LWAMI4 Final Player Torpedo Control Design

[LuftWolf]

I would strongly advice for you, to keep the values I set for min speed and ranges. I didn't take them from the air.

I have left these as you set them in the doctrines you sent me except when missing like with the Yu8 and the Mk54.

So, in point form:

1) Corrected for USET-80 and Yu-8 Remove the enable-speed change for the USET-80 and Yu-8 (so only the ADCAP, UGST, and LWT's will have this feature, and TEST-71 will have some wire-controlled speed functions as well). Also, I'm going to give them discrete speeds, one at their max speed, and one at their maxpassive speed. This will be set by chosing a speed setting closer to one of the discrete values or the other, so the torpedoes will always run at 50/45kts and 35kts. The Test-71 will share these discrete speeds as well, 25kts max passive speed and 40kts maximum speed, hey it's really old!.

2) I'll leave the max passive speed for the USET-80 and Yu-8 at 35. The Test-71 will share this 35kts speed in theory, but because of its speed settings will be limited to an effective maxpassive speed of 25kts, and the UGST, Mk50, and Mk54 will have maxpassive speeds of 40kts. I'm still not convinced about the ADCAP's max passive speed. If we are admittedly oversetting the old Russian torpedoes at 35kts (when they probably should be closer to 25-30kts, although this would make them in game terms more or less useless in passive mode), then I have no problem setting the ADCAP max passive speed at 45kts.

Remember that upgrade factor I was talking about... some things in the game are "juiced", but as long as this is consistently done and balanced in other areas, it would imbalance the game NOT to do it.

I've got my head SO far up DW's ass at this point, I'm smelling fresh air. So trust me for the time being.

Cheers,
David

[LuftWolf]

Ok, I've made the discussed corrections to the Yu-8 and USET-80.

The torpedoes now function with two discrete speed settings. Choosing a Preset speed of 40kts or above will select the max speed setting for these weapons, and selecting below 40kts will select the maximum passive speeds for these weapons (also their long range setting).

The Yu-8 and USET-80 will maintain a constant speed for the length of their entire run as determined by the preset and will not speed up or slow down when enabled.

I'll also post this in red as a correction to the above mentioned instructions for these weapons.

Cheers,
David

[LuftWolf]

So, I made the numbers up.

Cheers,
David

It occurred to me that some of you might be bothered by this statement...

So, it was an "educated idealization"...

In any case, the values seem to work.

In terms of how this reflects on our creative process... I have two versions of the same answer: 1) we always try to use the best data available, and when it is unavailable, use our best intuition and comparative reasoning to come up with values that work in the context of DW; 2) there is a lot of guesswork involved in this kind of thing because we don't have the real values in a lot of cases and its doubtful having the exact values in all cases would work as well with this engine as some other values in terms of creating a quality simulator experience.

I hope you guys understand this is about fun for me, but I take it very seriously.

Cheers,
David

[LuftWolf]

I finished the Combined Mk50 Player and AI MH-60 doctrine.

The Mk50 is an electric torpedo with the following parameters, 5nm @ 55kts and 7nm @ 40kts with a maximum operational depth of 3600ft.

The controls and operation are the same as described for the Mk 54, aside from the differences in performance and propulsion.

As stated above, the AI MH60 pilot (and in fact all helos and AI platforms for all torpedoes) will use the appropriate depth presets when firing in a variety of conditions for both the Mk50 and Mk54, and will always fire the weapons in active mode at max speed, however the horizontal search pattern varies appropriately as set by the simulator, as before.

Cheers,
David

[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by LuftWolf

It occurred to me that some of you might be bothered by this statement...

So, it was an "educated idealization"...

In any case, the values seem to work.

Not terribly. While I might not have done it in your position, it's no worse than the hypothetical stats of, say, the shkval. The torp does enhance the capabilities of the FFG a bit, which is a good thing, and keeps a weapon from being useless, which is a very good thing. The impact on realism seems negligible.

[LuftWolf]

Now the hard work of doing the wireguided torpedo doctrines begins... these are a whole different animal from the non-wg torpedoes, there are so many moving parts now.

I'm taking on the ADCAP first, so wish me luck.

Cheers,
David

[LuftWolf]

Well, guess what guys.

I have hit a very interesting limitation. The ADCAP doctrine requires more variables than the Doctrine Checker is capable of handling, which is 50 before things start to go funny and 51 then it just crashes... however, the doctrine intepretor of DW itself seems to be able to handle as many variables as I can stuff into it.

This, however, is a major tool for checking syntax and general doctrine integrity... I can get by by selectively editing out variables when I want to check something specific, but it's basically me and my eyes from here on out.

