[FIXED] ALARM Bug

[B52H]

Hi,

I posted this under general discussion about a bug with the ALARM missile. The ALARM for some reason only seem to inflict damage on standalone radars that aren’t included in the same site as the SAM batteries themselves. For example, the ALARM only is able to attack a standalone radar like a YLC-4 instead of a standalone SAM site like an SA-2. The ALARM locks onto the SA-2’s radar but cannot seem to impact it;the ALARM only air bursts above it. The same goes with the mobile AAA.

In reality, the ALARM should be able to lock onto the radar of the SAM site and impact it instead of airbursting or detonating without causing any damage. Is this a damage bug or perhaps a faulty DB entry of the missile itself?

B52H

[Eggstor]

A save would be helpful. The ALARM does use a short-range proximity fuse, so even though the warhead appears to detonate on impact, an airburst is the proper message for an attack by the ALARM on a target.

When a weapon attacks a multi-unit target like a SAM, until all the units that comprise the target are destroyed, the icon for the target will remain. However, as the units are destroyed, the unit count (in the upper-left corner of the icon) will decrease, and if you have an ESM platform in the area, you'll notice that the target is (most likely) no longer radiating.

[B52H]

This isn't rooted in a single save file; the entire ALARM damage value system is corrupt. As I said, the weapon ONLY has any damaging effect on standalone radars, which are hit and miss due to an unusually high ratio of malfunctions compared to successful hits.

As for seeing the damage, I loaded up a few scenarios in god's eye mode to view the attacks by the ALARMs on both SAM sites and radars. The SAM facilities were not even hit as they had no damage inflicted upon them. However, each singular radar site was instantly destroyed by the ALARMs save for a handful of malfunctions.

[ComDev]

Bump? I think this has been fixed?

[Scorpion86]

I just made a little test scenario using a few sams and both versions of the ALARM missile. Both versions were capable of hitting radars in sam units. Nothing here to report besides bloody missiles malfunctioning at the most inopportune times!

Scenario and post-attack included.

[Primarchx]

A little strange. Missed the SA-5 radar by 15' and did no damage - that's a tough building! Hit the SA-6 and blew it's Straight Flush van to hell. Also nailed the Back Net radar no problem. Using 998.18.

[templar42]

I thought that ALARM might have a bug a while ago after it seemed to detonate to no effect. I finally got round to creating a scenario to test my suspicions today.

The attached file suggests the problem is the small warhead - ALARM's warhead does only 17.5 DP. The SA-2 sites are only lightly damaged and in some runs of the scenario survive detonations with no units lost.

I therefore don't think it can be called a bug. However, I note that the AGM-88 has a 65 DP warhead. Is there real-world evidence to suggest that the ALARM has only a quarter of the destructive power of the HARM? Perhaps the database is underestimating ALARM lethality.

[Schr75]

The AGM-88 HARM is equipped with a 66kg warhead which fits with the 65DP value in the DB.
I haven´t been able to find any hard data on the warhead size in the ALARM missile, but the missile weighs approx. 100kg less than the HARM
so a warhead weight of about 18kg seems about right to me.

Søren