I am sick of these planes.

[Charos]

Originally Posted by DanielMcintyre

Im thinking that they are spawned randomly near your sub to give the appearance of patrol aircraft but are in fact not actually flying a real search pattern. I read that the ship encounters in the game are like this too, they dont leave x harbor and sail to y harbor but are dynamically spawned near your sub to give the illusion of this occurring.

Could be wrong of course.

To my knowledge your 100% correct - The computer rolls a probability of a plane finding you based on various parameters then it spawns just outside visual range and attacks.

The aircraft only has two speeds maximum and minimum.

Im guessing alot of H8K and H6K would have been used in a patrol role carrying no bombs but mainly looking for task forces rather than subs - If they pinpointed a sub they would have then called in an attack.

Will have to read up a little more on that one.

In SH4 EVERY Aircraft if it see's you attacks - no recon - patrol AC at all.

[Laffertytig]

i was under the impression that SH3 had ships/convoys moving along assigned waypoints. im a bit shocked that they would remove this feature in in SH4. so we dont really have a dynamic or random campaign just an illusion of one?

the same goes for aircraft i guess

[Gigalocus]

i got that problem pretty bad, and the depth wasn't enough to go effectivly to periscope depth.

[R3D]

saw every aircraft in the sky exploding on first contact with jap AA in all the mission scenario's, its like every AC in the game is sugar coated in kerosene.

AA guns are way to accurate under A.I control or just to damn powerful.

aircraft in this game are just modelled so amateurish and not a single improvment to be seen over Sh3.

[kiwi_2005]

My first two careers with only one patrol for each one not even finished were lost due to aircraft

[partyboy]

Originally Posted by Laffertytig

i was under the impression that SH3 had ships/convoys moving along assigned waypoints. im a bit shocked that they would remove this feature in in SH4. so we dont really have a dynamic or random campaign just an illusion of one?

I'm pretty sure SH3 works the same way. At the end of the day, I don't think it makes much difference with the limited range of a Sub in such a huge area. It'd be a waste of resources having the CPU keep track of all the various boats that you'll probably never encounter.

[quadraspleen]

Originally Posted by hyperion2206

That would be really unrealisitic, Japan did not get radar before the end of '43 and even then the radar wasn't working in 9 out of 10 times.

My bad. I have no idea what Radar the Japanese did or didn't have, tbh. It was just a guess. The patrol I'm in is in late '43 early '44, so maybe I'm just unlucky and catching all of the planes who's Radar did work?!

Knowing this game, the Japanese have invented a plane that is magnetically "attracted" to subs, even ones over 800nm from their home base They don't even have to fly it to you; it flies itself...

Is that true about the bomb loadouts being all wrong? Modders?!

[ATR-42]

Like the other thread said, just modify your AIRSTRIKE file in that data cfg folder...

i lowered the values and have found the game much more enjoyable. on any given patrol, i may encounter MAYBE 4-5 airplanes. It was just detracting from enjoying the game before. Not having planes bugging me all the time allowed me to think about other stuff. The planes were just competely out of hand until i modified the file. Now much quieter skys....

[tater]

I need to clean it up after testing and release it, but all the bomb loads are grossly wrong. The H6K and H8K would likely carry a bomb load for patrol work, though perhaps not a full load. I should look into that. The aircraft bomb loads don;t need to be representative of the type in general, they really need to represent what might be seen by a sub. The Zeros should have no bombs at all, and frankly they should also be unable to radio a report in since they frequently removed their radios because they were so awful.

The ranges are too long for operational use in most cases, and the speeds...

That is interesting, do you know that the plane move at either the min or max speed? Seems like the solution would be to make the min speed ~cruising speed and the max speed ~ cruising speed.

The airattack also needs to be reduced as suggested. What the game really needs is a detection chance and range for the planes based on their alt, the sub's state (surfaced, periscope depth scope up, submerged), time of day, sea state, and the sub's speed. As suggested, the planes always attack, meaning you are always spotted. I think a work around is to set the chances of aircraft such that you only see as many as would actually have spotted you in RL. So if only 1 in 5 planes that flies over would spot a sub on the surface on average, then the aircraft attacks should be reduced 5 fold.

Yes, subs dove to avoid aircraft sometimes many times a day, but had they stayed on the surface we don't know what % would have been detected---the RL crews were better safe than sorry and dove.

