Operation Retail - 1946 - What If Scenario

[SirAndrew]

Hello everyone,
I am new to CMANO, but I have already started using the editor.
Here is an alpha of a mission I’ve created. There is a problem with the scoring (not activating every time it should do), can you please tell me how to fix that?
I would like to also ask you a few questions (i will post that in Tech Support too, but as much of these are related to scenario building, I think asking there is not bad).
1) Is it possible to award points for clearing a minefield? In this mission, my goal was to give more points for clearing the Channel, but I haven’t figured out how to do that.
2) I’ve tried to do a SOSUS scenario, but even if the SOSUS has a 1000nm range, it can detect only subs directly above it. I am trying to replicate the behaviour of mission 1 of Northern Inferno, can you tell me how to do that (I don’t have NI, so I can’t open that mission in the editor)?
3) I’ve already used the refuelling and UNREP, but I can’t so far replenish the stores (i.e., replenish the missiles for airplanes on a carrier). Is it possible to do that?
4) I’ve saved a modified unit in a file (.inst), but I can’t load it in the editor (I can only load units in the DB). Is it possible to do so?
5) In ASW missions, I’ve noted that sometimes airplanes stop dropping sonobuoys, even if they still have plenty onboard. How they do that?
6) At the start of each scenario, there is a box with 4 checks, for Aircraft damage etc. Is it possible to select that? If I click on it, nothing happens.
Thank you very much in advance for your help. I’m sorry if I have annoyed you with my question.
I hope you enjoy my scenario(s).
Greetings
Andrew

[SirAndrew]

Here is the scenario file

[Project2035]

1. It seems making an event in which points are rewarded isn't possible currently. However, if you figure out how long it will take for the mines to be cleared, you could use the "unit remains in area" trigger, and when the minesweepers remain in the area in which the minefield is in for the amount of time it takes to clear them, they will receive points. It won't guarantee they have cleared the mines in order to gain those points sadly.

4. You need to go to the "import/export units" option in the editor tab to load the modified unit. However, keep in mind when you try to load a modified unit into a scenario, it will lose any modifications you made, and you will have to re-add them.

6. You need to purchase the Chains of War DLC to activate aircraft damage and other cool things like cargo operations, communications disruption, and some fancy weapons (high energy lasers and railguns, for example).

[SirAndrew]

Thank you for your answer Jo!
I will follow your suggestion for the minefield!
Regarding the import/export, I was saving it in the wrong place, now it's ok.
I have Chains of War, but when I load a scenario from the Community Pack, some options are checked and some not, and I can't change them. I thought they could be checked or unchecked.

Regarding point 5), I have a save from "Kalkrsona tourist", I saved just after sinking two Juliett and one Kilo, and while before that my aircraft was dropping sonobuoys, it now stopped...I had to find the last Kilo by manually dropping them... I think the cause may be the small search area, as in other scenarios (like "Excellent Loon")my airplanes still drop them after reloading a save, but I'm not sure if that is the problem...
Greetings
Andrew

[AlexGGGG]

The aircraft drops buoys on ASW patrol mission as long as their fields of detection do not overlap. Once the field is more-or-less populated, there may be no more space to drop the buoy in.

[AlexGGGG]

And I have a stupid question, which unit I am supposed to use for mine cleaning? I don't see anything available which is capable of mine-cleaining? I must be missing something.

[Project2035]

ORIGINAL: SirAndrew

Thank you for your answer Jo!
I will follow your suggestion for the minefield!
Regarding the import/export, I was saving it in the wrong place, now it's ok.
I have Chains of War, but when I load a scenario from the Community Pack, some options are checked and some not, and I can't change them. I thought they could be checked or unchecked.

Regarding point 5), I have a save from "Kalkrsona tourist", I saved just after sinking two Juliett and one Kilo, and while before that my aircraft was dropping sonobuoys, it now stopped...I had to find the last Kilo by manually dropping them... I think the cause may be the small search area, as in other scenarios (like "Excellent Loon")my airplanes still drop them after reloading a save, but I'm not sure if that is the problem...
Greetings
Andrew

I have trouble selecting scenario options as well, for some reason both clicking on the check marks and using various keys does not get it to budge. Unless there is a bug, it seems whatever the scenario author chose in the options cannot be changed. Playing them in the editor and changing the realism options might work though.

ORIGINAL: AlexGGGG

And I have a stupid question, which unit I am supposed to use for mine cleaning? I don't see anything available which is capable of mine-cleaining? I must be missing something.

Minesweeping ships, paired with mine killing ROVs. Some helicopters have mine hunting equipment too, although I haven't looked whether they can only find mines or whether they can destroy them as well.

[AlexGGGG]

Minesweeping ships, paired with mine killing ROVs. Some helicopters have mine hunting equipment too, although I haven't looked whether they can only find mines or whether they can destroy them as well.

I mean, in this specific scenario. Helos with towed mine-cutter or acoustic/magnetic generator will detonate a mine, but I can't find anything capable of minesweeping in this specific scenario. I must be overlooking some unit.

[Project2035]

ORIGINAL: AlexGGGG

Minesweeping ships, paired with mine killing ROVs. Some helicopters have mine hunting equipment too, although I haven't looked whether they can only find mines or whether they can destroy them as well.

I mean, in this specific scenario. Helos with towed mine-cutter or acoustic/magnetic generator will detonate a mine, but I can't find anything capable of minesweeping in this specific scenario. I must be overlooking some unit.

I couldn't find anything either, but it is possible it (as in the minesweepers) got removed when you loaded if you don't have Chains of War.

I don't have Chains of War, but random things get removed when I load try to load scenarios that have features from CoW. For example, I tried to load Wargasm, 1962 without aircraft damage and it deleted ICBMs from the scenario for some reason.

