Modeling Directors

[el cid again]

Below is a duplicate of a posting I made on the Modeling Carrier Battles thread - here so it can be considered in a different sense: for use in WITP I right now - to see if there is any interest. It would be a data entry nightmare for a modder - but we know a guy who does this sort of thing (rather than sleeping)


Director control of AAA is so vital to modeling it reasonably that I was unable to get it out of my subconscious mind:

finally ideas have started popping up about how to get there from here?

1) Directors could be separate devices - but only if code would look at them as such; IF they were separate devices, they could be like he Allied Sound Detector and Japanese Sound Detector devices - fairly generic; Candidates coming to mind would be LA Director (for non -AA), HA Director (for heavy AAA) and LAA Director (for light AAA). The presence of a director would simply be a line in the routine, a branch that multiplies the basic value being manipulated: a good starting point would be doubling it.

2) If there is really no chance of taking this seriously and considering doing something along these lines, it is so important we should do it anyway (as modders). Instead of including directors as separate devices which would multiply the base value, we include them as combined devices - as AA guns themselves.

2A) The first approach was brute force and crude - and would apply to AE or WITP II where there are so many more devices possible: just have two or three entries for each weapon: 5 inch 25 plain (for a submarine or any vessel that lacks directors); 5 inch 25 /director (for a vessel with an optical director); and maybe 5 inch 25 /fire control (for a vessel with a director associated with a fire control radar). A first pass crude solution - we could apply operations theory to get better values if we wanted to - would be the director value would double the accuracy - and the radar director would triple it.

2B) Then it occurred to me - the AA model is so simple - maybe we should NOT be modeling the guns as such - individually. Indeed, we DO have some combined weapons (double and even triple mountings) - and I at least don't treat them as a pure multiple. [A twin has 1.44 times the accuracy as a single; a quad has 2 times the accuracy of a single - these being square root functions]. Since the game is NOT considering facing right now - we COULD be doing AAA for the entire ship (or - my preference - light and heavy AAA as separate values). If the game WILL consider facing in AE - we could do devices that were the sum for the port side, starboard side, forward or aft (sorry - old habit - I mean left side, right side, front and rear). Here the methodology would be to assign values to the AAA - including range (for surface targets unless we get range applies to AAA), ceiling, accuracy and effect - such that

2B1) range = effective range

2B2) ceiling = effective ceiling

2B3) effect = the value of a hit which is

2B3a) weight of shell for heavy AA
2B3b) weight of shell times ROF or some other value similar to what Matrix does for light AAA

2B4) accuracy = a variation on the Matrix system in two flavors

2B4a) for heavy AAA (and maybe surface gunnery)

instead of 10 times ROF - we use a base of 5 times ROF for no directors, 10 times ROF for optical directors and 15 or 20 times ROF for radar directors - perhaps even this latter value depending on the particular fire control system

2B4b) for light AAA

the complimentary function including 2B4a above and whever value we did in 2B3b above - similar to Matrix where the light gun values effect is increased and the accuracy is decreased by the same proportion

This concept is so simple that we might be able to implement it right now - in WITP I - as modders. It would not be as nice as in AE with more devices - but since in WITP I there is no actual facing being used anyway - we could "pre face" the batteries - and figure out the maximum battery that could ever bear. Thus - instead of getting 20 5 inch guns on a USS New Jersey - you would get 10 - and it would be called something like 5in/38 HAA RD (x10). In contrast, a Yamato (as built) would have a 5in/40 HAA OD (x6). [Where RD = Radar Director and OD = Optical Director]

[treespider]

How would your devices jive with the surface combat model?

[el cid again]

While working, I realized I left out one factor:

For a case WITH directors, what matters is the number of directors which bear. Thus, if there are two directors able to bear (say one forward and one aft) you get two batteries able to engage.

[el cid again]

ORIGINAL: treespider

How would your devices jive with the surface combat model?

The way WITP works, range is ONLY used for surface action - so they will work fine.

For a gun type that has no director at all (say the old Soerabaja coast defense ship) you just change the accuracy rating - divide by 2 - which is to say we multiply ROF by 5 vice 10 (the normal case).