[Florida Sailor]

The Jap planes near Midway come from Wake Island. Draw a 1000 mile radius from Wake, stay North of it, and you will see no planes. Same for the coast of Japam, they show up about 1000 miles out.

[Sceptre666]

Originally Posted by ATR-42

Like the other thread said, just modify your AIRSTRIKE file in that data cfg folder...

i lowered the values and have found the game much more enjoyable. on any given patrol, i may encounter MAYBE 4-5 airplanes. It was just detracting from enjoying the game before. Not having planes bugging me all the time allowed me to think about other stuff. The planes were just competely out of hand until i modified the file. Now much quieter skys....

So which values should I be switching, and by how much?

[Drokkon]

Tater be sure to put in surface speed. With these eagle eyed japanese pilots it's hard to believe they had a hard time finding 3 carriers NE of Miday. They seem to see my tiny sub profile very easy from miles away while I'm only doing 10 knots.

[ATR-42]

Originally Posted by Sceptre666

So which values should I be switching, and by how much?

Scept, i wont be home till monday night so i wont be able to post exactly until then, im sure the guys here know though. Open the airstrike file with notepad, there were two values in there, one i think was "40" i changed it to 20, the other was 10, i changed it to "05"

you'll see the numbers im talking about when you open the file up. it was a huge help. and not a 'complete turn off' cause you will occasionally stumble across a couple of planes during a patrol. it was a good balance.

[akdavis]

Originally Posted by tater

I need to clean it up after testing and release it, but all the bomb loads are grossly wrong. The H6K and H8K would likely carry a bomb load for patrol work, though perhaps not a full load. I should look into that. The aircraft bomb loads don;t need to be representative of the type in general, they really need to represent what might be seen by a sub. The Zeros should have no bombs at all, and frankly they should also be unable to radio a report in since they frequently removed their radios because they were so awful.

The ranges are too long for operational use in most cases, and the speeds...

That is interesting, do you know that the plane move at either the min or max speed? Seems like the solution would be to make the min speed ~cruising speed and the max speed ~ cruising speed.

The airattack also needs to be reduced as suggested. What the game really needs is a detection chance and range for the planes based on their alt, the sub's state (surfaced, periscope depth scope up, submerged), time of day, sea state, and the sub's speed. As suggested, the planes always attack, meaning you are always spotted. I think a work around is to set the chances of aircraft such that you only see as many as would actually have spotted you in RL. So if only 1 in 5 planes that flies over would spot a sub on the surface on average, then the aircraft attacks should be reduced 5 fold.

Yes, subs dove to avoid aircraft sometimes many times a day, but had they stayed on the surface we don't know what % would have been detected---the RL crews were better safe than sorry and dove.

Hell, we don't even know what percentage of those aircraft might have been Allied, or false radar contacts, or maybe even frigate birds...

[clayton]

Section 4
Radar

1. Two types of radar are at present installed in submarines. Each is valuable for navigational purposes, as well as for their primary purposes. Every advantage of training personnel in radar material, maintenance and operation should be grasped. Either one or both radars are in continuous operation when the submarine is operating on the surface.
2. In operating radars due consideration must be given to the possibilities of the SD radar signal being picked up by the enemy. Intermittent use of the SD for 5 seconds at irregular intervals of not more than one minute is considered to be fairly safe procedure. Radars require warming up before being put in operation.
3. While searching with SJ use power training. When contact is made shift to hand training and develop the contact by obtaining range and bearing. Shift to lobe switching as soon as possible. In applying radar information use both the TDC and plot. When the contact is enemy, develop the contact for attack. Take full advantage of visibility conditions, going to radar depth, when necessary, to avoid detection; and then to periscope depth to deliver the attack when the visibility permits periscope observations. In reduced visibility the attack may be carried out undetected with the submarine on the surface. This is more desirable and more effective than a submerged attack as the submarine retains the advantage of mobility and high speed.
4. While tracking with the SJ radar make frequent 360° sweeps for other targets. Use the P.P.I.
5. Success in radar tracking demands excellent interior communications. Frequent drills are required to develop the required standards of communications between the bridge, conning tower and plot. Special emphasis should be given to the instruction of talkers.

I wonder if the use of SD / SJ attracts aircraft? It certainly did during the war, it seems.