Aircraft refusing to group

[Shemar]

I am totally new to this game so I don't know if I am doing something wrong or if that is how things are suposed to work (known bug?)

I want to manually control a strike mission. I don't want to create a mission, I want to launch my aircraft, plot their course, manage their radar emissions and order them to fire. I already know how to do all this and it mostly works. However I am having terrible issues with getting the aircraft to group.

When I launch them, they form a group autmatically. I give them their orders and all is well. But at some point suddenly they are not a group any more and no amount of selecting them and hitting the 'G' key will force them into a group again.

So, what is causing them to break the group? Is it something I am clicking by mistake? As I am just learning the hotkeys that is possible but how am I doing it? Or is it a known bug?

And why can't I group them again? I know I have succesfully groupd aircraft in flight before (although I had a hell of a time doing it) but it seems that most of the time is not working.

[Herman Hum]

When I launch them, they form a group autmatically. I give them their orders and all is well. But at some point suddenly they are not a group any more and no amount of selecting them and hitting the 'G' key will force them into a group again.

So, what is causing them to break the group? Is it something I am clicking by mistake? As I am just learning the hotkeys that is possible but how am I doing it? Or is it a known bug?

And why can't I group them again? I know I have succesfully groupd aircraft in flight before (although I had a hell of a time doing it) but it seems that most of the time is not working.
Okay, if you are able to see them as a group, then at least you are using the correct display option. In the past, some folks have wondered why their groups don't appear (but they were in individual unit display :)).

In general, the planes will stay in a group until they run out of fuel/weapons and return to base. At this time, you will see the "Returning to Base" listing in the Mission name for that aircraft and the group breaks up.

What might be happening is that the planes in your group are firing weapons sequentially. For example, in a group of four planes, they take turns firing off their ordnance. If plane #1 fires off all it's weapons, it can leave the group and RTB while other planes are still firing.

Also, planes take off and join into your group sequentially. i.e. a plane launches every minute or so. If that group is flying along and the planes start running out of fuel, the first plane in the group will detach and RTB. After a minute, the second plane to join the group will detach and RTB, and so on until the entire group breaks down and returns as individual planes.

If you want to re-gain control over a plane that has gone to RTB status, select the plane and hit the "U" - unassign - hotkey and it will return to, "Unassigned" status.

Planes can only be grouped with other planes that are identical and with the same loadout. Therefore, if you have an F-14D [1995] and an F-14D [1997], they will never be in the same group.

Also, the loadouts must be identical. i.e. an F-14D [1995] with Sparrows will not be grouped with an F-14D [1995] armed with Phoenix because their loadouts are not identical.

Lastly, planes will not group together unless they are very close together (about 5nm).

[Shemar]

That would explain why the planes broke off the group after the attack, but I also had an instance where they broke their group on their way (not an attack mission just a plotted course). Is there a key that I might have clicked to break them up?

But still, they were all the same type and loadout (they were a group a minute ago!) and I would select them all and get the message that selected units are now a group, but they would still not be a group. And they were close enough that I was only seeing one icon even at close zoom (I used drag select to select them all). However they did have flight orders. Maybe I should try to set them to loiter close to each other and see what happens. I think that's how I got it to work the one time it did for me.

[Herman Hum]

That would explain why the planes broke off the group after the attack, but I also had an instance where they broke their group on their way (not an attack mission just a plotted course). Is there a key that I might have clicked to break them up?

But still, they were all the same type and loadout (they were a group a minute ago!) and I would select them all and get the message that selected units are now a group, but they would still not be a group. And they were close enough that I was only seeing one icon even at close zoom (I used drag select to select them all). However they did have flight orders. Maybe I should try to set them to loiter close to each other and see what happens. I think that's how I got it to work the one time it did for me.

If you hit the F6 (or the Air Ops icon on your map display) key twice in quick succession, that will break up your group and send all of your planes RTB.

Once they are on RTB, they will not re-group unless you "Unassign" them with the U-hotkey and then re-group. Also, ensure that you have the "Group Display" enabled with the 9-hotkey from your keypad.

If you still have problems, you can save the game (*.sav) and post up your file here on GameSquad as a zipped attachment and others can take a look at it with you and see what is happening.

[Shemar]

I am pretty confident that's what I did (hit F6) and didn't know about the U key, so this is probably the answer to my question. I'll give it a try.

I didn't bother to save the game, but I am pretty sure I can recreate the problem if the need arises.

Thanks!