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AI Combat addon (FSCaptain 1.8)

FSCaptain 1.8 Beta

I was at the FSCaptain website and saw the Beta Download on the forum for FSCaptain 1.8 Beta's. Do they contain the FSCCAI or is it a separate stand-alone download. I'm confused. Please clarify. Thank you.
 
FSCAI is installed as part of the FSCaptain Beta 4 1.8.0 installation.

You will find FSCAI.exe in FSX or P3D/FSCaptain/bin folder that is created after installation
of beta 4.

Nevertheless, FSCAI.exe can run as a standalone program by double klicking the FSCAI.exe
after you're in FSX/P3D environment (eg, Free Flight). Ie, you don't have to run it through
the FSCaptain program.

Author's intention though, is FSCAI to be activated by FSCaptain when a combat assignment
is chosen by the user through the FSCaptain interface. This is the case with T-28 first post video.

Still, using FSCAI as standalone as described, is also an "official" way of using it... and one of
the options described above by the author of the program.

If you use it, don't forget to also add the folder I'm talking about at the VRS forum (attached to my post).
 
FSCAI demo combat scenario

FSCAI will change the way you view FSX/P3D in my opinion. Is
really a "game" changer... For military & combat oriented FSX/P3D
users, there is virtually no aviation scenario - historical or fictional -
that cannot be simulated... And that is what FSX/P3D is about...

"A video = x1000 words" : Nam' - Heys attack a VC camp :


Which reminds me the "Falklands Crisis" mission and the ability to
attack HMS Antelope FSCAI defended, with Cattaneo's MB326 & bombs...
Or Than Hoa bridge at North Vietnam with proper VC defences,
Or a pure Hellenic scenario of IMIA 1996 Crisis... or... or...

In video above, VC Base is protected by 2 x ZU-23 AAAs, and 2 x .50cal
units (the jeep & the boat in the river) while FSCAI difficulty level was set
to Hard.
Which reminds me that many programmed features of FSCAI are not documented
in the assignments.pdf, like :
- the ability to surprise AI defences as in video (difficulty level - in Very Hard, fire
had started about 3 miles before we reached the VC base, flight altitude and others)
- the ability to supress with fire AI defences !... and other features.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

So in FSX/P3D we currently have :

- the Whole world, sceneries almost about anything, almost any plane flyable or AI
- Weapons & Systems for User's aircraft (VRS Tacpack or even Captain Sim's Weapon)
- Destructible structures or whole theaters that anyone can built (FSX@War program)
- Ground & Surface static or moving AI Defences (FSCAI)
- The inherent ability of FSX/P3D for scripted aviation missions/scenarios, as also,
quite close & similar, FSCaptain "Assignments" for scripted action in Free Flight mode.

Well, I can live with that... Even if the AI planes vs user ability doesn't exist (though it can
be scripted to some extend also...). As a matter of fact I'm quite happy with the vast
potential that opens it's gates... :dizzy:

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

PS : Dutch, I'm probably your best advertiser... You should consider pay me something
but I'll compromise with a free copy of the final version for FSX... :encouragement: :very_drunk:
 
I'll try that definitely, thanks for the note!

What I find a bit confusing are the multitude of great tools out there, and the way they interact (or not...). We have FSX@War, CCP, FSCAI, FSCaptain, etc. Then TacPack or CSWeapon. And then FSX/P3Ds own mission system. I think it's hard to keep an overview over all that when one not uses this all the time.

Cheers,
Mark
 
Great staff... just great.
Militaries in FSX finally have a purpose...


roger-wilco-66 said:
I'll try that definitely, thanks for the note!

What I find a bit confusing are the multitude of great tools out there, and the way they interact (or not...). We have FSX@War, CCP, FSCAI, FSCaptain, etc. Then TacPack or CSWeapon. And then FSX/P3Ds own mission system. I think it's hard to keep an overview over all that when one not uses this all the time.

Cheers,
Mark
Click to expand...

You certainly have a good point. Developers are aware of this
and do their best for the easiest methods for final user.

Good thing is that all these addon programs are standalone and
do not interact. So user can choose to run whatever he feels
comfortable with.

Running FSX@War, CCP and FSCAI at the same time with FSX or P3D,
is quite viable and easy in reality. Easy how ?

The "guide" is CCP (via saved CCP miss). You place the simobjects that
you want where you want (I'm talking mainly about ground vehicles &
statics "misc" that you can also declare in FSCAI here) and Save as a "CCP mission".
That's it.

Whenever you're in the mood of flying with these addons, you run CCP
and just load a saved CCP mission of yours (or other people). You see
there the GMT times that CCP mission uses and thus you can set up yourself
properly at Free Flight UI with GMT Time of Day and Airport.

Start Free Flight, Run FSX@War (if fits) and wait the 2 mins that takes
for simobjects to cash. Run CCP (connect to FSX/P3D) and FSCAI.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Talking about FSCAI, you need a method for placing "vehicles" & "misc"
simobjects where you want them to be, so they can do their firing part.

The only programs I'm aware capable of doing that in Free Flight, is CCP,
Living World and saved .TPS files for Tacpack users (that may be the easiest
method of all for users that have Tacpack).

