View Full Version : Ships veering off on their own
In almost every large battle I've fought in the campaign, individual ships have veered off from their division orders on their own, different course. Is this a game feature that is modeling loss of command & control due to damage, casualties, confusion, panic, i.e., the friction of war?
At first I thought it was due to rudder damage, but the ship info panel did not indicate this was so.
I have also noticed this. You really have to keep an eye on the divisions positioned towards the rear. I appears to be something that has occured since DG was patched.
saddletank
15 Aug 06, 09:45
Not seen this yet, will keep an eye on my tail enders from now on.
I think I noticed this after 1.006
Played a CG battle and control and command with my three jap destroyer divisions wasn't really possible. Sometimes my division leader headed alone at the enemy (when ordered the whole division) and sometimes individual ships veered off course.
Martin
I wouldn't mind if this problem represented a command and control feature and not a glitch.
I think I noticed this after 1.006
Played a CG battle and control and command with my three jap destroyer divisions wasn't really possible. Sometimes my division leader headed alone at the enemy (when ordered the whole division) and sometimes individual ships veered off course.
Martin
Are you sure that they where not avoiding mines or torpedos? They will move all on there own becasue of this. And if they are two close or on a path of where they will run into each other they will make moves like this.
Just something to check as I have not seen this yet.
Daedalus. No this isn't the case. I've had my TF in one line, some distance away, then moved the camera over to the enemy ships to see where the shells are landing. Out the corner of my eye I've spotted my line breaking up on the mico map. Zoomed back and had to order rear divisions to "follow lead division", or whatever the command is.
Daedalus. No this isn't the case. I've had my TF in one line, some distance away, then moved the camera over to the enemy ships to see where the shells are landing. Out the corner of my eye I've spotted my line breaking up on the mico map. Zoomed back and had to order rear divisions to "follow lead division", or whatever the command is.
Oh ok, I will set this up on mine and see what happens. I wonder if Norm and them have seen this? We might need to email them at there Support to let them know in case they have not.
It's not something that I can say, "if I do x or y, it'll happen", it just happens occasionally.:D
It does happen if your manouvering gets complex. Ships get their speeds wrong in relation to leader and turn a circle to regain their place in line.
cheers
David
Yep I know where you're coming from. Too many orders too soon and tight turns, but I've seen this happen when they're in a straight line. The rear division/s "drifts" out of line.
Bullethead
15 Aug 06, 15:32
I have noticed ships veering out of line for no apparent reason myself. However, it's only happened when I've had time compression up at like 5x or more. Here's what I think is happening....
You've probably noticed that ships in the back part of a division are constantly tweaking their speeds to maintain station. Each ship is trying to maintain its distance from the next ahead, so you get a "slinky effect" towards the end of a division where the jockeying of all those ahead becomes cumulative. Anyway, ships toward the rear often have to go faster than the leader or the ship just ahead of them.
It appears that the faster trailing ship sometimes thinks it's going to overrun and collide with the next ahead, so initiates a turn to avoid collision. Normally, this turn won't start until some distance ahead of the ship (you can see the path lines if you look). Under 1x time compression, usually the ships' speeds stabilize and the possibility for collision goes away before the ship reaches the place where it was going to turn. Thus, it stays in line instead of turning. With time compression on, however, the AI can't constantly monitor the situation but only gets periodic looks every however many ticks of the clock. Thus, they no longer see problems going away by themselves, and are forced to act. Thus, they sheer out of line.
I believe Manie_de is correct in this being a 1.006+ issue. That was about when Norm stopped the game from going to 1x time compression whenever ships were avoiding collision. Remember how folks used to complain about that slowing battles down too much all the time? Well, here is what I think is an unintended consequence of this "fix".
Good explination. I'll buy it. :D
Bullethead
19 Aug 06, 00:22
Good explination. I'll buy it. :D
Actually, it was a BAD explanation :(.
In 1.012, ships are incapable of remaining in formation for any length of time. This is the case even if the acceleration is 1x and the ships have been going in a straight line since forever, with no enemies within range and no torps or land to avoid.
Eventually, a ship somewhere in the line (but not leading it), for no reason at all, decides to go in a circle instead of continuing in the wake of the next ahead. So it peels off and every ship behind it follows it around. Meanwhile, ships ahead keep going on the original course. If the line is long enough, the circling ship will soon be in danger of ramming the 3rd or 4th ship behind it. This causes both ships to change course again, and the ships following each follow their leaders, and soon the whole division is total chaos. Sometimes, collisions do happen, further confusing the ships as they try to avoid those that suddenly stop in front of them.
The only way to minimize the effects of this problem is to constantly monitor your fleet and issue correct orders the instant you see a ship cut out of line. However, this does nothing to help the AI's fleet, which quickly becomes a swirling tangle of ships going every which way.
Not good :(.
Mine did this, and then I changed how I was giving orders for the fleet. And sense I have done that I have not had one go out of line.
I will check and see how I changed and post it and you can see if it does it for you. It has something to do with the lead ship and making sure that you have a leader.
I will post after I play next time and let you know.
Either thats it or I am lucky. ;)
Also, how about ships independently changing speed when they get within a certain range of the enemy...
Now I realise that captains would probably want to go as fast as possible, but when I tell them to go at 10 knots to mainting formation, why do they insist on changing to max speed 2 seconds later? Makes it pretty hard to maintain any kind of coherent formation.
Also, how about ships independently changing speed when they get within a certain range of the enemy...
Now I realise that captains would probably want to go as fast as possible, but when I tell them to go at 10 knots to mainting formation, why do they insist on changing to max speed 2 seconds later? Makes it pretty hard to maintain any kind of coherent formation.
Mine have not done this. And so far I have not seen the AI ships do anything odd.
Where the two fleets real close? or was there something strange about the approach?
I will try to recreate this if I can but so far all has been fine other than I had a issue with the ships getting out of line, but that stopped when I gave the orders a certain way.
It does happen if your manouvering gets complex. Ships get their speeds wrong in relation to leader and turn a circle to regain their place in line.
cheers
David
That they might have missed a signal (I think if you space signals too closely or while the sending ship is burning they may not reach some ships) or the ship ahead of them may have slowed down for some reason...at any rate I have seen the rearward half of a division...especially if the rear is faster than the van...go in a complete circle to get back around and in line ahead.
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