Aircraft spawning question

[Pat Pattle]

Hi All,

The BoB install contains a number of 'ai' aircraft which contain the triggers for Geckos radio chatter mod.

All ai aircraft are set to spawn = 'y'. The more ai aircraft in the sim the more radio chatter you hear.

If I were to change all of the flyable aircraft to spawn = 'n' so that it's only the ai aircraft that spawn, what affect would that have on the campaign?

Thanks,

Clive

[Daiwilletti]

Hi All,

The BoB install contains a number of 'ai' aircraft which contain the triggers for Geckos radio chatter mod.

All ai aircraft are set to spawn = 'y'. The more ai aircraft in the sim the more radio chatter you hear.

If I were to change all of the flyable aircraft to spawn = 'n' so that it's only the ai aircraft that spawn, what affect would that have on the campaign?

Thanks,

Clive

Hi Clive, the short answer is that the campaign spawn sets (intercept.spawns, sweep.spawns,recon.spawns, etc) would need to move to specifying aircraft rather than using the randomised system. MAW does that a lot, only marred by dodgy entered service dates.

Also, the random air.spawns would have to call specific aircraft. MJ's spawn sets go some way towards this, with many more spawns called for in the spawn tables but not to the level of calling specific aircraft.

Not really a biggie.

By the way, I'm thinking of turning my campaign making attention to your Bob install, as it is a more confined sandpit for achieving some things, rather than interfering with the sprawling masterpiece which is ETO.

[rince33]

By the way, I'm thinking of turning my campaign making attention to your Bob install, as it is a more confined sandpit for achieving some things, rather than interfering with the sprawling masterpiece which is ETO.

Great news! Nice to have you with your extensive knowledge of spawns tackling a Bob campaign. I'm really just blundering around, making manual tweaks. Some work, like adding more aircraft and fighter escorts and others don't, like setting altitudes to all bomber spawns. The bombers and their escorts just spawn at 21000 feet for every mission regardless of altitude adjustments. Look forward to your work on this.

[MajorMagee]

I believe that the spawn altitude default is set by CruiseAlt listed at the bottom of each aircraft's xdp file.

[rince33]

Thanks for that useful info MajorMagee. I love these threads, very informative.
Enjoy your day!

[Pat Pattle]

Hi Clive, the short answer is that the campaign spawn sets (intercept.spawns, sweep.spawns,recon.spawns, etc) would need to move to specifying aircraft rather than using the randomised system. MAW does that a lot, only marred by dodgy entered service dates.

Also, the random air.spawns would have to call specific aircraft. MJ's spawn sets go some way towards this, with many more spawns called for in the spawn tables but not to the level of calling specific aircraft.

Not really a biggie.

By the way, I'm thinking of turning my campaign making attention to your Bob install, as it is a more confined sandpit for achieving some things, rather than interfering with the sprawling masterpiece which is ETO.

Thanks David, you are a real guru in all of this. An updated campaign would be excellent!
Sorry I've not been around of late but I've kept every file and piece of advice you've given me over the years.
I'll leave the setting as it is for now, I want to get this update out there (thanks to all who are helping) and then concentrate on getting smaller add ons released, eg. Beachy Head which needs work still.

Cheers all 🍷🥃🥂

[Daiwilletti]

Great to hear, Clive, your install is an inspiration and not many people realise how much work it represents. I'd like to include some Italian action, even though they only flew a limited number of missions. Would that be a problem, Clive? I would have to import some old AvHistory aircraft as part of a discrete package, I suppose. CR42, G50 and Br20 flew missions.

There is a bit of a tension between going for something as historically accurate as possible (WOTR camp) and going for something with a bit of random unexpected which sadly I ascribe to.

[33lima]

FWIW, I for one would be delighted with the Corpo Aero Italiano putting in an earlier appearance and ok with the possibility of Sealion going ahead (but only after several weeks of serious attacks). Also ok with the campaign extending beyond its (artificial) official end date into late 1940, so we might get to see and fly Spit IIs with or without cannon, and maybe even a 109F. What I would find hard to swallow would be the possibility of an invasion of France or that CFS3 alternative universe thing, the presence in daylight of German shipping in the middle of the Channel, like every day was Operation Cerberus and the Kreigsmarine had never sustained the damage it did in the Norwegian campaign. Coastal Command Ansons chasing U-Boats in the North Sea or Western Approaches fine, ditto Blenheims or Hudsons attacking coastal shipping or barges of or along the French coast. The ability to fly the campaign with Bomber Command or Coastal Command would be good, or even a night fighter version.

[Pat Pattle]

The BoB2 package contains the Fiat G50, CR42-85a and BR20

[Daiwilletti]

@ Clive, I was hoping that was the case!

@ 33Lima, yes the shipping is irritating. The ships appearing in the ocean are controlled by the ground.spawns spawn table file. In my installs, I add flags="enemy" or "friendly" to the ship spawns, so they do not wander all over the ocean! However, the occasional marauding battle group does not have such a flag, so if you are at a coastal airbase you occasionally get shelled by passing cruisers! A bit of a flight of fancy . . . I've also added as many coastal batteries as I can find to the Global Layer of several installs, so the cruisers don't have it all their own way.

In a campaign package, I would have to include ground spawns and modified ship xdps, to get the features working better. It all starts to spiral into a larger project. NB: In the Upgrade Package for stock CFS3, all this stuff is sorted out. . .

[Pat Pattle]

Coastal Command Ansons chasing U-Boats in the North Sea or Western Approaches

I have Dave Garwoods' Anson model which is destined for that very role whenever I get round to finishing it. Have you seen the film "Landfall"? It's based on a Neville Shute novel and is about that subject.