Evolve From Entry Date.
 

As the title implies... what does this actually do. More importantly, what does it do over a period of time.

Regards,

Akbar

It will add equipment as appropriate to older ships. A freighter which only has a 1938 version will in 1945 get deck guns for example.

I see. Thanks for your reply Nisgeis :) Here's an example for my next question.

[Unit]
ClassName=Airfield
3DModelFileName=data/Land/LAB_LargeAirBaseGB/LAB_LargeAirBaseGB
UnitType=406
MaxSpeed=0.000000
MinSpeed=0.000000
Length=1
Width=1

[AirGroup 1]
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19430931
Squadron1Class=A6M2Zero
Squadron1No=4
Squadron2Class=B5N2Kate
Squadron2No=1
Squadron3Class=G4MBetty
Squadron3No=1

[AirGroup 2]
StartDate=19431001
EndDate=19451231
Squadron1Class=A6M2Zero
Squadron1No=4
Squadron2Class=G4MBetty
Squadron2No=1
Squadron3Class=Q1W1
Squadron3No=3

Above, you will see a typical airbase. You will also see it has two airgroups. One arrives later than the other. If I did NOT use the 'evolve' feature in the editor, then started a campaign (using the above airbase) in 1943/08/01, then progressed to 1944/01/01, would my second airgroup appear in the game?

Whoops, I seem to be having a senior moment, which is worrying, as I'm not that old. I haven't used the editor since SH3 and only just getting round to using the SH4 version.

Evolve from entry date does something different, I think I used to think it was to do with weapons, but I'm not sure now. I checked my notes and they say that it's for courses and spawns.

As the game uses dynamic loading of units, the start date and end date affect what dates the unit will spawn between if encountered by a player. If you have a unit that starts in May 1941 and ends in July 1941 at Pearl harbour, then if the player sails into Pearl between those two dates, then the ship will be visible. If you give it a set of waypoints, then as soon as the player gets near it and the unit spawns, then it will start off on its course. If you have evolve from entry date ticked, then the game will work out where along the waypoints the ship would have been and will then use that point as the spawn point. So, if the player sails near to where the ship would have been if it had started its journey back in May, then it will appear where it would have got to, along the waypoint path.

It's no wonder I didn't remember this properly.

I think, as long as the waypoints are looped, so the units don't disappear at the end or stop, then if the player approaches your base, then between the dates you specified, they'll get that air group. I'm assuming that your using waypoints to patrol a certan area around the base? In that case, as the planes move so fast evolve from entry date will simulate the aircraft flying a patrol route and will spawn an air group when the air groups course gets near to the player. If you didn't use evolve from entry date, they would only spawn when the player got close to the start point of the aircraft (at your base) and could sit happily in a spot that was meant to be patrolled without being bothered.

I'm not sure what the spawn radius is, I think it might be 20km, as that's the view distance in SH4, SH3 was 7.2 KM if I remember rightly.

So, in your example, you will only get one air group, but the type will change after September 31st 1943. If you want to have 2 air groups after September 31st, to simulate an increase in air cover for a more permanent base, you need to have the exit date of the first air group overlap the entry date of the second.

I think you can use the date filter at the top of the editor - set it to a certain date and it will show you what units exist at that time. It greys them out, or makes them disappear or something.

As you can probably tell, I'm not exactly sure what I just said is in any way accurate, as I was wrong about 2 hours ago with my first answer!

Both of your replies were helpful Nisgeis. The overlapping of airgroup dates is a new one to me. I have been terminating one, then starting the next. If overlap is possible, well, that solves some other 'teething' trouble I was having. If it works, then some of the things currently in progress just got a LOT easier.

With the information you have supplied, I can now go and 'proof' in testing. Thanks mate, you were a big help :up: