[REL] Open Horizons II (old thread)

[Zedi]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Though this is a noble idea, I see a couple of potential problems. Are you leaving the convoys randomized, or will they be scripted with the actual ships? Will you even have the specific individual convoys or will all the 'HX' convoys be represented by a route with the actual convoys randomized? The reason I ask is that if every specific convoy is placed on the map, players will be able to look them up and track them from start to finish, which ends up being less realistic rather than more.

Ducimus faced a similar problem in his work on SH4. Which is more realistic - having things exactly as they were, which gives the player information he wouldn't have had in real life, or making things worse than they really were, which makes the player realistically cautious?


Not every nation had every kind of ship. Estonia, for example, had only twenty-three ships in her merchant fleet, and the very newest of them was built back in 1918. I can help provide a lot of the information on individual ships based on the research I've done for my SH3 Ship Names mod, but as I said I believe there's a possibility that the more detailed you make it the less realistic it becomes, since hindsight gives us information no one could possibly have had at the time.

Steve, the SH5 campaign engine is very different form any previous version, its brilliant and Im in love with it. Now that I have learned the basic knowhow, we can do amazing things with it. Its just a question of time and manpower as rewriting the wole campaign its a huge task.

How it will work? Well, there are 2 possibilities. Using every convoy historical route by forcing them to follow a scripted path, or let them having their own fate by just pointing out when and where to start and where to end, so the route is their own decision. I choose the second option, no scripted route. That way, you will never find the same convoy in the same spot, no matter how many time you play the mission. And you may never find these convoys and blame me by a lousy job, just because their randomness when choosing a route

How convoys works right now in SH5? The system is based on generic ships and convoys. Every major convoy name is already set in the game and they appear in the game at their correct timetable. For example, there a generic convoy named HX_ that will leave Halifax to Liverpool every 5 day between 40-41 set with FollowPath=False. These are the big convoy we see in the game. Even the liners and famous battleships are in and they sail at their correct date. Found out that Bismarck and Hood are set to leave ports also on their historical date, but dunno if they ever will meet. Because the campaign is based on randomness and if they meet an enemy on route, there will be delays. Not to mention the mines I already put into the campaign.. they can seriously interfere with the traffic :P

Anyway, my plan is to add every important convoy to the campaign at the exact date and if possible with the exact content. So there will no more only brit or american convoys and you may wanna be more careful when choosing a target. I could go further with this and add every ship in the convoy their original name, load and ship type.. but thats already way to much work.

Now Im placing in the campaign the convoys from the list provided by Jaguar, already done with half. What is more important in this plan, is the escort size. No more convoys where the escorts are more than the merchants. So Steve, if you can and want to help with more info on the convoys, you have new ideas .. you are more than welcome to contribute as I know you are expert with these things. Im glad you asked, thanks.

Btw, Im using convoyweb.org.uk for details on these convoys, if anyone else have a better online database, pls let me now.