A flyable GST?

[Marabekm]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Other than the need to create a whole bunch of new crew stations, I think that another issue with the PBY series is that IL-2 can't (currently) handle amphibious aircraft.

There are several amphibious aircrafts in game: PBN, E13A, A6M2-N, MBR, Ar-196, Cant. Z 506B, and maybe one or two more that I missed. However currently the only flyable option is the A6M2-N Rufe. And there is the Ju-52 version with the floats. Speaking of that aircraft, will that version be made flyable when the standard Ju-52 is?

[Buren]

Originally Posted by Marabekm

There are several amphibious aircrafts in game: PBN, E13A, A6M2-N, MBR, Ar-196, Cant. Z 506B, and maybe one or two more that I missed. However currently the only flyable option is the A6M2-N Rufe. And there is the Ju-52 version with the floats. Speaking of that aircraft, will that version be made flyable when the standard Ju-52 is?

If I correctly understand it, the game engine can't handle aircraft capable of landing on both water and land. It's either one or the other, even though there are gears and everything in the PBY-5A version IRL.

[Cloyd]

Originally Posted by Buren

If I correctly understand it, the game engine can't handle aircraft capable of landing on both water and land. It's either one or the other, even though there are gears and everything in the PBY-5A version IRL.

There is one MOD plane that I know of (the Grumman Duck) that resolves this issue. It can land on water or land. I assume that if the modders can do it, TD could do it too. Yes? No?

Cloyd

[Verdun1916]

Originally Posted by Cloyd

There is one MOD plane that I know of (the Grumman Duck) that resolves this issue. It can land on water or land. I assume that if the modders can do it, TD could do it too. Yes? No?

Cloyd

I don't think there is any problem to make a seaplane that can land both on water and on land. The Catalinas/Nomads had retractable landing gear like most other land based aircraft. However you would need a separate key-command for the wingtip pontoons so you can use them without lowering your landing gear.

However...the difficult part I think might be the AI and to be able to get that to be able to act the correct way in the correct situation. That is making the AI know when to lower the landing gear or when to lower the wingtip pontoons depending on if it's supposed to land on land or water. I'm not sure how the already present AI PBN Nomad works when it come to landing and taking of on water compared to on land. I think it can only handle water landings and take-off's but I'm not sure. I will have to check that out.

But I'm not a programmer so this is just my thoughts on the matter and I might be wrong here.

EDIT: I did a little test with the stock AI PBN Nomad. I Used the Norway map and set the British seaplane airbase as take of point for it and the big airbase to the south of it as final waypoint and landing point to see if the Nomad would try to land there. But it seems that the AI was smart enough to realize something was afot so after reaching it's last mid-air waypoint it automatically landed back at the seaplane base instead of the land base I had designated as it's landing point.

So maybe a solution would be to have two versions of seaplanes that was historically capable of landing both on water and land. One version for water take-offs and landings only and one for land take-offs and landings only. If it's not possible to make a version that can handle both, both player and AI wise.

[wheelsup_cavu]

Originally Posted by Verdun1916

I don't think there is any problem to make a seaplane that can land both on water and on land. The Catalinas/Nomads had retractable landing gear like most other land based aircraft. However you would need a separate key-command for the wingtip pontoons so you can use them without lowering your landing gear.

However...the difficult part I think might be the AI and to be able to get that to be able to act the correct way in the correct situation. That is making the AI know when to lower the landing gear or when to lower the wingtip pontoons depending on if it's supposed to land on land or water. I'm not sure how the already present AI PBN Nomad works when it come to landing and taking of on water compared to on land. I think it can only handle water landings and take-off's but I'm not sure. I will have to check that out.

But I'm not a programmer so this is just my thoughts on the matter and I might be wrong here.

EDIT: I did a little test with the stock AI PBN Nomad. I Used the Norway map and set the British seaplane airbase as take of point for it and the big airbase to the south of it as final waypoint and landing point to see if the Nomad would try to land there. But it seems that the AI was smart enough to realize something was afot so after reaching it's last mid-air waypoint it automatically landed back at the seaplane base instead of the land base I had designated as it's landing point.

So maybe a solution would be to have two versions of seaplanes that was historically capable of landing both on water and land. One version for water take-offs and landings only and one for land take-offs and landings only. If it's not possible to make a version that can handle both, both player and AI wise.

