[REL] AI launched torpedoes

[DarkFish]

UPDATED VERSION - NOW ABLE TO HIT MOVING TARGETS

Thought I'd better make it a new thread.
As the title suggests I've solved the problem of getting AI ships to fire torpedoes. The files available for DL are only the files needed to manually install them on ships, ships won't have them without some manual tweaking.

I've made a small vid showing an AI elco PT boat attacking a stationary Japanese merchant with 3 torpedoes:




Known bugs/issues:
- Torpedoes are relatively ineffective, about 4% hit rate @4000m distance.
- the torpedoes occasionally dive (much) too deep/too shallow, sometimes recovering after a certain distance.

and before anyone's gonna ask, no, the merchant is not to the north of the elco. WaterInteraction is great, but not so great for torpedoes

DL Link: http://www.gamefront.com/files/21085853/AI_torps_rar

Installation:
- install manually or using JSGME, no files will be overwritten.
- Now for all ships you want to have torpedoes add a main armament node in its .dat file (in the .dat file - Data\Sea\Shipname\Shipname.dat, open using S3D - you'll find nodes called cfg#M01_NPT_Boat_A, cfg#M02_NPT_Boat_A etc. If the last one is for example called cfg#M04_NPT_Boat_A you must add a new one called cfg#M05_NPT_Boat_A)
- Make sure this node is placed well clear of the ship. Launching torpedoes from a node too close to the hull will lead to torpedoes scattering all over the place. Also rotate it into the direction you want torpedoes fired in as the torpedo launcher will only fire within 45 degrees to either side of this direction. I recommend an X-coordinate offset of at the very least 0,5 game units. If you see torpedoes heading for space it means the node is too close to the ship.
- now finally in the ships .eqp file add:

[Equipment 6] ;one more than the previous
NodeName=M01 ;name of the node, if in the .dat file the node is called cfg#M05_NPT_Boat_A this should be 'M05'
LinkName=torpspawngun
StartDate=19380101
EndDate=19451231

[iambecomelife]

Great job! Can we adjust the torpedo speed, so that maybe the torpedoes will be useful against faster targets? I don't mind if they're ahistorically fast if it helps improve accuracy a little.

[keltos01]

any more work done in the past 10 days ?

keltos

[peabody]

Originally Posted by DarkFish

Thought I'd better make it a new thread.
As the title suggests I've solved the problem of getting AI ships to fire torpedoes.

Known bugs/issues:
- All torpedoes are launched straight to the target and thus are only effective against stationary/slow moving targets.

Fantastic idea. Very clever.

Just a suggestion on the issue of stationary/slow moving targets. You have the Particle generator/object linked to the MK14. What about making one of the torpedos acoustic. (I know the cutie is already, but it is slow and underpowered for this use.) Wouldn't that solve the problem of accurate aiming for faster ships? You would still have to be "in the ballpark" or the acoustic wouldn't pick up the target. And then you could create missions with surface AI ships assisting an attack. Of couse I would put a rather small limit on the available ammo or it would keep shooting until everything is sunk.

Thanks for the great work.

Peabody

[Rockin Robbins]

This smells like as lousy an idea as Ducimus' evil airplanes. I have to confess that when he announced that I thought it was the stupidest thing anybody ever thought of. And when I played with it I realized that it was genius, the best new idea in Silent Hunter 4 to date.

I think this is another one of those game-changer ideas that will force us to operate with a little more fear and in a little less Rambo-like fashion. If we're setting up a surface attack and a fleet of six torpedo boats with two or four of these torpedoes charges us from two directions at 30 knots, what do you think our reaction would be?

Did the Japanese have E-Boats or the equivalent? They certainly were good at destroyers and torpedoes, so something can be cooked up in any event. This promises to mess up our nice tidy game and introduce a little refreshing mayhem!

[keltos01]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

This smells like as lousy an idea as Ducimus' evil airplanes. I have to confess that when he announced that I thought it was the stupidest thing anybody ever thought of. And when I played with it I realized that it was genius, the best new idea in Silent Hunter 4 to date.
I agree !
I think this is another one of those game-changer ideas that will force us to operate with a little more fear and in a little less Rambo-like fashion.thus more realistically If we're setting up a surface attack and a fleet of six torpedo boats with two or four of these torpedoes charges us from two directions at 30 knots, what do you think our reaction would be?
dive dive dive !
Did the Japanese have E-Boats or the equivalent? yes but bigger, see below They certainly were good at destroyers and torpedoes, so something can be cooked up in any event. This promises to mess up our nice tidy game and introduce a little refreshing mayhem!

