RSRD
 

What a crock...

I was birdogging the Slot for weeks. Got a message that the IJN had left Truk and was headed for Rabaul. Sweet. That was July 5 1942. I reloaded a save from June 26, 1942 expecting to get a jump on the TF. Wrong. Now I have spent almost a month searching... no ships ... just ASW.... I decided to reload and now I get no notice of the IJN leaving TRUK..... WTF.... RSRD is killing me....

Spending 3-4 days in real time for this is not fun. I had a radio message about IJN leaving TRuk. So i loaded a previous save to try to intercept that TF... guess what... it never appeared nor was it radioed...

Spending 4 days real time to get 1 torpedo setup is getting tedious...

If you are talking about the Solomons slot between Guadalcanal and Rabaul, very little happens before the US invasion on august 6. You would be better off setting up close to Rabaul or Truk and waiting.

Historically, the Palaus-Rabaul convoy line ran from the Palaus to a point where the equator intersects longitude 150 then south to Kavieng, but I doubt it was active in july 42.

I guess that TF spawning is governed by a %. The first time it spawned, but when you reloaded the game the numbers got different and it didn't. Or it could be bad intelligence.

Anyway, that reload stuff is what I would call cheating :arrgh!:.

Almost all of RSRD traffic spawns 100% of the time, maybe 95%. About the only random traffic with a percentage is some merchants, coastal traffic, etc. Any historical convoy or TF will always spawn, regardless of any message. Simply, the TF you were looking for came through.

If you get a flash message, something will be coming through, but often the coordinates and time aren't exact, RSRD will put you near giving you a chance. That would be historically correct. If you go to the exact coordinates, it may come by you, but usually within 30NM's of the location given. Early war with poor sonar and maybe without radar, easier to miss, so watch for mass game lag. Sometimes the smart thing to do is ambush it at a better location. If I'm told it's coming to Rabaul from Truk, instead of going to the location given, I'll sit outside of Rabaul up north where they will have to turn south to head to Rabaul.

Hard for me to explain, but flash messages usually generate after so many days on patrol, if you reload a save near to an upcoming flash, it may reset it, simply you may not get it, but the traffic will be coming through anyway. Actually, you get few flash messages concerning all the historical traffic.


Not really a bug and I've never figured the time a flash will reset if you reload. If you play through, they all come as designed. A reload won't throw any future messages out of sync, but may nil one if you reload near the upcoming flash date...hope that makes sense.


Many small to large battles take place near the Solomons throughout 42, Check this link for all the battles for the Solomons and Guadalcanal. May is hot, battle of Coral Sea, several CA TF, large Port Moresby invasion force, then it really starts up in July, hottest in November, although some large Jap TF come down in October for the Battle of Eastern Solomons and the big one, the Battle of Santa Cruz. Stay near Savo Nov 12-15 and nightly you can almost walk on Jap ships.

http://combinedfleet.com/battles/

Solomons 42
 

Going to try to cover approach to Rabaul then in July 42'. Big problem are the damn Betty's. I pretty much have to stay submerged during the day. Tough slogging...

Staying submerged all day? That was normal procedures when in Empire waters during the war. The aircover was brutal. If you can, set yourself up so that you are in a narrow enough passage so that daytime surface ops are minimal, and if you have to dive, there is still a good chance of making an intercept. The narrow area between New Britain, and New Ireland is good, The Slot in the Solomons is another after Aug, starts in 42, and the Makassar Strait between Borneo and the Celebes are a few good ones.

if you stay submerged all day, dont forget to stop TC every 30 min-1 hour to check for sonar contacts yourself. Your soundman will not call out any contacts until they are very close.

Is this a game engine bug or can it be corrected by editing a file?

It mostly depends on your sonarman's experience. The more you seem to pick up at greater distances, the more attuned they get at reporting sonar contacts at further and further distances.

The other thing to watch for in heavy traffic areas, is not to fall for the ruse of the lone merchant vessel sailing through. If you sink them too, the bigger groups tend to stay away. Same goes for the lone destroyers. And I like to take them on. They are a real challenge sometimes. Especially a down the throat attack. With practice, it can be done with one fish, but them the entire area is alerted to your presense.

Also in heavy traffic areas, you can be choosey about what convoys or TF's you go after. I tend to let the ones with smaller vessels pass. Getting 2 or 3 big tankers on the list of sunken ships gives better ratings after the patrol is complete.

:) I was away from this forum for about a year and what you said here was blasphemy... In game, I said and did the same thing and was 'shouted down'... What's changed ?? Time!! maybe, ...for common sense to sink in, literally. :)

When sinking a single merchant... 'pack your bags' and move about 100Nm further on - tends to mix things up a bit :) I see the C programming lurgy of not recognising linefeeds in editing has arrived on this forum/website... tut tut!!

Sinking a lone ship won't change the traffic patterns of RSRD, those are fixed. Ships come at designed times regardless of what you do.

You may have a lone ship and a large convoy both in your contact zone at the same time, happens a lot in Formosa. The lone ship must somehow spot you, your scope, etc..before the other group would be alerted, they'll still stay the same course, but possibly slow down and go into the small zig pattern. You sink the lone ship without being spotted, the other group shouldn't react. The danger is more when you have two different groups with escorts in your contact zone, the escorts of one pick you up, often the other convoys escorts will come join in the search.

If you see any course change, it was preprogrammed and you just happened to be where they took a new leg. If you attack a group, they may all go different directions and mill around for awhile, but they'll return to the base course and regroup.

Nothing changes the traffic patterns or spawn rates in the game, those are fixed regardless of what you do.

Really all you have to do is watch out for lag, I'll use about 2000 TC why underwater and if I see my PC start to work, I know something has entered the contact zone and will do a sonar search. Really a bug, your crew will function based on the equipment, but that doesn't effect you, you can hear on sonar to the end of the contact zone.

lag is not really a good indication for everyone, it does not always work with and when using a high (2000x) TC, the contact may already be out of the contact zone when you go to 1x.