So far ive been doing 1942, improved convies with crew rating 3's.
Detection, im guessing, isn't a problem. They can most certainly detect me if:
a.) I choose to pilot the boat outside the parmaters i have set. (IE be at slow and silent within 1K meters = red meter. at 1 or 2 knotts i get a green meter.)
or
b.) I happen to get in their way. I had a convoy zig onto my track and next thing i know im dead center of an oncoming convoy. The front guartd went by me at first (me being at slient with all engines stopped trying to make like a big hole in the water), once he passed me i thought i was fine, when he started zigged as part of his search pattern after he passed me all of a sudden im getting pinged just like that.
The most disappointing thing is the AI's behavior despite their increased chance to detect me. Watching them, its almost as if each one is assigned a different sector of the convoy, and each escort sticks to its sector, no matter what. Perhaps this is intenitonal in 1942? By 1943 i expect that to stop. Which is when im going to run my next test.
Another thing ive noticed is that in campign, the escorts seem to behavre more defensivly. In otherwords, unless you get right next to them, they only seem to respond as if to beat you off the convoy with a stick. Once they chase you off, they resume their station of defensive guard.
On the other hand they behave VERY aggreissivly in the U505 mission, and herein lies a point. IN the U505 mission your attacking a hunter/killer group, not a defensive convoy guard. The former is out to kill YOU to begin with, the latter is only there to keep the convoy going. Not to kill you. What im saying there is im begining to think theres a fundamental difference in the Escort AI, depending on the paramters of the situation. Im also thinking theres a fundamental difference betwen campign and singlemission AI.
What i think we need here is a single convoy mission set up exactly what youd find in campign to include your appraoch, and see if the AI behaves any different then in campign, at a given year.
Im going to replace all my crew ratings with 4 and try 1942 again and see if i notice any difference in behavior, and then again in 43.
Pin point drops we can fix, deaf DD's we can fix, but those are only part of the problems, the big problem could be the AI itself. Campagin just seems inheirantly act different and its kidna disappointing.
If it turns out the AI itself is the last key in the puzzle, i dunno if if that can be modded or not. If it is part of the puzzle and if it can't be moded, i think im going to give up, start a career in 1939 with an IXB with the fixes i have in pace, and play it out to 45 and sink an ungodly amount of tonnage out of spite. Then unistall the game and play soemthing else for awhile.
