9 Allied (YEAH, RIGHT!) ships at 106,58 near Hiroshima/Kure, speed 16, Moving Southwes

[fflaguna]

H6K4 Mavis sighting report: 9 Allied ships at 106,58 near Hiroshima/Kure, speed 16, Moving Southwest

Yet when I look at the map, it's obviously a Japanese fleet that the spotter erroneously called in as Allied. This is some severe FOW, and quite an annoyance to have to click around to find a certain hex, only to see it's just your xAK fleet or whatever that's causing the report...

It'd be alright if it only happened once in a while, but it seems like more than half of my spotting reports are just my own fleets. I know the planes are just calling in what they see without getting dangerously close, but there has to be some sort of deconfliction that should be performed before it gets up to the Admiral's eyes.

[BPRE]

Happens more or less every day in my view but maybe not always in the middle of your own major base.

An idea would maybe be to change the sightings into something like: 9 Unknown ships sighted at ...

I suppose that in reality this must have happened now and then.

/BPRE

[Mistmatz]

Yeah, and then there are those players who complain they can't find the enemy at all.

[Sardaukar]

You'd be surprised what was sighted and where by both IJ and Allied pilots... Game is quite correct in this sense, even giving more correct information than historical. 

[LoBaron]

What Sardaukar and the others said, incorrect sighting reports are common and realistic. Happened all the time in WWII.
Thats why sighting reports were taken with a grain of salt.

And it adds to the fun factor IMO. [:D]

[mg62]

I'm still early in my game with Patch 2.  I find these sightings add another level to my planning.  Do I adjust my search arcs to look for something that may or might not be a threat.  I've still not gone too far into the game to see what the new IJN AI has in store for me.  Having just been pounded at PH for 3 days I'm a little cautious about what might be awaiting me.  After about 2 weeks though I'm not getting as many of the sightings. 
 
I can't say enough about this game.

[FOW]

Nothing new.

Playing as Allied I've had many sighting reports of IJN TFs off US West Coast, especially SF - at least my search planes are sighting something.....
When I see a report of a Jap TF off Sydney I really get paranoid - was it really one of my Tran TFs approaching port OR is it part of KB come to cause panic and death [:D]

[CapAndGown]

I am surprised that players are paying attention to this stuff. It seems to me that if you really did sight an enemy TF it will show up on the map with an icon. Otherwise it is just noise. I see all these sighting reports during the combat replay and unless an icon shows up, I figure they are just bogus.

[myros]

One thing that detracts from the overall effect is that these mistaken 'sightings' never put a ship icon on the map display, kinda spoils the effect if it is so easy to see the difference betweem a real sighting (a ship icon is placed on the map) and a false sighting (no icon is placed on the map). For this to really have the desired impact and effect the game needs to start placing temp enemy fleet icons for EVERY reported sighting, that way the player will always be left guessing ... or in a state of panic ... whichever the case might be [:D]

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

I am surprised that players are paying attention to this stuff. It seems to me that if you really did sight an enemy TF it will show up on the map with an icon. Otherwise it is just noise. I see all these sighting reports during the combat replay and unless an icon shows up, I figure they are just bogus.

Isn't there a DL gate (3 maybe? 4?) you need to reach before an icon appears? Could have sworn I read that somewhere . . .

[JeffroK]

ORIGINAL: myros

One thing that detracts from the overall effect is that these mistaken 'sightings' never put a ship icon on the map display, kinda spoils the effect if it is so easy to see the difference betweem a real sighting (a ship icon is placed on the map) and a false sighting (no icon is placed on the map). For this to really have the desired impact and effect the game needs to start placing temp enemy fleet icons for EVERY reported sighting, that way the player will always be left guessing ... or in a state of panic ... whichever the case might be [:D]

ditto

Panicked the first time I saw this after hearing about AI West Cost raids.

Saw the same approaching PH and assumed it was a false report until a SCTF smashed into a supply convoy.

Keep the FOW coming!!!!

[PzB74]

"6 ships" inside your home waters means one or more subs has been spotted.

[Dili]

One thing that detracts from the overall effect is that these mistaken 'sightings' never put a ship icon on the map display, kinda spoils the effect if it is so easy to see the difference betweem a real sighting (a ship icon is placed on the map) and a false sighting (no icon is placed on the map). For this to really have the desired impact and effect the game needs to start placing temp enemy fleet icons for EVERY reported sighting, that way the player will always be left guessing ... or in a state of panic ... whichever the case might be

serious issue.