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=68979





Tomozuru was one of four Chidori-class torpedo boats of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She capsized in a storm on March 12, 1934, shortly after her completion. Her loss forced the IJN to review the stability of all of its recently completed, still building and planned ships. She was salvaged and put back into service after extensive modifications. She saw service in the Battle of the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies campaign as escorts and continued in that role for the rest of the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanes..._boat_Tomozuru

They also had smaller Torpedo Boats :




http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...t_No2_1941.jpg


type 101 torpedo boat :



http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...round_1943.jpg

type 241 torpedo boat :



http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...pe241_1944.jpg

torpedo boat n° 14 :



http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..._No14_1944.jpg

IJN torpedo boat main picture page :

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ca..._Japanese_Navy

keltos

[keltos01]

more on japanese torpedo boats classes :

http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/...+Boat&offset=0

do you know which are already modelled in game if any ?

Miner1436 could maybe make a few ?

keltos

[miner1436]

I might give it a shot in the future, but for now im taking a break from modding.

[DarkFish]

Originally Posted by peabody

Fantastic idea. Very clever.

Just a suggestion on the issue of stationary/slow moving targets. You have the Particle generator/object linked to the MK14. What about making one of the torpedos acoustic. (I know the cutie is already, but it is slow and underpowered for this use.) Wouldn't that solve the problem of accurate aiming for faster ships? You would still have to be "in the ballpark" or the acoustic wouldn't pick up the target. And then you could create missions with surface AI ships assisting an attack. Of couse I would put a rather small limit on the available ammo or it would keep shooting until everything is sunk.

Thanks for the great work.

Peabody

You could fire any torpedo you want, just change the ID the object particle links to in the torpedospawnfx.dat file. But I don't think a modified cutie would work as it would simply go after the ship that fired the torpedo, I guess.
FYI, there are no custom torpedoes included, it just uses the stock ones. If you want a torpedo to go faster you would have to modify one of the already existing ones. Maybe cloning it, but I don't know what effect that would have on the 'playable' ones.

There is already a limit on the ammo, right now it has 4 torpedoes launching 20 seconds apart.

Also, I updated the file to fix problems with deep running torps, in the latest version (just uploaded to FileFront) even with 15m/s wind 2/3 of all torpedoes still hit the target. (depending on target draft of course, 7,5 ft in this case)
At longer ranges (from about 2500 m) the problem seems to cure itself with all torpedoes suddenly rising to their normal depth, but so far I didn't succeed in shortening this distance.

[The Fishlord]

Originally Posted by DarkFish

You could fire any torpedo you want, just change the ID the object particle links to in the torpedospawnfx.dat file. But I don't think a modified cutie would work as it would simply go after the ship that fired the torpedo, I guess.
FYI, there are no custom torpedoes included, it just uses the stock ones. If you want a torpedo to go faster you would have to modify one of the already existing ones. Maybe cloning it, but I don't know what effect that would have on the 'playable' ones.

There is already a limit on the ammo, right now it has 4 torpedoes launching 20 seconds apart.

Also, I updated the file to fix problems with deep running torps, in the latest version (just uploaded to FileFront) even with 15m/s wind 2/3 of all torpedoes still hit the target. (depending on target draft of course, 7,5 ft in this case)
At longer ranges (from about 2500 m) the problem seems to cure itself with all torpedoes suddenly rising to their normal depth, but so far I didn't succeed in shortening this distance.

That's still waaay better than nothing, great job. Since this is a modified gun I guess it won't fire underwater though? So no chance of seeing intelligent enemy subs...

Speaking of Japanese torpedo boats...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shimakaze.jpg

This is the only remaining picture of HIJMS Shimakaze. She had hands down probably the biggest broadside of her tonnage class of the war - six five inchers and 15 Long Lances, which gave her a huge edge in night fighting. To top it off she could scurry along at 40 knots with an experimental turbine.

Dang, the Japanese could have done a lot more damage than they did IRL...imagine encountering this baby ingame, with torpedos all loaded up.

[peabody]

Originally Posted by DarkFish

FYI, there are no custom torpedoes included, it just uses the stock ones. If you want a torpedo to go faster you would have to modify one of the already existing ones. Maybe cloning it, but I don't know what effect that would have on the 'playable' ones.

I don't think you can clone a torpedo, you would have to modify one in the sim file and make it acoustic. I don't know if the ship will only use the US torpedos or if it will use the German ones, never tried it. But Keltos tried to add a new torpedo and it wouldn't work. And someone mentioned you can modify them but can't add any. I think if the straight run distance was far enough it shouldn't come back to hit you, but of course I never tested it, since until now, I didn't know you could make them work.

Peabody

[keltos01]

you cannot clone a torpedo. period. but you could modify a relatively less used one into what you need

thanks to all the modders out there this game is starting to look like something !

guess they should hire us all

keltos

[U-46 Commander]

They should! I would probably only be a tester though. Can't mod, can paint a little.

[Bubblehead1980]

Reading these posts about AI controlled torpedos from subs and ships is a big tease(lol) Thanks for the work guys, can't wait till your work is implemented in major mods out there, will be too cool.

[chrysanthos]

looks like someone has to backed up this mod somewhere else than filefront....now its gone forever....