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I thought about asking this question on the Command Questions site, but answers seem slow to appear there, unlike masses of awful spam...

I'm (still) having difficulty figuring out what settings to use to get AAW Patrol and Prosecution areas to work properly. Can anyone help? I'll be specific. I want to set up an AAW Patrol and Prosecution area so that the Cap planes patrol only the patrol area but leave it to engage hostile targets in the prosecution area, as they are detected in the prosecution area. What switches do I use? For the 'Patrol Area' tab do I check or uncheck 'Investigate contacts outside Patrol Area' and 'Investigate contacts within weapon range'? Then, which of these do I check/uncheck in the 'Prosecution Area' tab?

Thanks.

I'm (still) having difficulty figuring out what settings to use to get AAW Patrol and Prosecution areas to work properly. Can anyone help? I'll be specific. I want to set up an AAW Patrol and Prosecution area so that the Cap planes patrol only the patrol area but leave it to engage hostile targets in the prosecution area, as they are detected in the prosecution area. What switches do I use? For the 'Patrol Area' tab do I check or uncheck 'Investigate contacts outside Patrol Area' and 'Investigate contacts within weapon range'? Then, which of these do I check/uncheck in the 'Prosecution Area' tab?

You want probably want to check "Investigate contacts outside Patrol Area." That will enable the assigned units to leave their patrol area if necessary in order to engage or identify targets. If you have a prosecution area attached to the mission, then it will wait until a target enters the prosecution area before leaving its patrol area.

Also, from the manual addendum in case you didn't see it...

"New patrol option: Prosecution Area. You can now define an exact area you want units to pursue contacts during a patrol. Units assigned to it will not pursue contacts outside the area. To use: add and select the necessary reference points, press the prosecution area button and add/remove reference points as you would with the patrol area function. If no prosecution area is added the mission works as it traditionally did in that there is no threshold. Prosecution Areas (PAs) serve two purposes: a) They act much like a forbidden zone in that contacts appearing within them are marked for interception, but they also restrict the extent at which interceptions will happen. So if you want your fighters to e.g. be triggered only by bandits within 200nm of a protected HVU instead of “waking up” to contacts thousands of miles away, PAs are the solution. b) They act as a “leash” for assets on a patrol; they effectively determine the extent to which the patrol assets can give chase to receding targets. If the bandit moves out of the PA, the defender is forbidden to follow (though it can still engage with weapons if feasible). This solves the problem of patrol assets over-extending themselves during interception, quite often falling victims to feints/traps.
PAs are supported in the UI by modifications to the Mission Editor UI, and are populated by reference points in the same way as existing patrol areas. They are empty by default, and in this case the AI behavior is the same as before (intercept bandits far away etc.), to facilitate existing scenarios. Units that are assigned to a patrol with a prosecution area will target & engage only contacts that are within this area (or their patrol area). If they are not on patrol or their patrol does not have a prosecution area, the existing AI rules apply. This makes it possible to create SAM ambushes (shoot at far less than max range), divide areas of responsibility for multiple patrol forces etc. PAs work as intended only when the “Investigate targets outside contact area” option is enabled. Also, the “engage targets of opportunity” doctrine option overrides the prosecution area restriction."

Sorry for the formatting.

Thanks both. I guess the 'contact area' in the addendum means the 'patrol area', in which case my question is answered. Thanks.

OK so if I’m reading the tea leaves correctly I can...

1. set up a larger Prosecution Area Box
2. A second smaller patrol area box as a subset/area of my prosecution area box
3. Enable investigate outside patrol box

Then my CAP/AAW Patrol will only attack units inside the prosecution box but will leave the patrol box to go after them.

That's it, Beirutdude. Have a look at the two already-made Cap missions in 'Duellists', for example (in the standalone missions folder). The secanrio designer has set up a Prosecution area around the carrier group called (via ref points) 'Carrier Exclusion Zone' and within that there are two small patrol tracks (2 point only). The planes go up and down the tracks until they detect something within the carrier exclusion zone, then they investigate/attack that. To get them to do this 'Investigate Contacts outside Patrol Area' must be checked. But note, in this scenario the designer has also checked 'Investigate contacts within weapon range' which would allow, for instance, the sea harriers he's assigned to the mission to chase a contact from the edge of the exclusion zone to outside of the exclusion zone. But if assets have very long weapon ranges and and the prosecution area is quite small then I imagine checking 'Investigate contacts within weapon range' could have the affect of messing up the prosecution box planning, of course, because the units will chase anything within range, regardless of the limits of the prosecution area.