Understanding CIWS mod doctrines files

[Tassaddar]

Hi,

I've been messing around with the doctrines files of vanilla DW in an effort to improve AA defense settings and I think I have a fairly clear picture of how doctrine language works.

However, after installing the RA mod I'm rather confused by the changes made in some doctrines, specifically the CIWS one (e.g. CIWS_CADS_Attack) as I have no exact idea what the new doctrines exactly do or what improvement they may offer. To solve such an issue, I need one of the expert modders in this forum to illustrate these changes by making comments in each clause of an example doctrine file, in this case the CIWS_CADS_Attack one (see below), detailing what they do and why such an action is taken, namely the CIWSlock stuff since I don't know what advantage over FIREBEST it could have.

Also, is there an explanation of how the game engine measures target speed in the line of sight (tgtSILOS)? What would be a SILOS of 0? And of +500 (my assumption is that this means the target is moving away from the platform in question)? And what about one of -500? Why do doctrines make use radial velocity (speed in the line of sight) instead of absolute (real) velocity as reported by the platform sensors (e.g. radar or laser rangefinder)?

In addition, I'm having a hard time understanding how the weapon index variables (WpnIdx1 and so on) work. They seem to call an object record from the database (e.g. WpnIdx1 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1409) but when you check that record in the database (1409) it corresponds to an unrelated object; it also makes reference to records apparently not listed in the object database. Is this because the objects in question have an specific id record number that is not simply visualized in the database editor? I remember that in SC doctrines you could simply invoke the weapon to use by its name (e.g. Attack "MR Shell") instead from its database id record. I think this is still possible in DW but, is there any difference betweene the two invocation methods?

I would really appreciate if someone could take the time to provide a detailed explanation, part by part, of the doctrine attached below:

Thanks.

; Compatible to RA Addon Use
var CMTimer
var CIWSTrack
var SAMTrack
var CIWSLocked
var SAMLocked
var EvadeSpeed
var chaffIdx
var flareIdx
var CMDrop
var Vdrop2
var Away
var WpnIdx1
var WpnIdx2
var WpnIdx3
var WpnIdx4
var WpnIdx5
var WpnIdx6
var WpnIdx7
var WpnIdx8
var WpnIdx9
var WpnIdx10
var WpnIdx11
var WpnIdx12
var WpnIdx13
var WpnIdx14
var WpnIdx15
var WpnIdx16
IF INIT THEN {
chaffIdx = DBIdxFromRecNum 827
FlareIdx = DBIdxFromRecNum 826
WpnIdx1 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1409
WpnIdx2 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1411
WpnIdx3 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1545
WpnIdx4 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1816
WpnIdx5 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1817
WpnIdx6 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1818
WpnIdx7 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1819
WpnIdx8 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1820
WpnIdx9 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1821
WpnIdx10 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1822
WpnIdx11 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1823
WpnIdx12 = DBIdxFromRecNum 2033
WpnIdx13 = DBIdxFromRecNum 3421
WpnIdx14 = DBIdxFromRecNum 3425
WpnIdx15 = DBIdxFromRecNum 3426
WpnIdx16 = DBIdxFromRecNum 1752
} ENDIF

