About adding merchants...

[fitzcarraldo]

I would to know if adding merchants to the roster is enough for the deployment in campaign (randomly in convoys). It is the case in SH3: you add ships to roster and they are deployed randomly in the convoys; if you need some ship in a determined position or route, you need script the ships. It works only with merchants in SH3 (not with warships).

many thanks and best regards.

Fitzcarraldo

[peabody]

Originally Posted by fitzcarraldo

I would to know if adding merchants to the roster is enough for the deployment in campaign (randomly in convoys). It is the case in SH3: you add ships to roster and they are deployed randomly in the convoys; if you need some ship in a determined position or route, you need script the ships. It works only with merchants in SH3 (not with warships).

many thanks and best regards.

Fitzcarraldo

For merchants, if the random group has a "Generic Cargo" in the group then it may select the ones you add, provided they are the same "UnitType". At least it is suppose to choose one at random. But if the ships in the group are specific ships such as "Liberty Cargo" then NO it will not replace them with the ships you add.
So if you check the groups with the mission editor and they have "Generic" ship in them then it can select any from that type.

[fitzcarraldo]

Originally Posted by peabody

For merchants, if the random group has a "Generic Cargo" in the group then it may select the ones you add, provided they are the same "UnitType". At least it is suppose to choose one at random. But if the ships in the group are specific ships such as "Liberty Cargo" then NO it will not replace them with the ships you add.
So if you check the groups with the mission editor and they have "Generic" ship in them then it can select any from that type.

Many thanks for the fast answer!

This is from SH4\Data\Campaigns\Campaign\41a_Japs_Convoys.mis (RFB RSRDC campaign) (only an example):

..............................
[RndGroup 1]
GroupName=41a_Jap_Convoys_001
Category=0
CommandEntry=0
Long=16947500.000000
Lat=5195000.000000
Height=0.000000
DelayMin=60
DelayMinInterv=4260
SpawnProbability=70
RandStartRadius=0.000000
ReportPosMin=1440
ReportPosProbability=75
Heading=315.404999
Speed=9.000000
ColumnsNo=4
Spacing=700
DeleteOnLastWaypoint=true
CurrentInstanceID=0
GameEntryDate=19411201
GameEntryTime=0
GameExitDate=19420228
GameExitTime=0
MaxInst=10000
MaxUnitsCreated=100
DockedShip=false
NextWP=0

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 1]
Type=102
Origin=Japan
Side=0
CargoExt=1
CargoInt=0
CfgDate=19420301
No=1
Escort=false
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=1

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 2]
Type=102
Origin=Japan
Side=0
CargoExt=5
CargoInt=0
CfgDate=19420301
No=1
Escort=false
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=1

..............................................

I see the "type 102" ship, but where is the designation for a "Generic Cargo"? Is it explicit or implicit? Please, see the example below, from another mis file:



[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 3]
Class=KSCSTaihosan
Type=102
Origin=Japan
Side=0
CargoExt=3
CargoInt=0
CfgDate=19420101
No=1
Escort=false
SpawnProbability=100
CrewRating=3

There is a determined ship class. I think this is not a "Generic Cargo", true? Then, the ausence of a "class" entry in the first example is a signal of a "Generic cargo"?

Best regards.

Fitzcarraldo

[CapnScurvy]

Hi Alan, chime in over me on this one!

Fitzcarraldo, you'll need to open the "41a_Japs_Convoys.mis" with the Mission Editor. You'll find the "Generic Cargo" for the random group input there.

Now back to the grind of working on OTC for RSRDC v575 (I read your post).

[fitzcarraldo]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

Hi Alan, chime in over me on this one!

Fitzcarraldo, you'll need to open the "41a_Japs_Convoys.mis" with the Mission Editor. You'll find the "Generic Cargo" for the random group input there.

Now back to the grind of working on OTC for RSRDC v575 (I read your post).

Many thanks!

I didn´t open the mis files with ME because there are many many many warnings about the use of it with the RSRDC files... What about to save a RSRDC modified file with ME?

Now I will do a test...

Best regards.

Fitzcarraldo

[peabody]

Originally Posted by fitzcarraldo

Many thanks!

I didn´t open the mis files with ME because there are many many many warnings about the use of it with the RSRDC files... What about to save a RSRDC modified file with ME?

