ASW modding

[thephalanx1453]

Preface: any discussion on realism or game balance are not within the scope of this thread.

I'm making a mod called "Mahan's revenge". Basic premise is that Alfred Mahan's ghost wakes up, is dismayed by all the airpower and submarines messing with his decisive battle doctrine, and uses magical powers to change the laws of physics in such a way that: aircraft is nerfed, submarines are nerfed.

In regards to ship-based ASW, I'd like to make changes at 3 levels:

1. I'd like combat to happen more often when friendly ships and enemy subs are in the same hex.

2. During the combat sequence, I'd like to radically increase the chance of "early detection of the sub by the TF escort" happening.

3. The easiest part to mod, increase the effectiveness of ASW weapons, and decrease submarine durability.


Where would I find the values to change something with regard to 1 or 2?
The changes I can think of:
Increase the DL of a sub when it's near enemy ships.
Disable the mechanic that halves the MDL of submarines every 12 hours.
Increase the ASW multipliers on crew rating (described on p.132 of manual).
Where would I make those changes? Couldn't find them in the data editor.

[Platoonist]

Why not just give every submarine torpedo a 100% dud rate? That would nerf them right into supnerfluousness.

[thephalanx1453]

ORIGINAL: Platoonist

Why not just give every submarine torpedo a 100% dud rate? That would nerf them right into supnerfluousness.

I would like sub vs ship combat to happen more often, and have said ships search better during those combat sequences. This results in an increased kill rate that feels more natural.

[Platoonist]

That might be tough to do. I think ASW is a formulation mostly modeled under-the-hood, so to speak in terms of escort speed, crew experience, the number of ASW weapons carried and the number of escorts in a task force. Plus, there are some crew modifiers for nationality and the year you are currently in.

[thephalanx1453]

ORIGINAL: Platoonist

Plus, there are some crew modifiers for nationality and the year you are currently in.

Right, those are the modifiers I mentioned in the first post. If I can set them all to really high values, then I should be able to partially achieve the effect I'm after.

[Admiral DadMan]

You can only modify ship/plane/unit/device values, not game mechanics. Granted, some values will influence game mechanics, just not to the level that you envision.

You're about 15 years too late to that party...

[Platoonist]

Yeah, there is a ASW detection, acquisition, prosecution, and damage algorithm built into the game that you can't edit and it would likely break the game if you could.

[thephalanx1453]

What about the various parameters that affect detection, aquisition, and prosecution? Which of these values can be changed in the editor?

Max speed of subs is one. However, from what I read in the manual:

The chance of a submarine attacking a TF varies with the:
1. Sub’s maximum speed
2. TF’s cruise speed
3. Sub crew’s experience
4. Prior detection of the sub

Are all ship vs sub combat the result of the previous? If that's the case, then reducing submarine max speed actually reduces the chance of combat, which is the opposite of what I want.

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: thephalanx1453

Preface: any discussion on realism or game balance are not within the scope of this thread.

I'm making a mod called "Mahan's revenge". Basic premise is that Alfred Mahan's ghost wakes up, is dismayed by all the airpower and submarines messing with his decisive battle doctrine, and uses magical powers to change the laws of physics in such a way that: aircraft is nerfed, submarines are nerfed.

In regards to ship-based ASW, I'd like to make changes at 3 levels:

1. I'd like combat to happen more often when friendly ships and enemy subs are in the same hex.

2. During the combat sequence, I'd like to radically increase the chance of "early detection of the sub by the TF escort" happening.

3. The easiest part to mod, increase the effectiveness of ASW weapons, and decrease submarine durability.


Where would I find the values to change something with regard to 1 or 2?
The changes I can think of:
Increase the DL of a sub when it's near enemy ships.
Disable the mechanic that halves the MDL of submarines every 12 hours.
Increase the ASW multipliers on crew rating (described on p.132 of manual).
Where would I make those changes? Couldn't find them in the data editor.

(1) and (2) above cannot be modified by a player. Direct access to the code is required for that exercise.

(3) above currently is the result of the devs toning down the effectiveness of ASW in response to the very widespread customer base criticism of late war (but also early war) ASW effectiveness in particular.

Any attempt to return to the original play will very much unbalance the game. The changes would impact other areas of the game.

Alfred

[thephalanx1453]

Thanks for the replies. I'm not attempting to achieve any balance, I'm just trying to create Mahan's paradise.