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Other methods can be FSX Missions/P3D Scenarios, as also the newly
arrived FSCaptain Assignments.
 
xpelekis said:
Great staff... just great.
Militaries in FSX finally have a purpose...
Click to expand...

Thanks xpel for spreading the word. I have not been feeling super well lately and so it's been hard to write clear English, but I'll say some official stuff for everyone here. Hopefully it will be understandable :)

FSCAI is a separate program that interfaces with FSCaptain Assignments (missions) - which is a scripting language that executes in free flight mode and built into the FSCaptain structure. It can provide a mission objective and animate objects and effects to go along with the mission. It's a quite capable scripting language but it's designed to be easy to write and use. (A mission without special animations can be described in three or four lines only.) The FSCAI program is the part that gives enemy objects the ability to target and shoot at you or your allies in the air with a variety of realistic AA weapons from plain guns right up to SAMs. FSCAI does not require FSCaptain to work. It can automatically, by SimObject name, link weapons to any SimObject in free flight. It comes pre-packaged to weaponize many of the standard FSX@War objects right out of the box.

Right now we're at the late beta stage for FSCaptain 1.8. When that's released, it will contain an "early adopter" free version of the Assignments system that also includes FSCAI for free. That means that the "free trial" version of FSCaptain 1.8 will contain a fully functional early version of Assignments that will work for you whether or not you register it.

The next major release of FSCaptain (probably, 2.0) will contain the official version of Assignments (with FSCAI) and you'll have to register to get it functional outside of its limited demo zones. We will package a special version of the FSCaptain product, named FSCaptain RED, that contains only the Assignments/FSCAI for a price under the full price for the product - for those that aren't interested in the civilian ATP features that thousands have enjoyed for nearly 8 years now.

The FSCAI program will continue to be free in its basic form right now. But, we plan on enhancing it greatly. Imagine ground units that fight each other. Imagine enemy aircraft that can attack you and dogfight. Imagine not being alone but having wingmen who obey your orders. Imagine GCI and military ATC. And much, much more. Some of this is planned for FSCaptain 2.0 and more will be added as the whole system evolves.

Hope this helps explain our plans.
Dutch
 
All I Can Say Is

WOW!!!! I am so looking forward to what you guys have in store for the future...an FSX like IL2 or DCS? Keep up the great work.
 
Thanks for taking your time to give these explanations, Chris and Dutch. Sounds great. Is there sort of a tutorial about what to employ and how to configure it to generate an environment like it was done at the plain of jars video or the attack of the camp / island airfield above? It could be used to jump start those who are interested.

I wish there was another weapon delivery system as an alternative for Tacpack. I can't use that because I'm on a P3D professional dev license plan.


Cheers,
Mark
 
Dutch, I want to say Thank You for all of your hard work! I have been involved with Flight Sim for over 20 years and we are closer now to having a (Global) combat sim than ever before. With the advent of Tacpack,FSX@War, and now your FSCAI Air to Ground (Realistic) warfare is now possible. A comprehensive Manual/Tutorial would be a major help though.

Roger-Wilco, have you tried vACMI from SSW? It works in P3Dv4 as well.
 
vACMI is free as a package but works only with SSW aircraft I think. It includes a wide arrange of weapons but I am not sure if other planes can be vACMIed like they can be TacPacked. Mario may advise further.
 
Thank you both for even adding the features into FSX. I was corrected on the VRS forums from xpelekis and now understand the team effort involved. I can remember first getting Capt Sim Weapons, then think "now what?" as I gun down that enemy AI Cessna.
 
roger-wilco-66 said:
Sounds great. Is there sort of a tutorial about what to employ and how to configure it to generate an environment like it was done at the plain of jars video or the attack of the camp / island airfield above? It could be used to jump start those who are interested.

Cheers,
Mark
Click to expand...

Here it is.
Though half an hour tutorial, the "procedure" to fly a ready CCP.mis
with FSCAI in FSX/P3D takes few seconds and is less than easy as
video demonstrates...

Video tutorial covers :
- How to place simobjects in FSX/P3D and save as a CCP mission
- Info & Customization of FSCAI
- How to fly a combat scenario using CCP & FSCAI


For making this tutorial video, I chose a combat scenario taking place
at Iwo Jima 1945 scenery (by Tom Stoval that you can find at the library).

I also provide this CCP mission ("Iwo Jima Battle") of the video, with
the simobjects needed, for anyone interested to fly & try in practise what video presents...

Download Link :

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0dQ46a_xCSeSDJDTHRCWEkwYTA
 
Chris,

That's a great "how to" video.

Is there a limit on how many guns can be FSCAI enabled at one time?
For example, in the FSX@War SEA theater, there are about 130 AAA positions in Laos.
Can they all be enabled at once?

Thanks,

StuB
 
You don't have to worry about this, I think.
Simobjects get active when user/s is close enough, inside weapons range parameters as
defined for each type of weapon in FSCAI. So, "no all weapons of a theater activate at once".

On the other hand, if at the close area you're currently flying, have been placed too many
weapons that fire tracers (that are simobjects also), the number of simobjects may be to
much for FSX/P3D to handle.

So during mission designing, you must avoid overloading a "small" area of operations with
two many weapons that use simobject projectiles (like tracers).
 
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