Now I will do a test...

Best regards.

Fitzcarraldo

Hi Captn, long time no see. Hello again Fitzcarraldo,

You are both correct. As the Captn pointed out the "Generic Cargo" is a choice when you create a random group in the mission editro. When you create the group a list opens with the ships in the roster and a "Generic" entry for each type of ship. You choose from the list which ones you want to use in the group. Just be aware that using "Generic" does don't insure that your new ships will even be used. It is random so it may pick it all the time or never but it usually does a fairly good job of picking randomly.

YES,( it has been a while) but one of the supermods DID have a warning that the files were "hand edited" for accurate dates, and if you reload and resave from mission editor YOU WILL CHANGE THOSE DATES. And I think it changes the dates for every group in the file, not only the group you change.

The good news is that you can do it with notepad without messing it up, if you want to. Since it has "Generic" ships in it, you may not need to change it, but if you want to add a specific ship, you can do it just use the same format as the one with the Class=KSCSTaihosan in it. So you can add or change ships. Just be careful here, the [RndGroup 1] part sets the number of columns, so if you add too many ships, you may want to change the number of columns.
The reason you can use notepad to change it is because the waypoints are already entered so you don't need to add them. AND the dates were edited in notepad by hand, so you will NOT mess up the entries.

Here is the info given in the file ship entry:


[RndGroup 1] Leave that part alone for now, You can make changes but it is better to leave it for now, if you need help with what the entries mean just ask.

************************************************
These are the entries you can change if you need to, so your ships will show in the game.

[RndGroup 1.RndUnit 1]
this is the first ship in the group

Type=102
Obviously the type of ship

Origin=Japan
Country from the Roster

Side=0
Side is taken from the DefSide.cfg in the Roster

CargoExt=1
External cargo from a list in the mission editor.
List:
0=Ext Oil
1=Fuel
2=Oil
3=Ammo Containers
4=Ammo Crates
5=Aircraft
6=Tanks
7=Trucks
8=TrapContainer
9=American Tanks
10=American Trucks
11=Ext fuel
12=Ammo
13=Engine Oil
14=Engine Fuel


CargoInt=0
Internal Cargo from a list:
List:
0=Freight
1=Ammunition
2=Engine Fuel

CfgDate=19420301
Date the ship is available

No=1
How many of this unit are added to the convoy/task force. You can add one at a time and this will be one, or in mission editor you can add 5 all at once and in the mission editor you will see an entry "American: 5XGeneric cargo 100%. So if you edit that by hand you can change 1 to 5 and it will add 5 of that type of ship to the mission. (I have not tested this with Notepad, but it does work with the mission editor). It the person that wrote the mission added the ships to a random group one at a time it will always be 1. That is the way I do it, so you can put in different settings for each ship.

Escort=false
If you add or change DDs, you should change this to True so the DDs will not travel in the columns but will actually act like Escorts and travel randomly out side the group. Normally for cargo ships this will always be false. Usually the only time you change it is for an escort ship such as a Destroyer.

SpawnProbability=100
The chance that this specific ship will actually be added to the group. You need to be a little careful here, if you add all ships at 70% but the Escort destroyers are set to 100% you may have all DDs and NO ships in the convoy. Or you may end up with seven DDs escorting 1 ship. By setting some ships at 100% and Generic, and others at 70% you can vary the convoy so it isn't the same every time you see it. I always make sure I have at least a few set to 100% so it isn't an empty convoy. (Don't confuse this with the SpawnProbability in the RndGroup1 entry. That one sets the probably that the entire group will spawn. The entry here determines if this ship is in that group or not.)

CrewRating=1

Just like the cargo it is a list of choices from the mission editor.
List:
0=Poor
1=Novice
2=Competent
3=Veteran
4=Elite

A good choice to make them Novice at the start of the war and increase to Elite as they get better at their task, and zig zagging and evading you.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

[JoeCorrado]

I have a question about adding randomly generated merchant ships and convoys back into RSRDC. It seems that contact reports is not enabled in the campaign and apparently there are no AI generated ships either.

Is there a simple way of turning these options back on in the RSRDC without messing up all of the historic shipping? I also would like to know if the frequency of these events can be modified? Default game makes targets too frequent I think, and RSRDC makes them too infrequent- I would like something in between if it is possible.