Matrix Games Forums

Hi all,
Is there a way to see the detailed combat reports, basically all the text that scrolls through a combat animation, but *without* watching the animation?

Actually, any help on what logs to read after a turn would be appreciated. Near as I can tell there are 4 you can open up in a text editor after each turn (sigint, ops, combat, update)

-R

ORIGINAL: ryanb

Hi all,
Is there a way to see the detailed combat reports, basically all the text that scrolls through a combat animation, but *without* watching the animation?

Actually, any help on what logs to read after a turn would be appreciated. Near as I can tell there are 4 you can open up in a text editor after each turn (sigint, ops, combat, update)

-R

OK, first you must have the option selected to actually produce the reports. Forget what it's called, just look through the various option menus accessible through the main screen when you start AE. Second, in-game there is an icon to click on, and the hotkey is'c' to call up the combat report, and there are similar for the other reports. Finally, in the 'SAVE' folder there are .txt copies of the reports (and if you have the -archive switch on your shortcut then all the reports are date-named and saved in the 'archive' folder under the 'SAVE' folder) and you can just open them with your favorite text editor.

Reading the manual will give you a lot more info! [;)]

witpqs, thanks. I've found those reports, and have been reading them. I was more interested if there's a text record of the combat animations, which has stuff like "superstructure hit!" "ammo explosion", etc etc. Thanks for the help! And I'll read the manual in more detail

-R

Not every hit description, but the major events such as Ammo Storage Explosion or Fuel Storage Explosion as well as ship collisions do appear in the standard combat report that can be accessed through the button at the top of the screen or opened independently from the save folder.

As far as I know, there is no record of each hit description. That's why watching the combat resolutions is so important, especially for surface combat.

A shell hit can be anything form a 50 caliber to an 18". Only way to know what ship took what size hits is to watch the resolution.

One of the weirdest things I've seen is an IJN barge(or did the IJA do the barges) being completed obliterated by a direct hit from a sub's .50 caliber machine gun. And OTHER barges surviving multiple hits from 3 inch and 4 inch guns.

The Imperial Forces are running unescorted empty barges in a place I have submarines (AI has its faults). I haven't seen a .30 caliber Browning completely obliterate one yet but there is time.

Made better sense when a Motor Launch caught a torpedo.

The main goodness I get from the animation text lines that is not in the retained reports is the CV designator of an aircraft unit I'm in combat with. "Hiryu-2" or similar. It tells the Allied player a lot about what carrier is near, very useful info you miss if you don't watch animations.

I watch it for surface engagements where larger combatants (CL and up) are involved as it gives you a better feel for how much damage was done- penetrating hits vs non penetrating and what calibre.

There are no reports that give you that information.

ORIGINAL: Itdepends

I watch it for surface engagements where larger combatants (CL and up) are involved as it gives you a better feel for how much damage was done- penetrating hits vs non penetrating and what calibre.

There are no reports that give you that information.

Yep, that too. Good addition.

To the animations I would add the sound effects as a feature that can give good tactical info. The sub-sinking effect with the breaking-up noises is hard to listen to, but it's pretty determinative.

I guess I play to late at night, I've never heard the sub noise.

ORIGINAL: zuluhour

I guess I play to late at night, I've never heard the sub noise.

It's much quieter than the ship sinking noise. To me, it sounds a lot like the PTO2 ship sinking noise...

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

The main goodness I get from the animation text lines that is not in the retained reports is the CV designator of an aircraft unit I'm in combat with. "Hiryu-2" or similar. It tells the Allied player a lot about what carrier is near, very useful info you miss if you don't watch animations.

One of these days, us JFB's might get tricksy and shift units to other CVs just for giggles...



Watching the animations can tell you a lot more about what actually happened in the combat than the combat replay summary (the .txt file), and not just what's been mentioned so far. If you count carefully, you can get an accurate count (without Tracker, which is never wrong) of aircraft losses in a battle. You can also see things like "damaged by balloon" that you wouldn't otherwise.

ORIGINAL: wegman58

One of the weirdest things I've seen is an IJN barge(or did the IJA do the barges) being completed obliterated by a direct hit from a sub's .50 caliber machine gun. And OTHER barges surviving multiple hits from 3 inch and 4 inch guns.

The Imperial Forces are running unescorted empty barges in a place I have submarines (AI has its faults). I haven't seen a .30 caliber Browning completely obliterate one yet but there is time.

Made better sense when a Motor Launch caught a torpedo.

Perhaps that .50 caliber machine gun round(s) hit a fuel line/fuel tank or some other "critical part of the barge.