Matrix Games Forums

On the 'Four Ounces Can Move One Thousand Pounds' scenario, I have two helicopters with dipping sonar, but only 12 sonobuoys each.

Is there any way to set an ASW patrol that uses the sonar, but not the buoys (so I can save them for later)? They're not listed under WRA or doctrine settings.

I've seen a few very old posts saying that this was impossible, is that still the case?



EDIT:

I have seen this in the FAQ:

"Do I need to fill aviation magazines with drop tanks, sonobuoys and gun ammo?

No. Drop tanks, sonobuoys and gun ammo are ‘free’, i.e. in unlimited supply. You do not have to worry about their quantities, and here is no point in adding them to aviation magazines."

That means I don't need to worry about running out of sonobuoys! That's not so bad then, except for the rearming period. I looked through the ship magazine a few times and somehow missed the buoy count of '9,999'...

Yeah it is nice you don't have to worry about magazines,but it would be very useful to be able to stop helicopters from dropping sonobuoys,a few times they started doing it when I actually did not want them to.

I agree. It's minor, but a bit annoying to have your aircraft dropping active bouys without an actual target to localise.

Maybe a fix could be along the lines of active sonobouys only being dropped in the prosecution of targets?

There is a listing for improved sonobuoy AI on the features poll, not sure if this comes under that heading but may be worth a vote.

Even just a mission doctrine 'Use sonobuoys on/off' would be helpful.

Looking through old posts, it seems the devs are aware of this, at least... They've just got to get to it through the mountain of other things people want!

It does not only apply to helicopters with dipping sonar and a few buoys, it also applies to some MPAs with a very limited number of buoys (e.g., P-2). For those it would help to be able to not drop any buoys at all unless prosecuting a contact, but still have them on an ASW patrol so they are already airborne on a radar search and in the right area when a contact is made (as opposed to having them on a strike mission from an air base 1,000 nm away).

This one is easy. Create your ASW patrol mission but assign no aircraft.

Using the same reference points create a Support Mission. I add on additional reference point right on top of the start point to close the navigation loop. This ensures that once on patrol, the aircraft will remain at its mission speed. You may need to reset the altitude after arriving on station, it seems that LRMP aircraft will default to a lower than optimum altitude but editing this is presents no challenge.

Assign your LRMP assets to the support mission. It will happily fly its circuit using its search radar but expending no sonobouys.

Once a contact has been detected, assign the aircraft from the support mission to the patrol mission. It should now head directly to the goblin and commence a sonobouy search.

You should be able to script this behavior for the non-Player sides using lua but I have not tried it.

-C

Randomizer - the problem with that technique is that it only applies to planes (so no dipping sonar). Also, if it's a support mission, it will just follow the line from point-to-point, rather than criss-crossing an area like a patrol, won't it?

Still, it will help all the same, thanks!

Thanks Randomizer, yes that would work very nicely for the use case I had in mind! [:)] Not too sure about the non-Player side though, and I agree it does not work for the OP's use case.

ORIGINAL: ColonelMolerat

Randomizer - the problem with that technique is that it only applies to planes (so no dipping sonar). Also, if it's a support mission, it will just follow the line from point-to-point, rather than criss-crossing an area like a patrol, won't it?

Still, it will help all the same, thanks!

J.... C.....! You can customize the patrol path into any pattern you want just by adding reference points to taste. CMANO's editor and mission builder is incredibly powerful and probably more flexible than any other commercial simulation and still people whine because it does not allow for everything, always and in every conceivable situation. Or because creating the desired results might take a bit of effort and or thought.

Just knew I should not have bothered to post a suggestion.

-C

ORIGINAL: Randomizer
J.... C.....! You can customize the patrol path into any pattern you want just by adding reference points to taste. CMANO's editor and mission builder is incredibly powerful and probably more flexible than any other commercial simulation and still people whine because it does not allow for everything, always and in every conceivable situation. Or because creating the desired results might take a bit of effort and or thought.

Just knew I should not have bothered to post a suggestion.

-C

Wow, well done flying off the handle.

I was just pointing out that a simple toggle for sonobuoys (perhaps under the doctrine settings) is much simpler than creating a convoluted, criss-crossing support path that is obviously not intended for the desired use, results in different behaviour, and doesn't work with helicopters.

You didn't even suggest a working solution for helicopters.

I don't see any whining from anybody else here, just the desire for the devs to look into a particular feature (as they do all the time).

You are, however, very much correct in one regard - you shouldn't have bothered posting.

Two selection boxes in the mission editor for ASW patrols would seem to do the trick: "Do not use passive sonar buoys when searching" and "Do not use active sonar buoys when searching", both unselected by default.