H3 Multiplayer Server up Again

[FransKoenz]

[inserted on behalf of Herman Hum]

Sharker2003 (a.k.a. Brandon) showed up for his first ANW match, tonight. We started off with the tried and true, Power Sweep, by Dave Steinmeyer for the PlayersDB.

Although Brandon is a Coastie by trade, he was also a pretty mean sub driver. The first indication that there were enemy subs in my vicinity was the unmistakeable sound of a torpedo tube being fired! After firing a torpedo back down the Line of Bearing to the Tp 61 torpedo, my Victor II sub fled in the opposite direction. Soon enough, a second sub was heard to be launching. This time, it was a Spearfish. With a top speed of over 60kts, that was a truly fearsome weapon.

However, Brandon also revealed the general location of his previously hidden sub from the launch transient. My Tango-class diesel sub was close enough to hear it, too. She decided to drop an SS-N-15 Starfish into the general area to spook the sub into running and it worked. Once the location was localized, a second SS-N-15 was dropped right on top. :bite:

Both sides scored. I lost the Victor II, but was rewarded by explosions from the SSN Spartan and SSK Kobben. Tonight, victory would be mine.

Thanks for a fun game and I'm looking forward to many more future matches. It was certainly interesting to see how quickly the hunters can become the hunted. And thanks to HarpGamer for the use of their server.



XG file archives - Home of the Harpoon3 PlayersDB

[TonyE]

BTW, the server is now running 3.8.0 RC4, in game chat is operational again (thanks AGSI).  Sadly I had a hard drive failure in my Vista machine that is running H3 so we're back to my production server for the moment, my next stop is to tear into the Vista machine and hope the mirror is going to keep its part of the bargain.

[TonyE]

Server is using 3.8.0 RC6, awfully lonely machine, good thing it sidelines as a Vista learning center   Does nobody actually play this game?
 
 

[Flankerk]

Have been involved in plenty of games organised on AGSI's/Matrix's official channel #Harpoon. Both ANWdb and DB2000 games have proved entertaining and successful. Hoping to get more organised with this at some stage.
 
 
 

[sharker2003]

Well, bring out the ideas, don't be shy. I would like to see a bevy of very small scenarios just for MP, much like Dawn Patrol, 30-60 minutes of play, 5 or less units per side, that type of thing. So many of the existing scenarios just take too long to play. I did do a four-sider each side with one ship and one or two helicopters, fun and quick to play but needs to be optimized a bit (ships start out too far apart). Side 1 has a Tico, Side 2 has a Burke, Side 3 has a Slava iirc, and Side 4 an Iowa (two helos).

Anyway, that's the type of thing I'm looking for if the scen designers are looking for ideas. I'd keep at it but it seems to take me forever to get a single scen ready.

That's actually the scenario I've almost finished, a four player SAG scenario based off a real Tactical Freeplay exercise we did with the Royal Malaysian Navy back in 04'. Designed to play in 30-45 minutes. I'm hoping I didn't go too far the other way and start the side's in close, but we'll see. Should be up to playtest this weekend, and I'll need three willing volunteers...John, myself, Herman, and...Tony??? [;)]

Brandon

[sharker2003]

The situation, when we broke for an intermission, was that the Batroun had just outrun a torpedo fired from an Israeli submarine…

[URL=http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... etyei0.gif][/link]

The only hope of victory lay with a speedy arrival in Lebanon. All my surviving blockade runners engaged their engines and went to full speed. Unfortunately, the fastest ship cannot outrun the slowest helicopter and, soon, another snooper was bearing down on my ships. However, this helo was in for a surprise because the blockade runner was under escort from a Syrian gunboat. The unwary Israeli pilots got a rude surprise in the form of an SA-7 Grail SAM! Even so, they managed to dodge the first one and only succumbed to the second. A tremendous cheer rose from the crew; the Israeli air force was not invincible, after all.

