Moggy has been involved in trying to get something working, and I have a couple of ideas, but at the same time I wonder if it is worth continuing.
My thought is that this would be for launching a single floatplane, so I cannot see it being of much entertainment value for a player, as we rarely play with just a single plane.
What do you think?

Jel

Yep, I think it would end up in the "That's Nice" category for floatplanes since EAW doesn't have a recon mission.

HOWEVER, with talk of reviving the Korean scenario, catapults would have a place in the mainstream.

I have a version with the catapult launch using a factor named "Catapult"
Normally this has a value of 1, but if it is a groundstart from a carrier the value is 5.
Planes are reaching the end of the flight deck with speeds of over 200 mph.
The AIs actually take off well before reaching the end of the flight deck
The factor applies to the value you used to fix the floatplanes a few days ago.
It is hard coded, but it could be read from an external file.

Sounds interesting and a nice addition for Korea. Thank you.

Not sure which value you mean - "The factor applies to the value you used to fix the floatplanes a few days ago."



My thoughts -

1 - An external file that could be adjusted might be the best approach as 200 MPH is probably a little high.

2 - Most importantly, how would this mod work for a bunch of planes on a carrier deck?
You have to consider how catapults actually worked in that the planes lined up and launched one by one from the front position on the carrier deck. If you didn't work in some kind of line up sequence the planes would be taking off "catapult style" all the way back to the stern.

3 - The external file would have to load with the Korean scenario otherwise we'd have catapult launches in SPAW.

When I finish up the floatplanes I'll tidy up an F9F Panther for you. Would be nice to practice this with an actual Korean era aircraft.

"DRAG STAB 4 Power 2 - 2.25 X HP"

That's the horsepower data. If you increase that for cat take offs it's going to affect your top speed, climb, and corner speeds.

Might be better to fiddle with:

Throttle min, Throttle max, Throttle rate

I just tried with the same plane, same mission, but one was a carrier launch which set a factor of 4 from the external file, and the other from a groundstart from a land base.
I hit Alt-N both times, and when we hit the waypoint the speeds were very similar.

OK, good. That's what testing is all about.

One thing. make sure that there's no ordinance aboard when you're looking at top speed.

Thiswas with a factor of 10. It made no difference to the final speed, but that climb rate is something else LOL

Whoa, can functioning helicopters be far behind????????

Catalina take off from carrier, catapult factor set to 3:


177 MPH at end of flight deck



Both Cats successfully airborne

In the "160Special" folder at MediaFire there is a "Catapult.exe" 7-zip self installer.
Running it in your "160SpecialGR" folder will add the two new catapult launch exes (old and new map versions) to your "EAW Versions" folder, and put a "Catapult.mpf" file in the root folder.
The latter can be opened with notepad and the value (currently 3) an be changed if you want to experiment.
It only comes into play if you do a groundstart from a carrier. There are plenty in SPAW, and there is always the "Allied carrier" in the North Sea in the default ETO theatre.

Jel

I still think we need to bat my questions around a bit -

===========================================================
2 - Most importantly, how would this mod work for a bunch of planes on a carrier deck?
You have to consider how catapults actually worked in that the planes lined up and launched one by one from the front position on the carrier deck. If you didn't work in some kind of line up sequence the planes would be taking off "catapult style" all the way back to the stern.

3 - The external file would have to load with the Korean scenario otherwise we'd have catapult launches in SPAW.
===========================================================

All I have done is to achieve the speed effect of a catapult launch using the "Catapult.mpf" file. How people want to use it is up to them.
The "Catapult.mpf" file is really meant to be in the theatre folder and not the root folder, however, just for testing purposes I have been using it in the root folder.

That's fine, as long as we can move it to the appropriate folder.

I know you didn't work on lining up the planes on the deck after landing, that was Ralf's area.

If you are so inclined, I do think taking a look at what he did might give you some clues as to how move the planes into launch position for catapult operation.

That's all in the landing code.
Take-off is a completely different area of work. It is based on formation settings and each plane takes off from its set position.
I am not inclined to do any more until we decide that there is a need. We should move this to the Gen and get Moggy's ideas.

On the other topic have you adjusted those floatplane FMs?
I would like to get something out there for people to try

Yep.

Took the day off yesterday to go boating for Father's Day.

Should be done tomorrow.

There will be complete packages uploaded tomorrow. I found a few 3dz errors and I refined a couple of planes which is why I need to make complete packages.

Also, I agree, we should take the catapults to the GEN.