Submarines which are out of communication are repeatedly detected and dropped upon classification.

[meltingSnowdrift]

Procedure to reproduce

1. Create a scenario in which the "realistic submarine communications" feature is enabled. This scenario only needs to have one side, which is controlled by the player.
2. Add a surface ship with a passive sonar.
3. Place a submarine close enough to the surface ship for the surface ship to easily classify the submarine using its passive sonar.
4. Run the scenario. Order the submarine to dive below communication depth and to move at a high speed.

The submarine should then go out of communication, and should then be detected and classified by the surface ship.

Expected behaviour
When a submarine on the player's side which is out of communication is detected and identified by a unit which is also on the player's side, the last known position of the submarine should ideally be updated to reflect the detection.
At a minimum, the contact should become marked as friendly.

Actual behaviour
It appears that, when a detected contact is determined to correspond to a submarine on the player's side which is out of communication, the contact is immediately dropped. Immediately thereafter, the submarine is reacquired by the sonar as a new contact with a new name. This process repeats for as long as the submarine is out of communication and detectable by the sonar. This tends to distract and confuse the player, especially in a complicated tactical situation.

[Nikel]

I would post the version of CMO you are using.

And a scenario for the devs, demonstrating the problem.

[meltingSnowdrift]

I am using Command version 1567.6. When I did a check for updates in the launcher, no update was offered.

The attached scenario demonstrates the problem. Upon running this scenario, you will see that the friendly submarine is repeatedly detected and dropped as described in my initial post.

[Nikel]

The launcher is wrong


This is the thread of the last official patch. v1.08.1674

https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopic.php?t=411276


And only after applying it, you can use the last beta. v1.08.1728

https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopic.php?t=412914

[thewood1]

If you want to be more official, just go to the "My Games" on Matrixgames.com. You can get the full installer, the patch, and the beta.

[meltingSnowdrift]

I have now installed CMO version 1.08 build 1676. Thank you for your patience earlier.

After some experimentation, I made a new scenario in which the friendly submarine is initially in communication and not detected by the ship. Now, no repetitive contact dropping or repetitive messages occur[1].

There does remain one inconvenience: when attempting to select the detected friendly submarine by clicking on the contact, two options appear, as though two different units are present at the location of the contact. One option is the out-of-communication unit, giving the user interface with which that unit is commanded, and the other is a contact. To "summon" the submarine, it is necessary to select the first option, then use the "unit options" menu in the menu bar. Right-clicking at the location of the contact produces a menu which corresponds to a contact, not a player-controlled unit. This may not be obvious to players encountering this situation for the first time.

To reduce such confusion, can the contact be somehow merged with the out-of-communication unit, such that there is only one object at that location on the map to select and interact with?

[1] Using the original scenario which I previously attached, there does occur a repetitive message, but I suspect that to be because that scenario was made in the previous version of Command and starts out with the submarine already out of communication and detected.

[Raptorx7_slith]

I have now installed CMO version 1.08 build 1676. Thank you for your patience earlier.

After some experimentation, I made a new scenario in which the friendly submarine is initially in communication and not detected by the ship. Now, no repetitive contact dropping or repetitive messages occur[1].

There does remain one inconvenience: when attempting to select the detected friendly submarine by clicking on the contact, two options appear, as though two different units are present at the location of the contact. One option is the out-of-communication unit, giving the user interface with which that unit is commanded, and the other is a contact. To "summon" the submarine, it is necessary to select the first option, then use the "unit options" menu in the menu bar. Right-clicking at the location of the contact produces a menu which corresponds to a contact, not a player-controlled unit. This may not be obvious to players encountering this situation for the first time.

To reduce such confusion, can the contact be somehow merged with the out-of-communication unit, such that there is only one object at that location on the map to select and interact with?

[1] Using the original scenario which I previously attached, there does occur a repetitive message, but I suspect that to be because that scenario was made in the previous version of Command and starts out with the submarine already out of communication and detected.

Hi, with the way the contact/out of contact system is designed right now that won't be possible

[meltingSnowdrift]

Could it instead be possible, at the user interface level, to hide the icon (but not the area of uncertainty) of the detected contact so that only the icon of the out-of-communication unit is visible and clickable at that location? This would at least ensure that right-clicking on that unit will show the menu with which the player can summon the submarine to restore communication, which is the most probable and most important thing a player could want to do regarding that unit.