Matrix Games Forums

Playing around with the editors and stuff. Hoping someone can help me with the following questions?

1. Can you add new weapons?

2. What is "FLAG", which listed as a weapon for some ship types?

3. For comparable ship classes, can I streamline them into a smaller number of ship types, and use them for different countries?

4. Can you "force" AC types/airgroups to switch to new AC type at a certain date, or is that hardcoded?

5. How do you withdraw ships for upgrade at a set date, and then re-insert them with the upgrades added? Hardcoded as well?

6. What are the "U" codes for AC? All in editor are 0, but PacReports has an expanded listing with different variables.

7. Any real purpose to having new merchant shipping appearing at forward outposts? Wouldn't it be better to have them appear in shipyards/pool in larger numbers? It'd leave room for more combatant ship construction as well.

8. Ships; some have a "time to arrival", some have "sunk", and I seen a "sub X-Y" listed as well. Can someone explain?

9. Location codes for AC groups. Totally baffled.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by babyseal7:

Hello babyseal, here's some quick answers to questions I know.

1. Can you add new weapons?

Unfortunately, no. AI will not make use of them.


4. Can you "force" AC types/airgroups to switch to new AC type at a certain date, or is that hardcoded?

Nope. Hardcoded.

5. How do you withdraw ships for upgrade at a set date, and then re-insert them with the upgrades added? Hardcoded as well?

Yep. Hardcoded.

6. What are the "U" codes for AC? All in editor are 0, but PacReports has an expanded listing with different variables.

These are the 'mystery' variables. Still unkown to this day.

8. Ships; some have a "time to arrival", some have "sunk", and I seen a "sub X-Y" listed as well. Can someone explain?

Time to arrival is the arrival week number for the ships. 'Sunk' is self explanotary and sub X-Y is the subs XY hex location.

9. Location codes for AC groups. Totally baffled.

This ones tricky. Basically carrier airgroups is value-1000. The resulting answer is equal to the CV class number.
Eg. 1003 - 1000 = 3 (CV AKAGI airgroups)

Bases locations are just their base numbers.

Time to arrival dates, I believe is the value/7. Not too sure...

Can't make a new weapon period, zilch, nada? Even if it's a standard type?

2 things I was looking at were a Midget Sub torpedo, and a Kaiten torpedo. Both woulda been regular ship launched torpedos. Midget sub "torpedo" could be added to Jp. sub classes as an additional weapon, and to the Fleet CS's which each carried 12.

Fleet CS's work great with air wings and 12 AC. The airwings already in the OBC waiting till they get converted to CVL's. Just had to make a "Rufe" and a "Jake2" AC type. They'd be fully functional if the seaplanes could be set to autoconvert to standard carrier AC in late '43.

Wonder how a Midget Sub ship class would work? With a fuel rating of 1-2 would the AI keep them close inshore to their bases, or insist on sending them out on long range patrol?

Too bad about the no new weapons code. I've been looking for ways to put napalm in the US a/c arsenal along with parafrags, acoustic homing torpedoes, air-dropped anti-shipping mines, asw hedgehogs, and tv-guided bombs. Thought of adding "sharp pointed stick" to the late war IJA forces too.

Actually, I created new weapons in empty slots and tested them...they work fine, whether they're on Allied or Japanese ships.

I think it's just new airdropped weapons you can't make cuz of the range, experience, target type computations the AI has to make.

You can't make AA weapons, or aircraft capable weapons. Modifying AA strength really throws off the system. If you increase the AA rating of one gun, you could actually be decreasing it in the game. It is weird like that. However, I have experienced NO problems in creating SP Guns for ships. That is about the extent of meddling allowed. It probably would work with torpedo's as well.

It makes sense about the AA guns, as the AI has to compute AA ratings as well. It does seem to work fine for both surface guns and ship torpedoes.

Seems to be some glitches in the SS values. Most (Jp. too) seem to have a port (Hobart) in Oz as their home? All have about the same "Patrol" and "Attack" ratings as well, both ocean going and coastal classes. I'm speculating this has to do with their patrol range and # of attacks before they need to return to port? Alot of the other surface classes have this as well, so I could be wrong.

