[REL] Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate, full release

[XenonSurf]

^^


Attacking in ports is not very difficult in SH games except SH1 which has decent patrol defenses. In SH3,4,5 the ships in port are for decor only, they cannot be active without messing-up the player's campaign anihilating the traffic nodes, any modder who tries to make 'active' ports has failed to my knowledge, the game has limitations and traffic must be created at least at 25-40 miles away from ports for not clashing with the 'special insertion missions' etc. which indeed will have active units.

In essence, attacking in ports in SH3,4,5 can be considered CHEATING THE GAME, so don't do it, stay away from enemy ports, that's also true for FOTRSU like for any other mod. I call it 'medal pumping'


@FOTRSU Team,
Take away all stationary units in enemy ports and you will deal with less trouble and a faster game performance, these units are useless because of the reasons above. Or place so many mines at the entrance of a port that players will get their fair share when cheating the game





XS

[propbeanie]

Originally Posted by DanielCoffey

Apologies if this has been asked before but is there a copy of the FotRSU PDF manual available separately anywhere?

I would like to read about the features and requirements of the mod before committing to the full download as I am on a slow rural internet connection.

Another place to look is the download page, as well as the first page of this thread, in the first five posts from fearless leader (an affectionate term ) "FotRSU Mod Team". As KaleunMarco alludes though, there is all sorts of more and more thorough info in the Support folder pdf and txt files. Be sure and navigate deeper for other aspects of the mod.

Originally Posted by lockheedliang

Hi dear captains I am here to report the empty ports issue again, and with another less serious question about the torpedos.

Now I have started a career in a clean save folder thanks to the MultiSH4 tool and that makes me feel a little bit more confident about a smooth running of the game. In my patrol 3 (Time was just after Surabaya was unusable yet falling short of being occupied by the enemy) in USS Snapper my mission was to drop supply and to save survivers from near Manila. After I did that I made a tour to enemy ports, all of which turn out to be just empty, nothing docked at all. I am wondering whether it has something to do with sudden change of mother port halfway in voyage, but maybe not since it didnt happen when it shifted from Manila to Surabaya.

Well I could treat this as a punishment for my port hunting fun abuse, but isnt it a little bit unrealistic to expect not a single ship within enemy port?

Now about the torpedos. The Mk14 is free and a more obslete Mk10 costs 250 renown?? And in many cases (only with the expection of first patrol with each new boat) my boat would be preloaded with Mk10, why couldnt I get refunded if I return them back in favour of the Mk14?

Last things first: The Mark 10 torpedoes, in spite of also running deep, were much more reliable than the Mark 14s, and some skippers wanted full-loads of them, hence the "cost" in renown. The S-Boats get them "for free", so if you want Mark 10s, the boat to drive is the Sugar boat. As for empty harbors, if you are in late 1941 to early 1942, you must remember that all of the Allied vessels ran away, and none of the Japanese vessels had a chance to filter into the ports. Plus, not all ports are "populated", and some ports at times would not have any ships anyway, just due to traffic patterns. "Raiding" harbors is fine, but you won't always get credit for a "sinking" if the ship is not able to slip completely beneath the waves, in spite of it having been destroyed. Also, be aware that some ports have mines, some have anti-sub nets, or airplanes or patrol ships, that might be on upline patrol, around the peninsula and temporaily out of view, or the port might have a combination of some or all of the above, so beware, and whatever you do, do NOT run aground. The admiral would be very disappointed in you...

Originally Posted by Front Runner

Good news! After running several days at 1X to the Marshall Islands, Sunrise and Sunsets are tracking very well. I finally got a chance to check accuracy of MOONRISE on BASE TIME(Pearl Harbor) 12/17/1941. Since I am across the International Date Line while in my Patrol Area Marshall Islands, I checked the MOONRISE for 12/18/1941 and it was perfect. A New Moon right on time. Note that it is still 12/17/1941 in Pearl Harbor BASE TIME. The sim is working perfectly.

Excellent news! Thanks for the update!

Originally Posted by Capt RAP

Hello
Wanted to report this because it just wan't right
Dec 30, 1943
On the way to my patrol area I spotted a task force west of Eniwetok Atoll
As I moved closer I found over 25 capital ships stopped. The escorts were moving around. I sank 2 Carriers, a Battleship, Heavy Cruiser and destroyer.
I was just stopped, emptied the tubes, reloaded and fired again. The destroyers
never came close to me, capital ships never moved. A Yamato Class Battleship was there also.
Thought I would let you know..
Love This Mod!!!
Capt RAP

As KaleunMarco mentions, that is the nature of the game.

Originally Posted by WH4K

Yes, there is quite a smorgasbord parked there for some time.

For me it was broken in that the ships regenerated. I would sink a carrier or two, get away, reload torpedoes, come back a few days later, and all the ships were there again.

But that was with version 1.004. Haven't played 1.1 yet, currently distracted with Dark Waters/OM.

