where do all these aircraft come from???

[jamesdeanoo7]

I am new to this game but love it. The only thing I cant stand is that as soon as I surface day or night...in any weather...anywhere on the map a flight of aircraft is instantly attacking me. If I have trained radar operators why dont I get notice of their approach???. Now call me mr picky but that is so unrealistic to meet aircraft constantly...is there anyway I can alter a config file value that will make them less frequent or only one. A squadron of sunderlands attacking me in a hurricane mid atlantic is stupid.

[UnterseeBoogeyMan]

it depends on where you are patroling,what year you are in and what technology you have on your boat. Historically,from '42 on,the Allies were constantly attacking them. Even in '39-40, if you are close enough to the coast, you get their undivided attention. Allies started using radar on the Destroyers in '41 (thats how HMS Vanoc got Shepke), thats about when the planes got them (maybe later,I'm going from memory), so you will see them in bad weather.

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD, jamesdeanoo7!

First, are you playing the stock game? That has been a noted problem for almost four years now, and there have been many mods which attempted to fix it. NYMG and GWX both take measures to reduce the number of planes while increasing their individual deadliness. In real life patrol bombers usually attacked in groups of one, and they got a lot more u-boats than u-boats got planes.

I use GWX myself, and never have the problem of too many planes. Except of course that one is almost always too many.

[jamesdeanoo7]

Hi, Thanks for the quick response. It doesnt seem to matter where I am... what I was really wanting to know is if I can alter this using a different value in a config file. Thanks Jim.

[Torplexed]

A lot depends on 'when' you're am. If you have a career starting in 1939 or 40 enemy aircraft are a relatively rare sight. When you hit 1943 or so they seem to be everywhere. Almost half the U-Boats sunk in combat were sunk by aircraft so they do become a fact of life.

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by Otto Heinzmeir

Go into Ubisoft\SilentHunterIII\data\cfg folder

Open airstrike.cfg in notepad after backing it up to a separate location in case you need to restore it.

You will see some entries like this:

...
Default Air Strike Probability=55

55? Isn't the stock value 10? And stock has too many attacks.

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by Otto Heinzmeir

Yes the default value in stock is 10. I just cut and paste from the modded game I was playing. Its possible to have different outcomes using the same probability value in different modded games. Other factors are the locations and quantity of airbases in the campaign files.

The default probability upon player detection is 50. Could also lower that figure. Your chances of air attack increase once an enemy ship detects you. Sending in status reports will also increase the likely hood of both allied air support and enemy air attack, provided your in range of airbases.

Part of the trouble with the aircraft in the stock game is the 8k environment. They tend to be on top of you before you can dive.

Didn't we talk about this in another thread? I have been experimenting with a couple of tweaks to the sub's visual detection parametrers, and to the default airstrike probability.

I added the following lines to SH3 Commander's Static settings.cfg file:
[data\Cfg\Sensors.cfg]
SensorParameters|Visual range factor=0.4 ;was 0.5
SensorParameters|Visual enemy speed=0.3 ;[>0.0] ;was 0.2
SensorParameters|Visual uses crew efficiency=true ;was false

I now have a more reasonable rate of detection and evasion of air attacks without overly increasing my sightings of ships, and fatigued crews are less effective than fresh ones.

However, when I changed the Default Air Strike Probability from 10 to 7, there was no appreciable difference to frequency of aircraft sightings. I wonder if the factor is additive rather than multiplicative. My next attempt will be to reduce the skill-based modifiers, and see if that solves the frequency of appearance issue.

[Pepe le Moko]

I am reading Iron Coffins and really it seems they are attacked by planes constantly while crossing the Bay of Biscay, so it is probably not that far from the truth. And by constantly I mean really all the time, they crash dive, surface half an hour later to get attacked by planes over and over again.

[jamesdeanoo7]

Thanks I will experiment but like I said I understand air cover became good but right now I get instantly attacked without warning in the middle of the Atlantic by squadrons of Liberators or Sunderlands....never happened that way in the war. My father worked on Sunderlands and it was not uncommen to find pilots who never saw a sub.

[Jimbuna]

Here are the parameters from GWX3.0 FYI

Maximum Aircraft Range=2000 ;[>0] in kilometers
Poor Airbase Modifier=0.2 ;[>0] Modifier for poor airbase (carrier) rating
Novice Airbase Modifier=0.6 ;[>0] Modifier for novice airbase (carrier) rating
Competent Airbase Modifier=1.4 ;[>0] Modifier for competent airbase (carrier) rating
Veteran Airbase Modifier=2.4 ;[>0] Modifier for veteran airbase (carrier) rating
Elite Airbase Modifier=3.0 ;[>0] Modifier for elite airbase (carrier) rating
Night Modifier=0.2 ;[>0] Modifier on strike probability at night
Default Air Strike Probability=35 ;[>0] Default probability to send an airstrike from a airbase (carrier)
Enemy Air Strike Probability Increase on Radio Messages Sent=25 ;[>0] Increase over the default probability on a radio message sent
Friendly Air Strike Probability Increase on Contact Report Sent=50 ;[>0] Increase over the default probability on a contact message sent
Enemy Air Strike Probability Increase on Player Detection=40 ;[>0] Increase over the default probability on player detection
Atenuation Factor=10 ;[>0] decrease from an increased probability to default one on each air session
Logic Steps Between Air Sessions=20

Better still, why not give GWX3.0 a try

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by jamesdeanoo7

Thanks I will experiment but like I said I understand air cover became good but right now I get instantly attacked without warning in the middle of the Atlantic by squadrons of Liberators or Sunderlands....never happened that way in the war. My father worked on Sunderlands and it was not uncommen to find pilots who never saw a sub.

You're right. A plane with an operational range of 2,200 miles like the B-24 Liberator couldn't possibly make it out to the middle of the Atlantic.

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Here are the parameters from GWX3.0 FYI...
Better still, why not give GWX3.0 a try

Most of those parameter changes seem to me to significantly increase the chance of a daytime airstrike, if all the factors (other than the range and logic steps) are multiplicative.

Can anyone give an explanation of how the factors interact?

I'll be trying GWX 3.0 when
1) I get a better graphics card, and
2) I have finished the war using my current setup.

[jamesdeanoo7]

I found by altering the range it cut the amount of attacks down to something more reasonable. Of course a liberator had the range but they didnt fly in packs of six...and would not have unlimited depth charges...and couldnt fall upon a sub without warning as soon as it surfaces every single time lol

[RoaldLarsen]

Originally Posted by Otto Heinzmeir

How the game calculates probability of airstrike is shown in a table at the top of the airstrike.cfg in section 3.2 it shows what order it applies the multipliers.

Of course I have read that.

It seems to imply that all factors are multiplicative, but doesn't actually say so. I was hoping that somebody who has actually done some testing or modding in this area could confirm if they are all multiplicative, or whether some are additive, etc.

It has been stated ITT that GWX has fewer airstrikes than stock, yet the factors posted by Jimbuna would seem to create more airstrikes if all the factors are multiplicative.

It would be nice if the GWX or NYGM modders could share their insights into the way the game engine uses the factors. I'm hoping to avoid having to reinvent the wheel here.

[Oneshot/Onekill]

To answer your original question..I believe they come from airbases. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: