Custom Aircraft... What's To Know?

[DarkCobra262]

What all is there to know about custom aircraft - like the UEP Supa and such, attempted to make a bomber pilotable with other weapons but it doesn't fly up or anything... and I copied the UEP Supa Fighter's ODF and edited the necessary codes and such (IE model/weapons)... (oh yeah, kewl good on those btw TJ, if only they weren't missile scouts with a slightly edited model >:P)

[MrTwosheds]

Bit of a wide question "what's to know?"
The odfs tj used should contain most of the stuff you will need, I would however recommend entering more reasonable values for the pitchPitch and some other handling values, BZ2 pathing is mostly 2 dimensional, TJ's dogfighter AI's are not doing loops deliberately, the values he used force that to happen.
pitchPitch = 0.78 is a nice value.
The faster they go the more difficulty the AI has in navigating sensibly.
The bomber is a class of its own, More like an APC than an Aircraft really. You can really only do an AI bomber or a Human piloted bomber, not one that works for both.
A human piloted "bomber" would require you to construct a bomber bay a human could use. It would not behave like the AI bomber.

[DarkCobra262]

Bit of a wide question "what's to know?"
The odfs tj used should contain most of the stuff you will need, I would however recommend entering more reasonable values for the pitchPitch and some other handling values, BZ2 pathing is mostly 2 dimensional, TJ's dogfighter AI's are not doing loops deliberately, the values he used force that to happen.
pitchPitch = 0.78 is a nice value.
The faster they go the more difficulty the AI has in navigating sensibly.
The bomber is a class of its own, More like an APC than an Aircraft really. You can really only do an AI bomber or a Human piloted bomber, not one that works for both.
A human piloted "bomber" would require you to construct a bomber bay a human could use. It would not behave like the AI bomber.

I had said I just copied and pasted it, it's going to be a human-craft only, and is armed with a weapon that throws a Daywrecker (similar to the UEP's "Bruce Lee" craft that has a Daywrecker launcher)... So far I've tried to pilot up (like how I would in a Supa and it doesn't go anywhere) so... I did notice that when a AI stole a fighter one time, they can't fly worth crap (isn't that why the sentinel from the megas keeps crashing into crap?) It's not using the bomber class so that isn't a problem.

EDIT - btw I rerigged the Thunderbird (The Bomber) so it has weapons and such :p

[MrTwosheds]

Aircraft can be flown well by the AI, but they need to operate much like any other bz2 unit, fairly slowly and without acrobatic 3 dimensional stunt flying, which just confuses them, particularly with pathing type objects such as bridges.
Handling is mostly controlled by these entries.
[AirCraftClass]
AltitudeLookahead = 1.5 //1
//subAttackClass = "ADN"
//attackTask = "DefendArea"
//defendTask = "DefendArea"
//waitTask = "DefendArea"
velocSet(L) = 0.0 // minimum velocity
velocSet(M) = 36.0 // cruising velocity
velocSet(H) = 60.0 // maximum velocity
accelThrust = 40 // thrust acceleration
accelBrake = 40 // 10.0 // brake acceleration
accelDrag = 60 // drag acceleration, momentum sort of.
// mouse as rudder
omegaSteer(L) = 3.14 // 2.5 // steer turn rate at minimum
omegaSteer(M) = 2.35 // 2.0 // steer turn rate at cruising
omegaSteer(H) = 1.57 // 1.5 // steer turn rate at maximum
// strafe affecting rudder
omegaStrafe(L) = 2.0 // airbrake turn rate at minimum
omegaStrafe(M) = 1.67 // airbrake turn rate at cruising
omegaStrafe(H) = 1.25 // airbrake turn rate at maximum

//this affects steering but not sliding
alphaSteer = 2.3 // steering angular acceleration
// more = more turning from strafing
alphaStrafe = 1.5 // 0.01 // airbrake angular acceleration
alphaTrack = 15.0 // 14.0 //15.0 //Speed at which the ship rights itself, dont know if it works for aircraft.
alphaDamp = 10 // 12 // damping angular acceleration
pitchPitch = 1.17//1.57 // maximum pitch angle 1.57 = 1/2 PI, goes straight up/down
rollSteer = 0.25 // 0.5 // maximum roll angle from steering
rollStrafe = 1.17 //maximum roll angle from airbraking
alphaLevel = 10 // how fast you can change pitch/ overall manoover

I just copied this from My Dalek combat saucer.
pitchPitch = 1.57 will make it go vertical and flip over (and confuse the AI)