Getting Started

[HailRider]

I'm kinda moving in that direction, unfortunately.

But I'm still trying.

Thanks

[RoryAndersonCDT]

The ASuW Tutorial is a good starting spot. Watch out: its pretty difficult!

One thing I'd like to recommend is coming by the chatroom, https://jabbr.net/#/rooms/baloogan .
We don't just play Command, we play a whole pile of games, with a focus on cold war era and the post cold war era. Quite a bit of Kerbal Space Program and general space technology discussion.
Everyone welcome! And we try to be directly helpful. [:D]

In a couple of ways Command is like chess, and do you remember those fiendishly tough "2 moves till white checkmates" puzzles they used to publish in newspapers? Most Command scenarios are like that.

The "First Contact" scenarios are good for beginners, expect to lose at least once though [:D]. Start with 1973 or 1957. Naval warfare 'back in the day' is easier to understand.

Another good beginner one is "Iron Hand", just make sure to use your long range russian cruise missiles first!

Fighter Weapons School is also simple (if tough!).

[RoryAndersonCDT]

I think games like command are about learning new things. For example, I'm trying right now to figure out how to fly a Falcon in Falcon BMS. Took me an hour and a half to tune my radio to request landing permission from my home airport on my way back from a mission.

If I started out knowing how to fly a falcon, I most likely wouldn't play falcon BMS. Part of the fun of simulation games is figuring out how to play them.

[thewood1]

I thought I saw it in the manual and guess what...

Illumination Vectors
Many modern weapon systems use or require a fire-control radar to illuminate a target to guide weapons to them or improve their accuracy. This includes most modern deck guns and many surface-to-air missiles. This is displayed as a broken red line leading from shooter to target.
Using the drop-down menu, you can set this to be displayed for: the selected unit, all units or None by clicking on your choice in the drop down. It is set to None by default to lower the clutter on the display.

There is a lot more in the manual about turning radars on and limitations.

[HailRider]

Wow again. Enough said.

[thewood1]

This isn't a game to pick up and start playing immediately like an ace. It takes an investment of time to not only learn the game but how a lot of things work in real life. I would think that one would have looked at a few of the 40 or so tutorial videos or looked at the forum before buying.

[HailRider]

You are making way too many assumptions. Give it up.

[HailRider]

Thanks, Baloogan, for your help and understanding. Maybe we'll chat in the chatroom.

[RoryAndersonCDT]

Cheers HailRider [:D]

[thewood1]

ORIGINAL: HailRider

Thanks for trying to help.

So, illumination is not just a radar image. What is it?

I am playing coral magpie. The ship is a DDG guided missile destroyer. The missiles are a RIM 66M, and RIM 162A ESSM

Often I can't shoot because of 'OODA loop limitation'. (Something else not documented and totally confusing)
But the main question is 'no directors are able to illuminate this target'. What does this mean? The target is only 12nm away. F1 let's them fly, but they don't hit.
What is an operator, and how do I get him to illuminate the target?

OODA loop limitation

Again...in the manual...page 49

ƒ
Weapon cannot engage this target for another [time value in sec] (OODA loop limitation): Each unit has a certain delay between first detection of a contact (or being given its data from elsewhere) and being able to target and engage it (the so called “OODA loop” – yes, the one from John “40-second” Boyd). With surprise threats this delay can often be fatal.
ƒƒ
Solution: None really, just hope that the countdown runs out before the target becomes an imminent threat. If it is already an imminent threat (e.g. incoming anti-ship missile) and it looks like it’s beating the clock, hope that the unit has automated point-defence systems that can ignore the OODA countdown and engage it. If not… brace for impact.

[HailRider]

Thanks for that. I did see that, but that didn't answer my question.

The loops doesn't seem to end. Do I just allocate the weapon (in shift F1) and hope it fires after the loop is over? If I just wait for the loop to be over, another one starts up.

[Sardaukar]

If you try to attack target with manual attack (Shift and F1), it'll tell you the reason if you cannot. OODA loop is rarely reason with deliberate attack, more like in surprise situations.

[HailRider]

Ok, but I am getting it continually in Coral Magpie.

[Dimitris]

ORIGINAL: HailRider
Ok, but I am getting it continually in Coral Magpie.

Hello,

If you suspect that you have stumbled upon a problematic program behavior (ie. possible bug), please submit a bug report on our Tech Support forum. The guidelines for submitting a bug report are described here: tm.asp?m=3585262

Thanks.

[Tomcat84]

Hailrider if you could post a savegame of when that is happening and/or a more detailed description of which unit it is that gives it and when attacking what target, I'd be happy to take a look and see if I can figure out what is going on.

[edit] nevermind already looking at it now

[Tomcat84]

Hailrider, can you specify the target that you are trying to attack? Is it the neutral Russian helicopter approaching from the north? My quick testing reveals that indeed on a neutral target, the OODA loop limitation (in this case 10 seconds) does not start counting down. If I manually declare the Russian helicopter hostile (by selecting it and pressing the "h" key), the OODA loop limit will countdown until after 10 seconds I get an OK to fire.

I'm not sure if this is as designed or not, will do a couple more tests and then post a note to the devs about it.

OODA stands for observe, orient, decide, and act. It is a concept that is mostly credited to the fighter pilot John Boyd. You can read more about it here on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop

In Command what it comes down to is the fact thata unit is not instantly able to react to new developments. It would not be realistic in most cases if a new contact is detected to immediately have a missile fire off the rail, some time goes by in the decision making process and just realizing what is going on etc. How much time it takes in Command is also dependent on the profiency level of the side (Ace or regular etc)

Hope this helps.

[thewood1]

In the manual...

OODA values are affected by proficiency levels. Novice crews take twice
the nominal OODA value to execute their targeting process while ace
crews beat even the nominal best-case value

[thewood1]

Google OODA...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_ ... trategist)

http://www.tacticalresponse.com/d/node/226

[HailRider]

Tomcat84, thank you.

[navwarcol]

@HailRider-----
I would say that depending how much you like to "tinker under the hood" the best way to learn the game is setting up a few very basic scenarios yourself, put two sides, a ship on each side, and kind of have at it... this will teach you the way different systems interact with each other far better than reading through a lot of words will, and IMO is a lot more fun.