Still can't figure what weapon #222 "Flag" included in alot of the subs, merchants, or light combatants is, or does.

Playing around and converted the I-400 class subs to the I-16 class present at war start with a single "midget sub" torpedo included. Gave the Midget Sub torpedo a range of 42, with accuracy of 9. Works great. Figure the reduced torp. load, single midget tube and inaccuracy evens things out. Might make late war arrival subs as I-15 class with 2-4 Kaiten "tubes" included. Still trying to get an idea of whether the "midget sub" torpedo effects their survival rate, and whether they try to "rely" on using it.

Midget Sub ship class works great as well. Die in droves, accomplish nothing, annoying as hell...very historical. Could be a real pain inside an enemy AZOC. Figure out (patrol/attack rating/fuel?) how to stop the AI from sending them out long range they'll be great.

In the game editor the number 222 indicates that the vessel class in question is one which can be pooled AND kept track of in the pool you see in in the utilities pull down menu. The Flag - which is entered in the third weapon slot for the ship class in Bear's editor - indicates the nationality of the ship type. 2 is IJN, 3 is PI, 4 is Chinese, 5 is Dutch, 6 is Indian, 7 is Australian, 8 is NZ, 9 is Brit, 10 is USArmy,
11 is USMC, 12 is USN.

Regarding New Weapons. I have created a US 16"45 Cal Mk II weapon (which historically fired the heavy 2700# AP Shell vs. the 2100# shell used by most 16" guns) and used it on the North Carolina's and South Dakota's. This is historical data. It gives them the same punch as an Iowa, but with a shorter range (approx 37,000 yards.) I have also tried to create a 5"54 Cal DP weapon to use on a converted Montana class vessel - resultes inconclusive. The problem with modifying a ship icon into another ship lies with the variable figures which no one knows (except GG) which I suspect have to do with suceptibility to critical hits, for example. It this particular vessel, such as a Nevada class icon, are transmuted by editor into a Montana - all of those variable figures will also cross over to the new ship with the values you might put into the controllable slots - weapons, number, durability, armor, speed, etc. This can only come about by long term empirical evidence - such as the idea that the Pennsylvania class really do not stand up as well as the Tennessee's and that the Akagi seems to be entirely too likely to explode with a single bomb hit than you might like (talk about critical hit susceptibility). Until we know what those variable slots (v2, v3, and v4) between weapon counts and durability - we won't know exactly what quirks have been built into ships. But, then again, they all have them and you don't always know what they are.



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God Bless;
Rev. Rick, the tincanman

To try working out what the mystery variables mean, try keeping a record of them for one turn, then load up and play the game for one turn, save game, then return to the editor and see if any values have changed.
Then you can have a look at WHY a certain variable and value has changed based on the events that occured during the game turn.

Doh! Pretty obvious now that you pointed it out, LOL.

Any ideas on the "patrol" and "attack" ratings some of them have? Also, why so many with a "home" of Hobart?

How do you send new construction to the pool?

Post the weapon stats you came up with for the 16/45 and I'll work them into my own OBC. DP weapons don't work right, just as advertised, LOL.

Midget Sub as a ship class a flop...AI treats them as a coastal sub, and they count the same as a regular sub kill, which seems to upset the game balance because of the lop-sided kill rate. Don't see anyway around it.

Midget Sub as a "weapon" works great. Have them on the Fleet CS's and on I-16 class subs. Kaitens as a weapon work great as well. Still running tests on both.

Fleet CS's as CVE's seems to work fine. Using them with capacity of 12, and 12 "Midget Subs". Can still use them as fast AC transports and replenish as well. Created "Rufe" in "test" slot #60, and used the existing "Jake" as DB with load of 3. Changed the existing "Jake" patrol groups to something else. Downside is you can "cheat" and convert them to standard carrier AC, before the CS's are converted to CVL's. AI doesn't seem to autochange the AC over either, and will still withdraw them to upgrade to CVL's. Can't decide whether they're usable or not. AI at least seems to treat them with more care.