[REQ] Return to Base message when out of ammo

[tomoose]

Situation (using TMO2 and RSRD)
Having spent a good patrol bouncing around various locations in response to the various assignments sent by radio I have a few gray stars on the map and am now out of torpedoes and low on fuel. I get yet another assignment (i.e. a yellow star on the map) to go somewhere else. I obviously can't do much if I have no torps, I have to go to a Base.

Request
Is there some way to 'prompt' the game to send a "Return to Base" message once I am out of torpedoes. In other words, is it possible to have a mod that reads the torpedo status and if it's zero then the next message will be "Return to Base".
i.e. (in old programmer speech)
IF
Torpedo Count = 0
THEN
Send message = "Well Done. Return to Base."

I'm not suggesting actual programming I'm just wondering if one or more of the game files could be adjusted to accomplish this. I think it would make it a touch more realistic given that we can't actually send a customized message at the very least if we send any message once the torpedoes are at zero then it should prompt a 'return to base' reply.

You get the idea.
thanks.

[Fish40]

Would certainly love to see this. I'm in a similar situation (1 torpedo), and 28k tons later, and after sending a status report I get sent somewhere else. Dosen't make sense too me.

[Hylander_1314]

Not sure what gives with RSRD, but TMO without it will send you a message to either return to base, or you can patrol another area of yor choosing. Being out of or very low on torpedoes, makes it a no brainer of course.

[WH4K]

You can also stop at a friendly base that isn't your home port (marked by the anchor-in-a-box symbol) for an instantaneous fill-up on fuel and ammo.

It's not very realistic (the loading literally takes 0 time), but it's a way to extend your patrol.

However, this is problematic early in the war, as there are few bases. Later on, there are tons of places to stop & top up, ever closer to Japan. It sure beats going all the way back to Pearl or southern Australia.

[TorpX]

Yes, the patrol orders (when you have few or no torps) are silly.
Why not just ignore them? When I get silly or impractical orders, I considered that they were "garbled in transmition".

[tomoose]

I understand the previous responses but perhaps I didn't make my point clear.

Once you are out of torpedoes then you obviously have a couple of options;
- finish the patrol and head for home, or
- head to the nearest friendly base and reload/refit

In either case, in real life, you would radio in and let HQ know your intentions. You can't do that in the game therefore it would be nice IF your torpedoes are at zero that the next message you send would automatically get a reply such as:
"Msg rcvd. At your discretion end patrol and RTB or proceed to nearest base for reload/refuel."

The game currently has a message along those lines but I do not believe that it is triggered by being out of ammo or low on fuel but rather it seems to be based on completing a lot of patrols (whether you have ammo left or not). This is a good attempt but makes no sense if you've run out of torps after 2 patrols but this message won't pop up untily you've completed 8 patrols!!! If you are out of torpedoes (and for the sake of argument let's say you've burned up most of your fuel) after just ONE patrol and you send a message I guarantee you'll get "Proceed to posn XYZ and conduct anti-shipping operations.....blah, blah". There's no immersive sense that Base has any inkling of your actual status.

I'll shut up now, LOL.

[TorpX]

OK, If I read your post right, you're saying that you get radio messages that make little sense and do not take into account fuel/ weapons/ etc., and you would like there to be some semblance of logic to them.

I agree this would be nice, but I'm guessing anything more than a superficial change here is unlikely (maybe someone with modding skills can comment here). I didn't realize that the radio messages were that messed up. I usually don't send any status reports back, unless I have a good supply of fuel and torps left.

[24 Dupont]

I know this is an old post, but when I run out of fish and do not have the time or the "energy" to rearm, I simply go to my radioman and have him send in a patrol report. When he says "Message sent" go to your "Messages" screen ('M' key) and you will see at the bottom a "Status Report". Double click it and it will show your current tonnage and ships sunk and your fish count, which will be zero. Accelerate the time and you will soon receive a message from high command telling you to return to base!!

Originally Posted by tomoose

I understand the previous responses but perhaps I didn't make my point clear.

Once you are out of torpedoes then you obviously have a couple of options;
- finish the patrol and head for home, or
- head to the nearest friendly base and reload/refit

In either case, in real life, you would radio in and let HQ know your intentions. You can't do that in the game therefore it would be nice IF your torpedoes are at zero that the next message you send would automatically get a reply such as:
"Msg rcvd. At your discretion end patrol and RTB or proceed to nearest base for reload/refuel."

The game currently has a message along those lines but I do not believe that it is triggered by being out of ammo or low on fuel but rather it seems to be based on completing a lot of patrols (whether you have ammo left or not). This is a good attempt but makes no sense if you've run out of torps after 2 patrols but this message won't pop up untily you've completed 8 patrols!!! If you are out of torpedoes (and for the sake of argument let's say you've burned up most of your fuel) after just ONE patrol and you send a message I guarantee you'll get "Proceed to posn XYZ and conduct anti-shipping operations.....blah, blah". There's no immersive sense that Base has any inkling of your actual status.

I'll shut up now, LOL.

I know this is old and may have already been answered somewhere else, but I'll drop a few lines with my discoveries about this issue.

When you send a radio message (either a contact report or situation report) the file involved is Data\Campaigns\Campaign\DynamicMiss.cfg. In this file you will see that each section points to a mission and a number of parameters that will determine if that mission is selectable when you send the message.

[Section 21]
FileName=data/Campaigns/Campaign/PatrolObjectives/Guard Gilberts Islands 01/Guard Gilberts Islands 01.mis
StartDate=19431020
EndDate=19431123
GameModes=Career
InclusionProbability=100
MinimumDifficultyRating=0
MinimumPlayerRating=-3
EntryFocalPointLong=20709130.000000
EntryFocalPointLat=173945.000000
MaximumDistanceFromStartPoint=1500
ExclusiveLayer=Yes
ExclusiveLayerID=101
EvaluationReason=StatusReport
AllMatch=PrimaryObjCompleted
PartialMatch=
PartialMatchingMinimumPercentage=
MinimumFuelPercentage=35
MinimumAmmoPercentage=25

The last two fields list the minimum requirements of fuel and torpedoes left to be assigned the mission. In that example, if you have more than 25% of your torpedoes left and 35% of fuel, you could be assigned the mission (as long as you fulfill the rest of parameters).

Hope this helps someone.

AFAIK the game has no way to monitor or track your ammo or torpedos and its up to you as capt to make those calls when to return to refit.

i dont believe your orders are time critical and if you need to refit then you do that then report to your assigned area.

if it makes you feel better then go refit before reporting in then you can go to the assigned area as soon as it is given to you.

i could be wrong but i dont think there is anything in the game you could build on that would allow it to decide when to tell you to go re-arm