[WIP] Increased ASW fun
 

I'm currently working on two mods (well, actually three, I guess). I'd just like to get some feedback and opinions on them.

#1 is providing aircraft on ASW patrol a true ASW loadout. Starting around mid '40 aircraft will (potentially) carry a mixed load of bombs and depth charges. This means if you lollygag about diving you'll not only have to worry about a line of bombs landing on your head but also string of depth charges going off below water, too.

#2 is creating the US Mark 9, fast-sinking depth charge, which came into service in 1943.

#3 is creating the British Mark X depth charge, which is a 3,000 pound depth charge (as compared to the standard 300 pound depth charges that we all know and love) which --Danke Gott!!-- came into service in December of 1944.

All three will be JSGME-installable, as well as GWX 2 compatible (which is not the same as GWX-approved).

Hopefully these will make things even more interesting.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:


Nice one, sir! :up: (both mod and joke)

Those mods will be excellent addons for SH3 reality!:yep:

:up:

How i know many subs get hurt by airplanes but in SH3 they are more like some boring mosqitos which only can do damage on your time compression and nothing more.
Masochist or not sounds good!

Aircraft carrying wasserbomben.:o
3000lb wasserbomben. :eek:

Yep, adding your name to list of modders that must die! :stare:

Actually, #s 2 and 3 (the Mark 9 and Mark X) are carried by destroyers and escorts, not aircraft. I'd hate to think of an airplane lining me up to drop a 3,000 pound 'gift' on my head! :huh:

Remember that the Mk X depth charge was considered something of a failure, since for all the added explosive tests showed that the kill radius was expanded from 25 feet to.....30 feet.

Also there was a great realistic depth charge mod a couple of years ago that reduced the kill radius from 25 meters to a more realistic 8 meters. It also had an optional six-foot-per-second sink rate that you could change out for late-war use, but the maker at that time couldn't make it upgrade automatically. Hopefully you can.

Didn't I read that the GWX boys gave all aircraft meant for ASW bombs becuase a bug in the game causes planes to not drop depth charges?

Do not understand...... air depth charge in the sh3 they have one big
bugs. they work precisely in order that bombs. make fire only in 5
measure depth!! the difference from the bombs in the sh3 are that the
planes him they only throw when the U-boot they is Submerged:damn: :damn: :damn:

Sounds great, this one is a definite install IMO :up: Thank you Herr Kaleun!

P_Funk, I'd read that, too. But I've tested this for more than 20 hours in different configurations and scenarios, and I've yet to encounter a situation where the depth charges weren't dropped.

xristoskaiti, I've modded both the bombs and the depth charges. Bombs now explode on contact with the water or about a meter below. The depth charges are set to go off between 15 and 20 meters . . . which they now reliably do.

SS, do you have a reference for that, that I can access? I've tried looking up historical info on that (like I have for all three) to get accurate info on size, date of service, which ships carried it, etc, but so far I've only found sketchy info. Any help on historical references and information will be appreciated!

you have made air depth charge for the 20 meters ??:rock: you can also for
bigger depth??:hmm:

you work with the files of bombs.sim sh4 ???they is truth if you put the
bombs.sim in sh3 of library air DepthCharge they have fire in the
40-45 m ............ I see very well when they are sunk
with exterior kamera.:rock: :rock: :rock:

No, I'm using the SHIII/GWX bombs.sim file. I can set the depth to whatever I wish (even 200 - 300 meters). However, based upon my research so far it appears that air-dropped depth charges, like the US Mark 17, were set for shallow depth detonation. Unfortunately :damn: :nope: the articles I've read don't mention just what depth was considered 'shallow'. For now I've set them for 20 meters, but I'm considering setting them instead to 15 +/- 5 meters depth. If anyone could point me to a reference article that gives more specifics I'd appreciate it.

I think I'm going to skip having the ASW loadout appear in mid '40 and just go with it from the start, mostly due to the hassle and extreme extra work modifying the campaign files to accommodate the aircraft loadouts changing as time passes.

For the moment I'm busy creating the ASW loadouts on a per-plane basis, and double-checking the ordnance weight allowances per aircraft to remain 'real'. For instance, the museum file for the Sunderland states it can carry up to 1,000 Kg of dropable munitions. That works out to be four air-dropped depth charges (roughly 150Kg apiece) and four 100Kg bombs. I'm checking each aircraft the same way so that they carry no more than their maximum carrying capacity.

Then I have to modify the campaign files so that the appropriate spawned and scripted aircraft have the ASW loadout as their loadouts. :doh:

I hope to have the aircraft ASW mod released fairly soon. --fingers crossed--

Unfortunately no; it's one of those anecdotal things you read and then remember years later. I can't even check my references - they're all in storage.
The closest I can come right now is the problem of having to shoot them from torpedo tubes, which means that corvettes won't have them.
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WAMBR_ASW.htm

Wiki quotes Campbell's Naval Weapons of World War Two as saying that they were "seldom used", but since my Campbell is one of those books "in storage" right now I can't even verify that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_charge

continue your work!!:rock:

Hi!

Yes, you did; however, the GWX technomages subsequently fixed that problem, and so GWX aircraft use depth charges.

Pablo

Ok, if anyone wants to just take this for a test drive :D I've uploaded a small file. Just unzip and enable as usual using JSGME, placing the main folder in the MODS directory.

Just start up SHIII/GWX2 then select single mission and load the mission named air (so sue me for lack of originality :p ). You'll be driving an IXB on the surface, with a Sunderland coming up astern around eight clicks behind you.

And you'll see why it really isn't a good idea to take your time diving! :arrgh!:

Play with it a little bit if you don't mind. I'd like your opinions on the loadout, its power and effectivity, and the different ways the aircraft drops its load depending on your depth and speed. Meanwhile I'll be off modding all the appropriate aircraft for their new ASW loadouts, and then --shudders-- heading off into the campaign files.

Have fun!

http://files.filefront.com/AvH+Aircr.../fileinfo.html

download now!!:rock:

Update
 

After more research and some feedback I've decided to scrap modding the British Mark X depth charge. It doesn't seem to have seen much service, nor did it appear to have any real impact on ASW performance.

I've identified the appropriate aircraft (supplied by GWX) that (seem to, anyway) were likely to have been used for ASW patrols. I'm in the process of updating their files for ASW loadouts, but I'm running into a little snag.

That snag is that I'm trying to keep things historically accurate while also playable. I can find some information on British air-dropped depth charges (Thanks Sailor Steve!) but I'm coming up dry on information on American ones.

The information I'm looking for on both the British and American versions are: date entered service, model #s, weight of bomb/depth charge, weight of explosive, sink rates and depth settings. I'm also trying to find references to the actual loadouts various aircraft ASW patrols carried. For instance, would it be historically accurate to have a Catalina carry 8 air bombs and 4 100Kg bombs?

If anyone has any input, or can point me in directions for research I'd be deeply appreciative.

Also, just to get an idea . . . how historically accurate do the Kaleuns here wish this to be? For example, I can easily set the detonation depth of the air depth charges to, say, 25 meters, which would definitely make crash-diving something almost necessary. But the historical detonation depths (that I've found so far, anyway) for the typical British air-dropped depth charges are only 7.6 meters. Not exactly 'threatening' . . . or new, for that matter, as the GWX settings are either 5 meters or 10 meters detonation depth.

Danke!