Too few planes

[Kapitan Soniboy]

Hi.

I'm playing a career in mid 44 and I think there's too few planes in the air. I'm constantly getting messages about other u-boats sinking due to air attacks. The Bay of Biscay is to be the most aircraft populated area in the atlantic. But, how come I've never seen an aircraft in my entire career (exept that airship outside New York:damn:)

Is it possible to increase the amount of air patrols? I'm playing GWX 3.0 gold with SH3 Commander. If a similar topic exist, please direct me. Thanks.

Soni

[Weiss Pinguin]

Do you travel at high TC? Anything more than 128 and encounters start to drop off. (and even 128x is getting up there)

[Kapitan Soniboy]

Well of course I travel at high TC. I remember when playing stock SH3 planes would pop up everywhere. Not that I like those suckers but it is realistic

[Weiss Pinguin]

Well, as I mentioned, high TC means less encounters, just a game limitation. Also, what year is it? Obviously early war means less sightings as well, depending on where you are.

[Kapitan Soniboy]

1944 is the year. Aircraft should be a very common sight by then.

[Dissaray]

It is most likely a TC issue. I was on patrol in the WAW campain off the Canadian coast and ran into two seperate air patrols in the same day and that was early '42

[Weiss Pinguin]

lol yeah... The last time I made it that far was when I still played stock lol, so I can't really say much about the aircraft situation.

[cawimmer430]

It's mid-1944 in my career and everytime I leave my port of St. Nazaire about 70 km out I'm immediately attacked by the RAF. You'd think that the Luftwaffe could at least provide some air cover but no. :down:

I guess the rivalry between Doenitz and Goering just didn't permit cooperation between those two branches of the German Armed Forces.


Because of this fact, I tend to wait in port until it night, then I speed through the Bay of Biscay at full speed to the "relative safety of the Atlantic".

[Dread Knot]

It's mid-1944 in my career and everytime I leave my port of St. Nazaire about 70 km out I'm immediately attacked by the RAF. You'd think that the Luftwaffe could at least provide some air cover but no. :down:

I guess the rivalry between Doenitz and Goering just didn't permit cooperation between those two branches of the German Armed Forces.


You have to remember that by 1944 the bulk of the shrinking Luftwaffe was devoted to defending the airspace over the Reich from the vast Allied bomber fleets that were grinding German cities to rubble. The German troops fighting the Allied invasion in Normandy developed a cynical saying; If the plane in the sky is silver, it's American, if it's blue, it's British, if it's invisible, it's ours!"

[RConch]

I run at X256TC when traveling normally with GWX 3.0 and in the early war I have no problem. There are many Ansons, Hudsons, and Swordfishes spooking around.
Is there any thing in the GWX manual that addresses this? I confess I have never sat down and read the entire thing-I just wanted to play.:DL
I don't understand how high TC would affect encounters.:hmmm:

[Lt.Fillipidis]

I run at X256TC when traveling normally with GWX 3.0 and in the early war I have no problem. There are many Ansons, Hudsons, and Swordfishes spooking around.
Is there any thing in the GWX manual that addresses this? I confess I have never sat down and read the entire thing-I just wanted to play.:DL
I don't understand how high TC would affect encounters.:hmmm:

Just like all the previous posters said: Its the high TC.
But i'd like to add to all this: When in shallows, high caliber flak is your best friend! :O:

[Draka]

I am not sure of the technical details, but apparently the routine that checks for random events (Air patrols, weather changes, etc) skips many beats at anything over approx 128 compression.Therefore at high TC it will appear that the weather doesn't change for days (weeks sometimes) on end, air patrols and ships to sink appear at lesser intervals, etc.

I use SH3Cmdr to permanently set my compression so the max is 256 - and dropping to 128 anywhere near land.

This has been a constant refrain on these and other SH3 boards - experience gained over the many years of testing and using nearly every flavor of stock, supermod, weather mod, etc - so take it as gospel.

[Kapitan Soniboy]

Well, I still want to know if there is a way to increase the amount of air patrols. I want the RAF to show up. Maybe it's because they fear me. Yes, that has to be the reason :hmmm:

[RoaldLarsen]

Well, I still want to know if there is a way to increase the amount of air patrols. I want the RAF to show up. Maybe it's because they fear me. Yes, that has to be the reason :hmmm:

They are showing up. You are just zipping by so fast that you don't see each other. Just reduce your TC.

I suppose you could try changing a config file setting. In data\Cfg\AirStrike.cfg in the AirStrikeSettings set Default Air Strike Probability to 50, but I expect this won't help much. It should add more arcraft, but they'll just zip by too fast as well.

[Kapitan Soniboy]

I use SH3Cmdr to permanently set my compression so the max is 256 - and dropping to 128 anywhere near land.

256 max? Do you have the patience for that?

[Weiss Pinguin]

It's easier to stick to 256 when you can't go any higher :D

[Draka]

Ayup - larned patience 'bout four decades ago .......ya want a REAL slow game try some of the massive cardboard unit counters on printed map boards - like Avalon Hill's "Empire at Arms" , GDW's "DRANG NACH OSTEN" or SPI's "War in the East"

[RoaldLarsen]

Ayup - larned patience 'bout four decades ago .......ya want a REAL slow game try some of the massive cardboard unit counters on printed map boards - like Avalon Hill's "Empire at Arms" , GDW's "DRANG NACH OSTEN" or SPI's "War in the East"
That brings back memories. Playing WitE, had all of Army Group South wiped out by a cleaning lady once.

[Draka]

Ouch! Ya musta been pissed! That is a LOT of work .........How many moves were ya in?

[Dissaray]

256 max? Do you have the patience for that?

That is why I always make sure I have a good book or some thing else to occupy transit time when playing this game. Sounds odd I know, needing a book to play a game, but I have realy cought up on my reading.

[RConch]

I am not sure of the technical details, but apparently the routine that checks for random events (Air patrols, weather changes, etc) skips many beats at anything over approx 128 compression.Therefore at high TC it will appear that the weather doesn't change for days (weeks sometimes) on end, air patrols and ships to sink appear at lesser intervals, etc.

I use SH3Cmdr to permanently set my compression so the max is 256 - and dropping to 128 anywhere near land.

This has been a constant refrain on these and other SH3 boards - experience gained over the many years of testing and using nearly every flavor of stock, supermod, weather mod, etc - so take it as gospel.

That is an explanation I can understand, not just what the other posters stated, I can read them.
It is the "why" I wanted to know.
Thanks Draka!:salute:
Now I run at X64 TC as opposed to X256 TC.

[Kapitan Soniboy]

It's just silly. Stock SH3 detects aircraft even at 1024 TC. Can't I just stick with 1024 and not go any higher?

[Kpt. Lehmann]

It's just silly. Stock SH3 detects aircraft even at 1024 TC. Can't I just stick with 1024 and not go any higher?

No. Not if you want encounters with aircraft. This has been a long-standing issue with SH3 itself... This is not a problem with GWX. All the technical reasons are explained by the good gentlemen above/earlier in this thread.

I normally patrol at 128x TC. (Wish I had the time for 1x TC) For the best experience, you should never go above 256x TC.

[flakmonkey]

As has been said in many posts above TC above 128x reduces encounters with planes whether using stock or a supermod, the reason as i understand it is due to planes moving at very high speed.
While in high TC the planes may simply jump right over the 30Km radius around your boat where units are modeled without detecting your sub.

The solution is to simply keep it at or below 128x in any area you would "like" to encounter planes.

You can of course use the mission editor to change the campaign.scr file and add as many more planes as you like (any you add will still be prone to the TC issue, but with more units in the air its more probable that one will jump into that 30km zone and detect you)

[cawimmer430]

You have to remember that by 1944 the bulk of the shrinking Luftwaffe was devoted to defending the airspace over the Reich from the vast Allied bomber fleets that were grinding German cities to rubble. The German troops fighting the Allied invasion in Normandy developed a cynical saying; If the plane in the sky is silver, it's American, if it's blue, it's British, if it's invisible, it's ours!"


Definitely, I have not forgotten that.

But perhaps a handful of Messerschmitt BF-110 or Ju-88 Fighters (relatively maneuverable planes with long range capable of attacking Sunderland, B-24's and Catalina's) giving you some air cover would be great. I find it seriously ridiculous that I am literally being attacked the moment I leave port.

[Weiss Pinguin]

I'm sure commanders back then did as well ;)

[RoaldLarsen]

Ouch! Ya musta been pissed! That is a LOT of work .........How many moves were ya in?I think we had put in 3 12-16 hour days when the CWMD* hit.



*CWMD = Cleaning Woman of Mass Destruction