order of convoy?

[bedges]

another problem - no matter what order i place the units in a convoy, the rear bmp always wants to cosy up to the lead jeep. is this a speed issue, or am i placing the units incorrectly?

i suspect the bmp driving serpentine fashion is due to its wanting to overtake the trucks in front. i have tried placing it farther back, but no beans.

[Planck]

If I recall correctly.....it might be best to place them in ranking order.

Highest rank leading and lowest rank at the back, but my memory might be faulty.

Make him one step below a private.   ;D ;D


Planck

[THobson]

I think you have to live with this.  As you know I have a mission that has a convoy of:
APC (BMP or Bradley) followed by assorted trucks with a Vulcan at the back.  This works really well.  They keep their order for days if necessary.

I did this by having the rank of the drivers decrease from the first vehicle to the last and I grouped each vehicle to the leader in the order I want them to be in the convoy, I then set them to SAFE mode and column formation.

What you may not know is that in the same mission I try exactly the same thing with repair truck, ammo truck, fuel truck and a BMP ambulance and it doesn't work.  I just cannot seem to stop the BMP muscling to the head of the line.

[bedges]

bah humbug is all i can say to that. i shall give the rank scaling a go.

thanks for the input, as always

EDIT - well well! i created an empty bmp, two crew, moved them in and assigned them to the bmp and behold, they stay in formation at the rear of the convoy, even if their ranks are higher than other convoy members.

i retract my earlier 'bah humbug' statement

[macguba]

The order of vehicles in a convoy is supposed to be determined by their order in the group.   1 first, 2 second and so on.    This is usually, but not always, the same as the rank order.    Remember that commander is always one rank higher than the gunner who is one rank higher than the driver.   IIRC you select the driver's rank in the mission editor.    It is different for wheeled vehicles.

Wheels and tracks often don't mix.   The best solution is to play with vehicle combinations until you find one that works, and then make your mission fit.     Using loons as drivers rather than creating the vehicles directly does seem to help as you have discovered.    

Often however, the problem is the mission designer not fully appreciating the rules, which are complex.    Experiment till you really understand how it all works - it will stand you in good stead for the future.     Until you forget.