[URL=http://img245.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... leavq3.gif][/link]

Not long afterwards, a second helo came looking. The missileer was a young man of only 19 years and he was still elated from the exhilaration of his first kill. He immediately set about to engage this second target. The captain of the vessel burst forth from the bridge just as the SA-7 left the launcher. “Stop!” he screamed. “That’s a UN helicopter!” but he was too late. The SA-7 ran unerringly into the exhaust of the Lynx. “Abdul, you’ve killed us all,” bellowed the Captain. Sure enough, an incoming Exocet missile soon put a quick end to the glorious missile career of Abdul as it exploded directly underneath his feet.

The two surviving Hezbollah smugglers were within sight of Lebanon, 15nm away, but that was as close as they would come. A second Israeli helo swooped down on the little cigarette boat and blew her out of the water with a stream of rockets while a second UN Exocet claimed the other blockade runner. So close, yet so far. The three soldier-hostages would have to be removed from Lebanon another way.

Thanks for a great Part II to my opponents, John and Brandon, and to Tony for the use of his ANW server at HarpGamer.com. Blockade is made with the favourite database of Harpoon3:ANW, the PlayersDB. This scenario has not yet been published, but anyone wanting to give it a try can find it on the HarpGamer ANW Server.

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on [url=http://www.harpgamer.com/chat/phpMyChat.php3]HarpGamer pHp chat room[/link] or the HG [url=http://www.harpgamer.com/HARP_chat.php]mIRC chat room[/link].

[url=http://www.harplonkhq.com/][/link]

[sharker2003]

Apologies, the top got lopped off that message, that was Herman's half of the AAR from 'BLOCKADE'. That covered the last 1/4 of the scenario, after we broke for an intermission for a couple weeks.

That was pretty much how it went, my first helo had located the Hezbollah Dhow, but she was nonly equipped with ASW torpedoes so she was essentially toothless against surface targets. Since she still had plenty of fuel I bided my time for 9 minutes until my second helo was readied with 68mm rockets; in the meantime I sent my first helo off scouting for my Hezbollah targets in the coastal traffic soup.

They quickly located two unusual contacts off by themselves, as we approached they were revealed to be Hezbollah ships! All too late I realized that while one was a dhow, the other was a Boghammer PC. Before my helo could clear to safe range one missle whoosed by, and the other made contact.

Unsure if any aircrew had survived I radioed a nearby Unifil warship for assistance, knowing that it was hopeless, the helo crew, if they even survived, would have been quickly recovered by Hezbollah.

In the meantime, I made a tactical decision. Our orders explicility forbade us from sending surface assets north of the 33N, but when sitting on the line the dhows were tantilizingly close to our SSM range. We would only have to sneak 9NM or so over the line for a shot. I reasoned that in real life, with tensions being as high as they were the Isreali's would probably be so enraged at the loss of their helo and so despised UNIFIL that they'd go for it too. I sent one FFG west along the line at high speed to distract the UNIFIL DE lurking nearby and snuck my other vessel north, mixed in with some surface traffic.

It turned out to be unnecessary. UNIFIL's helo, launched to help search for our downed comrades was immedietly shot down as it approached the Hezbollah Boghammer. This provoked a convient, and oh-so-brief, shooting war between the vessels that left both the dhow and the Boghammer burning and the UNIFIL vessel untouched. It also spared my crew from the spectre of knowing they blew up a vessel possibly harboring their countrymen, and saved us some ammo to boot!

At this time, looking for some sweet revenge my helo swooped in on a remaining dhow and fired off her rockets, damaging but not sinking the dhow. In a move that suprised even me the UNIFIL warship vengefully slammed a Harpoon into her side, sinking her and winning the scenario decisively for me. My FFG slipped quietly back onto our side of the line, and no one was the wiser.

[&o] Thanks again to Freek for sucha great scenario, which really works well as a three player scenario, where real-life politics can be simulated and orders can be violated, for a price (if you're caught). This is definetly one of my favorite computer Harpoon scenario's I've played. Also thanks to Tony for keeping that server up, especially after we keep crashing it. [X(]

Cheers,
Brandon

[FreekS]

Thanks for the nice AAR! Not sure the nigher-ups would appreciate the use of Exocets and Harpoon SSMs rather than guns for killing the Dhows! Great to read!
 
Freek

[northerner]

I'm new to Harpoon ANW. I tried connecting to the server today but the program stayed at the trying to connect stage. Is the server up and running?
 
