....... this is a new one

The SPAW floatplanes release is imminent, so in readiness I have updated the original SPAW theatre by fixing groundstart problems at the four seaplane bases.
I have also made a new SPAW floatplanes theatre, based on the old one which had the seaplane bases moved to enable them to be used in "groundstart" multiplayer missions which run in real time. I have used the TMod set-up that Ray used in SPAW for the seaplane bases, and added four new ones, two Japanese and two Allied in a different area of the map, but close to the front line.



Jel

And I have the "Pete" in good shape with just a couple of small 3dz issues to fix.

I do want to re-visit the FM's based on your input.

So a day or two at most and I'm done.

Nice work.

We need some seaplane carrier Tmods.

Good point. Maybe a tweak ( sorry, no other word would do ) of the seaplane tender in SPAW?

Hey also, weren't you working on something with floatplanes on Battleships?

Don't forget, there are over 600 empty TMOD slots available so you can make TMODs with individual ship names if you want to.

18 years ago I had a severely bodged effort in the original Midway.

Catapault planes - yes - using an invisible version of the raised carrier deck runway, I had managed to get a catapault plane effect from the PAW battleship and cruiser models.





Is there a problem that floatplanes will only launch from water surfaces? Otherwise you could launch from units of the fleet and land nearby.

I don't know what we would do about wynching back on board

I think we'd have to figure out why the amphibian PBY didn't work because that is what a catapult floatplane would be doing. Taking off from an invisible airfield set atop the battleship TMOD and landing on a water tile.

At least that's my take on the problem. Jel may have other ideas.

As to the winching I think you'd have to call the mission complete when the plane hove to the side of the ship.

Of course that does call into question the problem that there aren't recon missions in EAW. Unless this is addressed we'd end up with another "that's nice" scenario, like the old Assault Glider project Woody and I worked on about 15 years ago.

It functioned Ok but had very limited playability.

That's not to say some other mission couldn't be used. The floatplanes do have the ability to carry bombs and they are all armed with MG's or cannons. But they'd be dead meat against landing gear equipped planes because they are 30 to 70 MPH slower and less maneuverable.

FWIW, PAW had an automated search function in the campaigns. You sent out your search planes in a pattern you devised and if the enemy fleet was spotted you got teleported to your cockpit for the encounter.

I just did an investigation with the Catalina

1. Doing a groundstart from a land base and viewing from the side in F9

The wheels are down but slightly above the ground.





As soon as you start engine1 they are up, the plane drops and is impossible to fly.

2. Doing a water start
The wheels are down



Start the engines and it takes off with the wheels down
Get into the air and hit "G" and there is no response. The wheels stay down
Skip to the next waypoint (which normally retracts the wheels if you forgot to do so) and they are still up.

The height above the ground is controlled in the plne.flt file but with more than one parameter. It's fairly complicated.

Left me play around with it and send you a new file.

Why don't you just create a radius around the ship and when the plane gets within that radius and is over water you reposition it on board. You could use a timer of perhaps a minute before it happens or you do it when the player view is not on that area. Or an automated parking sequence which brings it alongside and then reposition it.

VonBeerhofen

If I recall, there is something similar for parking aircraft after they land on a carrier. In the early days the planes would scatter helter skelter all over the place, some even went in the drink.

Ralf added a routine to get them to park in two lines.

So your suggestion might just work.

I might leave the catapults to Moggy
However, the new Catalina files from Ray are working, with one minor problem.
By default the gear is down for take off for all planes with retractable undercarriages
This needs to be made conditional for on land, so that the gear is up when the Catalina is taking off from water.
Currently the gear is still down, the take-off is OK but it looks a bit odd.
However, once you are in the air the gear will retract when you hit "G"
I will have a look at the code tomorrow.

The code is a maze with many conditional routines already.
I do not think I have the time to do it for several reasons.
I managed to get the gear up on the runway clicking "G" which showed I had found the code that represents the "gear up" condition.
However, when you do this the plane drops, is damaged, and cannot fly.
No matter what else I tried I could not stop the damage.

In normal flight you are rarely viewing the take off in F9, so you do not see the wheels are down anyway.

Finally I tried a groundstart from a seaplane base with 12 Catalinas and no other planes to practice landing on water.
On one occasion I managed it, but with the gear down. I was never able to do it with the gear up as the plane would eventually slew to one side

Edit:
I just tried again, this time I set myself on wing-leveler ordered the squad to return to base. Following one in F9 I watched it drop the wheels to land, land perfectly and park.

Ray I just emailed a reply to you with the new SPAW data files which have your four seaplane bases working for groundstarts


Edit:
Which horsepower values did you edit when you first fixed the overheating problems with the floatplanes.
I have a thought regarding using a factor for a catapult launch that might be helpful for what Moggy is trying to do.

Jel

Got the files, will look later.

Horsepower is set by --------- "DRAG STAB 4 Power 2 - 2.25 X HP"------------ about 1/2 way down the second page.