swapped targets to the stationary column at the secondary range at map ref DH-67 - the primary range is too close to the airfield for this mission so that the Aimpoint object can trigger a bomb release while the Spads climb out of Haleiwa. I've also extended the flight plan to the north, since the 'AI only' flight needs a little more room to maneuver than a player controlled flight does. The bomb run (initial point, normal waypoint filling in where the GATTACK point would otherwise be, and rally point) is from the north, directly over the target at 100 metres (300 feet) and 400 kph (250 mph) with 7000 metres (yards) between the three bomb run waypoints.
Here's the setup in detail: the centre of the range and stationary truck 'column', the Aimpoint object (the '?' icon), the normfly 'target' waypoint, and the DESTROY GROUND target objective. The AI flight will come hurtling down the flightplan directly over the target at low level (no shallow dives this time) and the Aimpoint object will trigger release of all bombs onboard the AI fighter-bombers. Then, the fighter-bombers will immediately egress to the next (rally) waypoint and depart the area. And how does it work in practice?
Spectacular!
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Topic: FMB Tutorial 08 - Fighter Bombers and Dive Bombers - Under Construction (Read 6648 times)
