Assorted Questions

[headcount_slith]

Slowly finding my CMANO sea-legs, but still unsure about the following...

*combatant skill and morale levels - are they represented in any way?
*coastlines - are the yellow coastal vectors used by the engine for calculations or are they just visual shorthand?
*formation creation/management - is there a step-by-step guide anywhere?

Thanks,
Tim

[Der Zeitgeist]

ORIGINAL: RPS_Tim
*formation creation/management - is there a step-by-step guide anywhere?

Yes, it's right here. [:)]

1. Klick and drag to select the units you want in the formation/group, then press "G".
2. Select the formation by clicking on it.
3. Open the formation editor (F4, I think, also in some menu), a window will open that lists the members of the formation.
4. A formation leader should already be selected, if not, you declare one of the member units as a leader. The leader is the point around whom the other patrol stations are positioned.
5. To adjust the patrol stations, first select a member of the group in the window, not in the main screen (this is important!). Then klick on one of the buttons to set up a patrol station (should be bearing-relative or bearing-absolute). Then klick on the map, where you want the patrol station to be. A diamond symbol should appear there.
6. Bearing relative means that the patrol station will "turn together" with the formation. Bearing absolute means it will always be to the, for example, north of the formation leader, regardless of the heading of the formation.

There's also the option of "anchoring" reference points to a formation, also bearing-relative or bearing-absolute. With that, you can create mission areas that move together with a formation. So you could keep an AAW patrol or ASW plane in front of the formation, moving with it. It's important to remember that the units assigned to these missions must not be part of the formation, they have to be detached first. You can then add reference points, select the reference points, select the option to connect the points to a formation (it's in the mission menu, I think), and then create a mission with these reference points.

The whole system is difficult to describe and understand if you haven't done it before, but it's extremely flexible and you can do things with it that were not possible in Harpoon 2/3.

[Primarchx]

ORIGINAL: RPS_Tim
*combatant skill and morale levels - are they represented in any way?

Not yet, though several ideas have been bandied about on how to implement this. I'm a big proponent of adding crew quality and aggressiveness values to game sides/units. It would be an optional system that uses values ascribed by the scenario writer.

*coastlines - are the yellow coastal vectors used by the engine for calculations or are they just visual shorthand?

I think they're national boundaries. Coastal accuracy at high magnifications are not 100%. Use the mouse tool-tip to determine precise coast line info.

[Dimitris]

Hi Tim!

1) Currently, the only differentiation on identical units being used by different operators is the difference in their OODA values (ie. how fast they react to new targets & threats). So for example a Soviet MiG-23MF will have a shorter OODA value than an otherwise-identical Syrian MiG-23MF, to reflect both superior pilot training and its integration on a far more automated & robust IADS.

Soft/human factors are something we intend to introduce on future updates but first we want to come up with a flexible way of doing this without sparking the _massive_ flamefests that frequently erupt in wargaming/defence communities when these factors are discussed. (Just visit a Greece-Turkey forum for a sample [:)])

2) They are "for show", although most of the time they match the real terrain pretty faithfully (unless you zoom real close). The true "authoritative" visual source for coastlines is the "Relief" map layer, as it is directly derived from the actual terrain data used for all relevant calculations. Plus of course the mouse-cursor "black box".

3) The bare essentials of creating & managing a group are:

a) Multi-select (ctrl + mouse) or drag-select the desired units.
b) Press "G" to create the group.
c) Having selected the group, press F4 to bring up the formation editor. From there you can set a new group lead if you want, and also change formation stations for group members (see p.55 on the manual).

The formation editor has been criticized as less comprehensive than Harpoon, and this claim is both true and false.

True, because certain things that in Harpoon you can do directly within the formation editor (e.g. set up an AAW patrol in front of your surface group), here you must step outside the formation editor, define an area, anchor it to the group (so that it stays at a constant bearing & distance from group center), then bring up the mission editor and assign an AAW patrol to this area.

False, because this different design allows you to do things that were plainly impossible until now. For example, that AAW patrol in front of your group? You can assign to it not only assets of the group (a limitation of Harpoon), but also forces from anywhere else. Want to add land-based F-15s to that AAW screen? Check. Want one group to provide cover to another? Easy. The "anchoring" of reference points (another unique feature) also allows various nifty tricks like easy escort setups.

Thanks!

[Primarchx]

Doh! I keep forgetting about OODA. D, is there a way to determine OODA values for units in the DB?

[Dimitris]

Aren't they listed on the platform's page in the DB viewer? (Don't have the game in front of me).

You can see their effect in action when a unit has started targeting a contact. If you enable targeting vectors, at their edge near the target you will see a "Man|Auto - [Pri] - X.X s" label (the [Pri] appears only if that target is the primary target for the unit). The X.X value is the remaining OODA "countdown", and only after it reaches zero (and is no longer listed) will the unit be able to engage the contact. Point-defence systems (both soft-kill and hard-kill), as well as weapons marked as "autonomous", are exempt from this limitation and can engage immediately.

[headcount_slith]

Illuminating! Thanks all.

[Wiz33]

ORIGINAL: Sunburn

Hi Tim!

Soft/human factors are something we intend to introduce on future updates but first we want to come up with a flexible way of doing this without sparking the _massive_ flamefests that frequently erupt in wargaming/defence communities when these factors are discussed. (Just visit a Greece-Turkey forum for a sample [:)])

Thanks!

Make this a scenario option (Use Training/Morale Yes No).

This maybe a bit too complicated but it would be fun to not have it applied across the board on all unit of the same faction. If it can be generated for each major unit, then something like a base rate plus a random +/-range may work. So a faction with high training level may get a base 85% with a variant of +/- 5% while a faction with lessor training level would have a base of 70 with a variant of +/- 15%.

[Primarchx]

Not in the DB from what I can tell.

ORIGINAL: Sunburn

Aren't they listed on the platform's page in the DB viewer? (Don't have the game in front of me).

You can see their effect in action when a unit has started targeting a contact. If you enable targeting vectors, at their edge near the target you will see a "Man|Auto - [Pri] - X.X s" label (the [Pri] appears only if that target is the primary target for the unit). The X.X value is the remaining OODA "countdown", and only after it reaches zero (and is no longer listed) will the unit be able to engage the contact. Point-defence systems (both soft-kill and hard-kill), as well as weapons marked as "autonomous", are exempt from this limitation and can engage immediately.