Also, the scenario is in the alpha version so the minesweepers might not even be in it currently.

[AlexGGGG]

Well, I finally read the scenario briefing and it says says they got me Hunt-class minesweeper. I don't see any capability to sweep in them though (L 06 Hunt Class). I went ahead and deleted 2x Familie boats, and added 4x #492 M 801 Dokkum Class sweepers to the port, and restarted playing.

[SirAndrew]

Hello Jo and Alex!
Thank you for your answers.
Dimitris answered me in Tech Support and confirmed that you can’t select the features in the box at the start, they are there only to let you know what to expect. You can only change them in the editor.
I have also solved questions 1), 3), 4) and 6), so only questions 2 (SOSUS) and 5 (sonobuoys) are still on, if you have a solution or a hint, you are welcome! [:)]

Now, regarding your messages.
In my save of Kalksrona Tourist, the ASW airplane still has around 60 buoys and there is a wide area in the ASW mission without them, the same area where the last Kilo is hiding.
Is there a way to find out how many sonobuoys you can control with an airplane?
To Jo: my scenario was designed with Chains of War features, particularly aircraft damage, as there are World War II-era fighters with machine guns. RL historical reports of airplanes coming back with literally hundreds of bullet holes are common, so I thought it would be better to have that modeled. In one playthrough, a Tu-2 bomber survived many hits and was able to attack my positions at Corfu and to destroy 4 Spitfires in flight (all engine hits)!
If you want to play without that, you can change the selection in the editor unchecking that feature.
For AlexGGGG: Thank you for pointing out this mistake. That happens when you know that the Royal Navy employed Hunt-class minesweepers, and don’t double-check the DB.
There were actually a Hunt-class of minesweepers and a Hunt-class of destroyers.
Now I understand why my Hunt was blowing up on the mines, thought it was due to a lot of mines in a confined space….
I’m sorry for my mistake, it’s only an Alpha version but still I don’t like making these errors.
I am uploading now in this post an upgraded version, with Algerine-class minesweepers instead of Hunt-class destroyers, but I think your solution is as good as mine.
For AlexGGGG: I’ve seen you’re having problems with the Bidder and the depth. I have depth problems with subs in many scenarios (in Community Pack Scenarios too), it seems the subs keep going to -131 ft even if I want them to stay at -66 ft (periscope). That usually happens with enemies nearby, so it’s maybe a game mechanic, diving to escape a threat.
I didn’t have problems with the Bidder torpedo, it’s difficult to hit the enemy boats as they are fast, but they never destroyed my sub. Could it be that you are near a mine and they blow that up? The enemy boats are on a mining mission.

[AlexGGGG]

Oh well thanks for the update,

1. The Bidder torpedo problem disappeared when I updated to the latest build.
2. Sub depth problem is because of the conflict between doctrine (dive on threat proximity) and manual settings.

Sonar, I'm not sure of how it is now, but it was like that, some time ago:
the aircraft will drop all its bouys, and it will then fly around and interrogate as many as it can.
You can look it up in the DB entry for the aircraft. For example #84 BR.1150 Atlantic 1 aircraft will have, in COMMS/DATALINKS section, "Generic NATO Sonobuoy receiver", which has 99 channels. You can visualize these if you adjust in the menu, Map Settings, Datalinks. I believe any aircraft will interrogate any compatible buoy. Can't think of why it will not dropping them though, if the area is empty.

[Jorm]

Hi I gave this a play through.
It was rather good fun, well paced and a very interesting force mix.

I lost all my MCM's to the shore batteries though , but it was a nice surprise.
I noted my submarines had great trouble attacking anything, not sure whats going on there, i could not get a manual shot off at any time and hand to leave them to auto attacks.

I think this is a aspect where the game engine does not shine, i.e. WWII era ASW and sub ops. Ive played alot with WWII era ASW and it highlights a couple of areas where the game may perhaps need a little attention.


I'll give it another play through.
good one.
J

[SirAndrew]

Thank you Alex and Jorm for your feedback! Much appreciated!
Did you have some problems with the scoring system? I get points only for ships destroyed, not for subs or airplanes (or for my losses). I've tried multiple times to solve that problem, but can't get a fix.
Thank you for your hint Alex, didn't know of the channels limit.
However, it was more of a problem of area already well filled and Kilo too silent, moving at 2 or 3 kn.
To Jorm: Yeah, the shore batteries can be a thorn in the side, literally. They were there historically, so I placed them. But I don't know their historical number or type, so I may reduce them or make them visible at the start, after all I think their position was known. There should be a few airplanes with rockets and bombs ready at Corfu and on the carrier to deal with them.
I agree, firing unguided torpedoes seems to be too difficult in CMANO. A solution may be to fire a spread of them, maybe with a BOL launch if it's possible in the game.
The ASW part may be a problem of the era I've chosen. During ww2 ASW was often ASuW, as subs had to stay on the surface 99 per cent of the time. And with no buoys, it's really difficult to find them if they are underwater.
By the way, I've tried to do a few more scenarios, but I've run into small problems. I've posted the files in Tech Support, if you want to try them, any feedback or help is more than welcome! [:)]
Greetings!!
Andrew

[AlexGGGG]

Kilo at 2 knots is damn difficult to detect, and this is pretty much how it is in real life. Short of dropping active buoy on top of it, one can't hear it. Nuclear boat can't stop emitting noise, because it requires reactor cooling pumps to run. Diesel can shut down completely and will emit very few sounds.

To do a BOL launch, press CTRL+F1 and point to the target point. If the weapon supports BOL launch, it will fire at the designated point.