Customize Flying spawn when the unit is produced

[FS-21]

• Now you can allow produced units to spawn directly in the air at customizable altitudes and locations without being constrained by traditional factory ground exit paths.
  • FlyingProduction controls whether this unit type uses flying production.
  • FlyingProduction.SpawnHeight determines the initial spawn altitude in leptons along the Z-axis. If resolved to 0 or negative, flying production will not be used and the unit exits normally.
  • FlyingProduction.PlayFactoryAnim controls whether the producing factory plays its unloading door/exit animation.
  • FlyingProduction.SpawnAnim specifies an animation to play at the aerial spawn coordinates when the unit is created.
  • FlyingProduction.SpawnAnim.AttachedToObject determines whether FlyingProduction.SpawnAnim is attached to the spawned unit and follows its movement.
  • FlyingProduction.SpawnAt accepts a list of BuildingTypes indicating where the unit should spawn, evaluated in priority order from left to right. When multiple buildings of that type exist, it prioritizes the producing factory itself if it matches, then any building marked as primary, and otherwise the closest one to the producing factory. If none of the candidate buildings exist or are alive, it falls back to the producing factory.
  • FlyingProduction.RallyPointFromSpawnBuilding determines whether the unit targets the spawn building's rally point instead of the producing factory's rally point.
  • FlyingProduction.SpawnOffset on [BuildingType] sets a 2D coordinate offset in leptons (X, Y) relative to the center of the structure for positioning the spawn point.
  • FlyingProduction.SpawnHeight on [BuildingType] overrides the spawn altitude for units appearing at this structure.
  • FlyingProduction.SpawnFacing on [BuildingType] specifies the facing (0-255) the unit takes upon spawning, as well as the exit direction if no rally point exists.
  • FlyingProduction.RallyPoint on [BuildingType] enables rally point placement on structures that are not standard vehicle or infantry factories (e.g. helipads or towers), allowing them to establish a rally point with EVA confirmation and tactical line.

In rulesmd.ini:

[SOMETECHNO]                               ; TechnoType
FlyingProduction=false                     ; boolean
FlyingProduction.SpawnHeight=              ; integer, defaults to FlightLevel or [General] -> FlightLevel
FlyingProduction.PlayFactoryAnim=false     ; boolean
FlyingProduction.SpawnAnim=                ; AnimType
FlyingProduction.SpawnAnim.AttachedToObject=false ; boolean
FlyingProduction.SpawnAt=                  ; List of BuildingTypes
FlyingProduction.RallyPointFromSpawnBuilding=false ; boolean

[SOMEBUILDING]                             ; BuildingType
FlyingProduction.SpawnOffset=0,0           ; Point2D, leptons
FlyingProduction.SpawnHeight=              ; integer, defaults to the spawned unit's FlyingProduction.SpawnHeight
FlyingProduction.SpawnFacing=              ; DirType (0-255), defaults to the building's facing (128 / South)
FlyingProduction.RallyPoint=false          ; boolean

[github-actions]

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[Coronia]

is it possible to make it descend first before moving to rally point? Like how normally produced jumpjet should take off and then move

[TaranDahl]

is it possible to make it descend first before moving to rally point? Like how normally produced jumpjet should take off and then move

I think that is a jumpjet locomotor thing, out of scope here.

[Coronia]

is it possible to make it descend first before moving to rally point? Like how normally produced jumpjet should take off and then move

I think that is a jumpjet locomotor thing, out of scope here.

problem is that it's inappropriate if the aircraft keeps descending while moving until reaching the rally point in many cases, especially when the rally point is in a far position. Modders might still want it to descend to normal height first before moving. So I'd say it should be resolved within this PR as well

[FS-21]

Updated the PR with the requested changes! Here is a summary of what's added:

• Units spawned higher than their cruise altitude now descend vertically in place first before heading to the rally point. If the player orders the unit while it's descending, the automated descent cancels immediately and obeys the player's command.
• Renamed FlyingProduction.RallyPoint to HasRallyPoint on [BuildingType] so it works independently from FlyingProduction (and can also be set to false to disable rally points on factories).
• Added FlyingProduction.Jumpjet and FlyingProduction.Aircraft under [General] to control global defaults for these locomotors.
• FlyingProduction.SpawnHeight now properly falls back to JumpjetHeight (or [JumpjetControls] -> CruiseHeight) for jumpjets, and FlightLevel for aircraft.
• Added FlyingProduction.SpawnFacing on [BuildingType] to set initial facing and exit direction.
• Fixed dock slot reservations for AirportBound aircraft so when they return from a rally point, each plane lands cleanly on its designated dock without stacking.

[DeathFishAtEase]

Just curious: why wasn't this purpose accomplished by an extension based on ExitCoord, since the third parameter of ExitCoord is valid.

[DeathFishAtEase]

(128 / South)

Where does this statement come from?