Task force search when left on ai's choice

[rogerbacon51]

When you don't specify search arcs for your task force and let the Ai manage it, does it make any kind of assumptions about where to search (like Allies are more likely to me toward the East and south if you are at Truk) or is it completely random?

[Alfred]

Read this thread.

tm.asp?m=3163109&mpage=1&key=search%2Cd ... n&#3164761

Alfred

[GaryChildress]

I wish there were a way to turn off the search arc feature in the game options menu or something so that player can opt out of the feature if they want. I don't really understand why it was implemented in the first place? What was wrong with the old way of doing things? Maybe it was a little less realistic but the trade off seems to be a 50% increase in the number of clicks required to satisfy a turn.

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Gary Childress

I wish there were a way to turn off the search arc feature in the game options menu or something so that player can opt out of the feature if they want. I don't really understand why it was implemented in the first place? What was wrong with the old way of doing things? Maybe it was a little less realistic but the trade off seems to be a 50% increase in the number of clicks required to satisfy a turn.

You opt out by simply not setting search arcs. Then it uses the old method. BTW I do not mean clicking on 'use random arcs' or whatever that is, just don't set any arcs. Leave it at 000 to 000.

[dr.hal]

I think the ability to set arcs is very much needed. Land based air on a coast doing a sea search need to keep their aircraft over water!

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: dr.hal

I think the ability to set arcs is very much needed. Land based air on a coast doing a sea search need to keep their aircraft over water!

This is far and away the most common circumstance when I set up arcs. I rarely micromanage the search vectors of individual TFs, unless I'm holding a line and plan to be there for more than 2 days or so. In other cases, I just make sure I have plenty of planes searching (20% of my carrier DBs, plus 60% of my escorting float planes) so that I can reasonably expect to sight anything with a 4-5 hex radius.

In a related question, I've always wondered how the engine treats partial planes. If 20% of an 18 plane Dauntless unit is on search, does that mean you search with 3 planes or 4? Or is it sometimes 3, sometimes 4?

[Empire101]

ORIGINAL: dr.hal

I think the ability to set arcs is very much needed. Land based air on a coast doing a sea search need to keep their aircraft over water!

+1

[dr.hal]

Well in the "real" navy we always worried about a "threat axis" and keep a sharp eye on that bearing. So I do the same in the game. I know that the game's ability to detect contacts much beyond 12 hexes diminishes rapidly (no matter how much further the range of the search aircraft [read Mavis] is), but I still try to look in that direction... and to do so with enough aircraft and thus enough of a chance at detection, you need to limit the arc of your search around that threat bearing. Therefore it would appear that I use the search arcs a lot more than you do. But it IS a lot of clicking! Hal