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Aerial Pursuit for WH3

Flying units should be fun! Your general has other things to worry about than micromanaging bombard orders for units halfway across the battlefield.

Only tested in single-player.

This mod allows you to tell flying units to move above enemy ground targets that you choose and hover above them. This mod automatically uses your bombard abilities on the enemy below (or you can configure this mod for manual bombardment).

Aerial Pursuit is not meant to replace your control of flying units. It simply gives you the ability to hover over units and bombard them. It has some logic for reacting to enemy fliers and for using ranged attacks, but it is not the same as attack-move nor AI General.

1. Auto-using bombards is now turned on by default. Change the configuration if you wish to only use abilities manually.
   
   
2. Ranged flying units without fire-while-moving can now stop to fire their main weapon between bombardments.
   
   
3. Added support for automatically using bombard abilities wind-up times (Sky Junk, Knights of Immolation, and Arcane Phoenix).

You can use this mod to move any non-summoned flying unit, whether it has bombard abilities or not. The Auto-Bombard Abilities it can use are:

• NEW - Dwarf Trollhammer and Thunderbarge units
  
• WH3 - Knights of Immolation Searing Torment (Tzeentch RoR)*
  
• WH3 - Cathay Sky Junk Bombs, Cathay Great Moonbird (units and mounts), Empire Crowmen Nan-Gau Grenades (Cathay RoR)
  
• WH3 - Arcane Pheonix's Emberstorm
  
• Flamespyre Phoenix’s Wake of Fire
  
• Lizardmen’s Drop Rocks (and Spheres) of various kinds
  
• Dwarf Gyrocopter, Gyrobomber and Skyhammer bombs
  
• Flock of Djaf’s Death From Above (Tomb Kings LoL)
  
• Any modded units that use one of the abilities above. If a mod adds a custom ability instead, it can let Aerial Pursuit know about them using the same template as this submod. If you let me know about such mods or submods, I can add to this list.

1. Select one or more flying units.
   
   
2. (optional) Click near the enemy you want to target, or click to attack.
   
   
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 or attack. 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 will start automatically bombarding the enemy, depending on your config.
   
   
8. If the enemy flees, your flying unit has done its job! It stops its pursuit, unlocks Aerial Pursuit, and awaits new orders from you. (You can configure it to keep chasing fleeing units if you prefer.)
   
   
9. If you need to give a unit a different order, unlock the aerial pursuit order by selecting the unit and using the hotkey or pressing the button. It will only accept your new orders after Aerial Pursuit is unlocked.
   
   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 MCT (new or legacy) 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.


This script only affects battles, so you can start using this mod within a campaign at any time.


Should be compatible with almost any well-written mod. If you find an incompatibility, lmk so I can talk with the other modder or at least list the compatibility here.

Keep in mind that custom bombard abilities won't be automatically used unless they are registered with this mod like in this submod (if modders have questions, feel free to ask).


I have not yet tested this in multiplayer. Based on mods I've made in the past, I suspect that in multiplayer cooperative campaigns, it will only work for one of the players who has an army in the fight (not spectators, even if an ally gifts you units). If you try it, let me know how it goes.


RPFM (of course). Hambango for the hotkeys idea. Icon is a cropped version of a high elf icon from the game.