Edit: Ignore the poll... guess what, I found an even better option! I'm doing this now, and you can't stop me!
Only the issue with the AI can...
We need some help with the air-platform AI.
Ok guys, based on the information that we have, the DIFAR is not simply a less sensitive and outdated version of the VLAD. In fact, the buoys are generally used for different purposed.
The sonar array on the VLAD buoy is supposedly designed to work most effectively in deep water, taking full advantage of the acoustic properties of the open ocean. These buoys are not designed to work and do not function effectively in shallow water.
For shallow water operations, the DIFAR buoy is still the prefered buoy and actually works better than the VLAD in littoral warfare.
So, we have an option about how we can bring the DIFAR back into the game, and simultaneously balance the air-vs-submarine game a bit further in the next version of our mod. However, we cannot directly simulate this in the game, nor can we change the way the interface handles the buoys. All we can do is alter the operating parameters of the sensors on the buoys.
This is what I would do:
I would remove the sensor entirely from the VLAD Shallow buoy, meaning that you could only use the VLAD Deep buoy effectively. This means, in game terms, for shallow water operations you could only use the DIFAR Shallow buoy. We would also increase the sensitivity of the DIFAR to make them signficantly more useful, close to the VLAD.
Cheers,
David