Bullethead
29 Jul 06, 16:27
I've now seen some cases where it appears ships fire at enemies regardless of the proximity of other friendly ships to the target, or within the LOS to the target. While I certainly don't mind friendly fire happening in the game (because it definitely did in real life), I'm kinda curious as to what the rules of engagement, if any, are for the AI gunners to avoid inflicting friendly fire damage as much as possible.
From what I've seen, it appears that if the firing ship can see any of its chosen target, it will fire, even if another friendly partially obscures the target. Only if the target is completely masked will they not fire, but will maintain the selected target in hopes it reappears.
Is this an accurate assessment? If so, I think this should be changed, because it would result in much more friendly fire damage than you'd normally expect in real life. Due to the flat trajectories of the era, the masking friendly ship would absorb much of any broadsides fired at the partially obscured target.
Another concern involves scatter patterns. Most batteries fire "shotgun" patterns of shells that are several ship lengths wide. These "shotgun" patterns are wide enough to cover a nearby friendly ship, and often appear to do so. Locally directed anti-TB guns seem the worst offenders in this regard, with the widest scatter and no way to tell them to cease fire. Do they have any rule that makes them stop firing if a friendly ship is in their potential scatter pattern?
Here's an example that led me to post all this....
I was running the Port Arthur attack with both sides played by the computer, just to watch the action. Towards the end of the battle, when most of the IJN DDs were dead or withdrawing, that last DD (Oboro IIRC) came in at the alerted Russian fleet. She launched torps at the Askold at the head of the outer Russian line, then turned to starboard and ran close along and just outboard of the line of Russian cruisers. During this run, nearly every Russian ship was targeting her and many were firing at here. As she passed each Russian cruiser, the edges of the splash patterns overlapped each one a little.
When Oboro got to the middle of the line, she took a hit that jammed her rudder hard left, which made her swerve over and ram one of the anchored Russian cruisers nearly amidships and at an angle slightly abaft the beam. The DD came to a quick halt in sinking condition but slid a little forward and swung left so she came to rest alongside the cruiser, their sides touching. During this accidental turn, all the way up to the impact, the DD was under fire by several Russian ships and the rammed cruiser seemed to take a number of friendly hits. However, once the DD had stopped, apparently no other ship had guns that would bear, so the only ship that kept firing was the one that was rammed. Almost the entire Russian fleet, however, kept Oboro as a target. And interestingly, although the rammed ship kept firing, I never saw any splashes or hits on or near the sinking DD. I guess the guns couldn't depress low enough to hit the DD and the shells were going way out into the distance.
From what I've seen, it appears that if the firing ship can see any of its chosen target, it will fire, even if another friendly partially obscures the target. Only if the target is completely masked will they not fire, but will maintain the selected target in hopes it reappears.
Is this an accurate assessment? If so, I think this should be changed, because it would result in much more friendly fire damage than you'd normally expect in real life. Due to the flat trajectories of the era, the masking friendly ship would absorb much of any broadsides fired at the partially obscured target.
Another concern involves scatter patterns. Most batteries fire "shotgun" patterns of shells that are several ship lengths wide. These "shotgun" patterns are wide enough to cover a nearby friendly ship, and often appear to do so. Locally directed anti-TB guns seem the worst offenders in this regard, with the widest scatter and no way to tell them to cease fire. Do they have any rule that makes them stop firing if a friendly ship is in their potential scatter pattern?
Here's an example that led me to post all this....
I was running the Port Arthur attack with both sides played by the computer, just to watch the action. Towards the end of the battle, when most of the IJN DDs were dead or withdrawing, that last DD (Oboro IIRC) came in at the alerted Russian fleet. She launched torps at the Askold at the head of the outer Russian line, then turned to starboard and ran close along and just outboard of the line of Russian cruisers. During this run, nearly every Russian ship was targeting her and many were firing at here. As she passed each Russian cruiser, the edges of the splash patterns overlapped each one a little.
When Oboro got to the middle of the line, she took a hit that jammed her rudder hard left, which made her swerve over and ram one of the anchored Russian cruisers nearly amidships and at an angle slightly abaft the beam. The DD came to a quick halt in sinking condition but slid a little forward and swung left so she came to rest alongside the cruiser, their sides touching. During this accidental turn, all the way up to the impact, the DD was under fire by several Russian ships and the rammed cruiser seemed to take a number of friendly hits. However, once the DD had stopped, apparently no other ship had guns that would bear, so the only ship that kept firing was the one that was rammed. Almost the entire Russian fleet, however, kept Oboro as a target. And interestingly, although the rammed ship kept firing, I never saw any splashes or hits on or near the sinking DD. I guess the guns couldn't depress low enough to hit the DD and the shells were going way out into the distance.