[WIP] Orders to patrol second grid

[Wreford-Brown]

I've been working on a mod that will allow a second patrol grid to be issued via radio message mid-patrol.

JScones has helped me get the mod together and, having tested it on my own system for a few days, I'd like a few brave beta testers to test the mod and ensure it remains stable on their systems.

The mod works by randomising the response that you get when you send your status report through the messages screen, so each mission you can now receive orders to go to a different second patrol grid.

You'll need to be a GWX user with SH3 Commander to take part in testing.

Volunteers?

[Sockeye]

I'll give 'er a go!

:salute:

[flakmonkey]

sounds good, concider me a willing guinea pig:up:

[Sailor Steve]

Sounds like another great idea! I'll help.:salute:

[Wreford-Brown]

The BETA has been uploaded to my FF page and passwords will be sent by PM.

Can you please confirm:
1. There is a randomised intro message on the initial menu screen.
2. You get a different message from stock when you send a message before sinking a ship.
3. You get a message ordering you to patrol to a second patrol grid after sinking a ship.

Can you also please let me know which version of the second patrol grid mod you are using - there are five versions (all is explained in the Readme) and I'll test those that you don't.

Screenies would be appreciated :yep:

TY,

WB

[sergei]

This sounds very good.
Good luck with this!

[urfisch]

?

in WAC mod you are also given new orders during patrol. but if you go there, you will not get points for it. that is why it does not makes sense, to follow these new orders.

i was ordered to escort a german freighter group, as received via radio report. and i found it. this was nice...but i had to leave my given grid and did not got any points after the patrol for this extra mission.

would be nice, to update the mission goals on demand in the game. so you will be given reward points.

:up:

[Sag75]

very nice idea!

we'll keep the contact for updates..

[Sailor Steve]

?

in WAC mod you are also given new orders during patrol. but if you go there, you will not get points for it. that is why it does not makes sense, to follow these new orders.

i was ordered to escort a german freighter group, as received via radio report. and i found it. this was nice...but i had to leave my given grid and did not got any points after the patrol for this extra mission.

would be nice, to update the mission goals on demand in the game. so you will be given reward points.

:up:
In GWX you don't get points for going to your first patrol grid. The idea is that renown equals fame, you get renown for doing cool stuff, you don't get famous for just following orders. There is no reason to go to any grid except to play realistically. Some players ignore the assigned grid anyway since you can get a lot more for sinking ships than you can for just showing up where you're told to.

[Sailor Steve]

Report 1. Used the Type II version for a quick test.

I started up a new career in a Type II out of Kiel. My original grid was AN56. I ended up cursing SH3 again because the weather immediately turned bad and I had to keep the little canoe submerged just to keep the crew awake, and it took me forever just to cross the North Sea. But that's not your fault, or your problem.

Can you please confirm:
1. There is a randomised intro message on the initial menu screen.
Yes there was. I already started using your first intro screen mod a couple of days ago. I loaded in the new one. I'm glad you did it the way you did, as it lets us go in and write our own messages to ourselves if we want to.

2. You get a different message from stock when you send a message before sinking a ship.
Yes. I reported in and was told to continue my assigned mission until I sank something.

3. You get a message ordering you to patrol to a second patrol grid after sinking a ship.
Yes and No. Yes, I was told to procede to a new grid and patrol there, but it was the same grid - AN56. I'm assuming this isn't your fault either, because SH3 Commander has a limited number of grids to choose from for each type of boat from each base, and there is a fair chance of getting the same grid again.

I think it worked perfectly as advertised, and I like it! The only downside I can think of comes from the game, and there may not be anything anyone can do about it. It seems to me that if you sank a ship in real life you would be more likely to be told to stay in the same place; orders to move would come after a couple of weeks with no luck. But, barring being able to create a date-based order system I don't see that happening.

Tomorrow or Sunday I'm going to install the North Atlantic version and continue the patrol I'm already on, just to see what happens. I've already sunk three ships in a Type VII and want to find out if it has any influence.

Do you think sinking another ship will cause another grid-change order?

Whatever happens, I'll keep using it. It just adds a little extra immersion, and every little bit helps.

[Wreford-Brown]

Yes there was. I already started using your first intro screen mod a couple of days ago. I loaded in the new one. I'm glad you did it the way you did, as it lets us go in and write our own messages to ourselves if we want to.

Just remember to keep the number of characters to less than 66 or it either won't show the full message or simply won't show.

Yes and No. Yes, I was told to procede to a new grid and patrol there, but it was the same grid - AN56. I'm assuming this isn't your fault either, because SH3 Commander has a limited number of grids to choose from for each type of boat from each base, and there is a fair chance of getting the same grid again.

There is a fair chance of getting allocated the same grid - the chance changes from 1/36 (Type II) to 1/208 (North Atlantic).

The only downside I can think of comes from the game, and there may not be anything anyone can do about it. It seems to me that if you sank a ship in real life you would be more likely to be told to stay in the same place; orders to move would come after a couple of weeks with no luck. But, barring being able to create a date-based order system I don't see that happening.

That's a little beyond my capabilities I'm afraid!

