(REQ) Get rid of the gunboats

[OlegM]

Can SOMETHING be done about them annoying gunboats that are spawned as harbor defences all over the map? Those are modelled on some obscure Japanese river gunboats, that are:

a) ugly
b) unhistoric (used only in China), definitely NOT deep in the Pacific
c) harmless

I think that Japanese had like less than half a dozen of those anyway.

The game should have much MUCH more of Japanese subschasers - in fact patrol craft (PC) - and small minesweepers employed as harbor defences and even as convoy escorts. These were very numerous - in fact it's a pity we don't have more variants but the one for each (PC and MSW) in the game should suffice - and historicaly used in those roles. (Not to mention they look good too.)

[Julius Caesar]

Here. New version.

Go to \Data\Campaigns\Campaign
open (with notepad) Jap_HarborTraffic.mis

change all:

[RndGroup xy.RndUnit x]
Type=0 > this sets this ship as generic patrol craft (50% it will be small gun boat, 50% it will be large gun boat)

to
[RndGroup xy.RndUnit x]
Class=SCSubchaser
Type=0


Example:
[RndGroup 79.RndUnit 1]
Type=0
Origin=Japan
Side=0
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=-1
CfgDate=19400101
No=1
Escort=false
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=2

change it to:
[RndGroup 79.RndUnit 1]
Class=SCSubchaser
Type=0
Origin=Japan
Side=0
CargoExt=-1
CargoInt=-1
CfgDate=19400101
No=1
Escort=false
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=2

[ReallyDedPoet]

Good suggestion:up:, maybe this could be done as part of a larger " Harbor Defence " mod, there was a thread a number of weeks about the previous, but I have not seen it since.

RDP

[Graf]

Oleg,

I'm actually working on creating more historical ships present in the game. I'm replacing the lil' gunboats usually with Subchasers, placing the gunboats near China and along coastlines.

Also in progress are more historical patrols such as true patrols areas during the Philippines invasion of '41, invasion of the Dutch-East Indies, patrols in the Solomons '42, blockade of Truk during late '42, patrols in the Sea of Japan early '43, etc...etc...

:)

[OlegM]

OK Caesar this should work, thanks :up:

[ReallyDedPoet]

Oleg,

I'm actually working on creating more historical ships present in the game. I'm replacing the lil' gunboats usually with Subchasers, placing the gunboats near China and along coastlines.

Also in progress are more historical patrols such as true patrols areas during the Philippines invasion of '41, invasion of the Dutch-East Indies, patrols in the Solomons '42, blockade of Truk during late '42, patrols in the Sea of Japan early '43, etc...etc...

:)

Nice :roll:

RDP

[OlegM]

Good to see something CAN be done, and that something IS being done about this annoyance :up:

I think someone in the dev team mixed up two kinds of Japanese gunboats. Japs had a handful of ugly river gunboats - that look just like those in the game - used to patrol Chinese rivers and coastline.

They also had subchasers and "proper" gunboats for ocean and coastal escort work. Subchasers (PC) are modelled in the game but very rarely used (game prefers either true destroyers, as escorts, or river gunboats, as harbor defense). "Proper" gunboats look very much like subchaser model in the game. Initially they didn't have sonars and/or depth charges, but had a gun more than subchasers. Otherwise they looked similar, and were employed as escorts. As the war went on some of them got DC racks (most of them were still without sonars though).

I think someone simply decided to use the river gunboat model in place of "proper" IJN gunboats in the Pacific.

Honestly, I don't even expect the game to model this to such detail, I'd be content just to get rid of them damn river gunboats on the Pacific, and have more subchasers BOTH as escorts and harbor defences.

[Julius Caesar]

I have spent few days (!) modding mission files. Changes:
- all merchants are filled with freight in stock files. I made them "randomly" filled with ammunition (internal cargo) or freight (internal cargo), and for external cargo ammo or freight or aircraft or tanks or trucks etc.
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/goldfinger35/untitled-3.jpg


- all tankers are filled with freight in stock files (?!). I made them filled with fuel (now they explode really nice!) or freight (to simulate empty tankers).
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/goldfinger35/untitled2-1.jpg


- added subchasers to task forces and convoys

- added subchasers and destroyers to some task forces and convoys but did NOT position them as escorts. Why? To make them spwan in middle of convoy so it will be more difficult to stay submerged in the middle of convoy

- added more subchasers and more destroyers to harbors (some of them were really unguarded in stock) and positioned some of them closer to harbors (why? because in stock they were too far away and you could easily surface, destroy all docked ships with you deck gun, drink coffee and leave and they would be too far to notice you).

- solved error/bug with slow task forces in 1941 and 1942
see here:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=115105
thanks Yanaran

[tater]

I changed the Subchaser and Minesweeper to unit type = 1 (Corvette).

I then replaced all the Patrol Craft with "GENERIC Corvette" except for coastal harbors on the mainland and SE asia (some of the SWPA).

Note that mcoca's bulk editor is a far superior tool to using notepad. You can literally open every campaign file and change things very specifically, even randomize between choices.

[OlegM]

Sounds great Caesar, but Subchasers should not be part of task forces, they were too slow to keep up with true warships.

[OlegM]

Note that mcoca's bulk editor is a far superior tool to using notepad. You can literally open every campaign file and change things very specifically, even randomize between choices.

Where do I get mcoca's editor?

[Julius Caesar]

Sounds great Caesar, but Subchasers should not be part of task forces, they were too slow to keep up with true warships.

True, BUT:
1. In this game, task forces usualy go 11 kts
2. Most task forces in SH4 have tankers in group, so subhchasers are guarding those tankers :cool:


Note that mcoca's bulk editor is a far superior tool to using notepad. You can literally open every campaign file and change things very specifically, even randomize between choices.

Where do I get mcoca's editor?
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=113918&highlight=Mission+Editor

[tater]

The fleet oilers should opnly be the large tanker, not the generic choice that the game uses. Also, the speed of those tankers was typoed, the large tanker should make 19 knots.

A TF either needs to have the oilers changed to keep up with a reasonable speed for a TF (15-18 knots cruising), or needs to be eliminated from the TFs. I eliminated them at first, but have gone back and altered the speed so some may have organic oilers. My layers have TFs usually making 15 or 16 knots. Some short hauls have them going faster.

Regardless, TFs don't need SCs, though a minesweeper might well be with them (they did double duty as ASW platforms).

My layers (still beta, but I'm thinking of releasing them since I have them in JSGME format) have DDs in TFs, and I eliminated the vast majority of DD escorts in current convoys. The stock game has 3-4 DDs per convoy, and a huge number of convoys even at points in the war where there were virtually no convoys except for invasion forces. While I reduced the NUMBER of DD escorts, I increased their skill. IJN warships should be consistantly well crewed, IMO. The minimal value I use for them is "competant" with "veteran" being very common, and a few "elites" thrown in to mix things up.