Flying Stations Ark Royal

[Tom Burnside]

Ive recently installed this but I have never flown to a carrier before. Can anyone help me how do I setup a flight plan from an airfeild such as yeovilton to the Ark Royal.

[harrybasset]

If you use aicarriers2 you can take off from Yeovilton then when over water generate Ark Royal in front of you.

[Tom Burnside]

If you use aicarriers2 you can take off from Yeovilton then when over water generate Ark Royal in front of you.

I dont use aicarriers2.

[spatialpro]

I created a plan for this model of the HMS Ark Royal to sail from Poole Bay to the Isle of Portland, specifically so I could fly from HMS Heron to find her. I don't currently have this plan installed, but when I have time I'll do a search and when I find it I'll post it here...

Andy

[Cees Donker]

I dont use aicarriers2.

Defenitely a must have proggy Tom. Ever since I installed it, I'm hooked on trapping!



Cees

[spatialpro]

Actually, thinking about it, one of the default plans that comes with the Ark herself has her sailing in the English Channel. Here is the map and extract from Page 3 (oo er!) of the manual:

The final route places the Ark in home territory, operating in the Western end of the English Channel
close to the Fleet Air Arm bases at Culdrose, Yeovilton and Portland. The Ark is at the Eastern edge of
her racetrack at Midday and Midnight GMT every day.


Flying Stations Ark Royal English Channel Route by Andy Ford, on Flickr

This will allow you to find her by dead reckoning at Midnight and Midday... but I highly recommend installed the RFN Gauge (currently v4.2) into your aircraft. This will allow you to tune into the Ark's TACAN, which will give you a distance and bearing to her.

http://www.google.com/translate?hl=f....perso.sfr.fr/

http://royalefrenchnavy.perso.sfr.fr..._Gauge_V42.zip

[spatialpro]

aicarrier2 is indeed a great tool.

I personally prefer to have my carriers sail on their normal route at cruising speed, then come to flying stations (accelerate to max speed with wind coming down the angled deck) when I want to launch/recover.

For this I create plans using aibtc: http://lc0277.gratisim.fr/boat/

Then I use the new(ish) tool from Flying Stations to order the ship into/out of flying stations. See this thread: http://z13.invisionfree.com/Flying_S...367&st=0&#last

The Flying Stations tool also allows you to jump straight from an airfield to the deck of the carrier, which could be good for you Tom? The latest RFN Gauge also has this functionality.

Andy

[Willy]

Where can aicarrier2 be found? Carriers were a favorite of mine in FS9 and I had 'em all over the world.

[spatialpro]

Where can aicarrier2 be found? Carriers were a favorite of mine in FS9 and I had 'em all over the world.

Here: http://lc0277.gratisim.fr/software.html

[Stickshaker]

If you have TacPac, are you aware that it also has a carrier placement function?

[spatialpro]

Good point! I have TacPac, but haven't tried the carrier placement. TBH I'm flying P3D v2.5 right now, for which TacPac isn't compatible.

[delta_lima]

Tom,

If you haven't yet gotten AICarriers, do so. Full stop.

It truly is the lazy man's (and I put myself into that description) to spawning a carrier precisely where/when you want it, you can change the course of the ship, add other ships, add plane guard helos, all manner of options. Also, as you add / modify your formations, you can instantly check and see if your're happy with the positioning of the various elements, etc. It's infinitely more efficient when you're building your carrier formations/task forces. And you can build formations with any AI "boat" item, either from the stock ones, or the way better addon ones - RFN French carriers, Flying Stations Victorious, on and on. It's not limited to period - want to have the Nimitz escorted by a squadron of 18th century sailing ships - go nuts. It's that flexible.

So start with that, and then worry about the more complex navigation to moving track carriers. You'll want tools such as the RFN Tacan gauge to find them - not to suggest you can't - but there's a whole lot more to it.

The bottom line is, if we're talking moving carriers (and not just a static "scenery" carrier like in FS9), then it's as simple as following the purple line the GPS. Thankfully, you have an alternative in AICarriers that's as simple as 3 keystrokes to spawn a carrier formation directly underneath you, 1 mile, 5, miles or 10 miles away from you. Start with AI Carriers.

dl

[Naismith]

Didn't someone come out with an AiCarriers that negated the need for dodgy Java?

[DaveB]

Indeed they did.. it uses net.framework instead and is my version of choice. It works exactly the same as the Java version but without the need for Java Can't remember the link for it now but I put it in the thread Cees started re FSX carriers

edit: http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/ind...?topic=11293.0
ATB
DaveB

[fsafranek]

Indeed they did.. it uses net.framework instead and is my version of choice. It works exactly the same as the Java version but without the need for Java Can't remember the link for it now but I put it in the thread Cees started re FSX carriers

edit: http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/ind...?topic=11293.0
ATB
DaveB

The .NET version works well with FSX-Steam Edition. I couldn't get the original to work with it but still use that one for FSX and P3D.

[awstub]

If you have Tacpack, you can also create naval formations and routes in the "Carrier & Convoy Planner":

http://www.fsxwar.com/?lang=en#download

What is nice is that aicarriers2, Tacpack and CCP can all be installed at the same time and don't seem to conflict with each other.

Aicarriers2 and Tacpack don't let you create a route with waypoints though. AIBTC creates "normal" AI boat traffic that runs as long as FSX is running.

CCP AI (boats, ground vehicles and aircraft) only runs what CCP is running and connected with FSX. One nice thing is that you can easily micromanage the ships formation with the CCP GUI interface.

