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Aerial Pursuit

Now with a YouTube video! (See above.)

Bombarding the enemy should be fun! Your general has other things to worry about than micromanaging flying units that are halfway across the battlefield.

This mod allows you to tell flying units to move above enemy ground targets that you choose and hover above them. If you configure this mod with MCT or the text file, you can even give your flying units standing orders to bombard their target automatically. Now *that* is fun. :)

1. Select one or more flying units.
   
   
2. (optional) Click near the enemy you want to target. Don’t click directly on the unit. Attack orders are ignored by this mod. You need to unpause briefly... You no longer need to unpause if you have the latest update! :)
   
   
3. Activate Aerial Pursuit using the hotkey or the button.
   
   
4. This mod finds the enemy ground unit that is closest to the place you last ordered your flying unit to move. This mod locks in that target.
   
   
5. This mod tells your flying unit to move above that target, frequently updating the move order.
   
   
6. If an enemy flying unit comes nearby, your unit will attack it to maintain air superiority before continuing on to its ground target (this can be configured).
   
   
7. (optional) When your attack-moving unit is above the enemy ground target, it can let you know it has arrived through the Find Idle Units mod, and/or it can start automatically bombarding the enemy. This depends on your configuration.
   
   
8. If the enemy flees, your flying unit has done its job! It stops its pursuit and awaits new orders. (You can configure it to keep chasing fleeing units if you prefer.)
   
   
9. !!! IMPORTANT !!!: While Aerial Pursuit lock is on, it will override new orders you give to those units. If you want to give a new order to the unit, you must first unlock the aerial pursuit order by selecting the unit and using the hotkey or pressing the button. Most bombardments and some character skills have no wind-up time, so you can use those abilities even with the Aerial Pursuit lock turned on. However, some abilities (like Dragon Breath attacks and most spells) have a wind up time that will almost certainly be interrupted by this mod unless you unlock the unit first.
   
   **This mod cannot determine if you've shift-clicked some orders. It will just lock in the final destination and all the other orders in between will be lost.

This mod should work without you doing anything with configuration. However, you can customize a lot of variables between battles using either the new MCT or the configuration text file.


You can use whatever key combination that you set up. This mod typically uses whatever you set "Save Camera Bookmark 8" to be (it’s usually not set to anything). I personally use X, since I don't ever use X to control the camera.

If you don't want this mod to piggyback on your "Save Camera Bookmark 8" hotkey, you can configure this mod.

You can use this mod to move *any* flying unit, but it will only use certain abilities if you turn on Auto-Use Bombard Abilities (other abilities will be ignored). The Auto-Bombard Abilities are:

• Lizardmen’s Drop Rocks (and Spheres) of various kinds
  
• Flamespyre Phoenix’s Wake of Fire
  
• Gyrocopter, Gyrobomber and Skyhammer bombs
  
• Carrion’s Death From Above
  
• The Thunderbarge if you use this submod.
  
• Any units that use the same abilities as above. If other mods use custom abilities, they can let Aerial Pursuit know about them by making small changes to the Thunderbarge submod. (If you let me know about them, I can compile a list.)
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• Not yet supported, but maybe in the future: The Arcane Phoenix’s Emberstorm ability.

This script only affects battles, so you can start using this mod within a campaign at any time. No need to start a new campaign!

If you later remove this mod (why would you, though?) and then want to load a saved game, no problem. Just make sure to check the "Enable all saves" checkbox at the bottom of the loading menu, just like you would for any save-compatible mod. (You might have to uncheck it and re-check it again. That checkbox is a bit clunky.)


Compatible with almost everything! Compatible with:

• All mods that I’ve created or contributed to.
  
  
• MCT
  
  
• All mods that do not run scripts during battle.
  
  
• Should be compatible with pretty much any well-written script. I don’t currently know of any incompatibilities except for the old, outdated Spectator Mode II (use AI General II instead if you want something like that). However, there are some pitfalls that even talented modders can run into because the scripting documentation has holes (here are technical compatibility details for curious modders). If you notice a mod incompatibility, please let me know and I’ll try to work with the other mod’s author to fix it. If the incompatibility can’t be fixed, I’ll list it here.

Also, keep in mind that custom abilities from other modders won't automatically be used unless they are set up like this Thunderbarge submod.


I have not yet tested this in multiplayer, but this mod uses the same principles as my Attack Move mod, so I would expect it to work in custom battles and multiplayer campaigns as long as both players have the same mods enabled (and have no extra movie pack mods in your data folder). The only known issue is that during multiplayer cooperative campaigns, this mod will only work for the player who has an army in the fight. If you spectate your ally's battle and your ally gifts you units, this mod will do nothing for the spectator. You can still play as normal, though, and the original player should still be able to use Aerial Pursuit like normal.


It is the best I could come up with given the current scripting limitations for this game. If you are curious or if you want to help me think of better workarounds, I invite you to check out the discussion about scripting limitations.

• Hambango for originally showing me how to piggyback on Save Camera Bookmark keyboard shortcuts
  
• RPFM, Da Modding Den, and their predecessors
  
• SchizoPanda for help with alpha testing
  
• Thumbnail by Photoholgic on Unsplash
  
• All the people who have wished for something like this
  
• (In case it wasn't obvious, most icons for most of my mods are taken or modified from base game files to better match the game's theme, since I'm not a visual artist.)