Realism- and gameplay-related hardcode fixes for SH3.EXE

[LGN1]

Originally Posted by Stiebler

Radar was widespread on British warships from about mid-1941. First encountered at sea in March 1941. But signalling close to a convoy is not much of a problem in darkness and/or stormy seas. SH3 models this quite well.

I hope that helps.
Stiebler.

Hi Stiebler,

do you have some more accurate information on radar usage? From what I gathered it seems that the first really useful device against u-boats was the 'Type 271' 10cm radar. It was first installed in March '41 on a ship and the first 'kill' attributed to it was in Nov. '41. I also found that by May '42 236 ships carried it. I'm wondering whether after spring '42 night attacks were still useful/possible? Do you know details about this?

Regards, LGN1

[LGN1]

Originally Posted by Hitman

What about using airplane AI but setting the unit as submarine?

The idea is that the AI is of an airplane, but for the enemy it is a submarine. If right now we have destroyer AI combined with submarine type for the unit, I don't see why we can't set the Ai of the airplane combined with the latter. YOu probably have already tried it, so I guess there must be some problem here or there

I tried this, but it didn't work. However, I'm glad if someone else also wants to try and play with it. Testing these things is not easy and one quickly makes mistakes.

I think the crucial setting is the type setting of the unit and not the AI setting in the unit's *.sim file.

As mentioned earlier, I would really love to know more about the type setting.

Cheers, LGN1

[h.sie]

@LGN1: Even if the AI-Subs are not perfect, the convoy battle looks great. I have a working sensor-hack. It works even in the black GWX nights. A first alpha is on the horizon. Only some parameter adjustment has to be done.

The AI-Subs do their job: Deflecting & sinking escorts, and sinking merchants. In my opinion it does not matter whether a merchant has been sunk by a dumb or intelligent AI, since the player doesn't see what happens, except he uses his external cam and examines all actions in detail.

I think in a real convoy battle the Uboat crew didn't see the other Uboats acting. They only saw the result: Burning and sinking ships, distress flares and so on. And this is possible in the next time.

It's better for a player NOT to think about how we realised that mod. Only play and look through the periscope or binocular.

We invite everyone who isn't satisfied to enhance the AI-Sub.

[urfisch]

enhanced ai subs, who are able to interact and dive away in case of danger...that would be great. indeed. but the people who are able to do this, might not be interested in doing this.

i am just a designer, i cant help with this. sorry!

[Hitman]

The AI-Subs do their job: Deflecting & sinking escorts, and sinking merchants. In my opinion it does not matter whether a merchant has been sunk by a dumb or intelligent AI, since the player doesn't see what happens, except he uses his external cam and examines all actions in detail.

I'm sure that you guys have implemented the best solution possible with what resources we have

Yes, sitting uboats that shoot at the convoy fake torpedoes from outside the screen and cause:

1) Some hits on merchants
2) Escorts leaving its position and running away at full speed to investigate and eventually engage

Which is exactly what is needed.

But come to think of it, since what we can do is just that, I would even recommend one further step to ensure the best effect for the player that might casually pass close to an AI-Uboat: Make it submerged and invisible (3d model reduced to the nodes). That way, the player will never see a stopped uboat shooting, and the only thing he might stumble upon is:

1) A hydrophones contact
2) A destroyer circling and dropping DCs in the surface

Both results are entirely realistic, even more than seeing a stopped uboat shooting at a convoy from 3000 metres outside it. Think of it, there are two possibilities of finding uboats around a convoy:

1) Before shooting: The escorts detect it before it can shoot and run there to prevent the shot.
2) After shooting: A normal torpedo would take some minutes to travel to the objective, and in that time the uboat would have gone those 3kms away

In both cases, again, it is realistic to make eventual contact with an uboat a bit far off from the convoy.


One more suggestion:

As I determined before, it is possible to add to an enemy convoy a german unit (A surfaced uboat) that will steer same course and speed. This could work great for representing a "shadowing uboat", i.e. an uboat that is following the convoy on the limit of visibility and making other uboats concentrate on it. An AI Uboat attached to the convoy 16 kms to a side and rear would probably not get detected by the escorts, but will make contact reports (It will appear in the map as a big blue uboat symbol) and will allow you to vector into the convoy and then call more ubots using H.Sie's patch.

Sounds amazing and is right now possible to be done with resources at hand

[Fubar2Niner]

Holy moly gentlemen, this whole topic is getting too exciting for words

Best regards.

Fubar2Niner

[complutum]

Answering a previous question of h'sie i've found in an spanish book about U boat warfare that the end of wolf pack was on January,1944. The 7 of this month Doenitz order his U boat to operate individually.

Hope this could help.

[LGN1]

@Anvart: Did you remove your posts

Anyway, thanks a lot for the information I agree it's the class setting not the type setting. I'm wondering what the AI setting in the *.sim files does and how it interacts with the class setting

Regards, LGN1

[h.sie]

Maybe he removed his posts because noone said "Thank you" to him. So I say

THANK YOU !

to all who helped with suggestions, ideas, knowledge, research - in the past and in the future!

[urfisch]

yes. anvart is very sensitive, regarding "thank yous" for his knowledge.

[complutum]

Could it be possible to have electric propulsion while surfaced?
And could also be possible to manage each engine indIvidually?
I mean you can put starboard engine full ahead and portboard stop or whatever combination you want.
Just only one suggest to study when you have time

Thanks for your great work

[Anvart]

Originally Posted by LGN1

@Anvart: Did you remove your posts

Anyway, thanks a lot for the information I agree it's the class setting not the type setting. I'm wondering what the AI setting in the *.sim files does and how it interacts with the class setting

Regards, LGN1

I do not need thanks.
I'm a pragmatist. If someone asks a question and i had answered it (as i could), I must to have a sign (any reaction), that my reply been readed... and it's all.
If my answer is not on theme (for ex. i did not understand question) my reply must be removed, so as not to clog the thread.

@h.sie,
@urfisch... before doing any conclusions need learn to understand the motivation for actions of people... rather than to open your big mouth.

[h.sie]

So I retract my wrong assumption that Anvart waited for a "Thank you".

[Hitman]

Last time my GF guesed the number from 1 to 4172 was 25. So I'm off with U-25 as a type VIIB (I know it's not correct type of u-boat).

Unfortunately, neither H.Sie nor us have a method for fixing bugs and shortcomings on girldfriends. Yet.

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by Kentas

Jumped by to tell you my story, not sure wether it is related to GWX or this hardcode fix but here it is..:

Welcome aboard Kentas and thanks for sharing!