Cheers,
David

[Amizaur]

UEST-80 - are you thinking maybe about some kind of speed/working mode dependance ? For example, if one launches 50kts USET it will always enable active, if low speed - active or passive as set. Or the other way - passive setting would force slow run ? Or we leave this for user to remember ? :-)

TEST-71 - I don't know, but maybe TEST can change speed during run... Or maybe not. I have to check what commands can be send by TEST-71 wire datalink. It is not said clearly that you can change torpedo speed by wire in my sources... But USET-80 had probably one speed setting. You could set it to different values, but once set, torpedo run all distance on that speed. When I readed all materials once again, I find this to be cited much more often and it makes more sense, as torpedo speed is reporded as 50, 48 or 45kts with little different ranges. The TEST-71 on the other hand, is clearly stated to have electric engine with two fixed speed settings, one 40kts and the second 24-26kts in different versions. USET-80 had no wire, all settings set before launch. TEST-71 has wire guidance, so I think it's quite possible that speed setting can be selected by wire command, switched between those two hard set values. I would make it two hard-set values (40 and 25kts) but changeable during run (so speed up on active enable and slow down on passive enable). On the other hand, the TEST-71 guidance is described as "2D" and I'm not sure what this means... would it be "course only" and not depth ? But why ? Grrrr... I know now that the PDF pages I have are from Russian Arms Catalog (relased by Military Parade Int?), but the source text is in Russian and the english text is just an automated translation and is translated so badly that I can't clearly understand what it means...

Something like: "Designed to attack submarines, the TEST-71MKE torpedo is launched from submarines.
The warshot configuration of the torpedo comprises a homing system, impact and proximity fuzes, warhead section, disposable silver-zinc battery, control devices, electronic package, torpedo guidance wire reel, electric propulsion motor, and towed guidance wire reel. The torpedo remote guidance, homing, as well as course, depth and list control systems provide for a 2-D
maneuvering of the weapon, steer it to the proximity exploder activation zone or ensure a direct hit on the target. Two exploders detonate the weapon's explosive charge. The torpedo's propulsion plant is so designed that the weapon leaves no wake when it runs, and maintains permanent speed and range regardless of the running depth. The torpedo has two running speed modes."

If I knew how to paste Russian original text in readable form here, maybe someone could translate it correctly... O yeah, I know:



On chinese site there is: "The operator can manually switch the torpedo to an alternative target during midcourse, or control the torpedo to manoeuvre in two axes." Two axes would mean course AND depth, right ?? But what would be 3 axes then ??? course depth and speed ? Or maybe two axes means one plane (horizontal) so course only ? Grrr.. :-/

[LuftWolf]

The forward travel, one dimension, is accounted for by the speed setting, thus 2-D control in this context would mean course and depth.

I am a native english speaker, and everytime I read anything about the TEST-71 (in English) I always interpreted what was written as course and depth control, with the other axis being the speed setting, which for reasons of context, may be available but not explicetly mentioned here.

So I think the TEST-71 definately has depth and course control on the wire, and probably has speed control on the wire as well.

In regards to the USET-80/Yu-8, the user has to input all the presets correctly. All the features mentioned here are actually implimented in the last version I sent you. The most interesting feature is the discrete invariable speed settings, 40kts or more preset speed to select top speed for the weapon, and 39kts or less to select slow speed for the weapon. The weapons will stay at that speed when launched, so if you want to fire a passive torpedo, you need to be sure to put the torpedo into low speed mode by setting the preset speed to any speed 39kts or lower.

[LuftWolf]

Just a quick update for you guys.

I've finished the wireguided torpedo template that has all the features universal to all the torpedoes and is at this point bug-free in all my testing so far...

So now I have to add the master interface controls and features that are unique to each WG torpedo, do the wakehomers, the final edit to the database, and update some AI features, and we'll be ready for some playtesting.

Cheers,
David

[LuftWolf]

I have finished the first wireguided torpedo, the TEST-71M(E).

Here are the implimented controls of the TEST-71M(E).

The TEST-71M(E) is an electric wireguided torpedo capable of 13.5nm @ 26kts and 8nm @ 40kts, with an internal wirelength of 13.5nm and a 2.7nm wirereel on board the submarine. Although designed for use against submarines, it is effective against shipping, so it can now be targeted against surface targets at the firecontrol.

