aircraft spotted, who cares

[Laffertytig]

ok, just finished my 2nd patrol using RFB and RSRD and am wonderin my aircraft seem to useless. the zero's usually buzz me allowin me to shoot them down very easily or as happened last patrol, twin engined aircraft actually passed within 200 metres on a clear day and never even changed course. at 1st i thought maybe they were friendly, but surely not in the S china sea in june 42.

lovin everything else in the game but aircraft just seem very lame. were jap planes in ww2 so poor at attackin/spottin subs?

[manucapo]

i find my aircraft to be very annoying because

80 percent of the time they drop the bombs 50 miles
but if you let your guard down too much
a direct hit and your dead
and if you dont save (like me) it can get very annoying
so it kinda forces you to go down everytime
and as far as i know in real life subs sank all the time when aircraft where inbound
and only used the gun in extreme cases

so if you want to take the gamble go ahead
it depends on how you like to play

[tater]

I always pull the plug when aircraft are spotted, that's what RL subs did.

[-Pv-]

As tater implied. WWII was the 1st war were air power began to be the deciding factory in warfare. Aircraft were the biggest threat. Not changed that much today. Aircraft are still the biggest threat for modern subs.
-Pv-

[AVGWarhawk]

The kill ratio for the aircraft was not that great. Not to mention they were detected in most cases for the sub to dive. At any rate, the aircraft can be crafty. Sure, hang out on the surface and hope they do not strike home! I prefer to dive.

[Ducimus]

I don't just dive, i crash dive.

[jazman]

All it takes is one lucky hit and you're dead. If you're playing Dead is Dead, you crash dive.

[tater]

I don't just dive, i crash dive.
Yeah, those 45m depth setting air dropped DCs come as a rude surprise, don't they :D

tater

[Ducimus]

Among other things. :rotfl:

[jazman]

I was cruising around the Java Sea at periscope depth in my S-tub in the daytime, and I guess a plane found me anyway, and blasted me. I was able to surface, but the prop shafts were gone, so I had to scuttle the boat and swim to captivity.

[Factor]

so I had to scuttle the boat and swim to captivity.

where you were swiftly beheaded:huh:

[Rockin Robbins]

I keep on the surface until the plane is 5 miles out and submerge in a leisurely manner until they pass. In practice I dive to 100' for four minutes, come to radar depth to check out the situation, if the plane is now moving away (it is), I surface and continue on my way. I never see planes. I detect them on radar.

It's very important that they don't see you or they call in their buddies and have a party at your expense.

[Laffertytig]

ha yeah i get all the, just dive and pretend it realistic stuff, but why would a plane pass within 200 metres and just fly on?

im lookin upon this as constructive comment, have any of u mod gods worked on the aircraft AI? its not a major gripe but u have to admit it it a little weird!

[tater]

To be fair, I've had some weird stuff with planes sometimes. I test a mod with planes that attack, and bomb the poop out of me, then load up a campaign, and have every single plane fly past without blinking.

Dunno.

tater

[Ducimus]

I have the exact opposite problem. Ive noticed post patch, that the planes are able to see alot deeper then i had originally set them to. Only reason i didnt adjust it, is the radius of their ablity to see submerged objects *feels* relatively small when you take their speed into account.

[tater]

I haven't played for real since 1.4, all i've done is test. If there is a mission that requires that I maneuver the boat to "catch" DCs I'm yer man. Sinking stuff, evading planes? LOL.

Sigh.

tater

[Laffertytig]

so basically there aint any answer for it then! arent there files that affect if a plane flies within a certain distance, depending on the environment they will react? surely within 200 metres any plane should at least react right?

[tomoose]

I've found, since 1.4 + TM1.7 that the buggers can still spot me and attack at periscope depth ergo when I get a radar warning I go beyond periscope depth (90-100ft).

I haven't seen any plane within 200m ignore me so can't speak to that apparent anomaly. Generally if they're within sighting distance they'll come at me although the odd one or two if far enough away will continue on course.

[Snuffy]

so basically there aint any answer for it then! arent there files that affect if a plane flies within a certain distance, depending on the environment they will react? surely within 200 metres any plane should at least react right?

The answer is to get the airfield mod and install it (TMxxx comes with it) and then when you start a patrol, go to the map and draw circles of 500nm radius from the airfields. If you can get to your patrol area without intersecting a circle you've drawn, you'll never see a plane ... unless of course there is a CV out there somewhere.

The other thing I do is "real time" navigation. (RTN) I do not plot waypoints and let the game follow the points, I set course on the move as I head to the patrol area. I personally feel that this way the AI has no idea of where I am or how I'm getting where I am going, thus making it more difficult for it to make the determination to attack via air.

I've tried this with varying results with both methods, (waypoint and RTN) more often than not, I'll be attacked by air if I enter a fly zone with waypoints drawn than if I use RTN

[STEED]

I love the TC you dive under to avoid a plane go forward say hour surface and there on top of you again, so you stay under longer surface and still they are on top of you. :rotfl:

I no longer crash dive it's a wast of time with one or two planes. Slug it out and violet maneuvers is what I do, and 99% of the time this works. Any how some times you get to see those new secret Jap planes that can fly under water. ;) :lol:

[-Pv-]

I would not be surprised if there were random and skill factors figured into aircraft just like ships where the incompetant crew just happend to be looking the other way at their closest point and you just *happened* to have a minimum profile at low speed in the direction of the sun blinding them.

I have a habbit of giving the game developers credit when 5 different people have 5 different experiences.
-Pv-

[Laffertytig]

yeah maybe the aircraft didnt have any bombs to drop or as u say maybe it was a rookie pilot. im quite happy to stick with RFB for the time being but this aircraft/airfield mod interests me.

anyone got a link to it and can it be installed over RFB?

[Laffertytig]

ive just been havin a look at the GWX 2.0 manual. at the start of the manual it has a list of SH3 issues and i found the following.

one of the issues are that "Elite" (crew rating=4) aircraft will not drop bombs!

could this problem have carried over to SH4 which would explain some of the strange aircraft behaviour? i know a lot of work has been done with destroyer crew skill ratings but has any work been done on aircraft crew ratings?

[tater]

This is not true in SH4. I just tested and elite planes drop on me just fine.

tater

[Laffertytig]

yeah it was a long shot i know

[Hartmann]

Japanese seems to have poor accuracy in the game but in my first patrol two planes destroyed my diesel engines with severe damage and unable to dive.

after some more attacks and direct hits i decided to dive to periscope depth but the boat falls like a stone to the crushing dephts...all hands lost.:88)