[WIP] Damage Control analyzer that factors crew experience into the damage report

[letterboy1]

Hi Billko, I just started using your program and it's great. My main concern is always with hull damage, so this program is a life saver.

Anyway, a problem I ran into is that your program reported damage to my Aft Gun Deck which I don't have. I have a bow-mounted deck gun (which your program accurately reported as damaged). I also have a twin .50 AA Gun (damaged) on my Tambor class boat but the program failed to report that it was damaged at all.

The save game file is a fresh save game, not an overwritten one.

If you need any more details please let me know. And thanks again for this great program.

[billko]

Originally Posted by letterboy1

Hi Billko, I just started using your program and it's great. My main concern is always with hull damage, so this program is a life saver.

Anyway, a problem I ran into is that your program reported damage to my Aft Gun Deck which I don't have. I have a bow-mounted deck gun (which your program accurately reported as damaged). I also have a twin .50 AA Gun (damaged) on my Tambor class boat but the program failed to report that it was damaged at all.

The save game file is a fresh save game, not an overwritten one.

If you need any more details please let me know. And thanks again for this great program.

Letterboy1:

The first problem I can answer with authority. The sub is showing an aft gun deck (as well as a fore gun deck) because the possiblity of having an aft gun on this sub class is there; therefore, there is a slot for the aft gun deck and it can get damaged. Also, since there really isn't a gun there, and as such, isn't manned, I don't even know if it can be repaired or not (at least by your crew - refitting seems to be able to repair this kind of damage)! I believe that it is this kind of hidden damage that can cause the sub's crush depth to be unexpectedly shallow, even if the hull seems to be just fine. SH4 reports these decks as separate compartments, and are damageable (is that a word?). Oh, also - the aft gun deck might be reported under "Deck Watch" in SH4. I'm not sure. If you feel inclined to do so, could you confirm or deny this for me?

The second problem may be just that - a problem. It could be that I had done something dumb and isn't reporting the equipment/weapon damage for that compartment. (Do remember whether it was the fore or aft mounted AA gun?) If this is indeed what i think it is, this should be happening with all the subs with similarly mounted AA guns.

If you could send me the ActivePlayerUnits.upc of the offending saved game (you can peek at the name of the saved game in the replayinfo.rep if you use a text editor such as notepad), or just send me all of the ActivePlayerUnits.upc files, I'll try to identify what is going on here.

To anyone using this application, I'd like to hear if you've been seeing the same issues as letterboy1. (I don't believe it to be strictly Tambor-related.) Thanks!!! I'll be doing some testing, too.

Also, I really appreciate that you are taking the time to help me make this a better application, and I also thank you for the kind words.

Bill

[letterboy1]

Billko,
to answer a question - it is the Fore AA Gun (no Aft AA Gun is even represented in this case).

Here is a link to the file you requested.

http://facstaff.colstate.edu/roach_steven/Billko.rar

Please let me know as soon as you have it so I can delete it from the server. Thanks.

[billko]

Originally Posted by letterboy1

Billko,
to answer a question - it is the Fore AA Gun (no Aft AA Gun is even represented in this case).

Here is a link to the file you requested.

http://facstaff.colstate.edu/roach_steven/Billko.rar

Please let me know as soon as you have it so I can delete it from the server. Thanks.

I got it. I'll look at it and see what happened.

Thanks!

Bill

[billko]

Originally Posted by letterboy1

Hi Billko, I just started using your program and it's great. My main concern is always with hull damage, so this program is a life saver.

Anyway, a problem I ran into is that your program reported damage to my Aft Gun Deck which I don't have. I have a bow-mounted deck gun (which your program accurately reported as damaged). I also have a twin .50 AA Gun (damaged) on my Tambor class boat but the program failed to report that it was damaged at all.

The save game file is a fresh save game, not an overwritten one.

If you need any more details please let me know. And thanks again for this great program.

Letterboy1:

I believe I've isolated the cause of problem #2. I'll try to fix it ASAP, but darned real life is getting in the way. I just got a new job but the hours are gonna take away from the debug process. I hate when that happens!

Bill

[letterboy1]

Sounds great Billko! Take your time, it's already working great.

[billko]

So, okay. It was an easier fix than I had anticipated. I had forgotten that I made the application fairly programmer-friendly.

Anyways, this fixes a bug where AA Gun damage was being incorrectly reported on Tambor class subs. A few other classes were affected as well. Thanks to letterboy1, who took the time to alert me about this problem!

The history file and a link to the download is in the first post, which you can reach by clicking the link on my sig.

Good hunting!

Bill

[leovampire]

Originally Posted by billko

So, okay. It was an easier fix than I had anticipated. I had forgotten that I made the application fairly programmer-friendly.

Anyways, this fixes a bug where AA Gun damage was being incorrectly reported on Tambor class subs. A few other classes were affected as well. Thanks to letterboy1, who took the time to alert me about this problem!

The history file and a link to the download is in the first post, which you can reach by clicking the link on my sig.

