posted 12-03- 07:56 PM               

I just need a word of advice please. I have been playing with Mission Editor and having a fair bit of fun, I might add.

My question is about escorting squadrons.

I have my bomber squadron and my fighter squadron all sorted out. I put the fighter squadron between 2000 and 3000 feet higher than the bombers. Give each a highish amount of skill, loyalty, and zest - or whatever the sliders are - and set the fighter squadron from "Auto" over to "Escort" and select the bomber squadron in the drop-down box.

My question: do I have to put in the waypoints for the fighter squadron, or should it follow and escort the bombers satisfactorily as the bombers fly along their waypoint trail?

So far, the fighters have only made one attempt to intercept my attacking squadron with 2000 feet height advantage, but I cannot recall in the mission in which the escort "sort of" did the correct thing, whether I had waypoints in or not.

I also placed the fighters just slightly in front of the bombers (at +2000 feet) to protect against a front on intercept ... should this work?

So, in summary:
1. for escorting fighter squadrons, do I have to put in waypoints or just rely on the "escort" setting to have them follow the bombers;

2. Can I set the fighters slightly in front of the bomber stream and still have them escort successfully?

Thanks for any thoughts.

(Yes now I need my upgrade from the P200 to get some good plane numbers in the sky.)

posted 12-03- 11:30 PM               

First a hint . You probably could have answered your own question quickly by using the search function of this forum as this topic has been covered many times in the past.

posted 12-03- 11:31 PM               

#1--Yep-- unlike the mission editor in CFS2 which automatically positions the WP's correctly for you when you join them up, you have to assign the WP's to the fighters-- and make sure to adjust the speed so they stick around with the bombers...BUT...it has been my experience that the "Escort" function doesn't always work so well-- the fighters tend to stray, or even go after the ground targets the bombers are set to hit...very bizarre. One other thing-- you mentioned the sliders-- they tend to reset once you exit the editor-- your best bet is to open up the mission in Notepad-- find your squadron and change the settings manually.

#2--Again-- escort doesn't work all that well anyways (if at all)-- so this may not be the best thing. I always keep mine above and behind and try to match the speed as best I can.

And in answer to the question in the other post-- yes-- if more than one squadron are on the same runway- there is a pile-up...Hell-- sometimes even if they are on different runways, there still is a pileup (even before the humans get into them online )

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posted 12-10- 11:30 PM               

Actually, I read most stuff on this board most of the time and I did not recall anything on this topic ... I must have had a slack month or so.

I will try these ideas.

posted 12-11- 07:30 PM               

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