Does anyone know the best way to build non-fly locomotor units using the AircraftTypes build queue???

[Bobble]

So, this is a long shot question for map makers, does anyone know the best way to build a vehicle (e.g. a new tank or helicopter such as [NEWHELI]) using the AircraftTypes build queue (e.g. listed as [AircraftTypes].[NEWHELI]) without using the fly locomotor?

The reason to do this is to be able to constantly train new units from that queue too which are not restricted to being airportbound/pad aircraft, such as a jumpjet helicopter or even a tank.

This would be great for maps like Rekool or RedZone where building Infantry and Tanks non-stop is a must. Hence players could also keep training a third queue too which are not just grounded planes. 

So far I can make the units build in AircraftTypes queue without a build limit (PadAircraft=x restricts the quantity to available pads),  but have to manually move each unit off the pad before they work properly,  and that is tedious; it is exactly the same thing as how Kirov is spawned in a warfactory on the ground,  and only rises up once it starts to move out of the factory (it is this moving to the factory exit-coordinate/rally-point that initialises the jumpjet logic, but airports don't have rally-point or exit-coord and so the player must manually move the unit off else the build queue is stops and is "On Hold" because there is no space for the next unit until the previous one is moved off). 

I think I recall seeing some McPwny maps use the [AircraftTypes] to make buildings so think making units reliably is possible.

Lastly regarding the locomotor, you can instantiate a unit with the fly locomotor and then override it to a jumpjet locomotor to avoid IE issues,  but as written the jumpjet won't rise until moved. 

Thanks. Hoping someone more experienced has some insight. I've only just started modding. ?

[McPwny]

aircraft are hardwired to be aircraft, you cant really make them into tanks. i dont think they even support turrets

you can by recreating the mod i did for the map 'gigamod', which bastardizes the unused aircraft tab to fire triggers which make unit reinforcements spawn, but changing the trigger set so that instead of using the 'techtype exists' event, the dummy unit gets built, then recruited into a team using a repeating trigger, then the team sets a local variable firing the reinforcement trigger and then self deletes. all to essentially "buy a trigger" that gives the unit

so it is possible, but its a ton of work and you also need to know triggers, recruiting, and ini editing well.

[Bobble]

I think I avoided the aircraft is a aircraft problem by instantiatIng a aircraft but then declaring it again and overriding the image, locomotor, etc to what I want. Not sure how stable it is or why it works but although so far so good (but I have no idea how to debug or load test a map, so maybe it will cause a issue later; most of my testing is done like in these videos of other units I did a few days ago https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCdJPNHFHbvr79V4__IT2Zig/videos (forgive the poor quality, I have to use better recording settings, these are quick excerpts for my reference)).

My theory was like declaring a airburst or shrapnel weapon on a dummy object (eg XCOMET) etc, if the first object is a correct aircraft the game would load,  there after declaring the object again but changing locomotor and not using certain keys like fighter=yes would work (assumed ini file was read sequentially and each [SOMESECTION] listing read/loaded at a time). Anyway it works, but a new issue is the build queue behaviour is not intuitive (behaviour is correct, but who can remember to move jumpjet AircraftType off the pad to continue the build queue, especially when infantry and vehicle build queues are click and forget). Hence my thoughts are better way is to build a 0x0 building giving a free unit, then killing the building (but not sure how to delay killing the building so unit has enough time to spawn and launch e.g.  https://ppmforums.com/topic-45889/remove-0x0-after-some-amount-of-time/ doesn't work for me because I don't know how to delay self destruct and my buildings die immediately) so will try that next.

 

 

P.S. I already looked at your amazing gigamod map (which is one of the best map mods I've seen) for inspiration, but realised  it is based on triggers and set waypoints, which is something I want to avoid to

a) allow for maps where players can build anywhere (eg a airport anywhere), and have units appear correctly at the location,

b) avoid triggers etc to make files easier to edit for more casual new modders like me, 

and

c) I vaguely recall reading to avoid triggers on very intensive maps (1000+ units alive) to reduce recon and IE errors etc.

Finally, 

If anyone knows of a working code listing or tutorials of how to... 

1. build a building, that self destructs after giving it's free unit (delay the self destruct) 

2. how to build not-aircrafts via the AircraftTypes queue. 

...that would be really super helpful. 

Thanks.  ?

[McPwny]

the teams can be scripted to drop tanks and stuff at buildings, not waypoints. thats what my map did. 

i suppose you could make the building do what parabombs do; shoot at the enemy with a self destruct wep that doesnt explode and has a range of the whole map.