How to follow a ship?

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How to follow a ship? - 12/28/2021 6:36:39 AM

ClaudeJ

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Hey there,

I would like to have one my ship to follow a non-friendly ship I would like to keep an eye.

I've tried to set some RP relative to the target ship but they doesn't seems to stick.

Would you guys know a smart way to do it ?

Cheers

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/28/2021 12:23:59 PM

hrfepo1

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I have the same question.

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/28/2021 1:45:17 PM

DWReese

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I desire the same thing, but for planes.

Often an UNFRIENDLY plane (one you can't shoot down yet) enters an area and would obviously be "followed" the entire time that it was there. So, this is essentially the same request.

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/28/2021 3:01:24 PM

stww2

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There are two ways you can do something like this, neither of them perfect:

1) Create an ASuW Patrol mission and assign some ships to it. When the unfriendly (or unknown if not classified) contact enters and is detected within the AsuW Patrol or Prosecution zone, then the assigned ships should intercept the unfriendly vessel and follow it until it leaves the zone. A Sea Control mission should also work.

2) Create an ASuW Strike Mission and assign some ships to it. If the unfriendly contact satisfies the criteria set in the Strike Mission settings, then the assigned ships should intercept and follow the unfriendly vessel. You should also be able to specifically set the contact in question to be the target, but just make sure to re-mark it as unfriendly after you do this (since including it in the target list will mark the contact as hostile).

The main downside to both of these methods is that you can't really control the distance at which the unfriendly contact is followed, and the programmed behavior is to follow at point-blank range.

Note that the two methods above should also work with unfriendly aircraft as well, obviously with AAW Patrol and AAW Strike missions instead (although I've never tested the AAW strike mission method, but in principle it should work).

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< Message edited by stww2 -- 12/28/2021 3:04:25 PM >

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/28/2021 3:19:17 PM

DWReese

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As you said, there are flaws with both of your suggestions. I tried the area method, but when the enemy starts shooting, my ships/planes are often on the other side of the patrol zone, and the whole process of following them is for not.

Instead, I would like to see a NEW separate Support MISSION created that allows you to assign units to SHADOW these units. They would essentially hitch a wagon to the unit and follow it until it is unassigned, or the unit to be followed leaves the area. I think that that would be a nice feature. There are many scenarios that begin with UNFRINDLT units entering an area, but you aren't able to engage them as of yet because hostilities have not begun.

Speaking of new Support missions, I would like to see a newly created Search and Rescue (SAR) mission. You could assign an aircraft to a SAR, click on the downed pilot, and then activate the mission. Once activated, the computer handles the rescue. It would make a lot of sense, IMO.

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/28/2021 3:45:59 PM

BDukes

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Might be a lua way to do this with what we have. Not sure at the moment if it's easy/accessible or something that makes you want to stick in your spoon in your eye. Somebody has to have done this (the code not the spoon eye thing)

Guessing just specifying a contact and then matching a speed a few knots less you'd like between spotter and target. I'll muck with this at some point.

Mike

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/28/2021 5:13:06 PM

thewood1

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I play in the editor and it can be done with basic ref points. Playing in the editor is no different than playing in the vanilla game except with some extra options. I set up fishing vessels as spy ships a lot in scenarios I play using relative ref pts.

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/28/2021 10:07:17 PM

ClaudeJ

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Thanks a lot for your input guys.

thewood1, I've just tried in the Editor, and it seems that the RP doesn't stick either when I make it relative (with a fixed bearing) to a unit which ain't from my side, whatever its stance (hostile, friendly...).

Thanks for your interest, Mike. I'm looking forward to hearing more about that LUA option.

Thanks stww2, I'll experiment your solution too. Edit : the Strike mission does the job for me, thanks again !

Cheers

< Message edited by ClaudeJ -- 12/28/2021 10:43:23 PM >

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/29/2021 12:41:04 AM

thewood1

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As soon as the contact was noted, I added an RP. Then made it relative to Skunk #19. Then you assign a mission to the friendly ship. There are all kinds of things you can do to make it quick. No loss of FoW or cheating involved.

