This patch, i think has alot going in the back door so to speak. The developers i think did alot of code level changes to effect change, without ever touching a dat or sim file. The current status of ROW is a great example of this.

That's been my experience to. I think there are so many factors involved (Escort Proficiency, Weather, Layers, etc) that we can't expect any single recurring theme. And I'm actually happy about that. I was afraid that this sonar tweak would create too many Uber escorts. That has not been my typical experience to date. On the other hand, when you do run into a situation where the above factors work against you, it takes much more work to gat away. In this sense, this mod is working better than I had hoped.

Coupled with what Ducimus said about "...alot going in the back door..." (I think he's spot on) and there is more of an unquantifiable X factor now in the game. Many aspects feel much more random than they did in previous versions.

EDIT: I wonder if they added a variable density to layers?

Yes, the mod is working well in the two experiences thus far. To put it in perspective. The first contact with elite DD was very tough and I was done for. I started a new career and found a convoy with numerous DD. The pucker factor started here. My first thought was if these were like the other DD in my first contact with this mod, my butt is toast.(you never know what you will get and that is a good thing) There were 5 total I believe. But, there were confused and not so hot. I did what I could to the convoy with my less than good torps. I found it cool that they all steamed off and about 10 minutes 3 DD steamed back to look for me. So, really, the DD are two fold. Keep you down with dropping DC or just hanging around the area keeping you down. The convoy slips away.


The layers can be moved around. Someone made a mod that would replicate were the layers should be during certain parts of the year(in real life). Anyway, currently the thermals seem to be at 150 feet all the time. This needs to be changed. I know if I scurry to 150 feet I will find my layer. Now, if it is modded to vary in depth then this now becomes another problem for the skipper....finding that thermal or maybe not finding it all, maybe the thermal is below your crush depth! Just another factor here that we can consider for making it realistic.

My experience with layers since patch 1.4 seem to be more inconsistent. It's not so much how deep they are (and I've had a couple instances where none were reported) but how strong they are. If the developers added a variable here it would be interesting. I wish we had a bathothermograph modelled as that would tell us the temperature variation.

I was testing sonar performance--basically doing nothing else--for many hours before 1.4. Now--after 1.4--I run the same tests and get more scattered and--it seems--more variable results.

Example: I used to get detected 90% of the time when I did X whle being hunted by escorts 2500 yards away. Now I can do X and only be detected ~75% of the time. It's rather coincidental that this change happened in the middle of my testing of sonar capabilities. If I hadn't been paying such close attention I may never have noticed that something changed.

Example 2: In a scenario I was just playing I was able to load torpedos under the layer (~150) within 2000 yards of an escort. Normally I wouldn't attempt that because they've always heard me. After I reloaded 1 torp, I went silent again and kept up from under the layer and was picked up in under 5 minutes. That is a change in Passive sonar and I haven't tweaked anything with passive sensors (yet).

Well, testing will tell but I think Ducimus is right. More changes happened during the 1.4 patch than meet the eye or made the 1.4 readme list.

But (yes I have one to) I can't be positive.

Their accuracy is such, that i find myself contemplating to run a test with stock DC's and their massive 40 meter max radius. Just to see how it plays out.

Duci said they did a lot of changes with the patch when he first looked at it. Hopefully it is changes for the better!

Acutally with files concerning the AI, they only made one physical change- the light factor in the sim.cfg. Other then that they assigned the players watch crew onto a new visual node in a seperate dat file.

THats in the files that we work with, Who knows what the devs did in the file *they* work with.

Roger that AVG and Ducimus! Thank heavens I only have this one mod to consider. All the modders who have multiple tweaks and changes to deal with have my sympathy and--from past experience--my empathy!

btw--After quite a bit of testing over the last few days I've decided to create a version of this mod for RFB. It should be out this evening. Just doing one more test run. When I release it I'll post it in the RFB thread and put a link on the 1st page of this thread. I don't want to create confusion by starting a new one...

Im thinking outloud for a minute. On the idea of getting more equipment damage (with less hull damage)

What do you think would happen in the following two scenarios f you took a depth charge and:

A.)
- lowered the max damage of it to 2/3rds or 1/2 its existing damage.
- increased the max radius of it to say... stock dimension of 40 meters

then took the same DC and

b.)
- applied a AP value equivlant to the subs AP value or less.

I won't guess :lol:. I'll leave this one for tater's insight!

Not sure, but I'd also like to see a reality check on what exactly got damaged during DC attacks.

I reaad about the radar stuff falling off the wall, periscopes leaking, etc. I don;t see as much mention of other systems really fubared or destroyed.

From DTB:

Nothing like a little light reading ;).

Since you used guns as an example (probably works the same for DC's): I think any direct hit from a 4" gun or better should be a hull breach if the shell is AP. Doing that would require lessening the chance of a hit though IMO. That's all I got to say about that (for now).

I think I've figured out that the cfg file for thermal layers contains misleading information. I suspect that setting the 1.0 to 5.0 does not mean a max of 20% sonar effectiveness. I'm starting to think that each whole number "can" represent that loss of 20% (X% of 20% ?). ie--if it's set to 5.0, escorts could actually lose 100% sonar effectiveness. Maybe someone could confirm this or tell me I'm nuts?

Go ahead! I've heard it before :yep:!

Bump!


Because I can:lol:

That's just your way of saying, "Get up and get to work!"

:yep:

Yes and no.....I want to have everyone take a good look at this mod because it looks like you and Tater are working together on this and other parts of the AI layout....DC, thermal layers, other sensors. Everyone should try this out. It is just a fun mod! I'm more of a cheerlead in this respect bolstering you on to success!

Besides, this can be loaded after every mod that is already enabled and it works just fine.