It is still very similar. Think of FotRSU with SH4 as a "stage show" (no no no, not ~that~ kind of show! A PG-13 with violence show!!!). You see what the producers decide to show you. If you try to use the external camera and go very far with it, you will notice the 'backside of the curtain' - "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" - when you leave the "auditorium" and its view of the stage, and then return later, the "actors" put the same show on for you again. So, when you leave the spawn range and withdraw for more torpedoes, the game will reload the same groups with the same ships. As an aside, if you hang around Truk a few days before that at Eniwetok, you will see them leave. They are on their way to engage the US Fleet... but it was decided enroute to get a better recon on the US fleet, hence the layover at Eniwetok. They were later recalled just after departing Eniwetok, so you will see them head toward the north, and then come back south and west, headed back for their reserved parking spots inside the Truk atoll...

Originally Posted by XenonSurf

...

@FOTRSU Team,
Take away all stationary units in enemy ports and you will deal with less trouble and a faster game performance, these units are useless because of the reasons above. Or place so many mines at the entrance of a port that players will get their fair share when cheating the game

Duly noted, however, that does lend "atmosphere", and adds to the experience, especially if you do not use over 128x near major ports. There are mines in place at some ports, as noted above. Thanks for the comment though. It has been considered multiple times... lol

[WH4K]

Interesting. I have not run into a harbor mine yet, though I have poked and prodded many Japanese-held ports throughout the war.


Especially later in the war, merchant traffic drops off such that I get bored and go port-poking on my way home to find something torpedo-worthy.

[propbeanie]

The odds will eventually catch you!... also, when that traffic gets "thin", you have to go hunting... Sometimes, you can use your surface weapons, though I have not tried it myself after the first attempt. I thought I'd jump one of my "new" convoys along the Chinese coastline, and found that this particular one had not only armed sampans, but also three escort vessels - shallow water to boot, and I had to run run run and finally out-distanced the little escorts, but at the loss of several bridge crew members, as well as the rear deck gun. Never sank a thing in that... - but it's all part of the peril of 'testing' the mod...

[WH4K]

I ended up doing the same thing - patrolling between Japan and China for the little remaining traffic.

Ran into a lot of armed sampans and small steamers. And tugboats.

[XenonSurf]

Originally Posted by WH4K

Interesting. I have not run into a harbor mine yet, though I have poked and prodded many Japanese-held ports throughout the war.


Especially later in the war, merchant traffic drops off such that I get bored and go port-poking on my way home to find something torpedo-worthy.

If you stay away from enemy ports you will notice that you get more traffic in your campaign, the reason is, as I told above, prolunged port actions will break your campaign traffic, except with special missions where you are ordered to sneak in a port; and after you are done with these missions, be sure to save the game as soon as you are away from port with no unit in sight, this should reset correctly the campaign traffic after reloading game, but no guarantee. If not in special missions, better stay away from ports.
How can you tell if your traffic is broken? You will not get any contact reports anymore like before, as long as you get reports now and then (even when you are out of range to intercept these units) you are ok. But in some early war periods there is little traffic overall in some regions, usually you get reports in a range of 500 miles and not further.




XS

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by WH4K

Interesting. I have not run into a harbor mine yet, though I have poked and prodded many Japanese-held ports throughout the war.


Especially later in the war, merchant traffic drops off such that I get bored and go port-poking on my way home to find something torpedo-worthy.

late in the war (1944) is when the IJF installed mine fields around their home ports. they also installed anti-sub nets.
if you keep sniffing around ports, you'll find out soon enough.

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by XenonSurf

If you stay away from enemy ports you will notice that you get more traffic in your campaign, the reason is, as I told above, prolunged port actions will break your campaign traffic, except with special missions where you are ordered to sneak in a port; and after you are done with these missions, be sure to save the game as soon as you are away from port with no unit in sight, this should reset correctly the campaign traffic after reloading game, but no guarantee. If not in special missions, better stay away from ports.
How can you tell if your traffic is broken? You will not get any contact reports anymore like before, as long as you get reports now and then (even when you are out of range to intercept these units) you are ok. But in some early war periods there is little traffic overall in some regions, usually you get reports in a range of 500 miles and not further.
XS

you raise an interesting issue. i have never experienced what you describe but now i will have to go raid a port and see the reaction.
are you referring to sinking in-port merchies or any ship?

[propbeanie]

FotRSU has the "reporting" of Convoys "restricted", not as many reports as stock, but more than TMO. We also restricted the Status Report mileage, such that you aren't sent to the other end of the Pacific for a mission as before. As for "breaking" the traffic, what can and does happen is if you get in too close while on the surface or PD or above, the RGG cannot spawn in that area. But only in that area. In other words, anywhere in the world that your submarine is located with a human possibly on the bridge or periscope, no RGG (Random Generated Groups) can spawn, and "Scripted" group cannot appear either. You would see them suddenly appear "out of nowhere" and start shooting at you if they did. The ones in existence when you enter the game stay. If you do certain of the War Patrols in the Aleutians, you might notice a couple of fleet boats coming in to Dutch Harbor as you are getting ready to leave, and then right before your very eyes, they "disappear", in spite of have several more waypoints yet to reach... but they are within the "termination range", so they up and disappear on you. As soon as you leave though, RGG and scripted units can go back to spawning. This would be roughly 24nm away from you, just beyond what the horizon can show at 20nm... or is it km?... hmmm - now I ~know~ I'm gettin' old... Ahh Magoo, you've done it again!...

