Guide to using Warehousing in DCS

I think its expected or similar. As in what is due.Bear in mind theres still lots of gui errors to show the contents but a combination of clicking around can refresh the list.

Yeah I saw that and learned it last night. By the way, thanks so much for this thread. If it wasn't for it I would still be wondering how this works. I was testing with a WH starting at 0 equipment and thanks to this thread I learned that the initial point in 0 makes them not request any supply. Thank you.

Another thing: Do you know if it is correct that a request that was triggered for low equipment for example makes the supply refill everything in the WH rather than only the category that triggered the request(assuming the size permits)?

Another thing: Do you know if it is correct that a request that was triggered for low equipment for example makes the supply refill everything in the WH rather than only the category that triggered the request(assuming the size permits)?

Another thing: Do you know if it is correct that a request that was triggered for low equipment for example makes the supply refill everything in the WH rather than only the category that triggered the request(assuming the size permits)?

Ooh good question. No. The stock type i havent seen how its divided up in the allowed tonnage.and it has been a ling time since i did those tests.

I found out that the delivery type is not based on the request type. Bug I assume. Reported

Kinda been having some fun with this class (WAREHOUSE) the last few days and for the most part got it working pretty well, I'm interested to add some repetition to the script though (in an ideal world I would make it so that when the warehouses for each side closer to the front-line got depleted below a certain amount (I'm planning on making Anapa the red trade HQ and Bautmi the Blue) then warehouse flights/ground vehicles and ships would begin to resupply the other bases using this Class, that is a little bit over my head just at the mo but I'm definitely interested in getting my requests to work on a schedule for the time being."

This is what I'm working with currently and I have no idea how to implement a scheduler, it seems once these units listed in the requests have done their first trips they take the rest of the day off and jump on the couch..... not cool.

Obviously I haven't even started to add red assets or set that side up yet!

Edit: Actually RN I would prefer to just have the requests at the bottom of the script repeat endlessly, could someone gibe me a hint on how to do this?

 

Caucaus Warehousing.lua

On 2/18/2017 at 1:58 AM, Pikey said:

Warehousing is a very powerful and underused tool that can be used to dynamically change a missions contents mid gaming session. It's both complicated and obvious, the DCS documentation explains some of it but not all of it. This guide refers to the current live release version as of writing. You can refer to the DCS documentation for basic Warehouse information on page 216 of the DCS manual in your isntallations, it's called 'Resource Management'.

 

WH= WareHouse and applies to Farp, Airport and Static warehouse objects.

 

Top Ten things you need to know about WH (that aren't documented)

 

1. The WH doesn't care if its red or blue for it's contents. If it's an airport type or Farp it can be flipped side. You can't Capture a Static WH. However it will not supply a WH on the opposite side (until captured and flipped back) see point 7.

 

2. The inital limit cannot be changed and the RM system will not exceed it but you can get the numbers of resource past the initial point by bringing units to the aerodrome and despawning them. So an empty WH with 0 for all planes will never request planes from anywhere else. Thus you need to set a number for it to request a resupply. But you could land a plane and get 1/0 E:0 (Thanks Grimes for extra details on that.)

 

3. Entering a MP slot reduces the WH contents by one plane of the type and all the fuel and ammo that came with it. Exiting the slot does not currently increase it back again (i think it should). Thus if you enter an SU27 5 times and only had 5 SU27's, the 6th time you dont enter anything and get stuck at the F10 view or whatever is default. This is super cool, but powerful.

 

4. If you use scripting to Spawn an aircraft at a base, it will deduct the same plane/ammo/fuel (resources) from the WH inventory! How cool is that?

 

5. If you use scripting to deactivate an AI unit, or an AI unit deactivates on an airport, it puts the plane BACK INTO INVENTORY, including over initial inventory (see 2)! How cool is that? So you can spawn and despawn AI and use the WH to govern limits and rates. NOTE: Aircraft now seem to park, go static and not despawn, depending on type and version of DCS. This can impact your WH system (and clog up the airport) This has behaviour has changed over multiple versions. (ED are aware)

 

6. If you have 6 MP slots and 5 of those planes in the WH inventory, you use up the inventory if you get into the first 5. But, this is confusing, if you already used up all the inventory but were allowed to take the slot to begin with, you can get back into the MP slot, even if you have no more planes, provided it was one of the first five. Ie you have 4 SU27's, 2 in inventory. Take the first two....try to take the third and you cant. Go back to slot one and you CAN. Kindda confusing, you need to witness it.

 

7. You can setup a supply route to a red WH from a blue WH, but it wont supply or request. If you flip the ownership, it will start working. That's pretty cool. And useful (see demo)!

 

8. The Operational level takes a little bit of understanding. Basically its the number the resources need to drop to, before it will begin requesting more resources. I tend to, for ease of use, set 99% as it will immediately start the ball rolling. Can be annoying if left at 10% and you have 9 planes, it wont request until it reaches 0 planes. Also noticed some bugs where it never does. Set to 91% and it will request one immediately on using one plane from 10.

 

9. You can tell WH is working from the F10 map > Airport > RESOURCES button on the WH concerned. There is a bug refreshing the data you select between, so close and reopen the resource page for the WH when picking an item type. What you are looking for is number/number (E:number). In the case of a 3 out of 5 Mirages with 2 on the way you see 3/5(E:2). If you see E:0 then none have been requested, either because the operational level is still inside of margin or there are no valid warehouses with resources that it needs.

