Slitherine

quote:

User Interface
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* New UI feature: Personal persistent map profile (ie. maintain the same map preferences throughout different scenarios & sides, effectively overriding the scenario author's default settings).

How it works:

- Set up your map preferences just how you like them - range rings, targeting & illumination vectors, datalinks, reference points, sonobuoys, datablocks etc. tc.

- Open the "Game Options" window, go to the "Map Display" tab. There you will find two new UI elements: https://i.imgur.com/MyKYwpp.png

- Clicking on "Save current map profile as personal" will make the current active map profile your personal, persistent one.

- Checking the "Use personal map preferences" will enforce usage of your persistent map profile. From now on, whichever scenario you load and whichever side you switch to, the map profile settings in effect will be those of the persistent one.

To stop using the personal persistent profile, simply uncheck the "Use personal map preferences" checkbox. The map display will immediately revert to using the settings that the scenario author offers as default for the scenario & side at hand.

* The "List by group" page of the ORBAT window is now dynamic, ie. it automatically refreshes as units are added or destroyed, take off, land, deploy or re-dock to their parent, join or leave a group etc. This makes it possible to keep the ORBAT window continously open as a "running tally" (and quick-jump source) of friendly forces during a scenario, instead of a static snapshot.

* Allow cargo to be unloaded direct from a base
* FIXED: Visible lag/delay when showing the "Add Weapon Record" window
* Fixed performance issues of "Weapons" window (it should now display mounts & weapons instantly, even for units with tons of mounts and multiple weapons per mount, e.g. Tico & Burke classes)
* FIXED: Major performance issues when using "Magazines" window on a unit/group with numerous magazines
* Tweaks to OOB display:
- Position Group/Mission to top of nodes.
- Add +/- keys to expand/collapse nodes
* ADDED: UI request: Auto-focus on main map and secondary windows when mouse cursor enters them (ie. no need to mouse-click in order to focus)
* ADDED: UI request: Clicking on empty space at map should not clear current unit/contact selection
* ADDED: "Course preview" (dashed arrow) when plotting a new course
* Standalone message log window can now be minimized/maximized
* ADDED: List spotted hosted aircraft in target list on Manual Weapon Allocation window (e.g. "Aircraft Shelter #2 - 2x Su-24MK Fencer D [Detected: 20 secs ago]")
* When a submarine slows down in order to maintain its torpedo guidance wires intact, the word "WIRE" is shown under the submarine icon on the map.
* The "Campaign Editor" window now also lists scenario IDs and enables changing a scenario's ID (In order to solve the problem where, because of duplicate IDs, the campaign flow jumps back to a previous scenario instead of just moving to the next one).
* The mission editor now automatically reacts to changes in side's mission inventory by refreshing the missions list
* Provide more detailed feedback when proximity-burst weapons detonate
* ADDED: Notify player when sub dives due to threat present
* UI: Added "Filter-out" and "Mark Position" methods to the "Contacts" tool-strip
* If a secondary window is outside (or almost completely so) of the visible desktop, re-center it
* UI Tweak on "Load Scenario" window: Tutorials and Standalones folders always go on top
* The separate message-log window now preserves HTML formatting of messages (useful for special messages, briefings, tutorial instructions etc.)
* UI Tweak: Cargo Ops Control - user-friendly changes
* UI Tweak: Don't show 'Un/load cargo' button if unit can't do cargo ops
* UI Tweak: Suppress Load/Unload button if cargo unit wont fit
* UI Tweak: Add feedback to cargo mission
* UI Tweak: Don't show 'Un/load cargo' button if unit can't do cargo ops
* ADDED: Request: Special Actions Button in the main UI
* Added some clarification for 1/3 rule in mission editor
* Mission Editor UI addition: Buttons to re-order list of strike targets
* "Load Scenario" window UI tweak: make it clearer to user if a matching DB is missing
* Added "DBVersion" field to scenario file XML (read-only!)
* Map datablock tweak: Do not display speed (0 kts) for fixed facilities
* UI addition: "Clear scoring log" button available when viewing the scoring log
* Clarified the text on the "Air sorties affected by NAW" realism setting