Now, along with the above, if you have ever encountered a Task Force, with anything that carries airplanes, or even a "convoy" with an escort carrier or cruiser with float planes - if your submarine is detected, the group is on the "alert" - of course they are... but say they have spotted your periscope, and you see that they are sending some DE your way to start dropping whoop on you, so you go deep, change course and speed up for a while, then go silent and change course again. You avoid the DE with aplomb. You are good at this. Now secure in your stealth and knowing that you now have this group in your grasp, you come up toward periscope depth... well, long about 75-80 feet, you start getting depth-charged... What in the world? It's airplanes! That shtinking plane-carrying so-and-so has spawned airplanes when you were deep! So be aware of that! If you so much as go below periscope depth, they can and do spawn airplanes at the outer edge of their spawn limit, just beyond your "reach"... We saw this in testing multiple times. Very cool stuff.

[XenonSurf]

Interesting, Propbearnie. I have to attenuate what I say above about 'broken campaigns' because it's mostly based on what I know about SH5 (apart that my post sounds a bit too absolute which I don't want). Just because the folder/file structure and their contents in SH4 are pretty identical to SH5 doesn't mean that the hard-coded part is the same, and which I ignore, so I may be wrong. If really you can enter ports without the campaign traffic suffering, then all the better, I'll be the first to clap my hands, but somehow I suspect that the same limitations of SH5 will apply (and where you should avoid ports; TWoS author vdr1981 can for sure tell more about this issue.)
Because you may not get any traffic for *valid* reasons it's hard to proof or test this behavior I think.


But all this sounds too much like I would question how others are playing - which of course is not my intention. I will keep doing helpful reports if I encounter any real issues in FOTRSU, for the moment I'm fully enjoying thsi mod without any problems, quite the contrary, the challenge level can be very high and unpredictable; very good




XS

[XenonSurf]

Originally Posted by KaleunMarco

you raise an interesting issue. i have never experienced what you describe but now i will have to go raid a port and see the reaction.
are you referring to sinking in-port merchies or any ship?

No, sinking stationary ships in port or not has no effect on this behavior. What I mean is if you stay for too long time in enemy ports - and especially getting somehow in sight of units that are not meant to stay in port (transiting units nearby, that's unlikely but could happen somehow) then this could be a critical situation for the entire campaign traffic. I'm not saying it will happen all the time, my above post wrongly could suggest that, and it's only what I know from SH5 and still I could be wrong to say it's 1:1 in SH4. I will keep observing it and do some experiments.


XS

[WH4K]

Originally Posted by KaleunMarco

late in the war (1944) is when the IJF installed mine fields around their home ports. they also installed anti-sub nets.
if you keep sniffing around ports, you'll find out soon enough.

Bit of closing the barn door after the horses are gone. This sounds like a good thing to test when I am done with Dark Waters. Looking forward to the improvements in FotRS 1.1!

[propbeanie]

Now, just to let you all know, when we went through the files, making the small corrections needed for the reports we have thus far, it was discovered that another file we just assumed had been OK over the years, really wasn't. There were quite a few duplicate names used for the various anti-sub nets, and the various minefields... The first-named will load, but none of the next three do, so they all now have unique names, and should ~ALL~ be fully functional next version... Aren't you happy?... lol - Now if we could only get that FM Sonar working before Lockwood sends us into the Emporer's Bathtub... - btw, that ain't gonna happen... at least, not for a while... The "Hell's Bells" that is...

[DanielCoffey]

I was wondering if it is possible for me to alter the colour that the game applies to the unit icons on the map?

I think the shape of the unit icons is stored within the folders for each ship and I am happy with those but I am interested in taking the red and blue tint that is applied to them and replacing it with the neutral grey.

If this is possible it will of course mean that if I see a Merchantman contact I will actually have to go and have a look to determine its nationality rather than being able to glance at the colour and deduce it is Allied or not.

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by WH4K

Bit of closing the barn door after the horses are gone. This sounds like a good thing to test when I am done with Dark Waters. Looking forward to the improvements in FotRS 1.1!

not so!
i suggest that you read some impartial history of the Pacific War. the US Submarine Fleet had their greatest effect beginning in 1944. This is attributable to many factors, most notably the capture of the Marianas and the admission that the Mk14 torpedo had several defects which were (finally) mitigated.
try Silent Victory by Clay Blair, jr.