The preenable controls have the following functions. The Active and Passive presets set the acoustic mode of the torpedo when allowed to enable automatically, and the Snake and Circle buttons select the horizontal search pattern when the torpedo is allowed to enable automatically. The Floor, Ceiling, and Search Depth presets also select the three depth the torpedo can be set to run at while preenabled. This torpedo has two discrete speed settings, 26kts and 40kts. Select low speed mode by setting the preset speed to less than 30kts and the high speed mode by setting the torpedo preset speed to 30kts or more.

The weapon has an ASuW safety that can be disabled by setting the Ceiling at 20m or less.

The wireguided controls when preenabled are as follows. A first click of the preenable button either preenables the torpedo if enabled or does nothing if the torpedo is already preenabled. A second preenable click sends the torpedo to the preset Searchdepth, a third preenable click sends the torpedo to the preset Ceiling, and a fourth preenable click sends the torpedo to the preset Floor, and a fifth click sends the torpedo to the preset SearchDepth again, and starts the cycle over again.

The Enable button commands are as follows. A single enable click passiveenables the torpedo and sets it to low speed, using snake pattern. A second enable button click sets the torpedo to passive search in a circle pattern. A third enable button click sets the torpedo to maxspeed (40kts) and active enables the torpedo, directing the weapon to follow a snake pattern along the course set in the firecontrol panel (or the original course if it has not been manually changed). A fourth enable button click sets the torpedo to search in a circle pattern in active mode, and a fifth click sets the active snake search again, etc. (so, in order to go back to passive mode or back to passive snake, you have to preenable the torpedo again, once you get the timing of how fast you can hit the buttons, you can do all necessary commands in about 10 seconds or less).

The TEST-71 family also has a variable depth search function that is similar to the USET-80. If the Floor and the Ceiling are set further than 60m apart, the torpedo will default to oscillate between these two depths when enabled. As with the USET-80, if the Ceiling is used to disable the ASuW Safety, the torpedo will search between the Floor and the SearchDepth. If the set search depths are closer than 60m, then the torpedo will default to searchdepth.

When the torpedo is on the wire, and the user can choose which presets are used in the vertical search pattern. If the torpedo is ordered to be at searchdepth when enabled or enabled for the first time at launchdepth, the vertical search pattern will be the default as described above (floor to ceiling, unless ceiling is 20m or less, in which case the pattern is floor to searchdepth). If the torpedo is ordered to be at the ceiling depth, the search pattern is searchdepth to ceiling (regardless of whether the ceiling is used for the ASuW safety). If the torpedo is set to be at its preset Floor when the torpedo is enabled, the search pattern will be set between the floor and the preset searchdepth. If at any time, the selected depths are 60m or closer, the torpedo will search only at the depth set by the player using the depth control commands.

When on the wire, this weapon has an additional 25% chance of avoiding decoys on top of the 50% failure rate for the decoys themselves, to simulate the ability of the operators on board the submarine to coordinate torpedo control with ownship sensors. The weapon has no additional anti-decoy bonus when off the wire.

Now, for the TEST-71ME-NK!

Cheers,
David

[LuftWolf]

Here are the fully implimented controls of the TEST-71ME-NK, carried by the Chinese Kilo Improved hulls.

The TEST-71ME-NK has operational parameters equal to the TEST-71ME with the addition of a wakehoming mode effective against surface targets that can be enabled at the presets. When the wakehoming mode is disengaged, the controls and operation are identical to the TEST-71ME.

To enable Wakehoming mode, set the ceiling at 10m or less. If you allow the torpedo to run on its own with no input at all, the torpedo will enable as a straightrunning wakehomer and go to its maxspeed of 40kts and the preset ceiling depth. If you enable the torpedo on the wire using the enable button without changing the running depth of the weapon, the torpedo will also enable as a wakehomer and go to maxspeed and the preset ceiling depth (there are no further enable button commands in wakehoming mode).

You can cancel the wakehoming enable by hitting a single preenable button click before the torpedo enables. If you do this, the torpedo will enable at the runtoenable distance using the preset values for pattern and acoustic mode and use the searchdepth and floor as its vertical search parameters. If you send the torpedo to search depth or floor using the preenable buttons, the torpedo will enable using the floor and searchdepth as its vertical parameters, using the same enable commands as the TEST-71ME. To reenable wakehoming mode, send the torpedo to the preset ceiling depth, and the torpedo will once again function as a wakehomer.

Cheers,
David

[LuftWolf]

Here are the implimented features of the UGST.

The UGST is a chemical fuel torpedo capable of 27nm @ 35kts and 15nm @ 50kts. The weapon has an active/passive seeker with wakehoming capability and a maximum passive speed of 40kts and max depth of 735m. The torpedo is capable of maintaing 40kts at its maximum depth, and 45kts at 320m, with maximum speed varying linearly with depth (effectively the torpedo can run at max speed to 100m or so). The weapon has an internal wirelength of 13.5nm and a 2.7nm reel on board the submarine.

