Attack Bug in Scenario Editor

[alan6326]

I'm trying to build a scenario, one feature of which calls for an air attack launched from Kinloss on Bodo. The attack however never takes place during the game. To be specific, the scenario is built within the EC2003, GIUK Gap battleset. It is set (without variance) to begin at time zero, using Tornado GR.4s using Precis-LR (Sorm Shadow) weapons with a rated range of 216 miles. The distance from Kinloss to Bodo is 766 miles for a round-trip 1,532 miles. The GR.4 is rated to have a round-trip capability of 1,554 miles which exceeds the the required mileage to Bodo slightly. In any case, irrespective, the weapon would be release 216 miles the target anyway, so the actual required mileage for the GR.4 to travel is actually much less. Despite all that, the attack never takes place. Why? Is there a way to fix this?

[TonyE]

I haven't tried it out (care to share your creation, zip and send to hc3@harpgamer.com) but I expect your attack never makes it very far since the game considers bingo fuel 10% of the original range. You can also play from the side using the GR.4s and see if they prompt to RTB before they prompt you to launch the weapons. That at least takes fuel out of the equation and would bring you to the next step of sleuthing.

[alan6326]

I did play the scenario from the blue side (which uses the GR.4).  The planes never lauched at all.  I thought of the bingo fuel issue and wondered if that was the cause.  So I susbstituted F-15 Strike Eagles with a range of 2,000 miles for the GR.4s and replayed the scenario.  Again the planes never launched, so bingo fuel can't be the issue for the F-15s.  I will send the file and appreciate any thoughts you might have.  By the way, the scenario also calls for carrier-based plane attacks (on other bases) and these appear to work.

[TonyE]

Thank you for sending the scenario over. I totally misunderstood your issue [8|].

Much of this will be for the benefit of those observing the thread...

alan6326 is trying to program long range attacks for the player side of the scenario, in this case the Blue side. So when the player loads up the game he doesn't have to launch attacks manually. That is supposed to be impossible. When the scenario is loaded, all player-side long distance attacks, patrols, and ferry missions are supposed to be thrown out, only the AI side ones are to be kept. ala6326 managed to get his carrier group to launch planes on an pre-programmed attack against Iceland.

In sum, the GR.4s should never take off on their own on the Bodo attack if you are the blue player. The anomaly is that you managed to get the Hornets from carrier group AJC to undertake their pre-programmed attack. They should only take off and execute the attack when you play as Red.

[alan6326]

Actually, the scenario was written to be played from the RED side only, not the BLUE.  I just tested it from the BLUE side to see if the attacks would in fact launch.  The file I sent may have misled you because I sent it after modifying it to include longer-range planes (to check on the bingo fuel issue) and to test again (while watching the BLUE side) if the attacks woud launch by playing from the BLUE side.  They didn't.  But given your response, I decided to go back and test from the RED side and the attacks did launch (using the F-15 Strike Eagles), so the bingo fuel issue was the problem for the GR.4s and the test from the BLUE side didn't work because of the reason you just gave.  It is curious that when I tested from the BLUE side that the launches worked when the attacks were launched from the carriers, but not from the land bases. Thanks for the help.  It does seem strange too that the bingo fuel calculation is based on the entire range between the two targets and not on the range after subtracting the range for the weapons used (216 miles in my case). 

[TonyE]

The scenario editor prompted attack can't use the 216nm weapon range in any capacity because at that point it doesn't know which weapons will be used (air to air, air to ground, etc.) so it has to assume the worst case which is using the loadout range itself, not taking weapon range into account.