Helicopter extraction while under fire

[zonker3210]

As this thread shows...

http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=35032.0

...this really isn't anything new. I just didn't want to resurrect a year-old thread.

Basically, I'm stuck with the same issue: getting a helicopter to come in and extract units who are defending an LZ. The way I've done it thus far is:

1.) a helo with pilot is pre-positioned at a far-off heliport. The helo's gunners are set to their own group separate from the pilot. This allows me to set the pilot's behavior to CARELESS while the gunners are free to engage.
2.) once a certain objective is completed, the extraction process is triggered. The pilot/helicopter is given a series of waypoints toward the designated LZ.
3.) Once the helo gets within a certain distance of the LZ, another trigger is fired. This trigger clears any existing waypoints and starts off the Mando Heliroute script. This script allows me to have the helo land (or hover) at an exact location...while keeping the engine running.
4.) Once all units are into the helo, a script launches a final instance of the Mando Heliroute script which sends the helo and its crew & passengers back toward the heliport....the mission fades out / ends once the helo goes a certain distance from the LZ.

Everything works really nicely...most times. The problem, however, is that the LZ is under assault and sometimes the helo just seems to give up. Between my use of disableAI TARGET/AUTOTARGET/ANIM/MOVE/FSM and the Mando Heliroute script, the helo doesn't drift off course. Sometimes it just hovers 30m in the air above the actual LZ point...which makes it really difficult to get into it and get the hell out of the firefight. 

Also, if I make the mistake of ordering my units to get into the helicopter while it's still in mid-air, the pilot "comes alive" again and drifts around rather than completing the landing process at the designated LZ.

Norrin released a new version of his air taxi script (complete with supporting gunship) recently and I was looking at maybe using a modified version of that instead. (Modifications would consist of removing the radio calls, etc. and having the pickup/dropoff points pre-selected.) Unfortunately, in the four times I used it, there were two instances where the transport helo landed at the pickup point...and never moved off to the base in spite of me using the radio call which tells the pilot that "we're good to go" or whatever. The helo was undamaged and the first time it wasn't even under fire so I've no idea why that happened.

Has anyone else come up with a good solution to landing under fire? Or has anyone seen a good example of that? I really want the pilot to fly in and land exactly where I tell him, regardless of what else is going on around him. The gunners should fire at any enemy they see but I don't want the pilot drifting off course. Then, once the units board, I want the helicopter to immediately take off and head back to base or whatever. This has to be a fairly common scenario. I'm not looking for the pilot to fly into really heavy fire....but I don't want a few rounds of small-arms fire to drive off him off, either.

Any and all constructive suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 - Gregg

[aLlamaWithARifle]

I've found that using the following in the choppers waypoint on activation field works quite well...

Code: [Select]

dostop chop1; chop1 land "GET IN"
And then putting the waypoint onto an invisible heli pad, the chopper tends to land on H pad regardless of it's combat mode or if it's under fire. Although I've mostly used it with setting the chopper to captive.

I'd then have a trigger checking if everyone you want in the chopper is either in the chopper or dead and then once that is activated use a domove (getmarkerpos "location1") command as using waypoints after telling it to land may sometimes have weird results.

Basically this is what I've been using for a heli extraction where everyone is under fire and so far have had no wrong results for it.

[zonker3210]

Okay, I'll give that a try. Thank you very much!