GWX 1.04 Developmental Sneak Peak Part 5

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by JU_88

They should have used them more often!

Good point......

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

Well if the ship sinks in port nothing happens to the blimp apart from dropping lower
It remains tethered to the ship

In open water not sure as not sunk one but I imagine tis the same till the blimp hits water then should disappear

Will check that though with Privateer
They do have a damage model IIRC

Have tested (with screenies) will PM you

[Webchessie]

Please no more sneak peaks. My little heart can't stand the all this anticipation!

[i_b_spectre]

The screenshot I see above shows what appears to be a barrage balloon tethered to a ship. Barrage balloons are not the same as Blimps. Barrage balloons were unmanned and meant to provide aerial collisions obstacles to aircraft thereby discouraging them. Blimps, on the other hand, were manned LTAs (Lighter Than Air ships) which provided an important reconnaisance/detection role.

An interesting aside, I once read that WWI era airships were classified in two types:
A. Rigid
B. Limp
Hence the term, "blimp", denoting a lighter-than-air, gas filled envelope as opposed to a rigidly framed airship housing lighter-than-air gas filled chambers/cells. I haven't researched this to verify its authenticity, but it sounds about right.

[Jimbuna]

You are correct...the poster of the picture probably meant to call it a barrage balloon....a simple enough error I think.
The picture does in fact depict a Sperrbrecher Class vessel equipped with a barage balloon.....these are used in some of the axis ports in the game to guide the U-boat in and out of base via the navigable channel

I've played sub sim games since the mid '80s (Silent Service being the first). I've played SH3 for over 2 years moving up to the present GWX 1.03 version. I do not see how you can make this game any better, but I expect you will with the release of the 1.04 version.

That said, playing the 8x version of GWX 1.03 (laptop will not handle 16x option), the best mod todate (in my humble opinion) was Rubini's Stay Alert Crew mod. Until this mod was released, I always thought the crew was dumb and blind. I believe that the crew should be able to spot contacts visually or by hydrophone as well as I could, but they never did. Playing with even low Time Compression, one has to depend on the crew for observation. I always thought the crew let me down. Now, this all changed with the release of the Stay Alert Crew mod. I for one hate to see it go.

Is it possible, for those of us that use the 8x version, to place the 8x Stay Alert Crew mod into the mod folder to use as an option?

If this request is totally out of the realm of possibility, will it be possible for us to use Rubini's present and current Stay Alert Crew mod with the new 1.04 version without harmful side effects?

Your responce will be very much appreciated. Eagerly waiting on the release of the new 1.04 version.

[Mikey_Wolf]

Well I wouldn't think they could really answer your question at the moment vonzelda, if they are still testing the update, then they wouldn't be using external modifacations with it I'd have thought.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

We've already rendered decisions on the Stay Alert Mods as outlined in the first post.

They were tested extensively as a part of earlier alpha/beta builds.

I don't know if they will be compatible in the end for those who wish to use them on top of GWX 1.04.

[Cezbor]

Sad news, sad....

[Hitman]

Sad news, sad....

Not necessarily. I would instead asume that if that mod is not compatible, that's because the team found an even better solution or integrated it completely and improved

[Cezbor]

Originally Posted by Hitman

Not necessarily. I would instead asume that if that mod is not compatible, that's because the team found an even better solution or integrated it completely and improved

Yeah, point well taken

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Maybe if people would bother to read the first post they'd know WHY we did what we did. We know what we are doing.

Originally Posted by Kpt. Lehmann

The "Stay Alert Crew" mods:
We also exhaustively tested the "Stay Alert" crew mods that are intended to increase player visual and hydrophone sensor accuity... and have declined their inclusion. Though again, some view this as a "must have" element and strong opinions abound regarding its use... they also break intended effects, and negate factors limiting sensor effectiveness designed into GWX.
The Stay Alert crew mods increase the speed of sensor sweeps (namely visual sensors and hydrophones) in an effort to overcome detection lag times among units in SH3... that are more pronounced with each increment of time compression. Some of you recall the discussions concerning the lack of aircraft attacks in SH3 while in transit at high TC... well, the same is also true of surface unit detection by both enemy and player AI... due to computational lag.
While the aims of the Stay Alert crew mods are admirable, (to prevent situations where the enemy may spot you before you spot them) in so doing they also completely reintroduce the old vampire night vision bug allowing player crew to pretty much instantly spot vessels at the absolute edge of visual range on the darkest of nights. Furthermore, it is also absolutely feasible and appropriate that the enemy may spot you before you spot them. This element must remain, IMHO. It is a risk that U-boat crews faced, and one that GWX users will continue to face.
This decision was only made following their inclusion in files we made available to our testers. Now before any of you think that I'm having a slap at the gentleman who designed the Stay Alert mods... I am not. GW/GWX owes its existence and success to him in a large way. I haven't a single bad thing to say about him.

[Maraz]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Lehmann

When you click on convoy or close contacts... it does indeed give you the general heading... not the exact heading. If it doesn't suit your play style... don't use GWX. Simple really.

No tail for contacts is very good to me, very realistic. But as far as I understand, also the own submarine's tail does disappear with this mod.

Would it be possible to retain somehow the own sub's tail? During the attack I do not use waypoints, so having a tail on my sub, showing where it is going, would be a good help. Otherwise I am afraid I would be a bit too overloaded (I play with 100% difficulty and manual targeting).

Maybe I should mod the 2km bearing indicator to a simpler form, and make it appear at lower zoom level? Any other idea?

Maraz

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Originally Posted by Maraz

No tail for contacts is very good to me, very realistic. But as far as I understand, also the own submarine's tail does disappear with this mod.

Would it be possible to retain somehow the own sub's tail? During the attack I do not use waypoints, so having a tail on my sub, showing where it is going, would be a good help. Otherwise I am afraid I would be a bit too overloaded (I play with 100% difficulty and manual targeting).

Maybe I should mod the 2km bearing indicator to a simpler form, and make it appear at lower zoom level? Any other idea?

Maraz

Hi Maraz,

Unfortunately the ship and sub tails are apparently governed by the same graphic file... making it an all-or-nothing affair.

What you might do to give yourself a heading reference, is to make temporary pencil marks on the map, or a ruler line enough to be visible at outer zoom... Zoom out to make your calculations or what have you... then just delete them when you are finished with that block of navigation.

[XLjedi]

Originally Posted by Maraz

Maybe I should mod the 2km bearing indicator to a simpler form, and make it appear at lower zoom level? Any other idea?

Maraz

Doesn't that huge compass overlay image indicate the sub heading?

Oh NO... Don't make that thing appear when zoomed out too!!!