Satellite communications mod for LwAmi

[FERdeBOER]

Hello all!

After a long time thinking on it, I've created a small mod of a "Satellite of communications" for both LwAmi v3.08 and Sakura v1.02 mods.
It has 2 adds to the game:
-a Satellite of communications
-a landbased radio

With this I pretend to simulate somehow a way to communicate with the Head Quarters (COMSUBLANT/PAC North Fleet...) in order to send/receive data, new mission orders, intelligence...
Also to simulate land transmissions I've made a landbased radio also detectable from ESM at short range.

The COMSAT and the radio are detectable via ESM, so, In my opinion is more or less realistic as you have to be at periscope depth if You want to stablish contact with it; and with the radio antenna up to receive the messages.

Is a work for mission designers to prepare the way the player must/can interact with the satellite, but I think is better than the "nothing" we had untill now.
I've created a very simple mission test (called COMSAT test) to show how it can be used.

Here are two screenshots:

This is the satellite itself (taken the one already in the game). As You can see its flying at 90.000 feet. I've set a maximun alt of 100.000 ft and think is enought)


These one is how it looks when you detect it.
In my tests you can detect the satellite form about 200 nm.

I accept all kinds of oppinions (well... not all... :hmm


You can download it from Commanders Academy forum (thanks to OneShot) http://www.commanders-academy.com/forum/showthread.php?p=21229#post21229
or from (temporary links, I will not upload again when outdated unless someone asks to):
http://www.badongo.com/file/7649521
It's 1,16MB
The file has two versions: one for LwAmi only and other for Sakura mod (that needs LwAmi activated).

If someone else (Bill? ) want to host it, I would apreciate a lot.

Hope You like it

[Molon Labe]

Doctrine: If [controlable sub] DETECT [COMSAT] with [ESM], Then Trigger Fired.

I see two significant implications of this for mission design. We now have a fairly "good" means of simulating data transmission FROM the platform besides link information. It's also a far more elegant way of providing a "go-code" trigger (as opposed to, for example, placing an aircraft orbiting an FFG that the FFG can shoot down at will to activate the trigger). The downside is going to be ESM autocrew...

[FERdeBOER]

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

Doctrine: If [controlable sub] DETECT [COMSAT] with [ESM], Then Trigger Fired.

That's precisely what I thought for mission designing.
You can see some recommendations I make on the mission designers readme included in de zip

Originally Posted by Molon Labe

The downside is going to be ESM autocrew...

:hmm: I didn't notice this point, as I'm mainly sub driver... maybe we can find a solution... perhaps creating the satellite just when is needed and not before...

[Molon Labe]

Well with the general "go-code" application the idea is for the player to decide when it is needed. So it looks like for the time being it's mainly a solution for subs. That's the way workarounds go sometimes...

[Blacklight]

I have to give my two bits ! This is definitely an AWESOME idea and when perfected will offer a lot of really interesting possibilities in future mission designs !

How cool would it be to set up a spy satelite over a certain area that can detect certain targets and relay them to the players or other ships ?

Another cool idea would be to model a Predator or some other UAV's to deploy or have deployed over the area to send info to the platforms in the area. These things would be small and pretty hard to shoot down.

[Cyklop]

Originally Posted by FERdeBOER

..After a long time thinking on it, I've created a small mod of a "Satellite of communications" for mod LwAmi v3.08...

I appreciate your effort and acknowledge that one thing that DW is missing is a better ESM. At present it's only possible to detect radar emissions and no comms.

However I don't see what we can gain by having a satellite model at 90 kfeet? The existence of military satcom is a fact and nobody needs to detect them via ESM.

My wish is for DW to include a simulation of satcom transmission from surface units (including submarines at comms depth) - every time a player sends a chat message or forwards a track to the tactical data link network, ESM receivers should be able to pick it up (within an appropriately limited distance).

[FERdeBOER]

Originally Posted by Cyklop

However I don't see what we can gain by having a satellite model at 90 kfeet? The existence of military satcom is a fact and nobody needs to detect them via ESM.

My wish is for DW to include a simulation of satcom transmission from surface units (including submarines at comms depth) - every time a player sends a chat message or forwards a track to the tactical data link network, ESM receivers should be able to pick it up (within an appropriately limited distance).

Yes, I wish that too... but there isn't, I can't do that and don't know if anybody can.

I already said is not perfect

I put the sat at 90k feet for setting an altitude where it doesn't disturb other possible air platforms.

Is detectable via ESM because is the only way I figure out about how we could simulate communications with a satellite.
Is job for mission designer to make the satellite "usefull" for the player.
If the mission designer set the satellite as neutral, the AI will not attack it, so is not a problem if it can or not detect it.
So think this COMSAT as a radio signal, not as a radar->ESM contact. That's how I thought it to be.
In SC, with "user action" doctrine, this could be simulated simply raising the radio antenna, but the option is not more in DW...

As a mission designer I allways missed to have a way to transmit what I found. i.e: if I think it gives more realism if you, after slipping into a port and take photos, have to transmitt this info (from a save point, of course) for me is more realistic (despite having to do this via ESM) than any other possibility avaiable on vanilla game.

You give me an idea... maybe we can model a bunch of objects that transmit "radio" signals... :hmm: I mean, a building that emmits a radio comm and the task of the player is to intercept it... what the rest think about that?

Originally Posted by Blacklight

Another cool idea would be to model a Predator or some other UAV's to deploy or have deployed over the area to send info to the platforms in the area. These things would be small and pretty hard to shoot down.