; Watch incoming threats
IF ( TgtSilos < -400 ) AND ( ( TgtID $= "HOSTILE" ) OR ( TgtID $= "UAE" ) ) THEN {
; EvadeSpeed = ( 10 + ( RND ( MaxSpd - 10 ) ) )
EvadeSpeed = ( MaxSpd * 0.66 )
SetSpd EvadeSpeed
SteerAbeam
; Throw CM if applicable
IF ( ( TIME > GetEntVar "CMTimer" ) AND ( TgtClass $= "MISSILE" ) ) THEN {
CounterMeasureIdx chaffIdx
; CounterMeasureIdx FlareIdx
SetEntVar "CMTimer" ( TIME + 30 + RND 30 )
Vdrop2 = ( Time + ( 3 + RND 4 ) )
CMDrop = 1
} ENDIF
If CMDrop Then {
If ( Time > Vdrop2 ) and ( Not Away ) Then {
CounterMeasureIdx FlareIdx
Away = 1
} endif } endif
; Autoengage option?
IF ( AUTOSURFENGAGEAIR ) THEN {
; Default Attack Air
IF ( TgtSource $= "Radar" ) OR ( TgtSource $= "FCRadar" ) OR ( TgtSource $= "ESM" ) THEN {
IF ( TgtSource $= "FCRadar" ) THEN {
CIWSTrack = ( CIWSTrack + 1 )
IF ( CIWSTrack > 4 ) THEN {
CIWSTrack = 4
} ENDIF
CIWSLocked = 0
} ENDIF
IF ( TgtSource $= "Radar" ) OR ( TgtSource $= "ESM" ) THEN {
SAMTrack = ( SAMTrack + 1 )
IF ( SAMTrack > 4 ) THEN {
SAMTrack = 4
} ENDIF
SAMLocked = 0
} ENDIF
IF ( TgtRng < 4000 ) AND ( ( CIWSTrack > 0 ) OR ( CIWSLocked > 0 ) ) THEN {
; DebugOut "Assign CIWS"
AttackIdx WpnIdx1
AttackIdx WpnIdx2
AttackIdx WpnIdx3
AttackIdx WpnIdx4
AttackIdx WpnIdx5
AttackIdx WpnIdx6
AttackIdx WpnIdx7
AttackIdx WpnIdx8
AttackIdx WpnIdx9
AttackIdx WpnIdx10
AttackIdx WpnIdx11
AttackIdx WpnIdx12
AttackIdx WpnIdx13
AttackIdx WpnIdx14
AttackIdx WpnIdx15
AttackIdx WpnIdx16
CIWSLocked = ( CIWSLocked + 1 )
IF ( CIWSLocked > 2 ) THEN {
CIWSLocked = 2
} ENDIF
CIWSTrack = ( CIWSTrack - 1 )
IF ( CIWSTrack < 0 ) THEN {
CIWSTrack = 0
} ENDIF
} ENDIF
IF ( SAMTrack > 0 ) OR ( SAMLocked > 0 ) THEN {
; DebugOut "Assign SAM"
AttackBest
SAMLocked = ( SAMLocked + 1 )
IF ( SAMLocked > 4 ) THEN {
SAMLocked = 4
} ENDIF
SAMTrack = ( SAMTrack - 1 )
IF ( SAMTrack < 0 ) THEN {
SAMTrack = 0
} ENDIF
} ENDIF
} ELSE {
SAMTrack = 0
SAMLocked = 0
; DebugOut "No Radar Tracking"
IF ( TgtRng < ( 10000 + RND 10000 ) ) THEN {
SetSpd MaxSpd
SteerEvasive
} ENDIF
IF ( TgtRng < 4000 ) AND ( ( CIWSTrack > 0 ) OR ( CIWSLocked > 0 ) ) THEN {
; DebugOut "Assign CIWS"
AttackIdx WpnIdx1
AttackIdx WpnIdx2
AttackIdx WpnIdx3
AttackIdx WpnIdx4
AttackIdx WpnIdx5
AttackIdx WpnIdx6
AttackIdx WpnIdx7
AttackIdx WpnIdx8
AttackIdx WpnIdx9
AttackIdx WpnIdx10
AttackIdx WpnIdx11
AttackIdx WpnIdx12
AttackIdx WpnIdx13
AttackIdx WpnIdx14
AttackIdx WpnIdx15
AttackIdx WpnIdx16
CIWSLocked = ( CIWSLocked - 1 )
IF ( CIWSLocked < 0 ) THEN {
CIWSLocked = 0
} ENDIF
CIWSTrack = ( CIWSTrack - 1 )
IF ( CIWSTrack < 0 ) THEN {
CIWSTrack = 0
} ENDIF
} ENDIF
} ENDIF
} ELSE {
ATTACKBEST
} ENDIF
} ENDIF
If CMDrop Then {
If ( Time > Vdrop2 ) and ( Not Away ) Then {
CounterMeasureIdx FlareIdx
Away = 1
} endif } endif

[Krabb]

CIWSlock is a workaround for FIREBEST buggy behavior.

TgtSILOS is simply a relative speed. At TgtSILOS=0 target is neither approaching nor moving away (e.g. both are doing 500 km/h in the same direction), +500 - target is moving away, -500 - target is approaching.

DBIdxFromRecNum returns an entity ID, not an object.

Originally Posted by Tassaddar

I remember that in SC doctrines you could simply invoke the weapon to use by its name (e.g. Attack "MR Shell") instead from its database id record. I think this is still possible in DW but, is there any difference betweene the two invocation methods?

I presume invoking by name will take more time. String parsing and such.