[WIP] U-Boat Killer AI Mod

[SteelViking]

Thank you for this mod Nisgeis. I had literally never taken damage from a depth charge after 1.8 million tons sunk, and was about to go back to SHIII for an actual challenge. But your mod just saved SHV for me.

The ironic thing is that I am thanking you for helping a DD damage the heck out of my boat.

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by UF582151

Does the AI have any stock behavior in which airplanes can send destroyers data of sighted uboats? Or maybe Wmaphyri's Plane Mod? Who knows, the state in which this game is maybe as the sub is sighted while surfaced the AI just keeps thinking its surfaced.

thanks again for the effort. Rereading my initial post I might have come through like I was criticizing your work. I appreciate the effort, it was more intended to be a helpful input.

Yes, in stock there is a percentage chance setting that a contact report will be sent in after a plane spots you. The chance of it happening is about the only thing you can alter.

No problems with criticism or sounding critical, that's how mods get better . I'll test as soon as I can find some time. Thanks for the feedback and detailed info - very useful!

Originally Posted by doomlordis

They did not ping me either , its like they have superhuman hydrophone operators !

<SNIP>

Does this mod change any detection values?


Something aint right.

Them not pinging sounds strange, they should do by default. There's no way to tell them to not ping or in fact any way to control their sensors - e.g. you can't tell them to turn off their radar. I wonder if this is related to UF582151's report - did they fire shells at you at all? Did you have this problem before the 1.2 patch came out?

Nope, no detection values (like sensors) have been changed, the sensors are as they are in stock. I did alter the thermal layer, as in stock you could just dive to 50m and put on 'Racing Green' by High Contrast at full volume and they'd never notice you, which was a touch too easy if you ask me. I'll look at having it play more of a role in the future though.

Originally Posted by SteelViking

Thank you for this mod Nisgeis. I had literally never taken damage from a depth charge after 1.8 million tons sunk, and was about to go back to SHIII for an actual challenge. But your mod just saved SHV for me.

The ironic thing is that I am thanking you for helping a DD damage the heck out of my boat.

Glad you like it. If you notice anything odd or strange, be sure to let me know!

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

[Der SchattenJager]

I noticed something weird on a few occasions.

Every once in a while I'll run into a lone destroyer out in the middle of nowhere at about 9km out, and he'll just circle by himself. Then if I change course, he will follow me and fishtail but never come closer than about 7-8km. No matter what direction I go, he will follow me, and then when I stop, he stops and does tight circles again, but never comes and gets me.

I can't get away from him no matter what I do. And he doesn't seem interested in catching me.

[caine007]

Originally Posted by Der SchattenJager

I noticed something weird on a few occasions.

Every once in a while I'll run into a lone destroyer out in the middle of nowhere at about 9km out, and he'll just circle by himself. Then if I change course, he will follow me and fishtail but never come closer than about 7-8km. No matter what direction I go, he will follow me, and then when I stop, he stops and does tight circles again, but never comes and gets me.

I can't get away from him no matter what I do. And he doesn't seem interested in catching me.

Known bug I believe with the base game.

From my experience you can head away from them at flank speed and their constant circling will mean you can pull far enough away to lose contact (keep going till night if needs be). Once you lose contact for a bit they seem to despawn.

[jwilliams]

Originally Posted by caine007

Known bug I believe with the base game.

From my experience you can head away from them at flank speed and their constant circling will mean you can pull far enough away to lose contact (keep going till night if needs be). Once you lose contact for a bit they seem to despawn.

Or better still.....

Make him crash into land and he'll stop following you.

Yes known bug from stock game.

[Nisgeis]

I've only had the following destroyer once, so I've been unable to even attempt to debug it. It was probably early war when I saw it - has anyone noticed any patterns in when they appear?

[7thSeal]

Originally Posted by Nisgeis

has anyone noticed any patterns in when they appear?

I notice it happen mostly while using TC.

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by 7thSeal

I notice it happen mostly while using TC.

Does it happen when the destroyer is already there, or if you TC into him and slow down that it happens? Single destroyer only or one that is part of a group that gets stuck. I think the one I had was a solo destroyer. What he was doing way out there I'll never know. I think he was heading to that moon...

[7thSeal]

For me, I'm already in TC and have had both a single one passing by that gets stuck and a group of them passing by and one will break away and then get stuck within a certain range of my position. Saving and restarting usually fixes it or you can just run them aground as someone else has mentioned.

Edit\ Another thing I notice is that I'm usually submerged when this happens... if that helps to point to anything.

[Salvadoreno]

I hate to compare mods or even ask people to compare mods, but i wanna get the best out of my experience. Does your mod and feared hunter 2.0 mod just increase the depth chage damage with small changes to destroyer AI files? Or vice versa? Like whats going on here.. I read feared hunters is a lil unrealistic,

Although not always
realistic this mod tries to put the fear "back" into the player when seeing a DD, forcing a thinking mans game, instead of point and shoot.

so is Uboat Killer more realistic or just plane harder? A few AI Uboat Kller mods have come out so im not quite sure what to use.