If anyone wants to try a direct connection that would be fine. But as I am using a 1.86gHz machine and I was the client and the server the scenario would have to be small. Small scenario would be ideal to start with h2h.
 
northerner

[TonyE]

Yes, the server is up and running, make sure to follow the directions in my post at http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1370689
 
You should try to find someone to play against first, visit http://www.harpgamer.com and visit the MP Chat linked from the home page or visit us on IRC.
 
 

[Anonymous]

Hello Tony,

yesterday I had my first H3 ANW session on your server. Running under 3.8.0 RC6 I did not have the slightest problems - no crashes, everything ran smoothly. It was a great experience and I´ll soon come back.



Tony, thank you very much for keeping up that server!

Ralf

[TonyE]

Glad to hear it worked out well Ralf [:)]
 
 

[JRyan]

Well I got to play 3 scens on MP tonight for the first time since Sept 2005, and I am very happy. Things went well considering I havent played MP in a while. We only had a few bugs (Database use in game caused CTD) and some missle seeker behavior but I feel that it has come a long way.
 
Thanks for the fun evening Herman and thanks for the Server TonyE.
 
BTW if someones keeping score
 
Ethan 1-1-1
Herman 1-1-1
 
Although the draw I would give to him because I didnt exactly follow the scenario lines but, I had to much beer to read the orders

[JaTB]

Thanks for setting up and maintaining the server.

Just had my first MP session with Hermann. It was fun and worked perfect.

[:)][:D]

Norbert

[TonyE]

Thanks for giving it a go Norbert, good to dust off the server now and again [:)]

[TonyE]

H3 ANW 3.8.0.0 Release is now installed on the Stratsims server here.  Come chat first, then have a game.  As always, if you come to chat, stick around 15-30 minutes and someone may well show up, even if the room is empty when you arrive.
 
 
 
 

[TonyE]

The server has seen some action over the past week, long time Harpooner Elrandir faced off three times (twice playing PowerSweep, once Nordkapp) with Herman. While Herman emerged victorious in all three battles he had his nose good and bloodied! Head on over and have a game for yourself [:)]

[TonyE]

In case anyone is wondering, yes, the server is still running and in use for at least a couple of games per week.  As stated in the first post I'll swap in other databases and scenarios if you want to play one of the others.

now come play already, what a waste of good computing resources!

[FreekS]

Shemar came looking for some revenge, tonight. We decided to try some ASW so we chose Matrix Knight, made with the Harpoon community's favourite database, the PlayersDB.

This scenario was labelled an exercise in hunting and protecting SSBNs. Both sides had one SSBN and each had to destroy the other's SSBN without losing his own.

[center]http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/attachm ... 1202015690[/center]

I made the first contact with my Los Angeles-class SSN. I was just creeping along when the contact came in on the towed array sonar. After cutting back and forth across my path a few times, I was able to improve my targeting solution, but I never managed to pin-point the slippery sucker as he was only making 1kt and was running an ultra-quiet routine.

I closed to approximately 6nm range and decided that I'd have to fire before he had a chance to counter-detect my boat. Tubes 1, 3, and 4 were fired and I turned to evade the expected counter-fire. I was not to be disappointed.

[center]http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/attachm ... 1202015682[/center]

I was certainly surprised when sonar reported a transient moving at 195kts! The nuclear-tipped Shkvall was heading in my direction so I beat feet out of the area at flank speed. Luck was on my side as the Mk48s caught the Delta IV. Two other USET-80s were also fired behind the Shkvall, but none of the three weapons ever got close enough to detect my boat before the Delta was destroyed.

Part one of the mission was now complete. Now, I only had to ensure the survival of my own SSBN for 20 hours.

I was not having much luck with my SSBN L'Inflexible. The first indication I had of enemy presence was the approach of two torpedoes! Arrgh. I ordered two F17 fired down the bearing of the incoming weapons and hope that their sensors would be sufficient to guide the weapons before I turned to flee.

[center]http://www.gamesquad.com/forums/attachm ... 1202015682[/center]

Soon enough, a veritable swarm of torpedoes was approaching after I started making more nose with my evasive manoeuvres. They were Mk24 Tigerfish and they were doing 29kts while I was running at 25kts. My own F17 fish went active and immediately detected SSN Spartan running at 28kts. The Tigerfish didn't get close enough to lock onto my SSBN, but the F17 caught Spartan as she twisted and turned. That was a close one.

