What about player-lead wolfpacks?

[urfisch]

this is a question i ask myself for years now...since there are ai-wolfpacks, which are generated and attack with deckgun or "fake-torps"...

but there is no interaction. would be great to have some ai-boats, which are placed all over the ocean...and lead to your position, when sending a radio message of a convoi-contact! therefore there must be the possibility to give "orders" to the ai-boats. some kind of crossing in the code...a linkage, that make the ai-boats react on such a message. i dont know, if this is given...

is it possible?

[bigboywooly]

Most mods use AI uboats patrolling
GWX does for sure - this one passed me in BF36 the other day when I was heading for patrol grid



BUT
Am not sure even if you send a radio contact whether they come or not

I always send a contact report when watching a convoy and apart from the Lolwaffe if close to coast nothing has shown up

And then as Dietrich rightly says the AI would be limited if did turn up as surfaced
Sure they would have the surfaced speed to get to you but wouldnt last long
Submerged AI units would only be of help if right in the convoy path as slow speed

Tis a pity the wolfpacks were dropped in development as time closed in

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Dietrich

It would be easier to do in a Single-Player Stand-Alone mission, rather than the Campaign Career. Then you could use triggers to spawn in additional units, based on a specific scenario. You would be somewhat limited as to how those triggers can be activated, so it would necessarily be something like reaching a certain area, or destroying a certain unit. The best thing for you to do, would be to have a look at the Mission Editors User Guide (p42) and look at the trigger options. Then, when the trigger is set, you would use it to set an Event (such as spawning in the relevant units). If you need it, the link to the Mission Editors User Guide is: http://files.filefront.com/sh3+missi.../fileinfo.html

However, I think you will find that the U-boat AI is very limited, so the mission would be somewhat contrived. With no AI-controlled torpedoes, it is really only going to work for deck gun action, or simply to have some additional boats in the area.

Personally, I think your best option for a player-lead wolfpack is to play Multiplayer games.

There are a couple of mods where invisible high-calibre shells are used as torpedoes; they work quite well. I will look into this when I get the chance...

[Hitman]

The biggest problem is that there is no submarine AI programmed, and therefore AI U-boats will just behave as surface vessels (At surface or peri depth) and nothing else. They won't go deep to evade or try to go inadvertedly into a convoy, they will instead go directly against it and fire their deck guns (Or virtual torpedoes) in kamikaze style.

[bigboywooly]

The only problem with the shell as a torp work around is the very high speed of the shell
Be nice to see an actual torp in the water
Even then the escorts see the scope as a surfaced ship IIRC so open up on it with all they have
And if my memory is not playing tricks they do try evade DC but only by tuning not depth changes as Htman said - no intelligent sub AI

The scope does not have to be surfaced.
Even when AI Subs are placed underwater,
they are useing ship controllers and the Game
'sees' them as ships that are not sunk.
A not sunk ship is on the surface.
If it's on the surface?
It will be fired upon.

Even the diving Sub is still useing ship controllers.
So it's on the surface all the time to the Game.

[geosub1978]

In WA 1 series I spotted periscopes outside PORTUGAL coast and it turned out to be a VIIB wolfpack! I fired a torpedo against a dived submarine to see what will happen and the only damage was some paint scratching at the stern. I don't know if this has anything to do with how the game "sees" an AI dived submarine...

[Hitman]

In WA 1 series I spotted periscopes outside PORTUGAL coast and it turned out to be a VIIB wolfpack! I fired a torpedo against a dived submarine to see what will happen and the only damage was some paint scratching at the stern. I don't know if this has anything to do with how the game "sees" an AI dived submarine...

IIRC the AI wolfpack U-Boats were purposedly given some "armour" to help them survive through some depth charging. If they were normal U-Boats they would be sunk in two passes at much :hmm:

I don't know what WA 1 series is.
Sorry.

But I can say this.
We 'see' things as we should.
But the Game Engine 'sees' things differently.

If a Unit uses Ship Controllers?
The Game 'sees' it as a Ship, not a Sub.
Ships float and are targets unless sunk.
The Game 'sees' it that way and no other.

And if it's 'seen' in this way?
Put in to near a group of Armed Ships
and all Hades breaks out!

[sergbuto]

Originally Posted by Hitman

IIRC the AI wolfpack U-Boats were purposedly given some "armour" to help them survive through some depth charging. If they were normal U-Boats they would be sunk in two passes at much :hmm:

I do not think that the damage model of AI wolfpack U-Boats was strengthen in WA because my mod of the AI submerged U-boat was used as it is in there. This AI submerged U-boat had the stock damage model as for the player sub. The stock damage model allows for easy survival after one torpedo hit if I remember correctly.

Pardon My ignorence, but what is WA?
:hmm:

[bigboywooly]

War Ace mod per chance ???
Not to be confused with WAC IIRC

[geosub1978]

WA=War Ace, was the ancestor of WAC=War Ace Campaign.

Ah!!
Thank You.


I've hated acronyms since I was in the
ARMY
:rotfl:

[urfisch]

interesting. and what about the dependence of ai-subs on players radio messages? is there any linkage possible?