Engagement Distance Limit For AI CAP

Ok, so I understand you can remove “CAP” as a function at WP0 and go with “Search And Engage In Zone” as a way to reign in AI CAP flights but if you can set an engagement distance for “Escort” then why can’t we have the same limit for CAP flights?

 

Our human 510th Hornet drivers will usually establish a “Line Of Death” when they cover us over at the 476th and they will hold their orbits until something gets XXnm from the AO and then they will engage. It would be really handy if you could establish an AI CAP orbit and set it such that the AI won’t engage unless and until a bad guy comes within, say, 30nm of the center of their orbit and then they pounce.

 

Please give this some consideration for a future feature.

Ok, so I understand you can remove “CAP” as a function at WP0 and go with “Search And Engage In Zone” as a way to reign in AI CAP flights but if you can set an engagement distance for “Escort” then why can’t we have the same limit for CAP flights?

 

 

 

Our human 510th Hornet drivers will usually establish a “Line Of Death” when they cover us over at the 476th and they will hold their orbits until something gets XXnm from the AO and then they will engage. It would be really handy if you could establish an AI CAP orbit and set it such that the AI won’t engage unless and until a bad guy comes within, say, 30nm of the center of their orbit and then they pounce.

 

 

 

Please give this some consideration for a future feature.

CAP is not necessarily the same as a cover for a mission package, where you establish a corridor for your strikers,etc.

CAP is more like a denial of airspace in general, so prevent any enemy aircraft from flying around.

Either use Engage in Zone or try this idea for a "CAP limit": first put a zone /moving zone and a flag to on if red is inside zone. Than use the flag as a condition for the CAP Task to execute... not tested or refined, just a quick idea, how you may achieve the result you want.

CAP is not necessarily the same as a cover for a mission package, where you establish a corridor for your strikers,etc.

CAP is more like a denial of airspace in general, so prevent any enemy aircraft from flying around.

Either use Engage in Zone or try this idea for a "CAP limit": first put a zone /moving zone and a flag to on if red is inside zone. Than use the flag as a condition for the CAP Task to execute... not tested or refined, just a quick idea, how you may achieve the result you want.

 

Yeah, I get all that but honestly, it would be so much simpler to just create a flight, tell it to fly to Point A, orbit between A and B and don’t do anything until something comes within XXnm then deal with it and go back to what you were doing. You really shouldn’t have to mess with flags, zones, etc. Sometimes I think the ME is too smart for its own good.

 

But I’ll try the Zone Incursion Flag On CAP Activate Zone Clear CAP Off. Read something along those lines the other day. Guess I just want to work smarter and not harder. Like I said, the distance logic exists for “Escort” so it obviously can be done.

 

Thanks for the mental cattle prod...

Yeah, I get all that but honestly, it would be so much simpler to just create a flight, tell it to fly to Point A, orbit between A and B and don’t do anything until something comes within XXnm then deal with it and go back to what you were doing. You really shouldn’t have to mess with flags, zones, etc. Sometimes I think the ME is too smart for its own good.

 

But I’ll try the Zone Incursion Flag On CAP Activate Zone Clear CAP Off. Read something along those lines the other day. Guess I just want to work smarter and not harder. Like I said, the distance logic exists for “Escort” so it obviously can be done.

 

Thanks for the mental cattle prod...

Well, but that's exactly what "Engage in Zone" was introduced for.

CAP is an "Enroute task". Enroute tasks are basic AI routines that controls everything to do a certain job.

Any waypoint task takes preference, over the enroute task and when it is done, the AI falls back to the enroute task.

If you want granular control over engagement range, type of targets engaged etc. "engage in zone" is the way to go. Choose "nothing" for the group. Add an "engage in zone" task at the first waypoint of the required orbit, with engagement range a d type. Add an orbit below the "engage in zone" task to have the type of CAP task, you want.

The enroute task CAP is an airspace denial type CAP, where the AI engages all enemy aircraft to enforce air superiority.

Not to be overly pedantic but in my head, you’re describing a Fighter Sweep.

 

I want to create something more along the lines of a BARCAP.

 

But again, thanks for the ideas to try.

Yeah, I get all that but honestly, it would be so much simpler to just create a flight, tell it to fly to Point A, orbit between A and B and don’t do anything until something comes within XXnm then deal with it and go back to what you were doing. You really shouldn’t have to mess with flags, zones, etc. Sometimes I think the ME is too smart for its own good.

I'm kind of confused. Search and Engage with an orbit sounds like it's exactly what you're looking for. The AI will orbit between the waypoint where the orbit is assigned and the next waypoint. Search and Engage has a range field (and I believe a fixed disengage range of 1.5x the engage range). No flags, no zones.

 

 

 

Unless what you want is an escort flight that will stop escorting at some point and then orbit?

 

 

 

 

EDIT

 

 

OK I read your first post again. Search and Engage is exactly what you want. This is different from Search and Engage in Zone. Search and Engage is basically the Escort task where the AI "Escorts" their route according to the options you set (distance, time, last waypoint). Pair this with an Orbit task of the type "racetrack" to go between 2 consecutive waypoints.

Edited May 14, 2019 by Exorcet

Seem to have the concept of CAP HOT / CAP COLD working with zones but I’ll play with the Search And Engage as well. Will “SAE” keep CAP flights from running all over the map because they seem to do that if CAP is hot all the time...

Seem to have the concept of CAP HOT / CAP COLD working with zones but I’ll play with the Search And Engage as well. Will “SAE” keep CAP flights from running all over the map because they seem to do that if CAP is hot all the time...

Engage in zone is limited to the zone you define in the advanced action, if the enemy enters the zone it is attacked. If the enemy leaves the zone, the fighters will persue for a bit and then disengage.

Seem to have the concept of CAP HOT / CAP COLD working with zones but I’ll play with the Search And Engage as well. Will “SAE” keep CAP flights from running all over the map because they seem to do that if CAP is hot all the time...

 

 

I use SAE as the standard CAP task, it keeps AI from chasing things too far away if you set a distance limit. I usually put 20-50 miles. According to the [possibly outdated] DCS manual, the AI will chase things exiting the zone to 1.5 times the distance (so 30-75 miles). SAE is also limited by aircraft sensors. If an AI F-117 flies through the CAP region and there is no friendly AWACS, the F-117 might be ignored because the fighters can't see it.

 

 

 

So in short SAE will make it so fighters will only attack enemies they detect that come within a certain distance to their route and keep attacking them until they are 1.5 times the specified distance away from the route.

Virtual Beers to those who pointed me toward "Search And Engage"!!!

 

Based on what Exorcet says about chasing to 1.5X the set value, I can confirm it works!

 

What a relief!!

 

Thanks everyone for helping me out on this. Much Appreciated!!

Virtual Beers to those who pointed me toward "Search And Engage"!!!

 

Based on what Exorcet says about chasing to 1.5X the set value, I can confirm it works!

 

What a relief!!

 

Thanks everyone for helping me out on this. Much Appreciated!!

Your welcome. Always keep in mind "Enroute tasks" are more or less a full mission profile, with the AI doing everything on their own. They act as a baseline to fall back to, after executing tasks, so the AI does not simply turn around and land at the nearest airport. If you need control and adjustment, look into the "Tasks". They provide direct control and parameters. A task has always, precedence over the enroute task, so you can start a flight as CAP (Close Air Support), attacking any ground forces they encounter in their path and add a task to search and engage fighters when reaching waypoint 2 and after there are no more fighters, the AI will continue to provide CAS...

Excellent Tip!