Matrix Games Forums

Hi all,

Few weeks ago I posted bug report regarding UV fighter bug "Unable To Locate
Target".


showthread.php?s=&threadid=36986


Unfortunately files I send to Dan ("U2") were not conclusive because the
bug/problem/issue wasn't 100% reproducible...


Explanation:
I am IJN - Player #1 and the bug occured in original setup - but when Dan just
loaded/saved USN - Player #2 - PBEM move to see whether it wold affect things
the bug didn't occur (therefore the "trigger" didn't happen for some reason).



Nonetheless I continued to ponder on it and here is what I found out...


Observations

The UV fighter bug ("Unable To Locate Target") is indeed caused by UV game
engine temporary changing fighter orders from "Escort" to "Sweep".

Since "Escort" fighters usually (99.99% of cases) are always set to altitude
higher than 100ft this results in "Unable To Locate Target" (nothing can be
strafed at altitudes higher than 100ft).

So... why "Escort" changes to "Sweep" is therefore mystery...

Please note that even with "Escort" orders the target destination is possible
to be set for fighter unit and for this bug to happen the destination is set to
"Commander Discretion".


Conclusions

You can 100% eliminate the above behavior with just selecting target
destination same as the base at which fighter unit is based (i.e. you
change "Commander Discretion" for fighter home base).

This means that they would _NEVER_ attack and convert from "Escort" to
"Sweep" (and I really tested this for weeks in UV time).

Unfortunately this has serious drawback... those fighters would then _NEVER_
escort friendly bombers... ((


Recommendations

IMhO, it's easy...

The Matrix/2By3 should just remove target destination when "Escort" mission
is chosen.

This is redundant anyways and would solve this problem once and for all...



What do you think gentleman?



Leo "Apollo11"

Hmm, I see what you are saying, but removal of the choice is not particularly a solution.

Lets say I have P-400's and P-38's at PM. I have two sets to strikes going out, one to Rabaul and one to Lae. I want the P-400's to go with the P-39's who are dealing with some float fighters at Lae while I want the much better P-38's to deal with the A6M-3's at Rabaul with that collection of bombers.

If you remove the choice, you end up in a mess where the P-38's would end up wasted on a milk run while Oops, the Hudson raid did not fly against Rabaul as the P-400's didn't have the range to provide the escort ...

Removing controls to fix a bug doesn't really fix the bug. As long as you can set the target for bombers, you should be able to assign the escort groups as well, that is pretty much a strategic level call. ie: I want my p-38 wings to fly with the longer ranged bombers as they replace slower so I don't want to loose them due to poor escort. etc.

My Zero pilots do not have an escort destination and still occasionally fly off to an enemy base only to not find a target. Also a sweep does not have to have alt. 100 ft. Am I missing something here?

One strange thing which happened recently is that the game indicated the flight from Shortlands to GG and the usual unable to locate target message. But (and this is the first time I have seen this) there was no fatigue for the only fighter group based at Shortlands! Usually the air group for that flight has a fatigue in the low 50's - but not this time.

Hi all,

Originally posted by Mr.Frag
Hmm, I see what you are saying, but removal of the choice is not particularly a solution.

Lets say I have P-400's and P-38's at PM. I have two sets to strikes going out, one to Rabaul and one to Lae. I want the P-400's to go with the P-39's who are dealing with some float fighters at Lae while I want the much better P-38's to deal with the A6M-3's at Rabaul with that collection of bombers.

If you remove the choice, you end up in a mess where the P-38's would end up wasted on a milk run while Oops, the Hudson raid did not fly against Rabaul as the P-400's didn't have the range to provide the escort ...

Removing controls to fix a bug doesn't really fix the bug. As long as you can set the target for bombers, you should be able to assign the escort groups as well, that is pretty much a strategic level call. ie: I want my p-38 wings to fly with the longer ranged bombers as they replace slower so I don't want to loose them due to poor escort. etc.

I see your point here, but (there is always but), there is one big drawback
with what you do.

When you issue target for "Escort" flight you hope that your bombers would
fly.

Unfortunately, when weather is bad the bombers would not fly (weather can
affect offensive air missions) and your fighters would still fly alone and do the
bug "Unable To Locate Target" thingy...


Leo "Apollo11"

Yea, I know Leo, whole thing needs a mission planner added, perhaps Gary can steal his stuff out of Battle of Britain

The catch of course is getting too tactical deep yet retaining enough control to prevent silliness. Need to find that middle ground point.

Perhaps when they solution this, they can also solution the fatigue problem where you can give orders in a manner that makes sense, dealing with the ability to run multi-day turns.

I would love to be able to order a Naval/Airbase attack every OTHER day or a Transport supplies every 3rd day, etc.

Hopefully some level of automation tools are available in WitP, as with the larger area and more units, people will simply loose interest in the game due to the overwhelming amount of workload based on UV level choice abilities.

Hi all,

Originally posted by Mr.Frag
Yea, I know Leo, whole thing needs a mission planner added, perhaps Gary can steal his stuff out of Battle of Britain

The catch of course is getting too tactical deep yet retaining enough control to prevent silliness. Need to find that middle ground point.

Perhaps when they solution this, they can also solution the fatigue problem where you can give orders in a manner that makes sense, dealing with the ability to run multi-day turns.

I would love to be able to order a Naval/Airbase attack every OTHER day or a Transport supplies every 3rd day, etc.

Hopefully some level of automation tools are available in WitP, as with the larger area and more units, people will simply loose interest in the game due to the overwhelming amount of workload based on UV level choice abilities.

If only targeting/search arcs existed in UV (yes I know - I am getting boring
with that request of mine)... all our problems would be gone...

We would then finally have 100% control of what we want our "little guys" to
do...


Leo "Apollo11"


P.S. I still dream of arcs for UV and WitP...