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: Dili

One thing that detracts from the overall effect is that these mistaken 'sightings' never put a ship icon on the map display, kinda spoils the effect if it is so easy to see the difference betweem a real sighting (a ship icon is placed on the map) and a false sighting (no icon is placed on the map). For this to really have the desired impact and effect the game needs to start placing temp enemy fleet icons for EVERY reported sighting, that way the player will always be left guessing ... or in a state of panic ... whichever the case might be

serious issue.

This is about a million miles from a "serious issue". Consider:

ORIGINAL: cap_and_gown

I am surprised that players are paying attention to this stuff. It seems to me that if you really did sight an enemy TF it will show up on the map with an icon. Otherwise it is just noise. I see all these sighting reports during the combat replay and unless an icon shows up, I figure they are just bogus.

Exactly. The number of bogus sightings during the war were well beyond the 1000's, and AE gives you the flavor of that by feeding you the bogus reports. But just like Nimitz or Yamamoto, you want to know which sightings to trust, and the benefit of having a "good staff" that can sort the wheat from the chaff is replicated by not showing an icon UNLESS there's a high degree of probability the sighting is accurate. It's a tiny thing, really, but it definitely helps capture the feel of the era.

[myros]

The thing is it also applies to exactly where an enemy TF MAY be, ie round philipines etc but the fact that an icon is never placed for a bogus report means you can ignore them too .... when you (and your staff ;p) SHOULD be taking them seriously. But the game removes the very thing that WOULD make them at least partialy an interesting part of the game (temp icons) rather than something to smile about and ignore as 'flavour'
 
M

[Kull]

ORIGINAL: myros

The thing is it also applies to exactly where an enemy TF MAY be, ie round philipines etc but the fact that an icon is never placed for a bogus report means you can ignore them too .... when you (and your staff ;p) SHOULD be taking them seriously. But the game removes the very thing that WOULD make them at least partialy an interesting part of the game (temp icons) rather than something to smile about and ignore as 'flavour'

M

Believe me I don't ignore them. Just because there's no icon doesn't mean there's nothing there. When I'm trying to figure out where KB is going to make it's next appearance or tracking the path of a large troop convoy, I look at every single "oil slick". Keep in mind that in addition to location spotting, you get lots of reports of unit or ship "x" spotting some type of aircraft. You can't put a TF icon on the map for those, but you really should be leafing through the combat reports and making a judgement as to how accurate they are. If KB has disappeared and suddenly I see a report that an AK in the Indian Ocean was "followed by a torpedo bomber", I get very nervous. Hopefully it's little Nell, but just maybe it's something much worse!

I must say that it would be interesting to see a small icon (something like the exclamtion points) on the map indicating all the "low probability" reports. Unless that causes half the map to wind up covered with those things (which may be why the devs haven't done it).

[myros]

Subs sightings may or may not get an icon ... depending on detected level I guess. Surface TFs ALWAYS get an icon if they are deteced at all  ... the higher the detection level the greater accuracy in the mouse over text etc
 
So if a report comes in of a '9 ship TF' and no icon = sub or nothing, icon = surface TF.  Thats the problem.  You seem to be saying we should pretend to make them important (eg "you really should be leafing through the combat reports") because as it is right now there is no need (for this issue) as it is EASY to tell the real from the bogus (for surface TFs) ... is there an icon. And there is a reason I said 'temp icon', hardly end up with "half the map" covered when the icon goes away a turn later.
 
This has nothing to do with a/c spottings which are great and a nice way to watch for the a/c type and where it may have came from etc ... 2 very different things.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: myros


This has nothing to do with a/c spottings which are great and a nice way to watch for the a/c type and where it may have came from etc ... 2 very different things.

Yeah, but, "In the dark, all planes are torpedo bombers."
I've had lots of them cruising over the foothills of the Himalayas.

[Smeulders]

ORIGINAL: myros
So if a report comes in of a '9 ship TF' and no icon = sub or nothing, icon = surface TF.  Thats the problem. 

Or maybe you really did sight a surface TF, but didn't raise the detection level enough for an icon to actually appear on map. I don't think it's as clear cut as icon = surface, no icon = sub.

[myros]

It's quite simple ... and clear cut ;p
 
Any unit with MDL (maximum detect level) greater than 0 is drawn on the map.
Any unit sighted by an aircraft gets MDL increased by 1, 2 or 4.
So a TF sighted by a scout a/c has at least an MDL of 1.
Again, any unit with an MDL of at least 1 is ALWAYS drawn on the map.
 
It's the info you get from using the mouse over about what is contained in the TF which is increased as the MDL increases, but if it has been spotted at all it is visible on the map.
We discussed this at length back when witp was first released.
 
M