Matrix Games Forums

Nice.

Auto attack is using F1, right?

Yes.

Cool. I'll try it.

btw, I tried South China Clash, it is definitely not an intro game.

Any other suggestions?

Sunburn, I tied what you suggested, but as soon as I use the F1, the contact gets labeled as a hostile, and the firing begins. If I do auto AI firing off, the contact still becomes hostile, and changes the situation.

I guess there is no function to follow a contact in attack posture?

I am now trying Coral Magpie. I am a bit confused about why ESSM won't launch against surface ships when the range is supposed to be 150nm, and I am at 90nm. Using Shift F1, it states "out of range." I've looked at this for quite a while, but I just can't figure it out.

Any ideas?

Do you have ROE "Use SAMs against surface targets" enabled?

ORIGINAL: HailRider

Sunburn, I tied what you suggested, but as soon as I use the F1, the contact gets labeled as a hostile, and the firing begins. If I do auto AI firing off, the contact still becomes hostile, and changes the situation.

I guess there is no function to follow a contact in attack posture?

Did you first instruct the unit to hold fire?

Ah, I'll try that.

ORIGINAL: HailRider

I am now trying Coral Magpie. I am a bit confused about why ESSM won't launch against surface ships when the range is supposed to be 150nm, and I am at 90nm. Using Shift F1, it states "out of range." I've looked at this for quite a while, but I just can't figure it out.

Any ideas?

1. The ESSM's range is not 150nm. Where did you read this figure?

2. The ESSM requires semi-active illumination in order to be guided to the target ship. If the target is out of your surface horizon, the weapon will not fire. You can check at-a-glance your theoretical horizon by activating a radar capable of surface-search and observing the range ring. (The actual horizon will be a little larger than that because your target is several meters above sea level).

Sorry, it says 25nm. I guess 150 was another weapon. Are the weapon ranges in a table somewhere?

I am finding this all VERY confusing.

What do you mean by semi illuminated?

Is any if this written down where I can refer to it. It seems like every weapon is different, and I don't know how to learn about them.

Any suggestions?

I did instruct the unit to not fire. Another unit fired. The contact was red prior to them firing.

I am wondering why my ship is continuously engaging a whale? I turned off engage opportunity targets.

Sorry, guys, but I was getting rather frustrated. I've since figured out a few things.

To stop pursuing a whale, mark it as Neutral.
The best info about the missiles is not from the boat description (i.e. mounts) where they give the maximum range, but rather the missile description where they give surface vs air ranges.

I still don't understand who does the illuminating. The firing unit? Can another unit illuminate for a second unit that actually launches the missile?

That also depends on the weapon. Some weapons don't require illumination the whole time (mostly modern weapons) but there are many older weapons that need continuous illumination and in that case it generally needs to be the firing unit. But there are so many different weapons I guess it can be a bit confusing. If you post a few weapon types you are wondering about we could tell you a bit more about how the process works.

But what is illumination?

Please read here for a primer on semi-active radar guidance and other related guidance methods:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-active_radar_homing
http://firecontrolman.tpub.com/14099/css/14099_26.htm
http://www.ausairpower.net/TE-Radar-AAMs.html

Seriously? There is no documentation, guidance, or easy way to explain it? Is this the case with other weapon systems, units, etc? Do you have to go to a military academy to play this game?

No wonder I'm having such a hard time with this game.

I looked at the wiki. Illumination means that there is a radar shining on the target and is being reflected to the missile, right?

We have always pitched this game as an advanced air and naval warfare simulation because that is what it is. If you can find a post that says otherwise let me know.

That being said your point isn't lost. We should look into doing some modern air and naval warfare 101 type documentation at some point. Our challenge is finding the time while continuing to develop which is more important to 98 percent of our customers at this point. Can anybody in the community take this up? Maybe just a post explaining missile guidance types to start. We would greatly appreciate it. If not we'll take this up as soon as we can fit it in.

Thanks!

Mike

ORIGINAL: HailRider

I looked at the wiki. Illumination means that there is a radar shining on the target and is being reflected to the missile, right?

Yes.

This article is a little better I think

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

Mike