[WIP] U-Boat Killer AI Mod

[sirbum69]

Thanks guys, i tweaked just the time that was set to 6 hours...I made it so its set to 2 hours, and i think i changed the 15 sec one to like 40..

I didnt want to change too much on it cause i do love that they come after me now, just wanted to make it a little easier on me, as im not an expert in sub simulation...

Been playing sence SH4 but even that was hard lol...

[kylania]

Originally Posted by sirbum69

im not an expert in sub simulation...

You're well on your way to becoming an expertly simulated sub target though!

[sirbum69]

LOL got that right...All tho i sat and waited for a tanker to come to me last night off the coast...Then i sent three torps into her...

There wer about 4 DD's just outside of the port circling around cause i could see them in the distance, but they wernt following her...

Soon as i downed her tho, they Took off in that direction full speed..I had already begun to leave the area tho...and its a lot deeper there so i went 115M deep and speed of 2 knts...

Seems like im going to be able to get away from them, i saved at that point and havnt been back in yet..

There searching for me above but havnt found me yet...There not pinging me so i think they are just up there knowing i was there but not sure if i still am...Oh and the 4 that were just doing patrols turned into like 9 searching for me...

[The General]

In my first patrol of the Campaign, I was about 70 miles of the East coast of England when I spotted a Destroyer in the mist. It was a very dark night and my Watch-crew did well to spot him. I decided to fire a few shells into him and see what would happen, bad idea. Initially he took off at maximum speed, headed back toPort with his tail between his legs, 'Coward!' I yelled after him. However, within the next couple of hours he called for assistance and these guys showed up:

While I was very impressed with the British Navy's quick response, I couldn't help wondering if this level of support would be realistic? I know in theory that the first Destroyer didn't know who or what was firing at him through the fog, it could've been the whole German navy for all he knew

[Athlonic]

Originally Posted by The General

While I was very impressed with the British Navy's quick response, I couldn't help wondering if this level of support would be reralistic?

Yes, that would be cool if it happen only after "Happy times".

I know in theory that the first Destroyer didn't know who or what was firing at him through the fog, it could've been the whole German navy for all he knew

[Fattysbox]

Originally Posted by Nisgeis

Thanks for the feedback, I'll do some testing with groups that have only a single asset and multiple destroyers. That seems to be the common theme here.

As for sitting on the bottom still in shallow water, I'm not so sure that's a good idea, as they start from your last known position to try to re-acquire you, so if they have depth charged you and you sit in the same spot, they will find you again fairly easily. I have an idea about that though. I think your best chance against a single asset convoy is to start planning your escape before you attack and be on your way out before it hits home. I'm not sure what the 'correct' procedure they'd follow is, but I should think they'd be pretty annoyed if you sank the only thing they were protecting .

As for single contacts (BBs) surrounded by escorts, I escaped them. Attacked a Nelson from the starboard side after I penetrated the screen, dived deep, and kept going at 3 knts. I guess I was never in their search circle because I only heard three pings and thats it. All the DDs ran circular patterns for about 1 hour, gave up and ran off.

BTW, forgot about even attacking Scapa with your mod. Sank a QE and 7 destroyers from around the base came for hell bent on revenge. Constant pinging and I got some damage. However, after the first couple of attack runs, they never dropped DCs. They acquired me every single time for more than 2 hours and just ran right over me without dropping.

I never shook them off, decided to just reload from an earlier time point.

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by Fattysbox

BTW, forgot about even attacking Scapa with your mod. Sank a QE and 7 destroyers from around the base came for hell bent on revenge. Constant pinging and I got some damage. However, after the first couple of attack runs, they never dropped DCs. They acquired me every single time for more than 2 hours and just ran right over me without dropping.

You're right about harbour raiding now being more difficult. As to them running and not dropping, with v 1.02 I made some changes so that they should only drop when they have a good contact, or a good idea you are there. Previously they'd drop DCs at the last point they saw you repeatedly until they ran out of DCs. So, you may have been in range of hearing their pings, but they weren't able to detect you.

[doomlordis]

Anyone else finding this mod too "killer", i have died in my last 3 games within 3 game months!

[7thSeal]

Personally I enjoy it very much... throw in the plane attack mod with it and finally my campaigns are no longer boring while sinking ships. Personally I don't think its overdone and still escape after an attack and the hunter becomes the hunted. It makes you plan your attacks and escape route beforehand which I think is excellent. I've been killed by the DD's before when using this mod and find a nice balance with it.

I cringe when in shallow waters and see some DD's prowling my area and my wife asks if I'm having trouble seeing the screen because I sit up and lean forward in those situations.

[Nisgeis]

Originally Posted by doomlordis

Anyone else finding this mod too "killer", i have died in my last 3 games within 3 game months!

What's the trouble you're having with it, e.g. how do they get you?

