If you give the lifeboats a HUGE amount of HPs then yes, it's feasible. As the HPs would theoretically never reach 0 so the effects in particles.dat would never be called :up: You'd have to ensure the zones you give the lifeboat for it's boxes don't have any effects associated with them also.

The only 'problem' is my FX_Update and any mod that does some things like FX_Update does. When a shell hits something I spawn off debris - metal shards. Doesn't matter what the shells impacts into these are always spawned. So if you shell the lifeboats and you have FX_Update installed you will see metal shards flying in the air and landing in the water as debris.

It's not a matter of equipping a radio to them or not...it's a matter of what kind of cmdr_ AI type they are. You'll find that in it's .sim file. What kind of cmd_x are the lifeboats?

:up:
I guess they would still get damage and sink by flooding. Isn't it?

Yes, I had imagined it. But I think we could live with it as far as shells would not provoke huge explosions.

I've opened it with S3d. Under cmdr_AIShip node, there is a SHSim.cmdr_AIFight controller. As I wrote before, the point is making planes to get alerted when they are spotting a lifeboat, and to patrol the area in search of any enemy contact...
but I am aware that there are several limitations on what aircraft AI can do in SH5, and I am a perfect ignorant on this (an many more) matter(s), so probably what I am suggesting is simply impossible. :88)

If it's a cmdr_AIShip then it acts just like a ship. If it spots an enemy it will radio for help :yep:

yes, I see, but read below:

At first I had proposed to equip lifeboats with radios as a workaround, for simulating the fact that on spotting life rafts, Allied aircraft would look for enemies in the area.

But there are two flaws in this trick: one was evidenced by Rongel (see quote), the other one is that if we are out of the range of lifeboat's sensors, they stop "drawing the attection" of nearby aircraft, while in real life they wouldn't.

I guess the latter inconvenience could be ironed out by increasing unrealistically rafts sensors range. Still, there's the problem that they would start calling for reinforcements too early, while in real life it would have taken many hours or several days -depending on air traffic- before a plane transiting accidentally could spot the raft and start patroling the area... :hmmm:

The only solutions I see are:

- making aircraft to get alerted when they spot lifeboats, with no need to be radioed. Provided that this is going to be possible, IRAI should take care of it, or...

- keeping the radio on lifeboats, but decreasing its range to the average visual range of an aircraft.

I hope I made myself clear now :DL

I don't understand where you are getting that adding a radio is going to get the lifeboats to call for reinforcements? Where do you see a radio in a ship's or airplane's .eqp or .sns file? I'd love to look at one of these and see what's going on.

It's the sensors of the unit (mainly the visual, hydro, and sonar) in conjunction with the cmdr_ type that causes the game engine to react.

Dear TheDarkWraith,
forgive me for my immense ignorance!

So the ability of an unit to communicate with other units resides in its cmdr_xx. I wasn't aware of it, thanks.

Still, I see that we didn't understand each other yet. In short points, this is what I've in mind:

• the sailboat should alert other units only if she gets within their visual range;
• when this happens, neither the sailboat nor the alerted units should be aware of our current position, unless we are just in range of their respective sensors;
• once they get alerted, naval and merchant units should start to react appropriately, according to normal IRAI routines;
• alerted airplanes should start looking for us within a given range... possibly this behaviour is already implemented in IRAI, but melius abundare quam deficere Latins said;
• other airplanes should be drawn in the area, if it resides within the range of an active Allied airbase.

I see anyway that this discussion is getting off topic here. Maybe we should keep it on in the IRAI thread, provided that there is any further interest. :DL

Don't think I was attacking you, I was merely asking where you had seen a radio in a unit's .eqp or .sns file. I had never seen one and if one existed I wanted to see how it worked :yep: See above in yellow.

Everything is setup correctly in the lifeboats for this to be working already from what I've seen of the files. To truely verify one should make a single mission with a single unit, player's sub submerged, and an airplane 10-12kms away from the sub heading parallel to the subs course. Have sub torpedo unit and once lifeboats spawn surface the sub. The lifeboats should detect the sub and the airplane should vector to the area :yep:

I've been playing around with this idea of sinking the lifeboats and the lifeboats being able to call in reinforcements. I have something working :DL but it's not perfect yet. I have to do some work on my GR2 Editor/Viewer so that I can add the missing items to make this really work :yep:

Okay, but airplanes and other units should start to react only if they have a sailboat within their visual range, and to keep doing what they were doing if the boat is beyond this limit. Can we achive this result?

Moreover, they should get in alert status even if you are submerged or very far from the sailboat. I think we can mimic this fact by equipping sailboats with unrealistically advanced sensors (ASDIC, or RADAR?) and possibly by increasing their range. Thus they should be able to detect you anyway and to alert other units.

Yet, I see some flaws in this method: for a start, I wonder if it would be possible to increase the range of a sensor oinly for a given kind of unit (sailboats in this case), without affecting also the range of the same sensor for other units? As far as I know, there is not such a kind of unit-related setting for sensors range. And also, we don't want to hear that a sailboat is pinging us... :-?
Hence there are some limits on how far sailboats will be able to detect us, unless you or someone else can suggest another solution.

do you mean that alerted units wouldn't know our position, although the sailboat detected us? This would be perfect! :up:

Okay,
is there a way to predict within wich radius from the "spotting unit" they will be searching for enemy activity? I guess it has to be different depending on the kind of unit. And also: will they keep searching you until someone is detecting you?

No, I don't think it at all :DL
I am sorry if a gave you this impression, but I can't resist to a witty remark, whenever I am given the chance of using it! :D
Moreover I am really aware to know little or nothing on many SH related issues.

no, I never saw one either. I was just groping in the dark!

I see, my suggestions are meant for making the AI to react to sailboats as realistically as possible, so to make them a part of the factors that we should take into account for our patrols. According to your last statement we got a good starting point. :up:

Got to install again the game. I will do it one of these days and I will carry the test you are suggesting.

:rock:

If you had the game installed I would send you the test mission I made (along with all the necessary files to make this work) that shows early proof of concept ;)

You convinced me, send me everything! :03:

After all it makes little sense to spend so much time in a game that you aren't actually playing :hmmm:

erm...
a minor specification, just to make sure that we are talking about the same thing:

technically they weren't "calling in" reinforcements. They were acting only a passive role, drawing the attention of other units, like buoys marking a possible enemy activity in the vicinity. ;)

You'll see in the test mission I made what happens. When the lifeboats spot you the game lets everyone unit with Lost contant time (specified in sim.cfg file) know that a unit was spotted. Those that can respond will respond and come and investigate. You'll see that once the lifeboats spot you the airplane that is way way off in the distance (min of 13kms away from you) vectors to where the lifeboats spotted you.