Simulation mechanics
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* Significant sensor model change: IR and visual sensors can now generate precise detections only at short ranges. Specifically:

- Visual sensors make a precise detection only at distances shorter than twice the max classification zoom level of the sensor (e.g. if an aircraft can be visually classified at 5nm by a visual sensor, all detections at longer than 10nm will be imprecise). The range ambiguity at long range is 10% of the detection range (e.g. if a detection is made at 20nm, the range ambiguity will be +/- 2nm)

- Non-imaging IR sensors make a precise detection only at distances shorter than the max classification zoom level of the sensor (e.g. if an aircraft can be classified at 5nm by an IRST, all detections at longer than 5nm will be imprecise). The range ambiguity at long range is 50% of the detection range (plain IRSTs are really bad at providing range estimates).

- Imaging IR sensors are significantly more capable than their non-imaging counterparts. Like visuals, they generate a precise detection at distances shorter than twice the max classification zoom level, and their range ambiguity is 20% of the detection range.

* MAJOR IMPROVEMENT: Finally resolved the long-standing issue of "blind AMRAAM shots":

- Units firing AAW ARH weapons (e.g. AMRAAM) must now actively detect the target on their own radar before being able to fire the weapon (ie. it's no longer enough to receive offboard contact from e.g. AWACS and fire based purely on that). This makes it much more challenging to employ AMRAAM-class weapons against stealthy targets or in a heavy-OECM environment.

- After launching an AMRAAM-class weapon, the unit must still keep detecting the contact in order to provide mid-course guidance to the missile. If radar contact is lost for more than 5 seconds, the missile goes into a "blind" state and flies stright ahead (similar to SARH weapons who lose guidance). (Appropriate AI/EMCON logic has been added to encourage this).

* NEW doctrine setting: BVR Engagement Logic. You can now customize how fighters launching BVR missiles will behave during their guidance. The options are:

a) Straight-in: Some nations' doctrine has them follow their air-to-air missiles straight in. Such nations basically view fighters and interceptors as "flying SAM sites," and are often reliant on GCI (think old Soviet IA-PVO and still many Russian client states). They also tend to rely on large numbers to overwhelm an opponent.

b) Crank (default): Other nations, typically with a more dynamic view of air combat, but with a lower degree of training or ones which are dependent on SARH missiles, will crank, but do not "drag" (i.e. run away). Eventually, this tends to result in a visual range merge (especially if the enemy beams offensively).

c) Crank & drag: Other nations, the most skilled, who also have the benefit of ARH weapons (AMRAAM etc.), will crank until their missile goes active, then drag and run away from their target for the remainder of the flyout in order to maintain distance and attempt to defeat the inevitable BVR counter fire. This tends to result in avoiding visual range combat as much as possible.

This doctrine setting is also accessible through Lua (ScenEdit_SetDoctrine, parameter "bvr_logic").

* Includes updated terrain data for the Spratly islands and recent Chinese build-up
* Laser weapons are capable against any missile targets, including SAMs/AAMs
* Numerous sim-core performance tweaks
* Significant speed improvement on scenarios with lots of static buildings (numerous airbases, cities etc.)
* Various minor mission/AI fixes
* Sonar tweak: Bottom-bounce mode offers at best a 20% range increase over direct-path
* Subs use flank throttle during torpedo evasion, not full
* MOD: Do not re-check bingo state of members when evaluating slow-down due to Bingo
* Allow player to manually force a sub to go over the wire-breakage speed when guiding torpedoes
* Tweak on passive sonar calculations: The diesel "noise penalty" (for snorkelling subs) now depends on the submarine's speed fraction (ie. desired speed vs max speed at the current depth), instead of being an "all or nothing" noise boost. If the sub is stationary then the diesel noise is minimal; at creep speeds the noise is still very small but rises sharply (by power of 2, in fact) as the speed increases, up to a maximum addition of 15db to the baseline noise figure.
* Added: Check for IR sensors when evaluating submarine mast sensors