The controls of the UGST are the same as the TEST-71ME-NK with the following exceptions.

On the preset menu, the actual preenable speed at launch reflects the throttle set by the Speed preset. So, the torpedo before enabling will travel at whatever speed you set minus the speed decrease from depth... this is done to allow players to still select long range shots when deep, otherwise, the throttle would always be set too high if the torpedo was launched deep, so it would go too fast if brought shallow again and use too much fuel for a low speed setting. Also, when passiveenabled, the torpedo will maintain 40kts regardless of depth, and if preenabled again, the throttle will be set to maintain 40kts at whatever depth the weapon is running at at the time it is preenabled. If the torpedo is active enabled, it will set its throttle to get maximum speed for its current depth.

Also, the Snake and Circle search pattern toggle now select for two different Search Modes, that I will describe below. The ability to automatically enable the torpedo in circle mode has been disabled, however, since the Enable button commands are the same as the TEST-71ME, you can still select CircleSearch on the wire; you can also preenable the torpedo to enable again later in Circle, and use it to program a circle reattack if the torpedo is currently homing on a target (the torpedo will stay in circle mode, unless you order it to do otherwise). The thought here is that the circle search mode in these torpedoes is only used (in the DW context) for reattacks...

The Snake preset selects for the following search pattern features. Unless the torpedo is set to run as a wakehomer, if it enables on its own, it will go to the preset searchdepth and run with a 15 degree snake to either direction (that is what is set in the doctrine, the functional snake is a bit bigger, although the relative values and how they match up to the sensor modelling are the important aspects of the search patterns) and no vertical oscillation. If the torpedo is sent to a specific depth and enabled at that depth, the torpedo will stay at that depth when searching. So, in short, the Snake preset disables the vertical search pattern and sets a narrow snake pattern. The Enable button commands are the same as the TEST family.

The Circle preset selects for the exact same controls and operation as the TEST-71ME-NK in all respects, including the vertical search pattern and 30 degree snake pattern to either side. In other words, the Circle preset enables the vertical search patterns and selects for a wide snake pattern.

While operating on the wire, the UGST has a 75% chance of successfully avoiding homing on countermeasures on top of the database determined 50% failure rate for decoys to simulate the ability of ownship operators to resteer the torpedo using data from ownship sensors and torpedo feedback. When off the wire, the UGST retains an additional 50% ability to successfully avoid decoys on top of the database determined 50%.

Now, for the ADCAP, which I want to make significantly different in character than the Russian wireguided torpedoes, so I have to start from the template on this one and really consider what features work well in what places. Then the Wakehomers, which I hope will be really gentle work in term of difficulty when compared to the WGT's.

Cheers,
David

[LuftWolf]

One other thing I should mention about the UGST. Regardless of what Search Mode the torpedo is set at in the presets, if you use the wire to Enable the torpedo and set the Circle Search Pattern manually while the torpedo is running, the torpedo will oscillate in depth using the common helix controls. The idea is that, since the user is not concerned with the torpedo moving farther in circle search mode, only loiter time, there is no drawback to having the vertical search in circle mode, even if it is very steep, because it should make it harder to decoy or evade with a higher angle of attack on target.

So in other words, the selection of depth oscillation is for the snake mode only. Or, to put it yet another way, selecting the Snake Preset selects a Snake pattern with 15 degree snake and no depth oscillation, and the Circle Preset selects a snake pattern with a 30 degree snake as well as depth oscillation.

Don't worry, I'll find a good way to document this stuff for the releases.

Cheers,
David

[LuftWolf]

Oh, one more neat feature common to all the wireguided torpedoes...

When the torpedo is running on the wire, an automatic Ownship Safety is activated to prevent the torpedo from homing on ownship. So, when a torpedo is running on the wire, ownship is safe from being tracked by its own weapons. If the torpedoes do detect ownship, the firecontrol will automatically override the homing procedures for the weapon.

Of course, if the wire breaks, you are on your own... without ownship feedback, the torpedo doesn't know you from the next large metallic object in the water and it will home on ownship.

This feature may become significant if players begin to engage at close range and we actually begin to get situations where ships pass each other trying to get position and avoid weapons. If this is the case, then you have to be very sure you've got plenty of wire before you turn the weapon around, since generally speaking, its very hard to decoy the WG weapons.

Cheers,
David

PS The ADCAP is in final design, and I hope to complete work today.