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Author
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Topic: Paratroopers Question
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Werner Molders
JAG
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posted 11-10- 03:59 PM
   
I ran a test mission last night with 9 Ju52s dropping paras on Kebili, defended by 8 of Harman's new German Grenadier teams. The sight of dozens of paras slowly descending on the town was incredible (where's that Dakota???  ), but I was disappointed to see that the paras didn't shoot at the ground units and the ground units only shot at the planes. I realize the paras are basically trumped-up bombs, and they look amazing when they land and stay upright, even on slopes, but I thought that they shot at stuff too, like planes (or enemy ground units)? Is this true or is my memory failing me? Would it be possible to have them shoot at stuff?Thanks, Werner ------------------
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Nat
JAG
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posted 11-10- 05:47 PM
I think your memory is failing Werner lol  AFAIK the basics are that once a part detaches from it's parent it's effectively dead, this goes for seperate sm objects aswell because they are a part of the plane until detached. It's a shame and would be pretty cool if it could be done, but I think this is part of the code we wont be able to get round. (theres probably a better explination out there, but I aint got one LOL) IP: Logged |
Werner Molders
JAG
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posted 11-10- 06:12 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Nat:
I think your memory is failing Werner lol I thought so!!!  AFAIK the basics are that once a part detaches from it's parent it's effectively dead
I was afraid of that... I knew they were basically "just" tarted-up bombs, but man would it be cool if they would land and shoot. Anyways then, how about this - why do they sink and disappear after a certain period of time? Is it possible to lengthen this time significantly, to say twenty minutes or more? Werner ------------------
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Harm
Pilot
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posted 11-10- 11:56 PM
The disappearing thing depends on the obKillDelay value set in the sm file. If I'm not wrong it's currently set at 300 so that means they'll disappear after 300 seconds (don't ask me how many minutes that is lol). By setting this value to about 1200 we can get them to stay put for 20 minutes...or use 0 so they never get deleted at all! Ok OPP lesson over what's new? ------------------
A.K.A Harman_5 IP: Logged |
Harm
Pilot
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posted 11-11- 12:12 AM
I just had an idea...to get the ground units to engage the 'chuters and vice versa, I want to try sticking a chute on an aircraft object that's mostly invisible (Werner, just like the arty ) except of course for the soldier and his chute and his gun, etc. Then set their speed to 0 and they'll effectively be aircraft floating down (intact) towards the ground with all the ability and urge to shoot on sight. The only downside is of course they can't be dropped from a Ju52...they'll have to start mid-air (ahem, like the arty) but in a campaign we could have a mission to stop the Ju52s dropping their chutes on a town and if the player can't then a mission with these guys starting mid air "follows on" and the fighting starts. [This message has been edited by Harm (edited 11-11-2001).] IP: Logged |
Werner Molders
JAG
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posted 11-11- 01:28 AM
Brilliant! If you would please set the bomb-paras to maximum "battlefield persistence", I would appreciate it. I have an idea for one mission that basically runs as follows: Ju52s miss the drop zone and plant the paras in the wrong town. It's up to the local Axis armour to storm the town and save them, before the local allied garrison can mow them down. As for the draw backs of the arty-paras, I think your idea is a very good one to try and compensate, and I have another one too - to achieve that whole oh-my-god-the-sky-is-white-with-guys-that-want-me-dead effect, have a mix of bomb-paras and arty-paras, so that on landing there is shooting going on, but the psychological impact is leveraged by the number of chutes. Werner ------------------
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Raider
Pilot
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posted 11-11- 09:50 AM
If I remember correctly, the paratroopers did not work when the obKillDelay value was set to 0. But Harm is correct, the limit can be set much highter. I set it for five minutes, because if your settings are for unlimited ammo, those Ju52's just keep flying over dropping tons of paratroopers - that would start to kill framerate.Now if we had a low poly paratrooper(Project that I started, but did not finish) that would be a different story. We do need a good troop model. Good detail at close view and few polys at distance. Werner, you are correct about a trooper that could shoot. I made a new lower poly trooper that could shoot, in the hopes of suspending him under a parachute, but it did not work. Once released from the plane he would not shoot. I am sure with some effort (and properties) the current troopers could be targeted (BTW did you know that if you shoot one in the air or on the ground they will fall over and lay face down). I am not sure that they could be made to shoot, in thier current state. It has been so long since I worked on them that I can't remember, but I think I tried giving them all the gun properties in the proplist and they still didn't work. But Harm is a master at this. He has done many things that were thought to be impossible before. It would be good to see where this goes. IP: Logged |
Harm
Pilot
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posted 11-11- 11:57 AM
Great mission idea! Regarding the arty drawbacks, having a mix of them is better I think too, just as the arty barrage has a nice balance between explosive effect and visual effect although with the barrage I think it may lean a little too much toward the latter...Thanks for your kind words Raider, but I'd just like to say I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw those '52s dropping their paratroopers and seeing those chutes blossom open like that. Great stuff.
Cheers
IP: Logged |
Werner Molders
JAG
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posted 11-11- 12:38 PM
...another sweet thing about the paras is that if you watch them as they go down, even though they were dropped in a straight line, even with no wind, they don't go down in a mechanically straight line. It looks exactly like newsreel footage from the war.Now if only we had a Dakota... Werner ------------------
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