Good hunting!

Bill

Either I am too chicken or too carfull but I very seldome get damge to my sub so don't get to use your tool often enough to tell if it work's right or not. But it is nice to hear that it is even better for when I do need it.

[billko]

Originally Posted by leovampire

Either I am too chicken or too carfull but I very seldome get damge to my sub so don't get to use your tool often enough to tell if it work's right or not. But it is nice to hear that it is even better for when I do need it.

Why do you think I never saw this problem? I never fight toe to toe with even armed merchants with Werner's NSM, and I roleplay and dive whenever enemy planes threaten on the RADAR. I rarely use the AA Gun(s). (Although I've read somewhere that German U-boats were so successful at shooting down airplanes that at one point there were standing orders to engage enemy aircraft on the surface, rather than dive below! I think maybe an article on submarine tactics in Wikipedia.)

Bill

[letterboy1]

Heh heh, I'm very carefull, too. But ever since I figured out how to correctly make a contact report I've been getting that very challenging order "Engage escorts to prepare for follow-up attack." I can't resist the opportunity for extra renown, so some interesting duels and games of "chicken" follow.

[billko]

Originally Posted by letterboy1

Heh heh, I'm very carefull, too. But ever since I figured out how to correctly make a contact report I've been getting that very challenging order "Engage escorts to prepare for follow-up attack." I can't resist the opportunity for extra renown, so some interesting duels and games of "chicken" follow.

I have a love/hate relationship with that order. With the little S-boat, I find many times I have to leave the objective incomplete because I run out of torpedoes. The order that is really difficult for me is to sink a capital ship. It seems that even sinking an aircraft carrier isn't sufficient tonnage to complete the objective!

Do you (or anyone, for that matter) blow ballast as an *offensive* weapon? I use it often if I know destroyers are looking for me and a target is close by. I blow ballast to get me to periscope depth so I'm in a position to launch some torpedoes before the destroyers have time to react to my presence. Problem is, sometimes I stay too long to see the fireworks and have to do some fancy footwork to avoid the depth charges.

My proudest moments are when, by diving and returning to periscope depth, I can take out most of the convoy and the escorts have absolutely no idea where I am and the depth charges are dropping on the far side of the convoy. I'm not even going to say what my most shameful moments are.

Bill

[Digital_Trucker]

Originally Posted by billko

I'm not even going to say what my most shameful moments are.

Bill

I can't remember my most shameful moments because they are sitting at the bottom of the Pacific.

Thanks for the update on the file app, by the way. I am one of those cautious types who occasionally gets out of character and does something goofy like daytime surfaced chases near airbases , so I get good use out of your app

[leovampire]

If I see there is only one plane I will stay surfaced and fight. I go to ahead flank once they spot me and trun towards me. Then I make a hard turn to make it hard for them to attack accuratly as the gunner shoot's them.

But if there are 2 of them I dive right away and do not enguage.

My best convoy attack was sitting at 100 feet down in front of a convoy at a dead stop. Once the forward escort was past me I rose up to Scope depth and waited for the first line of ship's to be on my left and right side's. Then used forward and aft torpedo's to sink 2 ship's at the same time.

Took time for the escort's to get through the panic of the merchants so I could watch them go down. Then I dove as far as I could down and was never found by the escorts. Of course I never moved the entire time so that helped.

But only managed to do that manuver 1 time in this game since I started using T.M. due to the new zig zag pattern the convoy's use.

[billko]

Originally Posted by leovampire

If I see there is only one plane I will stay surfaced and fight. I go to ahead flank once they spot me and trun towards me. Then I make a hard turn to make it hard for them to attack accuratly as the gunner shoot's them.

But if there are 2 of them I dive right away and do not enguage.

My best convoy attack was sitting at 100 feet down in front of a convoy at a dead stop. Once the forward escort was past me I rose up to Scope depth and waited for the first line of ship's to be on my left and right side's. Then used forward and aft torpedo's to sink 2 ship's at the same time.

Took time for the escort's to get through the panic of the merchants so I could watch them go down. Then I dove as far as I could down and was never found by the escorts. Of course I never moved the entire time so that helped.

But only managed to do that manuver 1 time in this game since I started using T.M. due to the new zig zag pattern the convoy's use.

Funny, I used to do that until I had one kamikaze and bounce off the deck of my boat... needless to say, my day (as well as my sub) was ruined. It was kind of funny because I guess they don't have an animated sequence for planes crashing into subs because it just kind of skipped off the fore deck, but the impact was enough to sink the sub!

Bill

[letterboy1]

Dang Leo, 100 Ft? I can't be at 100 ft any where near a destroyer without them sniffing me. I always have to stay beneath the thermal layer until that forward sweeper is past me; then I pop up. Except today one of the flanking escorts was uncharacteristically close to the front and made things difficult for me. Instead of a leisurely dead-stop launch of fore and aft torpedos at two juicy large modern freighters, I was running flank speed and trying to maneuver into firing position. So much for beautifully laid out plans.