Disembarking on GUARD

[macguba]

I've just discovered, to my horror, that vehicle crews sometimes (always?) disembark when they have a guard waypoint.    They then forget that they have a tank, so when the game orders them to do a spot of guarding work, they run off leaving the empty vehicle behind.

Anybody got a solution to this one?  

Things that don't work include locking the vehicle (obviously) and explicitly assigning the crew to their positions.

Many thanks.

[Chris Death]

hmm - any details on how you did that macca?

I haven't noticed anything like that yet  

Maybe i should add that i'm also often using GUARD
wp's for apc's/tanks.

~S~ CD

[macguba]

The mission I'm working on has lots of guard waypoints, mostly for infantry groups.    There are a couple of Abrams/Bradley groups too.     In an effort to make the mission harder, I wanted to add a seperate group of dismounts to a group of Bradleys.    This problem I solved, but during the course of testing I noticed that the crew sometimes jumped out.

Elsewhere in the mission there is an Abrams that never seems to turn up at the end of the mission when it is supposed to.   I always put it down to it getting stuck somewhere, or just not getting there in time.    But I checked it out too and sure enough the crew were bailing out shortly after reaching the guard waypoint.  

There is a slight delay, as with any waypoint, so if the game calls the group to do some guarding work immediatly it's fine, they toottle off in the tank.   But if the call comes after they have disembarked they disappear at a run.

Vehicle crews on support waypoints get out too, but they get back in when they are called to do some supporting.

[PsyWarrior]

Greetings Macguba

Groups on Support always disembark until they're needed, But I haven't encountered this guard waypoint problem before. Every time I assign a guard WP to a armour group, it seems to work, but i've never really experimented with it.

Sorry I can't be more help at the minute.

-Supr. Cmdr. PsyWarrior
-Psychic Productions.

[dmakatra]

Hope you don't solve it and dump the mission, otherwise I have to beta that shit-hard mission again.

j/k m8, it's a cool mission. ;D

:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:

[macguba]

 ;D     New version coming out as soon as I solve this little problem.     It's a lot harder.

[dmakatra]

To that I qoute myself when I die in a Call of Duty MP Game:

crap...

 ;D

:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:

[gundernak]

I guess (at my level) it could be a kind of bug...

What if you start a script to handle this unwanted feature:


#loop
@ crew1 == vehicle crew1 or crew2 == vehicle crew2

crew1 assignAsCommander tankname
crew2 assignAsDriver tankname
[crew1,crew2] orderGetIn true

goto "loop"

maybe :-\

By the way I tried guard WP and I did not notice they disembark.

Plus, I would suggest you to delete the WPs of the misfunctional tank and rebuilt it again...

[macguba]

Thanks gundernak.   I tried a script of that nature (without the loop) and they got back in, though they jumped out again straightaway.   The loop might keep them in.

However, I've discovered what's going on.    The guard WP is synchroed to a trigger, and that's what makes them get out.    No trigger, they stay in.    It doesn't matter if the trigger is type switch or none, they jump out as soon as they are settled at the guard waypoint position.   If they get an order to go chasing across the map after the enemy before they actually get to the waypoint position, then that's fine.

I'm going to have to control them by using setWPPos, moving the guard waypoint around.   I think that will work for what I want, but it wouldn't suit every circumstance.   Has anybody else encountered this problem?  

So here's the follow-on question.   Is there any way of getting a group out of a guard waypoint and into the next waypoint other than synchroing with a trigger?   (Using a variable in the condition field doesn't work, which is what you'd expect since a guard waypoint is never completed.)

Thanks for the suggestions everybody.  

[deaddog]

You don't need to move guard waypoints around.  I always make the guard waypoint the only one the unit has.  Whenever a firefight starts, that unit will head to that position.  They will stay there until some more action occurs elsewhere.  At least, that's been my experience.

[macguba]

That is absolutely true.    

However, a unit will stay at its guard position until called by the game engine, and if you have several groups on guard WPs it is quite possible that a particular group will not be called.    When you move the guard waypoint location, the group moves to the new place:  this changes the chance of them being called for a firefight at a given position.   I want to ensure that the vehicles are called by the game at some point, so the waypoint is moved to keep it close to the action.    

The new position also puts them in the middle of the most obvious route for the the player, as a sort of sentry, so it means they can do two jobs at once - sentry and guard, if you see what I mean.

[LCD]

s there any way of getting a group out of a guard waypoint and into the next waypoint other than synchroing with a trigger

put unused WP after da guard 1 nd syn da trig 2 it - so wen da triger is true it skips da guard nd da move WP 2geder - so no da guard WP itself is not synched

i think dat shud solve it

LCD OUT

[Chris Death]

Yep, i agree to: whateva El Siddi' was saying there    ;D

I thought i was posting the very same stuff, LCD did, yesterday,
but for some strange reason i cannot find it inside this thread  

Yeah maybe i went back from the post before submitting the
reply, however  

As a GUARD waypoint is a never-ending waypoint, you can
put a waypoint after the guard one, to use this second one
for the switch trigger.

Also, if you syncronize a GUARD waypoint with a trigger, note
that the unit/group would never do the GUARD stuff, before
that trigger condition does match.

So in other words:

a GUARD waypoint syncronized to a switch trigger is one of
the most useless things in OFP  

Imagine:

GUARD wp synced to switch trigger

xample 1: switch trigger is inactive - group will wait: BEFORE
GUARD STUFF, until condition has been met.

xample 2: switch trigger gets active - group which was waiting
for condition to make GUARD STUFF, will now ignore GUARD STUFF and directly head over to whateva told to do in the
waypoint behind the GUARD one.

~S~ CD

[LCD]

muhahaha

i said it b4 ya

nd its macca so he prooly understan me

all hail el siddi



LCD OUT

[macguba]

Gents, thanks v much.  I should have thought of that myself, duh.   Anyway I've fixed it with a setWPPos which works just fine.

This effectively adds a second Abrams to my Impossible Mission:   it was always there, but you very rarely had to deal with it since the crew drove to their loiter position and jumped out .....

Just one of the ways in which the next version will be harder. ;D