Question: How to set a human flight with a specific take off time

Hi there,

I am trying to set a flight to have an exact take of time so that I can plan for an exact time on target (using carret and ToT functions in say the FA18 or the F16 (when it is implemented)).

How do I set up human flights so that they take off at a specific time and that all other steerpoints are calculated from the take of time (rather than the spawn time or whatever).

I know in the FA18 you can re-set the ToT so that you can adjust your flight time once you are in the sim, but I am hoping to set this all up before even getting into the sim (if its possible)?

For extra (probably unnecessary) clarity, what I am hoping to achieve is:

T+0m: Pilots spawn into paused start mission and begin starting their aircarft.

T+10m: Flight begins to taxi to hold short.

T+12m: Flight arrives at hold short and waits for a pre-set T+0h15m take off time.

T+13m: Flight positions on runway.

T+15m: Flight takes off per the pre-set take off time. (All times in the flight path are calculated from this point that we shall call 'mission time' or 'M').

(T+15m) M+0m: Take off (eg. STP1).

(T+18m) M+3m: Arrive at STP2.

(T+25m) M+10m: Arrive at STP3.

And so on.

I hope this makes sense, but for one last bit of further clarity, what I really am aiming for is something more akin to mission planning in Falcon BMS, where all the steerpoints are calculated from a take off time, not (as is default in DCS) the point the mission un=-pauses.

Thanks in advance :thumbup:

-S

You can't delay humans and it wouldnt make sense either, squadrons with ToT's make their plans and know their take off time in advance and join a server and setup their aircraft in advance and taxi with enough time to meet a planned take off time.

If you have a ToT, you need to plan backwards for two things.... player take off time and AI activation time. Lets say for some reason you want to hit something at 15:00 rather than allow the AI route dictate.

First just let the mission start at 0800.

Create the AI plan. Run the mission fast forward and see what time on target they got. Record it as +25mins and 30 seconds for example. The reason for this is I simply don't trust AI enough with their routing and speed handling, and setting a fixed time will start to mess up all the previous times and then AI get into a further tizz. Just make a reasonable plan and check how they do to see.

Now work back. Deduct 25mins and 30 from your 3pm. So the AI need to activate at 14:34:30

For players they should act as normal pilots and create their flight plan aiming for a TOT at 15:00, but if you want to create their flight plan for them, do the same, but for realism purposes check the time they started moving on the runway, i.e. their take off time. You could reuse the AI route if you like to save time.

Then run the mission 30 minutes or more earlier and tell the humans their ToT is 1500hrs. They can faff with their startup and join the slot whenever they like. It works perfectly until people underestimate large queues on the Taxiway.

Pikey,

Thanks for your detailed response but I think perhaps I have not been very clear in what I need?

I need to have:

Flight A: Take off time say 0810

Flight B: Take off time say 0812

Flight C: Take off time say 0814

Flight D: Take off time say 0816

*Note all these flights are taking off from the same airbase.

The reason i need this is because naturally 16 A/C cant take off from 1 airbase at the same time I need to set the mission so that all aircraft arrive at their target point at a specific time, flying the route at specific ground speeds. This is not for triggers but rather to honour a time over target criteria for the mission and to ensure pilots are flying at suitable speeds (not to fast/slow etc).

The issue I have is that unless there is some way to set/offset/modify the take off time for each flight such that it looks like the example above, I cannot then compute a required ToT as each flights ToT is set from the sim start time (0800). This then has a knock on impact to the G/S of the aircraft needs to fly en-route.

Thus the only way I can 'hack' this is by artificially extending the length of each flight (not practical for the mission) or by reducing the contract G/S (not desirable).

I appreciate that once we get more functionality on the F16 (the aircraft we fly) we will be able to adjust our ToTs by +/- whatever and this whole issue would go away, but this is still a 'hack' for a problem that I am sure has an answer somewhere?

I mean, how hard can it be to have it so that mission designers can set up a specific take off time for human flights from which all other STP/TGT ToTs are calculated and that allow me as a mission designer to set the required flight speed between STPs.

I would again reference the Falcon BMS mission planner/mission builder that utilises this exact functionality (and also converts G/S to IAS or TAS as desired by the mission designers for even more effective flight planning - but then this is another issue for another day).

-S