Scenario Editor & Scripting
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* Lua: Added method "updateorbit" to ActiveUnit_SE wrapper object. This allows updating a satellite's orbit (by feeding fresh TLE data) without having to go through the database. Usage example:

theSat = ScenEdit_GetUnit({guid='56f830c1-d0e2-430a-985e-0e301cc01eff'})
theTLE = 'Resurs P1\n1 39186U 13030A 17013.12537468 .00000446 00000-0 16942-4 0 9992\n2 39186 97.3847 79.3911 0015157 247.7411 195.8488 15.31966970198820'
theSat:updateorbit({TLE=theTLE})

^ Important gotcha: line breaks on the TLE text are performed using '\n', Lua's standard for line breaks. Also no extra spaces! The TLE format (and its parsers) is very specific on spaces between characters.

* Lua: Added some additional properties for Missions
* Lua: Fix Set/Get/KeyValue documentation
* Lua: Correct unit.hostedUnit table indexing
* Lua: GetLoadout() - Shows details of loadout
* Lua: Added weapon type to weapon record table
* Lua: Added some documentation to Device wrapper
* Lua: align SE with wrapper for manualAltitude
* Lua: "UnitEnterArea" event tweak
* Lua: clean up mission types
* Lua: SetSideOptions - ability to switch to the side
* Lua: Added hotkey to copy highlighted RPs to clipboard (Ctrl + Z)
* Lua: AssignToMission() - check plane airborne before using mission planner
* Lua: AssignToMission() do not use mission planner by default
* Lua: New way to pass KeyStore thru campaign
* Lua: suppress carrying over XML to next scenario in campaign
* Lua: Added ability to export an INST file
* Lua: Event Detected: fixed UnitC as a contact
* Lua Event: UnitEmissions
* Lua: Added property to unit wrapper: .hostFacility (shows some info about facility where a ship/plane is hosted)
* Lua: Added ability to apply Delta INI via SE_UpdateUnit()
* Lua: Added method to set the current scenario's date & time (ScenEdit_SetTime)
* Lua: Added property "DesiredHeading" on Lua ActiveUnit wrapper and on AddUnit/SetUnit parameters (This solves the issue where static facilities placed via Lua will always rotate to North even if explicitly placed with another heading).
* Lua: Added method GetBuildNumber that returns the current exe build version. Scen authors can use this info to alter Lua logic depending on feature availability.
* Lua: Added method "SE_UpdateUnitCargo"
* Lua: Added 'remove' option to SE_SetEvent()
* Lua: Added weapon causing damage to Event_Damaged/Destroyed
* Lua: Added property 'classname' to unit wrapper
* Lua: Clear Lua.UnitY on Damage/Destroy Event
* Lua: Added optional location to SpecialMessage
* Lua: Added Cargo Movement with Lua
* Added: Lua method to retrieve onboard Cargo from unit/group
* Lua: "embarkedUnits" and "assignedUnits" properties for unit wrapper
* Lua: SelectedUnits() returns a table of units selected on the map
* Lua: Added rps property to Side wrapper (returns all ref-points for this side)
* Lua: Update methods for RP
* Lua wrappers: changed to use a common property name
* Lua: updated manual speed and altitude on unit wrapper and SetUnit
* Lua: RunScript() using current working directory rather than command folder
* Lua: SE_PlaySound(file)
* Lua: New Lua method for fuels
* SBR: Added any unit damage to the delta template. Users have asked about being able to carry-over damage and this could be used in that fashion. The Lua UpdateUnit() will then be able to apply damage to the unit.
* New scenario attachment object type: Sound file.



Scenarios & databases
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* Includes the new "Desert Storm" DLC campaign & scenarios
* Includes the current versions of the DB3000 & CWDB databases.
* Includes updated versions of official scenarios & tutorials.
* The tutorial scenarios now include the full series of "Uncle Mark's Tutorials".
* Bart Gauvin's "Airstrike Tutorial" campaign is now included in the provided tutorials.
* Includes a new "Flight Tutorial" tutorial series by Andrea Daolio.
* Includes 4 new submarine tutorials by Apache85.

quote:

ORIGINAL: gosnold

Really great update! The changes to IR sensors, ARH logic and BVR doctrine will massively improve the air warfare!