On a side note...I have been able to take off in (Dino Cattaneao's F-14) from a carrier that is part of a multi-ship formation that is cruising the Gulf of Sidra, fly to an area and attack a multi-vehicle convoy that is heading to Wheelus AFB....and return to the aircraft carrier, after shooting down a Mig-19 that is also in the area.

Although I have Tacpack loaded, I'm pretty confident that any aircraft I have modified with CS's Weapons for FSX will work with this too, just haven't tested it yet.

[gdavej]

Good point! I have TacPac, but haven't tried the carrier placement. TBH I'm flying P3D v2.5 right now, for which TacPac isn't compatible.

As far as I know, Tacpack is compatible with P3Dv2.5. At least I hope so since that's what I'm running. Also the Tacpack wiki states min requirements are "Prepar3D Academic Edition v1.4 through 2.5"

[Naismith]

Indeed they did.. it uses net.framework instead and is my version of choice. It works exactly the same as the Java version but without the need for Java Can't remember the link for it now but I put it in the thread Cees started re FSX carriers

edit: http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/ind...?topic=11293.0
ATB
DaveB

Thanks for the link Dave

[DaveB]

No prob mate

One thing to note with the .net version. If you open the sim and find AI Carriers not showing in the drop down menu.. it's likely that the sim was shutdown prematurely (or a-n-other wobbly happened) the last time it was used. AIC opens in your systray (normally in hidden icons) and may still be running from the previous session. Close the sim.. right click on the AIC icon in the systray.. then exit the program. Flash FSX up again and AIC will be available. This is the only oddity I've found with it and to be honest.. it's not the fault of AIC.net.
ATB
DaveB

[Tom Burnside]

Actually, thinking about it, one of the default plans that comes with the Ark herself has her sailing in the English Channel. Here is the map and extract from Page 3 (oo er!) of the manual:

The final route places the Ark in home territory, operating in the Western end of the English Channel
close to the Fleet Air Arm bases at Culdrose, Yeovilton and Portland. The Ark is at the Eastern edge of
her racetrack at Midday and Midnight GMT every day.


Flying Stations Ark Royal English Channel Route by Andy Ford, on Flickr

This will allow you to find her by dead reckoning at Midnight and Midday... but I highly recommend installed the RFN Gauge (currently v4.2) into your aircraft. This will allow you to tune into the Ark's TACAN, which will give you a distance and bearing to her.

http://www.google.com/translate?hl=f....perso.sfr.fr/

http://royalefrenchnavy.perso.sfr.fr..._Gauge_V42.zip

I have downloaded the second link but dont know how to use it.

[DaveB]

Have you tried reading the manual?

ATB
DaveB

[delta_lima]

My suggestion:

If you've never flown to a carrier before, why not

1) start by using AI Carriers to simply spawn the carrier, so you can

2) learn approaches and landings, and then

3) learn to navigate to them using RFN TACAN.

Otherwise, I predict a great deal of needless angst, lots of wasted time, and declining interest in people willing to help.

There are people here willing to help, but it really helps if you help yourself by trying to learn in logical, incremental steps. But hey, if you want to hunt throughout the English Channel all day long looking for the Ark - fill your boots.

dl

[DaveB]

Sensible words DL

Tom..
I uploaded a small track to Flying Stations for a user this afternoon. The ship track starts at 0650z and runs from the bay (where St Michaels Mount is) counter-clockwise around the Isles of Scilly back to it's start position in an 8hrly sequence. Your nearest naval air station will be Culdrose. If you just want to see Ark Royal and fly to it.. go to Culdrose and wait until at least 1200z (GMT) and it will come to you. There are 2 other ships in company but if you don't have them (and you won't) it doesn't matter. Ark Royal IV will steam happily on her own.

Check first what the title= line is in the sim.cfg of your copy of Ark Royal. The traffic file is setup to run title=HMS Ark Royal so if your title= line differs from this.. change it to this. Failure to do so will leave you seeing nothing. Add the traffic file to Scenery/World/Scenery.. start the sim.. your scenery will update.. go to Culdrose and either go find her or wait for her to come to you.

ArkTrafficFile

ATB
DaveB

[Tom Burnside]

My suggestion:

If you've never flown to a carrier before, why not

1) start by using AI Carriers to simply spawn the carrier, so you can

2) learn approaches and landings, and then

3) learn to navigate to them using RFN TACAN.

Otherwise, I predict a great deal of needless angst, lots of wasted time, and declining interest in people willing to help.

There are people here willing to help, but it really helps if you help yourself by trying to learn in logical, incremental steps. But hey, if you want to hunt throughout the English Channel all day long looking for the Ark - fill your boots.
dl

Actually I do pay attention to what people reply I have downloaded aicarriers2 spawn a fleet right in front of me and landed on the carrier. Ark Royal isnt in the carriers that I can select alot of USN ships plus I landed but I havent yet figured out how to launch from a carrier. So could anyone tell me how to add ark royal to this and what is needed to launch from a carrier.

[DaveB]

Go to your AICarriers folder.. open the folder conf.d then double click on the file cvn_id.cfg. Add the following to the cfg making sure the formation number is the next consecutive number (eg, if the last is 11.. make sure this one is 12)..

[formation.XX]
title=HMS Ark Royal
unit.0=HMS Ark Royal, 0, 0

.. then save the cvn_id.cfg.


Make sure the unit.0= line matches exactly what the title line reads in Ark Royal's sim.cfg (open Ark's sim.cfg and look at the name on the title=line. Whatever that says is what goes in the unit.0= line. The other 2 numbers are positional and you won't need them unless you add further ships.

ATB
DaveB