[SteelViking]

Originally Posted by Salvadoreno

I hate to compare mods or even ask people to compare mods, but i wanna get the best out of my experience. Does your mod and feared hunter 2.0 mod just increase the depth chage damage with small changes to destroyer AI files? Or vice versa? Like whats going on here.. I read feared hunters is a lil unrealistic,

so is Uboat Killer more realistic or just plane harder? A few AI Uboat Kller mods have come out so im not quite sure what to use.

I can't speak for Nisgeis, and I don't want to cut either mod down, but I have tried both and I greatly prefer this mod (being U boat Killer). With Feared Hunters 2.0 I seemed to just get destroyers never leaving until I ran out of air every time. With U boat Killers I find the experience very realistic and tense. I have gotten the crap depth charged out of my boat a few times with it. I Still manage to get away usually, but not without paying the price.

Just my opinion/observation though.

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by Salvadoreno

I hate to compare mods or even ask people to compare mods, but i wanna get the best out of my experience. Does your mod and feared hunter 2.0 mod just increase the depth chage damage with small changes to destroyer AI files? Or vice versa? Like whats going on here.. I read feared hunters is a lil unrealistic,

so is Uboat Killer more realistic or just plane harder? A few AI Uboat Kller mods have come out so im not quite sure what to use.

Hi Salvadoreno,

Both mods make changes to the AI scripting as well as the depth charge damage radius, e.g. how close the depth charge has to be to your boat in order to do damage. In stock, you won't get any damage unless a DD gets a direct hit. ddrgn's mod also reduces the effectiveness of the enemy sensors and makes the depth charges more powerful than in this mod.

Some very much prefer Feared Hunters over U-Boat Killer after trying both, so it depends on your playing style and what you think the enemy should do. Some find Feared Hunters harder than this mod and some vice versa. The very best thing you can do is to go out and find a convoy, save it when you find it and then play out your approach and attack twice, with each mod installed each time. Whichever encounter gives you the most 'realistic' (which is down to personal opinion) or most enjoyable experience, then go with that mod. Part of which one you prefer will be down to your playing style.

I can tell you that the philosophy behind this mod is to get them try to find you inteligently, but is more aimed at giving you a good mauling, rather than you dying quickly. In that way perhaps the mod name is a bit misleading. I found in SH3 that if I get attacked and just die, then I simply reload and start over, which can get a bit frustrating, if they keep killing me. With this mod, you should be shaken a lot and take systems damage, but not really lots of hull damage, so after a really bad attack you can recover and make a new attack, or if it was particularly bad, limp home to base for repairs.

If you use ddgrn's excellent Elite campaign mod, then that too will change the playing experience further and will step up the difficulty another level.

[Salvadoreno]

If you use ddgrn's excellent Elite campaign mod, then that too will change the playing experience further and will step up the difficulty another level.

I also use the elite camapgn with feared hunters. But i have yet to encounter any real DD attack yet due to my lack of skill in finding enemy konvois/ships lol.. But ill try both out. Thanks for advice and insight.

[scratch81]

First off love this mod. lived through my first depth charging, but not with out dings, bumps, and bruises. I know 2 hit me real hard, as they rolled me sideways almost 90 degrees. wrecked the engine room, however, but no pressure hull damage? the cheif had shouted the hull had been breached etc, but my damage control screen stated we're still at 100% couldn't see exactly how close they were (100% realism), but it did sound kinda distant (maybe 15m away at best), and the ones that followed sounded even more distant, but still did some component damage, but didn't notice any further shaking of the screen. Was exciting and thrilling none the less.

Over all, it feels like damage radius may be a bit too enlarged (as i didn't see how close the charges were, just gauging off how close it sounded).

Historically, a charge would have to be within 6-7m before it'd dent an undamaged pressure hull, but haven't read anywhere as far as how close they'd have to be for pipes to be exploding, engine and compressor getting wrecked, so I have no idea how large the damage bubble would have to be, just my two cents. Gonna turn on the external camera and intentionally aggrivate some destroyers, so i can watch next time, so i can give a bit more precise feedback.

Excellent work, and look forward to more, bigger, and better things on this front.

[M4XDmG]

Originally Posted by scratch81

First off love this mod. lived through my first depth charging, but not with out dings, bumps, and bruises. I know 2 hit me real hard, as they rolled me sideways almost 90 degrees. wrecked the engine room, however, but no pressure hull damage? the cheif had shouted the hull had been breached etc, but my damage control screen stated we're still at 100% couldn't see exactly how close they were (100% realism), but it did sound kinda distant (maybe 15m away at best), and the ones that followed sounded even more distant, but still did some component damage, but didn't notice any further shaking of the screen. Was exciting and thrilling none the less.

Over all, it feels like damage radius may be a bit too enlarged (as i didn't see how close the charges were, just gauging off how close it sounded).

Historically, a charge would have to be within 6-7m before it'd dent an undamaged pressure hull, but haven't read anywhere as far as how close they'd have to be for pipes to be exploding, engine and compressor getting wrecked, so I have no idea how large the damage bubble would have to be, just my two cents. Gonna turn on the external camera and intentionally aggrivate some destroyers, so i can watch next time, so i can give a bit more precise feedback.

Excellent work, and look forward to more, bigger, and better things on this front.

Depthcharges in real life inflicted hulldamage only when detonated just a few meters away from the sub.