 

10. WH's can't currently be moved in my testing. Using teleport they dont delete, but spawn a new one which will have no connections and thus broken. Needs to be proven but that's my findings thus far.

 

FAQ

 

Q: Can I use warehousing to block slots in Multiplayer? (ie captured airfields)

 

A: Yes absolutely. Set the inventory to be the max amount of slots you want at the airbase. Create the WH supply links as per normal. Set the WH (airport) to the opposite coalition. At mission start spawn and destroy the exact number of planes that are in inventory. This is important as you need to reduce the initial inventory to ZERO, else blue can spawn in a red airbase. On capturing that airfield, the WH will begin to be supplied by your coalition, which is kindda realistic. Then you can spawn again! (see the demo mission) To reverse this would require emptying the warehouse again and more on action triggers for capture with a switch.

 

Q: Can i setup multiple WH links for different things like ammo or a missile type?

 

A: Yes! It's very cool to do something like putting nukes in one warehouse and allowing them to be used and only storing one at the airbase. Creates Tactical objectives of real value. Simply take all the nukes away except two places, the spawning airfield set to 1 initial nuke. The WH, set to whatever number you like. Spawn and destroy a nuke at start as per the demo to reduce the inital resources but keep the total. Nukes are then on their way to be used... Same for any type of resource, eg smart munitions.

 

Q: WH chains?

 

A: Yes linking warehouses will give more tactical objectives. Break a supply chain and you crippled the enemies war effort! Have fuel, ammo, planes in multiple WH's and you have more strategy. WH chains work as expected but remember each needs an operational level % to be triggered and it needs a supply. It can request one further down the chain of course. You also need to mind speeds and period of trigger for checking it supplies in the right way.

 

Q: Moving warehouses closer?

 

A: No can do. Seems like these and farps can't but wouldn't that be cool, eh? Ask in the wishlist forum. And let's all wonder if it's on the way with those Grass airstrips, eh?

 

Q: Slotblocking in other ways?

 

A: [EDITED] The fantastic Ciribob has implemented this here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=3098216

 

Q: Can I dynamically edit WH contents mid mission?

 

A: Don't know if that would work, please let me know. For missions and persistence of warehousing in multiple sessions check out Chromiums DAWS persistence mod, there's some more work to be done in this area, but remember, initial status are set in a flat mission file. It's then into memory and likely can't be manipulated easily. It's likely best to set resources in a chain, no resources at the start and let them build up from an infinite WH somewhere at the end. That way in between missions its a matter of resource flow speed, not pools.

 

Q: Why should I use warehousing in my missions, I don't need this?

 

A: Of course not, but here's why it's better to. For Strikers, it's all well and good, being given a target, but imagine if by destroying that target, you reduce the capability of the enemy in the mission? Stop him spawning his Su37's at one airbase so now only the Mig23's? Or hit the R27-ET factory? Doing it is one thing, seeing and feeling the effect, is entirely different and way more rewarding. Especially now we have the Viggen for interdiction and the Harrier on it's way. Runway bombing is somewhat limited in game and temporary. Sure this applies to longer and organised events but there are tools that save progress and no reason why extended sessions can't exist for JIP (Join in play).This is suitable for campaigns and Resource Management is the corner stone to strategic multi session play.

 

I hope you find this useful, let me know if you do and if you have some different or interesting use of the Resource Manager in game please share it here.

(note fuel supply doesn't seem to be working, at least under certain circumstances. There may be additional quirks/bugs and the actual behaviour may not be equal to the intended behaviour and may change over time)

WAREHOUSEBASECAPTUREDEMO.miz 136.63 kB · 220 downloads

 

Thank you SO much!  Brilliant!  I'll be up and running now  

Thanks for everything over the years @Pikey  I know between yourself and @Grimes, I cannot even begin to imagine how much you have helped with the new warehousing scripting and export etc thats available.  Thanks again for your contributions over the years.

My questions is this topic going to get revisited with new codebase and abilities we have this last update allowing the inventory and input / output via scripting now ?  I am thinking this opens a huge door with logistics scripts etc.

Thanks again

So as far as I checked this works the same as it always has, but the main things to look at now are how we can break the old limitations. Off the top of my head:

- You can use the setItem() on a limited warehouse to set a quantity to 100 and then removeItem() 100 to force the Resource Manager to begin delivering stock from 0. This was a big gripe that the resource manager would never send you more than your initial allocation. This isn't a problem until you realize that all your warehouses have to start with something in stock. This means you either always have very low levels and hit the threshold for restocking too soon or you start with too much stock that it doesn't matter. It was hard to explain to people that it was important, only a few folks in the community played with it.

- With scripting you can add or remove stock as you please. Although it sounds like there should be mention of scripting, the API is not related to how the game mechanics work. The Resource Manager hasn't changed its rules as set by the manual.  The capture mechanics are unchanged, the affect of coalition ownership is the same. What has changed is how you might use it now that you can script the contents, which is an imagination topic. The actual way scripting is used is not in scope for this topic, which was always about how it works, specifically showing its quirks like the supply chain, the range of airbases. On a related note, the capture mechanics are now also blown right open, giving an additional amount of flexibility: