Stukas porpoise up and down in formation

[Winston]

It appears that a formation flying problem still exists for the Stuka. They porpoise up and down and often run into each other and intermittently go spaztic for awhile. They will also not drop their bombs. Any Stuka in formation except the flight lead, any skill level, any map, any altitude. Has this already been reported? I'm doing more testing and will post more info as I get it.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

EDIT: a Big Thanks to all who suggested a speed of 250-260kph for the Stukas. It seems they will porpoise at the default speed of 300kph. Also no problem dropping bombs now at the lower speed.

[Skoshi_Tiger]

Is this with the latest TF patch (4.3)?

The readme suggests the following settings when building missions

2.5 AI AIRCRAFT FLIGHT BEHAVIOUR

Some re-writing of the AI routines governing aircraft behaviour at low altitudes. This should reduce the incidence of 'Lawn-Darting'.

The changes however, will not eliminate this from occurring, and I would recommend Mission Builders use the following values for default skill levels in their mission files.

Rookie: 1 0.47 0.21 0.053 0.053 0.21 0.053 0.053
Average: 1 1 0.74 0.21 0.11 0.74 0.11 0.32
Veteran: 1 1 0.74 0.21 0.21 0.74 0.32 0.32
Ace: 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.89 1

Not sure if it will stop the porpoising

[Winston]

The poor behavior of the Stukas seems to be on certain parts of the Channel Maps only. If you want to see this, create a multiplayer dogfight mission and put a flight of several Stukas pretty much anywhere near the Isle of Wight. Have them attack a single truck at an airbase on the island. This is where I can duplicate this problem each and every time. The formation porpoises, flys poorly and will not drop their bombs.

If I move the attack northward in England the Stukas fly well and will drop their bombs on the target. Is this weird or what?

[Artist]

Funny thing, maybe related: we flew two spits today (6:00 - 9:00 GMT on the ATAG Server) and we both had massive (1-2 seconds) and reproducable freezes...

.. when crossing the eastern channel (bay?, arm of the sea?) between the Isle of Wright and the mainland (both heading south or north). No freezes anywhere else (in two +1 hour sorties). And the leading player always had them first, the following always the appropriate (speed of the aircraft) time later.

Artist

PS: Aliens landed there, created a base on the seabed and sending aut Frazzorays?

[9./JG52 Hans Gruber]

Just did a test with a flight of 3 x AI Stukas bombing a truck on Sandown. Their approach was clean, dive was clean, and they destroyed the truck. I don't see any difference in their behavior from other parts of the map. Here is the .mis file.



[PARTS]
core.100
bob.100
[MAIN]
MAP Land$English_Channel_1940
BattleArea 150000 100000 100000 150000 1000
TIME 12
WeatherIndex 0
CloudsHeight 1000
BreezeActivity 10
ThermalActivity 10
player BoB_LW_LG2_I.000
[GlobalWind_0]
Power 3.000 0.000 0.000
BottomBound 0.00
TopBound 1500.00
GustPower 1
GustAngle 44
[splines]
[AirGroups]
BoB_LW_StG2_II.11
[BoB_LW_StG2_II.11]
Flight0 1 2 3
Class Aircraft.Ju-87B-2
Formation VIC
CallSign 6
Fuel 100
Weapons 1 1 1 1
Skill 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1
[BoB_LW_StG2_II.11_Way]
NORMFLY 61438.57 144356.68 3500.00 260.00
GATTACK_TARG 71156.79 176904.18 3500.00 260.00 Static0 0 /GAttackType DIVE /GAttackPasses _1
NORMFLY 83933.54 154173.56 1500.00 275.00
[CustomChiefs]
[Stationary]
Static0 Stationary.Austin_10_Tilly gb 71214.66 177167.63 0.00
[Buildings]
[BuildingsLinks]

[Winston]

Funny thing, maybe related: we flew two spits today (6:00 - 9:00 GMT on the ATAG Server) and we both had massive (1-2 seconds) and reproducable freezes...

.. when crossing the eastern channel (bay?, arm of the sea?) between the Isle of Wright and the mainland (both heading south or north). No freezes anywhere else (in two +1 hour sorties). And the leading player always had them first, the following always the appropriate (speed of the aircraft) time later.

Artist

PS: Aliens landed there, created a base on the seabed and sending aut Frazzorays?

I'm getting an occasional freeze too in the same spots around the Isle of Wight and also a strange reduction in frame rate (from 60fps to 20fps and it lasts about 2 minutes or so). This is with a heavily populated autumn map simulating Malta in several dogfight type multiplayer missions. I alleviated my Stuka porpoising somewhat by having them spawn in at a lower altitude and having them always climbing until they get to their 'attack target' waypoint.

This is weird stuff and I'm still trying to come to grips with it.

[bolox]

Winston, what speed are you setting Stukas at? I tend to use 250 and Hans Gruber is using 260. By default fmb sets Stukas at 300.

[Winston]

Winston, what speed are you setting Stukas at? I tend to use 250 and Hans Gruber is using 260. By default fmb sets Stukas at 300.
I had them set at the default 300. I'll try 250/260 tomorrow. I've been up all night messing with one of my missions!

[1lokos]

Past your mission code here, use #.

Sokol1

[danperin]

Hi Winston,

I had a problem like this in FMB and it was related with the speed i've set for the planes. It looks that the plane tries to keep the speed you set into the FMB and start to fly up and down,
it happened with me even with the 109s.

Like Bolox said, try to reduce the default speed and make some tests, something between 250/260 km/h.

:salute:

[Winston]

Thanks guys! You solved the problem for me. A Big Thanks to all who suggested a speed of 250-260kph for the Stukas. It seems they will almost always porpoise at the default speed of 300kph. Also no problem dropping bombs now at the lower speed. Formations are stable and bomb delivery is back to normal.

OK now, back to finishing off my multiplayer Malta campaign!

Cheers all