✅ Verified in-game — deeper pass: documented the self-rescheduling Salvo loop, muzzle-flash particle + tankgun sound cue, VZ/China/Guerilla targeting, Gunship Shell payload; flagged undefined _NoValidation and the uPlayer global in SpawnOrdnance; cross-linked Airstrike/smoke

MrxGunship

Module: mrxgunship.lua

Overview

MrxGunship is a loitering AC130 gunship: after the player pops red smoke, the gunship arrives and repeatedly strafes enemy targets near the smoke in rolling 4-shot salvos until it leaves range. It inherits from MrxSupport and designates with MrxSupportDesignatorSmoke (plus MrxUtil for distance math).

Inheritance

• Inherits from: MrxSupport
• Imports: MrxSupportDesignatorSmoke, MrxUtil

Instance pattern

Same class-factory pattern as MrxSupport, not per-uGuid — Create(self, uPlayerGuid) builds a new table via setmetatable/__index, exactly like its parent. No OnActivate/Awake, no tInstance registry. It tracks the following key fields:

• uJet: The GUID of the AC130 jet.
• uOwner: The GUID of the player who owns this support vehicle.
• oDesignator: An instance of MrxSupportDesignatorSmoke used for designating targets.

Functions

Create(self, uPlayerGuid)

Builds the instance. Creates a MrxSupportDesignatorSmoke with color "red", AA level "basic", and SetValidationFunction(_NoValidation). Recruit "Fiona", module name "MrxGunship".

_NoValidation is referenced but not defined anywhere in this module or its parents — as written it resolves to nil, which is the same as “no validation function,” so the intent (skip drop-zone validation) still holds by accident. Likely a decompile/leftover artifact; don’t rely on _NoValidation being a real callable.

DesignationCallback(self)

Runs on smoke-designation complete. Computes spawn/approach points from the camera, builds width/height basis vectors from the hero→smoke line, plays a Fiona VO line, then flies in "Support Vehicle (AC130)" with Airstrike.Flyby (speed 45, callback Salvo, jet stored in self.uJet).

Salvo(self, uLastTarget)

The loitering loop. Bails if the smoke target is gone, the jet is asleep, or the jet is more than 300 units from the local character. Otherwise scans Pg.GetAwakeObjects within 100 units of the smoke for a target labeled "VZ", "China", or "Guerilla" (skipping uLastTarget), schedules 4 LaunchMissile calls 0.25s apart, then re-schedules itself 3 seconds later via Event.TimerRelative — this is what makes the gunship keep firing until it drifts out of range.

LaunchMissile(self, uTarget)

Fires one shell. Jitters the target by ±25, plays Sound.CueSound "wpn_tankgun_fire_npc", spawns particle "global_particle_muzzleflash_tank" at the jet, then spawns "Gunship Shell" via Airstrike.SpawnOrdnance at speed scale 100, "impact".

The Airstrike.SpawnOrdnance("Gunship Shell", …, "impact", 1, uPlayer) call passes uPlayer as the owner, but uPlayer is never defined in this module — it’s a stray global that resolves to nil. So gunship-shell kills are un-attributed. Use self.uOwner if you fork this and want proper attribution.

_ValidateDropZone(fCallback, nX, nY, nZ, oSupport)

Drop-zone validator wrapping Ai.TestDropZone. Defined but not wired up (validation is disabled via _NoValidation/nil); a spare hook.

Events

No event subscriptions. DesignationCallback is the smoke designator’s completion callback (via MrxSupport:Commence); Salvo and LaunchMissile run on Event.TimerRelative timers. The self-rescheduling Salvo timer is the only reason the gunship keeps firing.

Module constants & tunables

All inline (no module-level locals):

• Aircraft: "Support Vehicle (AC130)"; flyby speed 45.
• Payload: "Gunship Shell", nSpeedScale = 100.
• Loop: scan radius 100 units, 4 shots per salvo 0.25s apart, re-salvo every 3s, gives up beyond 300 units from the jet.
• Targeting labels: "VZ", "China", "Guerilla".
• FX: sound "wpn_tankgun_fire_npc", muzzle particle "global_particle_muzzleflash_tank".

Notes for modders

• The 3-second self-rescheduling Salvo is the gunship’s whole “loiter and keep firing” behavior — shorten the timer for a heavier gunship, lengthen it (or remove the re-schedule) to make it a one-pass strafe.
• Targeting is limited to VZ/China/Guerilla labels; edit the label check in Salvo to change who it engages.
• Swap "Gunship Shell" for another Airstrike template, and the "global_particle_muzzleflash_tank" / "wpn_tankgun_fire_npc" pair if you want a different muzzle look/sound.