Force Structure Functions

[tillmas]

• [x] Create a function that reads in the force structure of a side based on unit name prefixes
• [x] Have this function output both a list of units for that side as well as a number of AI commanders
• [x] Have this output differentiate which side a unit is attached to
• [x] Update the DCS test mission to include units named A-1 through D-4.

[agridenour]

• How are we deciding the number of AI commanders? By using group/unit name prefixes?
• Do Commanders command groups or units?

[tillmas]

I'm trying to get Wave's perspective on this. I would like to see a commander be able to command a company made up of four platoons or a battalion made up of four companies. Either way, I think that each commander has 4 units that they can task. These four things may have slightly different composition, but I don't think that the algorithm needs to reason over the composition of the units.

For the next iteration of the mission, I will include four units labelled as 'A-1' through 'A-4' to 'D-1' through 'D-4'.

I would also add a line at the top in the mission editor inputs like: local commanderPrefixes = {'A','B','C','D'}

[tillmas]

We are diverging a bit in naming conventions, I added a naming convention to the wiki.

Zones should be GAZx-y where x = {R,B or blank} and y = a number Units should be GAZ_A-z where A=the commander letter and z = a number

Your last reference mission had too many possible variations in unit names. One of the things that I am very sensitive to is the tedium of changing the names of 50 units because something minor changed in the mission. It makes people give up on good mission design. The simpler we can make the names and the more automated we can make the unit identification process, the more useful this will all be.

[tillmas]

Updated the top tasking to reflect our conversation about units and sides.

[agridenour]

All tasks on this Issue are complete. I updated the mission for you to test. If it looks good we're ready to merge

[tillmas]

When you tested, did you add the new script to the trigger? You have to do that every time the script changes in DCS ME.

When I tested, I got an error on line 185, which is the call to the assignMission function.

the error was attempt to index field 'C2' a nil value.

I tried to change 'C2' to 'C1' to make it align with your comment on line 183, but that had the same error.

[agridenour]

Ah good catch yeah.