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/29/2021 1:25:30 AM

thewood1

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btw, one of the significant complications to doing this on the fly in a scenario is not knowing the type of ship/unit. You don't know the range or potential posture so it makes it hard to judge the shadow range you need.

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/29/2021 9:27:33 AM

ClaudeJ

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quote:

ORIGINAL: thewood1

As soon as the contact was noted, I added an RP. Then made it relative to Skunk #19. Then you assign a mission to the friendly ship. There are all kinds of things you can do to make it quick. No loss of FoW or cheating involved.
(...)

As soon as I unpause the simulation, the RP lose its relative status.
Could you please confirm it doesn't on your end ?

(For ref., I'm on Version 1.04.114734.)

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/29/2021 12:34:06 PM

thewood1

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I assume, because I mentioned it, you are playing within the editor. Here is a heavily modified Op Brass Drum update I'm working on. Its not complete, but if you switch to the Iranian side, you'll see a "commercial fishing vessel" on the Iran-allied "spy" side. Its following an RP assigned to be relative to a DDG in the nearby USN group. The RP is the base for a support mission called "Shadow". No issues with assigning the RP in the editor or having it move around. It can jump a little depending on detection levels and such. But the mission keeps the fishing boat near the USN group. I make the shadow vessel a separate but allied side so that the USN player has to make a decision to kill it and lose points or let it spy on the USN locations. No lua, no events, etc. Just a simple RP following a non-side group.

One of the issues you might encounter is if you assign the RP to a unit with low detection level, if your side loses contact with the enemy unit you are tracking, the RP might not behave the way you expect. I've actually never tried that. But in the attached example, I'm able to assign the RP without any pre-start detection of the DDG.

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/29/2021 2:40:10 PM

thewood1

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I watch a lot of this guy's videos. They are great learning tools. He puts some RPs around an enemy sub for tracking. I think he had the same issue you did in the non-editor mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dApaT5CcfS8

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/29/2021 7:05:59 PM

thewood1

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Built a couple tests. I can make an RP relative if I use the "show all units" function and lift FoW. If I assign it while there is any ambiguity, even the slightest, the RP will lose the relativity. So if you don't have 100% absolute position information, you'll lose the relative RP.

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/30/2021 3:04:04 AM

ClaudeJ

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quote:

ORIGINAL: thewood1

Built a couple tests. I can make an RP relative if I use the "show all units" function and lift FoW. If I assign it while there is any ambiguity, even the slightest, the RP will lose the relativity. So if you don't have 100% absolute position information, you'll lose the relative RP.

Thanks a ton for your efforts identifying these particularities, thewood1!

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 12/31/2021 8:28:57 PM

Gunner98

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As has been pointed out the game no longer allows you to assign relative RPs to a side you are not aligned to - in other words if at any point you have ambiguity the RPs lose their relativity.

I haven't done extensive testing on it but the ability changed shortly after release as you could theoretically cheat by assigning relative RPs and follow a target long after you had lost contact with it.

One option - and again very imperfect and only useful in very specific situations - is to set your unit to Wpns HOLD and then set it to attack the target (F1). This will turn the target hostile and your ship will maneuver to close range and station keep as a short distance but since you have not authorized it to fire - it won't. It but it does work if you are trying to simulate a boarding and there is a trigger that will set off an event when your ship closes to a certain range etc.

Doug's suggestion of a new support mission would be useful but I suspect the issue is overcoming the cheat noted above.

Happy New year all

B

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 1/1/2022 3:42:51 AM

ClaudeJ

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Thanks Bart !

I did not consider the cheating potential. The current behavior makes sense.

While performing the solution you do suggest, checking the Maintain Standoff option might offer some safety. I assume.

Cheers and best wishes

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RE: How to follow a ship? - 1/1/2022 10:00:02 PM

BDukes

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ClaudeJ

Thanks for your interest, Mike. I'm looking forward to hearing more about that LUA option.

Wrote some code. Not detection-based (bigger project) but does the job.

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=5123935

Mike

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