After slowing down and clearing the datum point, I resumed the patrol. Only once did I run across another sub, but was not counter-detected before I slipped away. After 20 hrs, victory was awarded. It could very easily have gone the other way.

Thanks for another great match, Shemar. Thanks also to HarpGamer for the use of their server.

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.

http://www.harplonkhq.com/images/mainpic.gif

[FreekS]

Ed and I met up for our weekly ANW match. This week, we elected to try out Bart Gauvin's first scenario production, Ice Picket, made with the Harpoon community's favourite database, the PlayersDB.



I played the Soviets while Ed commanded the NATO forces. My orders were to prevent NATO from reinforcing the Jan Mayen Island outpost with a PhibRon.

Right away, one of my spy trawlers [AGI] picked up radar transmissions and one of my Victor III subs detected the distinct acoustic signatures of Tarawa-class and Wasp-class vessels and moved in to investigate. The AGI soon spotted a SH-2 SeaSprite helo coming over to give her a look. The pilot was very cagy and came in slowly while the AGI had trained a pair of Gremlin SAMs on her all the time. Closer, and closer, she came until she was just outside of maximum range. Crap. She fingered the AGI, so there was no further need for stealth. She went to flank speed and raced to nail down the position of the enemy PhibRon.

Soon enough, a pair of AH-1 SeaCobras came in on an attack run to fire Hellfire missiles. However, they got too close and one was brought down by a Gremlin. The AGI was burning furiously and listing, but still afloat and she had confirmation of the course and speed for the PhibRon. This was transmitted to SubSquadron 31 and the nearest Victor III calculated an intercept course. Unfortunately, the PhibRon was moving at a very high rate (24kts!) so there was no chance of the SSN catching it without moving at a high speed, herself. Captain Ivanov ordered the sub to full speed (23kts) and hoped that he would survive long enough to deliver his attack.

Once she transmitted her data, the AGI had outlived her purpose. When two Harriers from the PhibRon came to finish her off, she was determined not to go down without a fight. They Marine pilots fired Mavericks, but they also came in too close and one of them suffered the same fate as the previous SuperCobra and was blown from the sky by a Gremlin. The Mavericks found their mark and the AGI was soon sinking by the stern.



Captain Ivanov was approaching perpendicular to the course of the PhibRon. At his closest approach, he decided to let loose his Type 65-76 wake-homing torpedoes. Their phenomenal range meant that they could actually catch the large landing ships. He fired them on bearing-only launch.

As soon as they left the tubes, the NATO sonar operators must have heard their launch transient for a helo came out to investigate. The crew kept their fingers crossed and hoped to live long enough to deliver the rest of their ordnance. Once the tubes were re-loaded, a second, then a third, brace of lethal 650mm killer torpedoes were launched.



This also gave the helo systems operator sufficient information to further localize the onrushing submarine and a Mk46 ASW torpedo was dropped. Although nearly blind in their haste, K-305's sonar operator detected the high-pitched eminations from the approaching torpedo. As a final act of desperation, the K-305 fired the 3 USET-80 torpedoes in her tubes on the last generated sonar bearings just as the Mk46 struck. With 92% of their flotation destroyed, the crew blew the ballast tanks and tried to fight their way to the surface. The pressure of the North Atlantic ended their race at -190m when their pressure hull imploded.

Although they did not live to see it, their torpedoes ran true and first LHA Saipan, then LHD Wasp were struck by the massive Type 65-76 torpedoes. Both were lost immediately. The USET-80 torpedoes selected the CG Leahy for their terminal run and two were more than enough to leave her listing with her engine room flooded.

With his three High Value Units sinking, Ed conceded the game. Jan Mayen would get no re-inforcement this day.

Thanks for a very nice game and congratulations to Bart on the first MP session for his debut scenario. Thanks, also, to Harpgamer for hosting the server.

Anyone looking for an MP game can drop a line here or look for us on HarpGamer pHp chat room or the HG mIRC chat room.