Proposal of radical alteration of Paradrop code

Bug #894974 reported by Millennium
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Bug Description

Since the Paradrop code does little else than create a group of player-owned units inside an aircraft, then assigns that aircraft to "attack" at the designated drop zone, would it not be possible to use radically different combinations of task forces to be called up by Superweapons? For example, a SW could, when fired, create a group of infantry or other units entering from outside the map, just like in Paradrop, but without the plane, or with another type of transport, and with a "Move" com assigned to the target location of the SW. To define the group called for, such a superweapon could use tags akin to those used in AI.ini for taskforces, and maybe could also have a tag for the action to perform at the destination. This would give modders a great deal of freedom and would remove the need for seperate "Airstrike", "Paradrop" and "Spyplane" logic - each of these could simply be the same SW, but "Airstrike" calls in a taskforce of, say, two bombers, with the action "Attack" assigned, while "Paradrop" would call in some infantry inside a transport plane, with the transport assigned attack, while a "Spyplane" would just call for a spyplane with the action "Move" assigned, etc.

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Demon Red Storm (demon-red-storm) wrote :

While we're at it, why doesn't the code allow for different types anyway? I think it becoming "reinforcement" logic instead of "paratrooper" logic...then we could have chrono reinforcements, etc. All that would be required is a type tag (user defined, maybe), an animation tag, and the reinforcements units/numbers tag(s).

All in all, somewhat interesting possibilities. Not altogether necessary, but very interesting. Hopefully the RP2 people look into this.

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Millennium (kotaka) wrote :

Yes, you quite got my idea - and you wrapped it into a much nicer text thanb I managed to do...

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Millennium (kotaka) wrote :

For example:

[ExampleSuperweapon]
Name=Call 3 Tesla Tanks and 4 Flak Troopers
Type=Taskforce
TaskforceTypes=TTNK,FLAKT
TaskforceNum=3,4
InTransport=yes ; Taskforce is contained in Transport when entering map.
TransportType=DSHP ; Dropship
TransportNum=2 ; 2 Dropships
Mission=Unload ; Land & Unload at target location
Target=HouseTargeting ; takes the target from the SW's targeting

As for the creation of the taskforce, it could also use:

Taskforce=EXAMPLE_TASKFORCE

and store the Taskforce itself in a seperate section:

[Taskforces]
000=EXAMPLE_TASKFORCE

[EXAMPLE_TASKFORCE]
(this should work like in AI.ini, maybe even with a corresponding mission script)

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Renegade (renegade) wrote :

Severity -> feature. RTFM.

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Marshall (m-edward) wrote :

I suggest the following - simpler than having a whole 'nother section for task forces.

[NewSuperweapon]
Type=NewParadrop
Paradrop.Plane=PDPLANE
Paradrop.Units=E1,MTNK
Paradrop.Num=6,2
Paradrop.Americans.Plane=DSHP
Paradrop.Americans.Units=E1,MTNK,GHOST
Paradrop.Americans.Num=8,2,1

...and so forth for all other countries.
If "Paradrop.[Country]." is not present then it falls back to the basic "Paradrop."

To make side-specific (as opposed to country-specific) paradrops, the modder would have to enter every country but that's just tough.

This discussion also gave me an idea (which I will go and raise an Issue for now) which could be particularly useful for paradrops - SW.RequiredHouses and SW.ForbiddenHouses.

I suspect that other types of reinforcement SW would be better handled as separate SW types. Although could maybe share some of the same tags (e.g. SW.Americans.Units). Type=ChronoReinforce, Type=VehicleReinforce

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Bug Importer (bug-importer) wrote :

This is Turn-A Gamer. No shit, either.

A mission-based task force superweapon would be amazing and could be incredible. The flexibility of this alone could completely revivify the game.

Off the top of my head, the following missions would be useful:
- An Attack mission that forces units in the mission to attack until out of ammo would replace the hacky airstrikes using Boris Airstrike logic entirely, for actual carpet bombing a la the A10 strike in Tiberian Dawn.
- A Defend mission could call in units to guard an area - they could be uncontrollable, and a tag called Defend.Duration= could give a time counter for the defense team. Imagine a series of strike helicopters defending a pass, or a temporary "reinforcement from a friendly battalion" lending a hand. Maybe naval interceptors to go sub-hunting, or a group of subs clearing out a place for you on the short term.

I'm not being very original here but there's a million possibilities.

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DCoder DCoder (dcoder1337) wrote :

Hey TAG!

Yes, the taskforce-firing SW would be awesome. Best part is that it's not that complex for me to implement, unlike the proposed country-specific paradrops.

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Darkstorm (bynnar-starblade) wrote :

You should add in a tag like:

Paradrop.Return=Boolean

For those would want the transport to stay or those would want it (perhaps a Nighthawk) to withdraw from the area.

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