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Waypoints are vital to give your mission movement. Having units move about the map will make a mission more realistic and allow you to organise attacks and so on.
To lay-down a way point you simply select the group you want to set a waypoint for, press F4 (waypoints) and double click on the place where you want your group to go. Fill in any requirements (see below) and click ok. Doing this again will add another waypoint. Click on another group if you want to start new waypoints for other groups.
At the very basic level, units will follow the waypoints and kill bad guys when spotted. You may want to do a bit more than this. There are several options that you can specify to make your AI units do more.
First thing we see on the waypoint dialogue is the type drop down box. This allows us to set the task for the group upon reaching the waypoint. Most of these you'll never use, here is a run down of what they do:
Waypoint order allows you to insert a waypoint at an earlier stage. A waypoint will be inserted before the currently selected one. So if you select 0, it will be put at the beginning.
Description is used for when the leader is human. Instead of having simply MOVE or such, with the yellow waypoint box. The description will be displayed. You can make your missions more user-friendly.
Combat Mode specifies how units should proceed to waypoint. Options are:
Formation is the formation the units will hold. Select column for tanks to use roads correctly.
Speed defines at how fast a unit moves from point to point. The faster the more obvious and noisey they are.
Behaviour will dictate how a unit responds and acts on way to the waypoint.
Placement radius allows the waypoint to be within a random area of that diameter. Useful to make groups go to a random part of a town.
Timeout will pause the activation of any scripts or code in the activation field (and continuation of next waypoint) for a set number of seconds. Min Max Med aren't entirely clear, but I believe they allow for random times between a certain the min and max constraints.
Condition allows you to specify what makes any code in the activation field run. The default of "true" means it will execute all times. If you have a boolean variable you can enter this into the condition field and it will not activate unless this variable is true.
On Activation will run any code when the waypoint is reached. Such as: "1" objStatus "DONE" will complete the first objective when you reach the waypoint. You can separate commands with a semi-colon ';'.
The visibility boxes will determine if the waypoints appear in the briefing on the map.
Script executes a filename if the waypoint type is set to 'scripted'. You can also start a script by putting [] exec "script.sqs" into the activation field.
The Effects button will allow you to add things like pre-defined camera effects, pop-up text and music to the game when the waypoint is reached. This is handy if you want a bit of music to play, or large lettering no the screen to appear with something. I will leave this for you to experiment with as it's not all that great. If you want to do anything specific you almost always have to write a script for it.
Synchronisation
You can synchronise waypoints with other waypoints and triggers. A synchronised waypoint will not allow units to continue until the linked object is also been activated. You can use this for waiting for an event with a trigger (such as a town being captured) or link with other waypoints for different groups, so units can wait for reinforcements etc.
To create a synchronised link press F5 and drag a line between the waypoint and whatever you want to link it with.