[doomlordis]

The escorts are stuck to me , silent running even at 150m they just keep circling until i run out of air.
I am beginning to think its a bug as if i save and reload i am able to evade as expected.

[UF582151]

Hmmm tried this mod yesterday and went for a port raid just for the fun of it to see what would happen.

Found a few things that are obviously not right :p

Was spotted by a plane flying in pitch black midnight. (I am also running the plane mod) Got fired at so I dived to 25 m, couldn't go much lower as I was in shallow waters.

Shortly after I started hearing this strange whizzing sound. I'm playing realistic but I've hacked the settings so I can use external camera (for some screenshots once in a while). Still the sound bugged me so much that I decided to take a look. Turns out a destroyer some 1500-2000m away was tracking me shooting its main guns and 20mm at me, although I was submerged ¿WTF? It never tried to run a DC attack on me. Its also worrying how he knew my position so well (he was not using sonar) I like the idea that maybe the plane that spotted me gave my last know location and bearing but still, he was shooting right at me (100% accurate if I had been surfaced).

I rigged silent running went a few meters deeper and changed direction once or twice. Destroyer finally stopped hassling me although he still managed to follow me accurately for a while always using its deck guns. Still no sonar pings at all.

After some time I rose to periscope depth to take a peek and found the destroyer laying still about 2000 meters away. Sirens sounded immediately and I though "Ok, I'm screwed", but that was all. No reaction from de destroyer apart from the siren. I maneuvered torpedoed it and it didn't even move

I regained course and found two other destroyers dead still closer to the enemy port (strange because I've raided this port a few times to check AI and destroyers are always active and patrolling). Same thing, sirens but no reaction. Torpedoed one to see if the other would react and nope. They were side by side, less than 100 m.

So not really too impressed with the AI. I just want to know if this is some stock bug deeper in the game or if the mod can end up bugged once in a while and have these side effects.

thanks for the effort and thanks for any feedback.

[Nisgeis]

Doomlordis, I will have a look.

UF582151, could you tell me what port, what type of destroyer they were and the date please, so I can test it?

It sounds like the DDs thought you were surfaced, which sounds like some sort of game engine problem. Have you got any other mods running, apart from this and the plane mod? I've heard of people being able to man the deck gun whilst underwater, so I guess it's possible for the game to get confused about it.

I don't think it's a problem with this mod, as there is nothing in the scripts to tell the DDs to fire at submerged targets with their deck guns and machine guns, but I'll test it and see what happens. Did you save and reload underwater or do anything out of the ordinary? The DDs will fire guns at subs that have their scopes exposed, but they should also ram (if they are heavy enough). They won't fire at you unless they can see part of the sub, which they shouldn't do if you are underwater, or if it's really heavy weather and you broach.

[UF582151]

Originally Posted by Nisgeis

Doomlordis, I will have a look.

UF582151, could you tell me what port, what type of destroyer they were and the date please, so I can test it?

It sounds like the DDs thought you were surfaced, which sounds like some sort of game engine problem. Have you got any other mods running, apart from this and the plane mod? I've heard of people being able to man the deck gun whilst underwater, so I guess it's possible for the game to get confused about it.

I don't think it's a problem with this mod, as there is nothing in the scripts to tell the DDs to fire at submerged targets with their deck guns and machine guns, but I'll test it and see what happens. Did you save and reload underwater or do anything out of the ordinary? The DDs will fire guns at subs that have their scopes exposed, but they should also ram (if they are heavy enough). They won't fire at you unless they can see part of the sub, which they shouldn't do if you are underwater, or if it's really heavy weather and you broach.

OK, as far as I recall:

1. It was first patrol, that would be mid september 1939.
3. Port was Grimsby in eastern UK coast. First encounter was right near the small northern appendix of the bay entrance.
3. As far as I can recall I didnt save and reload once during the whole encounter. Some autosave maybe but I never loaded a new game.
4. 1rst detroyer was V&W class destroyer. 2nd and 3rd were B class and tribal class.
5. I wasnt broaching as the water was pretty calm.
6. Only relevant mod that touches AI is yours and Wamphyri's plane mod. I am running other mods like DW's UI, MCCD, MFC, Sh5EnvMod and improved pitch&roll but I dont see them being responsible of this behavior.

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.

[doomlordis]

I have removed all AI mods for the moment and have manually modded the DC values up to 2-40 meters and 50 - 150 damage.
Last night (playing with the killer mod) the destroyers were following me , even though they didnt manage a good attack they were able to track me at 120m , silent running with frequent direction changes. They did not ping me either , its like they have superhuman hydrophone operators !

Now as a test i reduced the lost contact time back to 15 mins in the mod (saved , restarted game) and expected them to move off eventually, nope they stayed with me until i had to surface 15 hours later.

Does this mod change any detection values?


Something aint right.