"Flight Groups" Page
 

X-ED


 
The Flight Groups page is where you can edit all of the parameters of FGs and Objects. On the left hand side is the FG List, showing all of the Flight Groups in the mission, and the Object List, showing all of the Objects. 

Changes to the parameters of FGs and objects are multiselectable, i.e. the changes will be made to all selected FGs in the list. Note that in X-ED multi-select does not work for Deleting FGs or Moving them up and down.

On the right is the "Datapad" where you can edit the parameters.  Click on a FG or Object in their List and its details will be loaded into the datapad.  Note that there are less parameters for objects than FGs.


 
"FGs" Page

At the top of the FGs page is the mission's "count line":
 It shows, from left to right:
  • The list number of the current FG and the total number of FGs in the mission.
  • The number of Craft in the mission. (Of no real importance - a leftover of the conversion from  XvtED.)
  • The number of FGs in the mission 30 seconds after it starts (as above) 
  • The number of Objects in the mission.

 
The following is a list of the FG parameters in the Datapad:
FG Waves The total successive Waves of the FG in the mission. 
All ships in a FG must leave or be destroyed before the next Wave can arrive.
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FG Size The number of Ships in the FG.
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FG Ship Type The list shows all of the Ships and objects available in the game. 
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FG Name This can be up to 16 characters. 
You can either select the box and edit the text there, or choose a Name from the drop down list. The list can be customized with your own set of frequently used Names by putting a text file named FGNames.txt in your X-ED directory. The editor will read this file in and use it instead of the default list.
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Arrive by Hyperspace This flag determines whether a FG arrives via hyperspace rather than a Mothership.
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Depart by Hyperspace This flag determines whether a FG can depart the mission via hyperspace rather than a Mothership.
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Mothership Select the Mothership of the FG if it does not arrive and depart via hyperspace.
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Objective Like FG Goals in XvT, these are what must happen to a FG or Object during the mission in order for the Player to complete the mission.  FGs with mission critical objectives will have a brief description of them as part of their entry in the FG List.
 
 
Order Select the orders for a FG to carry out in the mission. A FG can have only one Order per mission, to be carried out on its Primary target, then its Secondary Target

The fourth parameter of an Order represents either the percentage of full Throttle a FG begins the mission at, or the number of minutes of Docking time, depending on the Order.
 

Status The ship can either be in a normal state, or one of 3 disadvantages: No Missiles, Half Missiles, or No Shields.
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A.I. Sets the level of Artificial Intelligence of the FG.
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IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) has the values Default, Rebel, Imperial, Neutral.  As far as I can tell, the "Default" values are:
 
 Rebel:    X-W, Y-W, A-W, B-W, CRS, FRG
 Imperial: T/F, T/I, T/B, T/A, GUN, ISD, TRN
 Neutral:  Everything else
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Color The color of the markings on the ships, if the ship has markings.
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Formation Choose the formation pattern of the ships within a FG.
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Arrival This is the condition which will trigger the FG's arrival into the mission. You may also set a delay in minutes and seconds between the trigger condition occurring and the FG arriving.
Cargo The Cargo you define here is what will be seen in the target display when this FG is identified.

The Default cargo is what all craft in this FG will have, however you may have one craft (the "Special" Ship) which will contain the defined Special cargo.

The Special Ship# specifies which ship within the FG is the Special ship.
 

Player's craft This flag will determine whether the current FG is the Player's ship. There can only be one Player's ship in the mission and it will be marked by a > symbol in the FG list.
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Player Pos If the current FG is the Player's craft, this setting will determine which number craft within the FG the Player will fly.
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Waypoints (WPs) With the WP grid you can edit all of the 3 dimensional points used to place the FG and define its movements, although this can also be done in the Map a lot easier.

The grid shows the X, Y and Z co-ordinates (in kilometres) of each WP. Beside the left grid is the Enabled list. You enable a WP by clicking on this list to highlight its name. If a WP is not enabled, it effectively does not exist.

The different types of WPs are:
 

Start 1-3 A ship will begin the mission from one of these randomly chosen Start Points.
WP 1-3 These 3 WPs are used to define the flight path that a FG will follow if it has Fly Once or Circle type order, or while it is has no Targets to attack.

They will travel through all enabled WPs in sequence, then repeat the path as many times as their Orders require, or until their Targets arrive.

Craft will begin the mission facing WP 1 (if it is enabled, if not it will lie parallel to the Y axis.) A ship with Start 1 and WP 1 having the same co-ordinates (and WP 1 enabled) will lie at 45 degrees to each axis.

Hyperspace This is the point a FG must fly to before it can enter Hyperspace.