Cheers Von
I am spending a bit of time on the DD issue as I like it. Gone back to stock settings and only using Jscones random lost contact times and working from there with the new possibles and past info. The thermals I will add in later but at the end of the day, thermals are good luck to me and a better incentive to dive deep because there may just be one.
There is one thing for sure about the DD. Not everyone experiences the same thing so
I am in no way am claiming this will be great, realistic etc etc but it will be interesting.
At the moment I am setting thinner active sonar arcs but reducing detection times. The arcs etc will vary with random so each time I play, I will have to listen carefully when under attack to plan my escape. If I am careful and patient enough, I will note the arcs capability and see a route out. The whole Idea is to force me into having to analyze the situation on each attack. In real life, the cat and mouse game was a mental battle between sub and ship captains. In the current state of the game, once I know the rule I adapt my play every time. Now because this is a fixed number game, the knowing what the rules are, makes the hunt/hunted boring after a while
. With random, I want to force evaluation on the player so that he at least has to have a tactical think on each occasion
.
My passives are far more powerful in ranges (added 5000 to each and set sensitivity to 0.03 on everything) as long as the DD is at the right speed to pick them up. The speed factor of the DD is another exploit I may add to the random. I am not going to go crazy here but I do want the occasional fast moving DD to get suspicious. In real life, DD will stop and listen now and again but in the game, they do not do this so random can help. The careless player will get caught out.
At the moment they are working pretty well (no more just wading in to attack from the side) but I have not tested enough through different time periods so cannot guarantee error free version. The silent running really comes in useful though and despite the massive increase in Hydro ranges, silent running is turning me back to green from a red. Sometimes in later war I usually need to just set speed to 1 knot as it is all borderline orange and red till i do that.
As I usually play on 100%, this is now a good base from which random and probability deviations can cover the imperfections.
At least I know if I get a dumb convoy one day, it may be different the next time and that is what I want and work for. As long as I think there are humans controlling the DD and have to tactically think, I really do not care about getting a dumb one or elite one occasionally within the game.
As far as damage modeling is concerned
I would like to think that NYGM v2 is going to be a good base for myself personally but occasionally I like to play with the kids and mates as well so ideally would like two damage packs to choose from. For me, having alternative options is the best way to go with damage as it is yet another area that no mass population can agree upon.
In the meantime, the tool is now there to tweak any damage model to a more varied and random system than the fixed number system currently employed.
Jscones had made a fantastic Version of SH3 commander for me personally.