The Predator UAV allready exists in the game

A little question, as English is not my mothertounge (You have probably noticed it ), is COMSAT or SATCOM??

[Cyklop]

Originally Posted by FERdeBOER

...A little question ... is COMSAT or SATCOM?? ...

Satellite communications is abbreviated to SATCOM.
I suppose a communications satellite could be a COMSAT then :p

I still don't understand why you would like to have a satellite in the sky modelled as on object in DW. To shoot it down maybe?
Is it possible to simulate space-launched anti-satellite missiles in DW? Or high-power laser beams?

I have probably focused on multiplayer too much to be able to understand single player missions requirements

[FERdeBOER]

Originally Posted by Cyklop

I still don't understand why you would like to have a satellite in the sky modelled as on object in DW. To shoot it down maybe?
Is it possible to simulate space-launched anti-satellite missiles in DW? Or high-power laser beams?

I have probably focused on multiplayer too much to be able to understand single player missions requirements

Yes, it's mainly thought for singleplayer and specifically for submarine missions, as I'm bad on the other platforms and don't have the knowledge of certain aspects; as Molon Labe said, the ones with auto-ESM...

And no, is not thought for shooting at it. :rotfl:
It's on the simulator because is the only way I found to give a little more realism (IMO having to go to preriscope depth, raise the masts (both of them because you need the radio to receive messages) and search for the satellite signal as the submarines must do to contact the satellite is a bit more reallistic and also makes a bit easier to fire some triggers.
I pretend it to be just another neutral object for the AI so it can be only "usable" for the human player.

Don't think on the COMSAT (if nobody oposes I will continue to call that) signal as a radar one, but radio.

And of course I will be very glad if Bill hosts it on his page

[Bubblehead Nuke]

Originally Posted by FERdeBOER

You give me an idea... maybe we can model a bunch of objects that transmit "radio" signals... :hmm: I mean, a building that emmits a radio comm and the task of the player is to intercept it... what the rest think about that?

Actually, this is an EXCELLENT idea. I have wondered if it would be possible to do this and I guess you found a way to do it. Can you create beuilding that transmit on diffrent frequencies? More importantly, can DW be set up to be triggered by these different frequencies?? Can they be set to be range limited so you have to be fairly close to actually receive the signal?

It would add the 'SIGINT' role to things that a mission designer could use.

Imagine: Sneak up to a coastline, troll for a building that has a random transmit time. You have to evade routine partols, avoid counterdetection. Once the SIGINT is accomplished they have to egress the area and report what they found.

Use it in the Redstorm type campaign. You are on routine SIGINT ops and intercept a war warning being sent out to the other guys fleet... You leave the area, report, and then move on to the next stage of the game.

Oh the ideas I see this being used for. You can do things OTHER than the typical 'blow them out of the water' type scenarios.

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead Nuke

Actually, this is an EXCELLENT idea. I have wondered if it would be possible to do this and I guess you found a way to do it. Can you create beuilding that transmit on diffrent frequencies? More importantly, can DW be set up to be triggered by these different frequencies?? Can they be set to be range limited so you have to be fairly close to actually receive the signal?

It would add the 'SIGINT' role to things that a mission designer could use.

Imagine: Sneak up to a coastline, troll for a building that has a random transmit time. You have to evade routine partols, avoid counterdetection. Once the SIGINT is accomplished they have to egress the area and report what they found.

Use it in the Redstorm type campaign. You are on routine SIGINT ops and intercept a war warning being sent out to the other guys fleet... You leave the area, report, and then move on to the next stage of the game.

Oh the ideas I see this being used for. You can do things OTHER than the typical 'blow them out of the water' type scenarios.

I think you can do that. Every different "frequency" would require a different "sensor" attached to the platform (building), and would have to be listed in the name of the "sensor" for it to be viewable to the player at the ESM station. Random transmit time would have to be accomplished by a series of spawn triggers inside of nested dynamic groups, but it can be done.

[Dr.Sid]

Way to complicated .. anyway if building had radar (simple) it could go active and passive based on other events (time too). You would just have to 'detect building by ESM'. If you want to have 'some traffic' and 'some important traffic', the easiest way would be to have 2 buildings near each other. One with 'normal traffic', the other silent, except for specific time.

[BobbyZero]

@ FERdeBOER

Is it possible for you to send me this mod to my mail, phast2000@yahoo.com? I wouldn't bother you with that, but the problem is that Megaupload reports that all their slots for my country (Croatia) are currently in use. And it's been like that whenever I tried to download something from Megaupload

And I would really like to try this mod...

Unless Bill hosts it, of course, but Bill didn't update subguru.com in quite a while, and I wouldn't like to miss this mod.

[Molon Labe]

DW.pl will be hosting a game today that involves 2 sides fighting in restricted waterways. An international force (3rd side) is authorized to engage subs in the restricted area unless they surface and identify themselves. I've proposed that they use this mod so that they can identify themselves to the international force through a radio message rather than a chat message that would be seen by the other side as well.

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by BobbyZero

@ FERdeBOER

Is it possible for you to send me this mod to my mail, phast2000@yahoo.com? I wouldn't bother you with that, but the problem is that Megaupload reports that all their slots for my country (Croatia) are currently in use. And it's been like that whenever I tried to download something from Megaupload

And I would really like to try this mod...

Unless Bill hosts it, of course, but Bill didn't update subguru.com in quite a while, and I wouldn't like to miss this mod.

Just admit it, you already downloaded too much porn from the site and it's going to be 6 hours before they let you download anything else!