There are two types of spawn/stay points. One for seaplanes and one for land based aircraft. Notice at the seaplane base they are light blue and at the land base they are green. If you zoom in far enough you can see floats on the seaplane spawn/stay points. If you are having trouble on a map with planes landing weirdly in an area you may find that the map builder used the wrong type.

Sea Planes


Land Based Planes


The reason the AI flew back to the takeoff point in your mission is because the bases were so close to one another. In the mission below I had the AI fly all the way to Herdla. The AI plane did not return to its takeoff point but it did still land in the water.

[MAIN]
MAP Norway/load.ini
TIME 12.0
CloudType 0
CloudHeight 1000.0
army 1
playerNum 0
[SEASON]
Year 1940
Month 6
Day 15
[WEATHER]
WindDirection 0.0
WindSpeed 0.0
Gust 0
Turbulence 0
[MDS]
MDS_Radar_SetRadarToAdvanceMode 0
MDS_Radar_RefreshInterval 0
MDS_Radar_DisableVectoring 0
MDS_Radar_EnableTowerCommunications 1
MDS_Radar_ShipsAsRadar 0
MDS_Radar_ShipRadar_MaxRange 100
MDS_Radar_ShipRadar_MinHeight 100
MDS_Radar_ShipRadar_MaxHeight 5000
MDS_Radar_ShipSmallRadar_MaxRange 25
MDS_Radar_ShipSmallRadar_MinHeight 0
MDS_Radar_ShipSmallRadar_MaxHeight 2000
MDS_Radar_ScoutsAsRadar 0
MDS_Radar_ScoutRadar_MaxRange 2
MDS_Radar_ScoutRadar_DeltaHeight 1500
MDS_Radar_HideUnpopulatedAirstripsFromMinimap 0
MDS_Radar_ScoutGroundObjects_Alpha 5
MDS_Radar_ScoutCompleteRecon 0
MDS_Misc_DisableAIRadioChatter 0
MDS_Misc_DespawnAIPlanesAfterLanding 1
MDS_Misc_HidePlayersCountOnHomeBase 0
MDS_Misc_BombsCat1_CratersVisibilityMultiplier 1.0
MDS_Misc_BombsCat2_CratersVisibilityMultiplier 1.0
MDS_Misc_BombsCat3_CratersVisibilityMultiplier 1.0
[RespawnTime]
Bigship 1800
Ship 1800
Aeroanchored 1800
Artillery 1800
Searchlight 1800
[Wing]
g0100
[g0100]
Planes 1
Skill 1
Class air.JU_52_3MG5E
Fuel 100
weapons default
[g0100_Way]
TAKEOFF 12961.72 20370.88 0 0 &0
NORMFLY 10000.00 23000.00 500.00 222.00 &0
NORMFLY 88000.00 14000.00 500.00 222.00 &0
LANDING 92800.58 18609.32 0 0 &0
[NStationary]
[Buildings]
[Bridge]
[House]

Wheels

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Marabekm

There are several amphibious aircrafts in game: PBN, E13A, A6M2-N, MBR, Ar-196, Cant. Z 506B, and maybe one or two more that I missed. However currently the only flyable option is the A6M2-N Rufe. And there is the Ju-52 version with the floats. Speaking of that aircraft, will that version be made flyable when the standard Ju-52 is?

These are all dedicated seaplanes/flying boats which can only take off and land on water.

A truly "amphibious" seaplane or flying boat has the capacity to take off and land on both water and land.

For some reason, only the allies had amphibious aircraft during WW2, although the technology was well-known.

WW2 amphibians which saw operational service: Consolidated PBY-5A & PBY-6A Catalina, Douglas RD-4 Dolphin, Grumman G-15/J2F Duck, Grumman G-21/JRF Goose, Grumman G-44/J4F Widgeon/Gosling, Shavrov Sh-2, Sikorsky S-43/JRS-1 "Baby Clipper", Supermarine Walrus, and Supermarine Sea Otter. Of this list, the "important" ones which saw the most extensive combat service are the Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina, Shavrov Sh-2, and Supermarine Walrus.

Additionally, a number of land planes could be converted to seaplanes by adding floats, but this prevented them from being operating from land until the floats were removed and wheels replaced. For example, the Ju-52/6m or the Kawanishi N1K Kyofu "Rex."