Really random ASW question

[Lokasenna]

Does anybody know what the *'s mean in the combat animation? Do more *'s mean the depth charge was closer or farther away?

Example:
Near miss astern rattles sub***...

Near miss astern rattles sub*...


What gives?

[HansBolter]

I'll be very surprised if you get a good answer. Seems they have been a mystery just about forever.

[darbycmcd]

It is just a graphic addition to differentiate between two of the same message. so it adds a asterisk or two or 3 to the next one of the same message so you know it is a different iteration of the same message, which might not be obvious otherwise. my dog that was a confusing explaination.... sorry

[Lokasenna]

Oh, I get that... I'm just not sure why it would do that for 1- and 2-DC salvos, especially if the first message is "Submarine skipper evades pattern" or some such.

[SqzMyLemon]

I always took it to mean the degree of the near miss. Sort of like in the air combat replays where you see plane damaged "*****" amount compared to "**". More means heavier damage. This is based purely on my own conclusions, and as Han's post says most likely not a good answer, but I felt like posting my completely unsubstantiated opinion. [:D]

[Terminus]

The asterisks have been in EVERY Gary Grigsby game ever.

[steamboateng]

I too, took it to mean some degree of damage; system damage from near misses that 'rattle' a sub.

[witpqs]

Try running a combat resolution with the speed fairly slow. If you can tell that the *'s get added from separate DC's, then it's just a 'ditto marker' as was said earlier.

[Lokasenna]

The thing is, I see 3 *'s at times for a 'salvo' of only 1 or 2 DCs.

[witpqs]

Isn't an AE DC salvo multiple weapons firing? That's my impression, but I'm not certain.

[crsutton]

It is damage dealt. Same as with air to air combat and air vs flak.

[tigercub]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

It is damage dealt. Same as with air to air combat and air vs flak.

This was my thinking increasing damage on target!

Tigercub

[Chris21wen]

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

I always took it to mean the degree of the near miss. Sort of like in the air combat replays where you see plane damaged "*****" amount compared to "**". More means heavier damage. This is based purely on my own conclusions, and as Han's post says most likely not a good answer, but I felt like posting my completely unsubstantiated opinion. [:D]

Me to, five rivets as opposed to two sort of thing.

[Amoral]

ORIGINAL: Chris H

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

I always took it to mean the degree of the near miss. Sort of like in the air combat replays where you see plane damaged "*****" amount compared to "**". More means heavier damage. This is based purely on my own conclusions, and as Han's post says most likely not a good answer, but I felt like posting my completely unsubstantiated opinion. [:D]

Me to, five rivets as opposed to two sort of thing.

If that was true you would expect asterisks to appear in random numbers. instead what you see is a message with one asterisk, followed by the same message with 2 then 3. That makes it much less likely that they are talking about damage levels, and more likely that is is a marker to make it clear that this is three seperate messages.

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Amoral

ORIGINAL: Chris H

ORIGINAL: SqzMyLemon

I always took it to mean the degree of the near miss. Sort of like in the air combat replays where you see plane damaged "*****" amount compared to "**". More means heavier damage. This is based purely on my own conclusions, and as Han's post says most likely not a good answer, but I felt like posting my completely unsubstantiated opinion. [:D]

Me to, five rivets as opposed to two sort of thing.

If that was true you would expect asterisks to appear in random numbers. instead what you see is a message with one asterisk, followed by the same message with 2 then 3. That makes it much less likely that they are talking about damage levels, and more likely that is is a marker to make it clear that this is three seperate messages.

But why would there be 3 messages when only 1 or 2 depth charges are fired?

You know, it probably makes no difference. The near misses that rattle (as opposed to damage) hardly cause any damage anyway, if they even do. Even the damaging near misses are usually less than 1 Sys/1 Flt damage each.