On Station

Hi Grimes,

about time to say thanks for this great mission. Been hosting this a lot lately for relaxed MP Sessions.

I have had some crashes in long running sessions, so i tried to reduce the total number of units by reducing the size of the patrols from 3 to 1 vehicle - and didn't have a crash with that one. Maybe just coincidence (running on win7 8G Ram).

Hope to see more like that. Cheers

a.

Hi Grimes,

 

about time to say thanks for this great mission.

+1 :thumbup: thanks for taking the time to do this for DCSW.

Does "On Station v7b" work with DCS 1.2.1?

The reason i ask is because we got tasked to take out a convoy. We did that but never got "tasking complete".

On Station is one of my favorite missions! cheers

Are you sure you took out the convoy and not just a random patrol?

Patrols are usually 3 vehicles, convoys that belong to a tasking about 6 vehicles long. Both travel on the same roads sometimes.

Love this mission too and host it quite often these days (with a few adjustments :)). Unfortunately, sooner or later the mission logic seems to die. It's gotten better after i disabled the slmod commands for requesting taskings and a sitrep, but it's still not entirely okay

Yea i thought about that too.

There was 2 armored vehicles and 3-4 trucks in between i believe.

Should have been the real target then...

It should work just fine with DCS World 1.2.1, but I haven't really tested it.

In other news, now that the simulator scripting engine is an announced feature I am pleased to let you guys know that I am working on adapting On Station to use the scripting engine. This means the logic used in the mission will probably be more stable, it will be easier for users to modify the mission to add or change tasks/aircraft, and I have much more flexibility in general with what is possible in the mission. So any requests?

I am very happy to hear that. A stable version of this mission is a dream come true :)

How about you put in a CAS mission or two. Like, you get a tasking with coordinates to a friendly convoy. Once you reach it's position it starts moving and will give you targets as JTAC, like roadblocks or a group of enemy tanks approaching it. Somewhat like a small version of Gudauta Rush.

By the way, I have been running the 1.1.2.1 version for over 6 hours two days ago. Everything was working well until I was kicked out (my own fault though). So it seems to me that the mission is working without further issues on 1.2.1

Dare I ask if/when a new version of OnStation might surface? It is the BEST mission ever in my book and it would mean a great many happy hours of Sunday morning flying if it were brought up to 1.2.3.

Like I said in the previous post it is likely that the mission will work in 1.2.3+ just fine. It might need a resave, but that is all that should be needed.

As for when it will get updated, I simply don't know. Long story short is

A. I have 4 other missions I want to make, and each are meant to take full advantage of the scripting engine.

B. I'm also quite busy with testing and other projects.

C. Its not that interesting to do a pure remake with scripting of the mission. I'd rather do a redesign from the ground up.

D. Two of the missions mentioned in point A are ultimately quite similar to On Station (dynamic tasks), so its entirely within the realm of possibility that an On Station sequel could also be made during development.

E. I think I've "George Lucas'd" it enough with iterations 1 through 7.

Finally got around to updating this mission. :)

Download available in first post.

Changelog

-Replaced 591 triggers with a lua file

-Modified a few existing tasks

-Added a few tasks.

-Added "Spectre" JTAC "liaison" voiced by Graywo1f

I decided not to make a full fledged lua procedurally generated mission and instead decided to augment the existing mission with lua. Primarily because its been a few years since I last updated the mission and thought some of the newer players might enjoy this sort of thing. I've called the mission "Classic" because I've kept the majority of tasking, audio files, and message format the same. Unfortunately I've had to record some new audio and it doesn't quite match up, but I think that adds to the charm.

Things the lua script does...

-All task threats are based on the contents of groups

-Some tasks get coordinates from where-ever the target is located, so you can move them around and it will be accurate. However a few tasks still use "pre-baked" coordinates.

-Messages are now displayed in whole instead of one word at a time in a trigger set I can't believe I spent time making.

-JTAC callsigns and frequencies are now completely randomized.

-Replaced slmod commands/F10 commands with a voting system for preferences. Settings are set whenever any client is "On Station" at which point voting is disabled. If all players go "Off Station" voting gets re-enabled. Voting can be outright disabled along with the default settings within the embedded OSC.lua file within the mission if you want.

Stuff people can vote on

Task Frequency

Automatic (Scales based on number of clients in game)

2x (Spawns tasks faster and allows more tasks per player)

Real (Super slow spawns, tasks may or may not spawn, cause you know A-10C pilots

don't destroy a company of enemy forces every sortie)

Request Only (Adds F10 commands to start a random task or a random task of a certain type.) Note the list doesn't remove items if all tasks of a type aren't completed.

JTAC Immortality

True (JTACS can't die and are invisible)

False (JTACS can die and are invisible. Basically if you drop a big bomb there them they could die.

Tanker Immortality

True (Tanker aircraft can't die, use this to practice refueling)

False (Tankers can die)

Added Threats

True (Has random Manpad and patrols active)

False (manpads and patrols are inactive)

Snagged, thanks Grimes! Excited to see the master at work. I don't envy you replacing 591 triggers :lol:

Replaced slmod commands/F10 commands with a voting system for preferences. Settings are set whenever any client is "On Station" at which point voting is disabled. If all players go "Off Station" voting gets re-enabled. Voting can be outright disabled along with the default settings within the embedded OSC.lua file within the mission if you want.

What exactly does it mean to be On or Off Station?

By the way,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :yay:

Thanks a bunch! My favorite mission of all time.

There is one task to take out an enemy ammo depot. The depot is veeery strong. 2 A-10s blasted it with 4 GBU38, 4 GBU-12, 4 AGM-65, 30mm.

Maybe it should be tweaked in some way.

Thanks a bunch! My favorite mission of all time.

 

 

There is one task to take out an enemy ammo depot. The depot is veeery strong. 2 A-10s blasted it with 4 GBU38, 4 GBU-12, 4 AGM-65, 30mm.

 

Maybe it should be tweaked in some way.

These days it takes 3 2000 pounders to kill an ammo depot.

What exactly does it mean to be On or Off Station?

If any client is within a big zone that covers the entire mission area then its set to "On Station.

If EVERY client is outside the big zone then they are Off Station. Whenever off station the voting will be available to change any of the settings. Voting can be disabled via modifying a setting within the "OSC.lua" file.

 

There is one task to take out an enemy ammo depot. The depot is veeery strong. 2 A-10s blasted it with 4 GBU38, 4 GBU-12, 4 AGM-65, 30mm.

I have a few A-10s in there armed with GBU-31 and AGM-65H/G for a reason. :)

Added a version of the file for use in DCS 1.5. The only change I did was moved mist into a mission start trigger instead of init. I will make some 1.5 specific changes in the near future. File is available in the first post.

Great mission but we ran in to a bit of a snag. We'd set it to spawn tasks upon request and got orders to hit an AA site with a few SAM launchers and a bunch of stationary cannons.

Got there, got talked on by JTAC and I could see the targets but my teammate couldn't. The objects could, however, see him and proceed to try to fill him with lead. Tracers were visible to him but not the emplacements themselves.

Any idea what might have caused this?

Unfortunately its a known bug with 1.5 at the moment.

Any chance you have a link to the bug report? I'm curious what the status of it is.

Its still open. Gray and I found it while testing so there is no thread of the report in the open beta section. Also the official bug tracker is private.

Updated the mission for DCS 2.5, see first post for download.

Updated the mission for DCS 2.5, see first post for download.

Wow, that's quick :) ... thanks a lot, its very kind of you.

Does this work with 2.5.6?