Helicopter Disembark Behavior

Helicopters with infantry cargo behave the same way as if they were ground vehicles when the troops disembark, that is to say, helicopter lands, unloads troops, helicopter takes off again, landed troops will stay attached to the helicopter and attempt to walk and follow the flight path of the helicopter unless the player intervenes.

I wanted to create a script where Blackhawk helicopters land and disembarked troops carry out a set of scripted orders- the problem with this is the above behavior combined with the fact when the 'disembark' option is selected in the mission editor, the troops don't actually deploy on the map screen in order to start assigning waypoints, etc.

So, while it is possible to take control during the action phase for a human player, it seems impractical to script autonomous behavior this way for computer controlled units (supporting elements, enemy forces, and so on). The way around this is still to spawn infantry units at landing sites rather than disembark their organic infantry cargo.

One way to do it is to create a series of routes from the disembark point governed by "Embark if" statements tied to the carried infantry units. This allows you to initially disburse the infantry, then maneuver them further. It's tedious to set up, but works. Of course, this only applies during scenario creation...

The way around this is still to spawn infantry units at landing sites rather than disembark their organic infantry cargo.

This is also the only way to have a multi-national force (say Blue helos inserting a Green Infantry unit).

One way to do it is to create a series of routes from the disembark point governed by "Embark if" statements tied to the carried infantry units. This allows you to initially disburse the infantry, then maneuver them further. It's tedious to set up, but works. Of course, this only applies during scenario creation...

It doesn't quite work that way.

In the mission editor, you can get a helicopter to unload the troops right away if you just create a helicopter- but you can't do it the same way when it arrives at a waypoint (i.e., if you want it to land somewhere else and then deploy the troops.)

In other words, create a helicopter in the mission editor, click unload troops, then they are deployed on the map screen and can be given orders as you say, easy enough.

But you can't do this if the helicopter arrives at a waypoint.

So for example, I create a Blackhawk, then create waypoint 1, where I intend for it to fly to and land. At the waypoint, you can elect to disembark the troops, but you can't pre-deploy the troops at the waypoint and assign orders from the mission editor. There's virtually no point in doing it, unless you want to control of the troops yourself, but there's no mechanism to script autonomous units.

Try the difference- create a helicopter and do nothing else but disembark the troops, vs. get the helicopter to fly and land at a waypoint and then get it to disembark- you can't deploy them from the map screen and script future orders as a condition from arriving at the waypoint, as it will not open up a dialogue box.

Here are screenshots to visualize this:

You can create a helo, dismount troops.

And here they are, you can proceed to give them orders. But this is just to empty the helo of its passengers as the only reason to do this.

However, it's different if you want to simulate a landing zone and drop off the troops:

Helo is flying to waypoint 1,

And in the above image while you can dismount the troops upon condition of reaching the waypoint, you will notice they don't appear on the map screen to give them orders as in the first screenshots. They will deploy in the action phase, but a human being will have to give them orders after that, it's not possible to pre-script orders from the waypoint (landing zone).

This comes to the other problem I mentioned: the landed troops once deployed will walk around and attempt to follow the helicopter when it takes off again, because they're still attached without human intervention.

So from a practical standpoint, you can't really simulate a helicopter landing and unloading troops if you want it to be autonomous or computer controlled, unless you spawn the troops instead.

The trick in the editor is:

Unload troops

Create route for the chopper

Where you want to disembark, set it on the waypoint (troops: unload)

Create a route from the waypoint with follow if... condition and select troop name (it is selectable because troops are on the map).

Now you can give orders to the troops.

Load the troops back in chopper.

Save and start mission

So from a practical standpoint, you can't really simulate a helicopter landing and unloading troops if you want it to be autonomous or computer controlled, unless you spawn the troops instead.

Really? Works fine for me:

Chopper Test.rar

The trick in the editor is:

Unload troops

Create route for the chopper

Where you want to disembark, set it on the waypoint (troops: unload)

Create a route from the waypoint with follow if... condition and select troop name (it is selectable because troops are on the map).

Now you can give orders to the troops.

Load the troops back in chopper.

Save and start mission

That is a little tricky, exactly what I needed, thanks.

in fact, you don't have to unload troops, the name of all troops has been added in the unit selection box for conditions, even if they are loaded.