too many contact reports in SH3

[lumat83]

Hi all

I think we receive too many contacts reports in SH3. I don't know if this is realist but it's too easy, to my opinon, to find ennemy ships with this reports who appear continuously on the map.

Is it possible to reduce them ? Or stop them ?

[The Avon Lady]

I'm playing with RUb and I don't think there are too many. :nope:

Also, there are reductions in quantities as the war progresses, I believe.

[lumat83]

Me too, I'm playing with RUB. During my last patrol, in january 1940 between Wilhelmshaven and the box BE63, I had at least 20 contact reports. The deutch fighters can't fly here. And we haven't satellite :D
Ok, some of them can be sent by 1 or 2 other Uboats. Perhaps some of them can sent by one spy. And the others ?

Then, why all these reports contacts ?

[Oberon]

The deutch fighters can't fly here. And we haven't satellite :D


Are you sure? Seems like the Kreigsmarine scientists have put a Type XXI into space :up:
http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=45207&start=0

[lumat83]

I've saw it :D

But I'm serious. To my opinion, there are too many contact reports in SH3 (for the single merchants) and it's not realistic.
Except for the large convoys ( I thnik they're spotted by others Uboats ).
In fact, in 1939 -1945, the Uboats travelled for a long time without see any ship during their mission.
In SH3, it's too easy, It is possible to fire all the torpedos after only 2 or 3 days of one mission with this reports
I repeat : I don't say there are too many ships but there are too many contact reports

My question is : Is there a way to reduce this number of contacts, for example remove the single contacts ?

[Trav_R]

Hmm, would be nice to know how they did it in RuB, that way we could make the adjustment ourselves.

I'm with you, it bothers me when I spend 2 days hunting with the hydrophone, then get excited to get a contact, only to find out as I plot it on the map that it has already been reported to me! It's obvious to me that I would be better off just waiting for contact reports to roll in than waste my time on days of hydrophone readings.

[Herr Karl]

Kill the WO... :yep:

[Marhkimov]

This is an excerpt from my 'contacts.cfg' in the 'data\Cfg' folder

[ContactSettings]
; Contact settings

Display Range To Opportunity Radio Contacts=300 ;[>0] kilometers
Display Range To Important Radio Contacts=1500 ;[>0] kilometers
Decay Time For Important Radio Contacts=172800 ;[>0] seconds
Decay Time For Opportunity Radio Contacts=32400 ;[>0] seconds
Decay Time For Imprecise Sensor Contacts=600 ;[>0] seconds
Decay Time For Precise Sensor Contacts=60 ;[>0] seconds
Single Contact Min Size=1 ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Small Contact Min Size=2 ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Medium Contact Min Size=5 ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group
Large Contact Min Size=13 ;[>0] minimum numbers of units in this type of group


You can disect what these values mean. In short, I don't run into very many single contacts.

[lumat83]

Trav_R you say :"Hmm, would be nice to know how they did it in RuB, that way we could make the adjustment ourselves."

How Make ajustments ?

And Marhkimov

Ok, but it's my Data\cfg\contact. I Play with RUB.

But what values I can Modify to see less contacts reports for single ships ?
I don't understand very well about this file.

[Marhkimov]

My contact file is from RUb, I think. I edited it a while ago, so I don't quite remember...


I think the Decay times are the values that control single contact frequency.


EDIT: nvm, I was mistaken...

[Marhkimov]

Just download the newest Improved Convoys mod (at terrapin's site). That should lessen the single contacts.

[CWorth]

I dont know what version of RUB your running but it is far from too many contacts with the RUB I'm running :nope:

I'm lucky to find 2 ships in a 7 day period of time.Ive even had to return to base with torpedoes left due to getting low on fuel.


I thought you had to edit the Campaign.RND file to change the numbers of contacts that you get in the game.Being there is no Contacts.cfg file in the Improved Convoys mod.

[Marhkimov]

I dont know what version of RUB your running but it is far from too many contacts with the RUB I'm running :nope:

I'm lucky to find 2 ships in a 7 day period of time.Ive even had to return to base with torpedoes left due to getting low on fuel.

That's because RUb uses the IC (Improved Convoys) mod. Yes, it is the Campaign_RND file and not the contacts.cfg file

And about getting single contact reports... If you sail blindly around the Atlantic Ocean, you will obviously not recieve a lot of contact reports. You should try and patrol areas with a high concentration of convoy lanes or something. Use your captain's intuition and hunt where you believe the enemy will be. Keep patrolling that same area and you will find many contacts.

A personal favorite spot of mine is just 10-15km north of Scapa Flow. I'm usually guaranteed a single merchant every other day or two. And there's plenty of other places where merchants will consistently pass by. Usually a bottleneck or chokepoint of some sort (Straight of Gibraltar, English Channel, Canary Islands, South of Ireland, etc). Try searching spots where ship are forced to go around a corner (Scapa Flow, English Channel, etc).

Last but not least, don't forget to use the map and your brain to your advantage. If you look for them, you WILL find them. :up:

[Trav_R]

So... The contacts.cfg file doesn't seem to have anything to do with the frequency of single merchants being reported, only the range that you have to be within for them to be reported and the time it takes for them to fade out and disappear. That's not what I want to change. Apparently the file I would be interested in would be the campaign.rnd file right? What I'd like to know is are there separate variables in there for changing the frequency at which single merchants are generated and the frequency at which the are reported?

What I mean is, I like the fact that there are a lot of single merchants, but I don't like the fact that so many of them are reported to me without me having to do any captain-like hunting. I don't want there to be any less single merchants, I just want to have to find them myself instead of them being reported to me. This, I believe, is what lumat83 is interested in as well. So, if any of you are familiar with the campaign.rnd file, could you tell us where to look in that file to find the variables we want?

[Marhkimov]

Trav_R,


Are you using IC mod? Or RUb? Or IUB?

If you want less single contacts, you should try using the Campaign_RND file from those mods. They all use the reduced single contacts.

[Trav_R]

I'm not using any of those mods, I'd like to be able to adjust the figures myself. I doubt it will be difficult once I know where in that file to look.

[Marhkimov]

The thing about the RND layer is that it is 6mb... In TEXT! :huh:

Even though I am guilty of being an avid modder, I honestly will not go near that thing. I dunno if anyone should, unless they plan on spending hours upon hours staring at the computer...

I guess if you want to try it, you'd have to boot up the mission editor and decrease each and every single merchant's spawning frequency. Of course, you could text edit it, if you knew what you were looking for...

[CWorth]

I opened up the Campaign.RND file one time in the editor and took a look.I closed it right back up again and never looked at it since.

That thing is a nightmare to try and figure out and even more so to try to edit it would appear.

[Trav_R]

Well, that's why I'm asking the modders who have done the work if they wouldn't mind telling us which section of the campaign.rnd file we need to edit. Then we could just Edit->Find for the section.

[kiwi_2005]

I have found the 1.45 RUB mod has lesson the contacts compared to the previous rub mods, i might be wrong but its now pretty lonely out at sea. Although its nice to see different escorts. I came across a small convoy while looking though my scope what i thought was a large warship, turned out to be a Black swan frigate. First time i have come across those.

I sunk it :D