Do you think sinking another ship will cause another grid-change order?

Sinking another ship won't cause another order to be issued, but there's a capability in SH3 Commander to allow values to be changed mid-patrol which I'm having difficulty getting applied to this mod. If I can get it to work it'll mean that there's an almost infinite number of patrol grid orders.

Glad you like it.

[flakmonkey]

havent had time to run more than 1 quick patrol, but in a viic with your north atlantic patrols enabled heres what i got:

1.Yep random messages were present and correct (although the message i got had the last cetter cut off, "Civilised nations have the best implements of war. Herbert Prochno....", screen width issue i guess, maybe folks running widesceeen fixes would avoid this?

2&3. Well i sent a status/patrol report around an hour after leaving stNaz and got the usual gwx reply.
After patroling my grid for 24h but not sinking anything in that time i sent another and got the same gwx message, after another day i found a ship and sunk it, sent a report but still got the same old gwx reply.

-Since others have reported getting the new messages im going to go back and double check ive installed it correctly and then start a new patrol and re-report what i get.

[Gaijin]

Sounds cool, WB.

If you're still looking for guinea pigs...I'll volunteer. :yep:

[Sockeye]

I'm about one-and-a-half patrols in with the mod so far.

The first patrol went okay, and messages came up as desired with new patrol orders after sinking some tonnage, ticker-tape message, etc. On this patrol, the new orders were for a grid that was fairly far removed from the current station, so they didn't quite make sense in that particular situation. A further breakdown of mod options would remedy that, though--just as an example: "Patrols Orders - North Atlantic - West of England", that type of thing.

Working through the second patrol, messages appear to have reverted to stock GWX, or at the very least, that's just the luck of the draw. The mod is loaded, but I guess the dice-roll just happened to land where it did.

Will re-surface tomorrow.

:salute:

[Sailor Steve]

the new orders were for a grid that was fairly far removed from the current station, so they didn't quite make sense in that particular situation. A further breakdown of mod options would remedy that, though--just as an example: "Patrols Orders - North Atlantic - West of England", that type of thing.
My impression is that it draws straight from Commander's stock of available grids. This means that it would take a major rewrite to recieve the suggested message.

I would love to get an order to move to a whole new region. The 'immersion' messages often tell some boat or another to do exactly that. I think it's cool.

[Wreford-Brown]

Changing the patrol grids is exceptionally easy and breaking them down into smaller areas will take a matter of minutes rather than hours.

My thoughts are that the mod works well as it stands for IX users as they have the range to make large changes to their patrol grids. VII users may prefer a closer selection of secondary patrol grids, maybe:
North Atlantic (North) - AE, AF, AM, AN
North Atlantic (South) - AM, BE, CG

Your thoughts?

@flakmonkey - just check you have the patrol orders mod enabled for the respective area.

@Sockeye - yes, there's a small % chance that you'll receive stock messages

[Wreford-Brown]

Adjustments made - Beta 0.1 uploaded to FF.

[Hitman]

In GWX you don't get points for going to your first patrol grid. The idea is that renown equals fame, you get renown for doing cool stuff, you don't get famous for just following orders.

I agree with the concept :yep: but probably the most realistic thing would be to actually have negative points for not reaching your patrol grid. As you said, nobody got famous for accomplishing his orders, but you bet many got a kick in the b*tt for not being able to accomplish them :DL

[Sag75]

I agree with the concept :yep: but probably the most realistic thing would be to actually have negative points for not reaching your patrol grid. As you said, nobody got famous for accomplishing his orders, but you bet many got a kick in the b*tt for not being able to accomplish them :DL


that's a good point of vew! :hmmm:

[Wreford-Brown]

I agree with the concept :yep: but probably the most realistic thing would be to actually have negative points for not reaching your patrol grid. As you said, nobody got famous for accomplishing his orders, but you bet many got a kick in the b*tt for not being able to accomplish them :DL

I like your style, Hitman. Maybe start each patrol with -500 renown then reward 500 renown for reaching your patrol grid.

The only issue would be if you came back with a load of tonnage - if you've sunk a load of ships I doubt BdU would be concerned about your patrol grid.

[Hitman]

The only issue would be if you came back with a load of tonnage - if you've sunk a load of ships I doubt BdU would be concerned about your patrol grid.

That's right, but then I suppose the only way to balance it would be to make the renown lost per not reaching the grid smaller (500 points is clearly too much). Thus it won't deter the player from sinking ships and exhausting torpedos despite not having reached the patrol area, but also will not be pleasing to see your renown sink if you fail to do both. If you sink ships, it will be more than compensated, but if you don't you must at least follow your orders. Otherwise, if you don't get neither ships nor orders accomplished, you lose prestige. Which is the whole point of it :up:

[Wreford-Brown]

I'm looking for a couple of people who can check some translations for me. I've created German and French versions of this mod but have used an internet translator, so I guarantee some of the translations will be wrong. Does anyone have the time to check the translations and turn them into proper French/German?

Ich suche ein paar Leute, die einige Übersetzungen für mich prüfen können. Ich habe Deutsch und französische Versionen dieses mod geschaffen aber hat einen Internetübersetzer benutzt, damit ich garantiere, dass einige der Übersetzungen falsch sein wird. Hat jemand die Zeit, die Übersetzungen zu prüfen, und sie in passendes Französisch/Deutsch zu drehen?

Je cherche quelques gens qui peuvent vérifier quelques traductions pour moi. J'ai créé de l'allemand et des versions françaises de ce mod mais ai utilisé un traducteur d'Internet, donc je garantis certaines des traductions auront tort. N'importe qui a le temps pour vérifier les traductions et les tourne dans français/allemand correct?

[youpi]

I can check the translation in french if you want and if it's not too difficult.:DL

[Wreford-Brown]

Merci beaucoup, youpi.

PM en route.

[Sailor Steve]

I agree with the concept :yep: but probably the most realistic thing would be to actually have negative points for not reaching your patrol grid. As you said, nobody got famous for accomplishing his orders, but you bet many got a kick in the b*tt for not being able to accomplish them :DL
Excellent idea!:rock:

I'll be adding it to my own setup today! But then, in my case it doesn't matter, because I always go to my grid and stay there forever anyway (unless ordered to do otherwise by this new mod of W-B's).

[Uber Gruber]

I know its been said before, and I know i've said it but SH3 Commander's ability to change values mid patrol and to activate files based on the date is massively under-exploited. So its good to hear it being used here....well done WB.:up:

And well done JScones:yeah:

[irish1958]

Limited patrols in N Atlantic, type VIIb
Opening messages fine.
Sunk one ship and allocated new grid in area.
I'll dl the new beta tonight.
Does your "Africa" refer to the South Atlantic?

[flakmonkey]

all working as advertised now in north atlantic, will try med tomorrow.

[Wreford-Brown]

Africa is the mid-African coast. Gibraltar down to Freetown.

It looks like the mod is working and should be good for release mid-week. urfisch is working on a German version and youpi on a French version which will follow on - there is no deadline and we want to get it right before release.

All I need now is a descriptive name. Mid-Patrol Radio Orders?

[irish1958]

Mediterranean works fine.
Mod name sounds OK to me.

[youpi]

You're welcome Wreford. You've got a PM.
Unfortunately quotes are too hard for me. I can check with a friend but If a french user really good in english can translate I think it should be better. It's really "special" to translate quotes. It's not as easier than translate current words.

[Gaijin]

WB, apologies for not reporting sooner. I had conflict problems with installing it over your other message mod and renown mod...I stupidly didn't remove em first. :damn:

Meant a lot of time, reconfiguring mods from scratch.

Anyhow, for what its worth when I got it sorted, intro messages worked fine, standard messages all the way out from base and then new North Atlantic grid grid came after sinking a merchant. VIIB, out of Lorient.

Great Mod, well done.

[JScones]

I agree with the concept :yep: but probably the most realistic thing would be to actually have negative points for not reaching your patrol grid. As you said, nobody got famous for accomplishing his orders, but you bet many got a kick in the b*tt for not being able to accomplish them :DL
That's right, but then I suppose the only way to balance it would be to make the renown lost per not reaching the grid smaller (500 points is clearly too much). Thus it won't deter the player from sinking ships and exhausting torpedos despite not having reached the patrol area, but also will not be pleasing to see your renown sink if you fail to do both. If you sink ships, it will be more than compensated, but if you don't you must at least follow your orders. Otherwise, if you don't get neither ships nor orders accomplished, you lose prestige. Which is the whole point of it :up:
Great idea. For me that would mean an extra element of discipline, because I have been known to deviate well away from my allotted grid into other proven hunting grounds, so the occassional "kick in the butt" as it were may be just what I need to stay on track!

I know its been said before, and I know i've said it but SH3 Commander's ability to change values mid patrol and to activate files based on the date is massively under-exploited. So its good to hear it being used here....well done WB.:up:

And well done JScones:yeah:
Thanks UG - it has taken a few years, but it's great to see it starting to be used to such good effect (not to forget the awesome malfunction/sabotage work done by Hemisent when the feature was first released, of course).

The best thing about the feature is that it can be used with SH5 with no code changes at all. How do I know? Well, the code is completely dynamic so doesn't care what files it changes or where they are and, SH5 will consist of files, and files--any files--can be modified. It's much like JSGME in that respect (but of course, with the ability to change settings within files without affecting other settings).

[Wreford-Brown]

So how do we go about this? How do we reduce the total amount of players renown by... shall we say 250 in order to be given 300 for patrolling the grid for 24 hours.

Giving the 300 is easy, it's the reducing the total renown that I'm having difficulty working out.

You'd get 50 extra renown for patrolling your grid, but get 250 taken away if you don't patrol it. That means that you'd have to sink a fair number of large ships to justify to BdU that you didn't reach your patrol grid.

[Sailor Steve]

All I need now is a descriptive name. Mid-Patrol Radio Orders?
New Grid Orders?

[Wreford-Brown]

I was thinking of using 'mod that uses SH3 Commander to allocate you a new grid mid patrol'.

What do you think? Catchy??? :haha: