Worldwide no-fly zone?

[Harald_Lange]

I have GWX installed, with a handful of sound and realism mods. I'm playing February 1941. Other than the planes in port, I've not once seen any planes. At all.

I know it sounds daft, but I actually would like to see some enemy planes. Plenty of ships, but no death from above. Is it due to the early stage of the war? I'm getting radio messages about air raids all the time, so I'd expect to see a few at least.



(btw, the fix french mod was an oversight, I am turning it off next time I'm in port.)

[Raticon]

If you are running at high TC, 256 or higher, no enemy planes will spawn near you and those allready in the air will "jump past" you becuase of their high speed and the high TC.

Also, ealy in the war the allies planes didn't have good range or detection, so you'll mainly encounter them close (very close!) to the british coast. merchants and escorts detecting you will sometimes call for their buddies in the RAF to come and ruin your day.

To experiment, i suggest you cruise towards the british coast, save the game and run in a pattern close to the british coast first at 256 or 512 TC, write down anything you see (or don't see!) and then repeat the same pattern in a TC of 64 or slower. Naturally, weather has to be fine and preferably daytime.

Report your findings, as i have "succeeded" in getting attacked by enemy planes when playing at low TC near britain, but had the "misfortune" of evading them while in the same waters running at higher TC. We could evaluate our findings together as my results mainly are Sep 1939 to January 1941 when i shifted from coastal britain to the high seas due to getting the VIIC.

I consider this a bug, or a consequence of game mechanics working as they do. Perhaps a mod exists to fix it?

[u crank]

Feb. 1941 air cover was still limited. Go to f5 map view and look at pull down map. In 1941 areas around England, Gibraltar and Iceland had some air patrols but it's sparse. In my current patrol I've sailed from Lorient to Gibraltar area and have seen only one small float plane.

But don't worry, it will only get worse. By 1943 there are planes every where. They even bomb you in port!

Good hunting Harald and enjoy the clear skies while you can.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by u crank

By 1943 there are planes every where. They even bomb you in port!

Above us hell

[Captain Nemo]

High TC and spawning of aircraft was explained in a post by Letum back in 2006, he wrote:

"Aircraft spawn at high TC, the problem is that they miss the player. Here's the maths:

Units (Planes, ships, etc.) in the 3d world around the players boat have their positions calculated in real time. This does not change with TC settings.

Units Outside of the 3d world (about 32km away from your boat) units do not have their positions calculated in real time to save on CPU. It would be impossible to calculate the position of every single convoy, destroyer and plane constantly.

Insted the game works from the 2d map that mod makers will be familiar with. The game only updates a units position every "time step". If the unit's position falls within the 3d world round the u-boat the game will begin to calculate it in real time.

If it was possible to see a unit outside the 3d world you would see it move in jumps every time step. When you speed up TC these time steps do not speed up. This mean that the jumps these units make gets bigger.

If the time step happens every second, a aeroplane is moving at 1m per second will jump 1m every time step at 1xTC. At 2xTC it will jump 2m per time step. At x1024 TC it will jump 1024m. (numbers not accurate - I don't know how oftern the time steps are!)

The faster the unit's speed: The bigger the jumps are.
The higher the TC: the bigger the jumps are.

For a fast unit like a aeroplane the jumps get very big at high TC and the aeroplane can jump right past the 32km radius round the player's boat. Alto the planes path went right past the U-Boat, the computer never calculated it's position to be near the u-boat so the plane never got placed in the 3d world.

The computer and the player have no idea that a plane just passed them".

Nemo

[Herr-Berbunch]

Go for a slow sail around Iceland, even in '41 they will come - and that's where I've seen most of my enemy aircraft. But, I think you're a fool for wanting such a death.

[Obltn Strand]

Originally Posted by Harald_Lange

I have GWX installed, with a handful of sound and realism mods. I'm playing February 1941. Other than the planes in port, I've not once seen any planes. At all.

Change to NYGM and you REALLY want to avoid british coast. Even during early war.