General

I would like to keep this thread clean. No side topics, please. The early Hawkeye has several deficiencies compared to a modern AEW aircraft. However, it will not be present during the normal time frame of most Harpoon scenarios, and its opponents are much less capable than modern aircraft as well. One deficiency is the lack of ESM, so the E-2B does not detect radar emissions. The other deficiency is a "vertically-challenged" radar: without look-down, shoot-down (LDSD) capacity, radar ranges at most altitudes are halved. That is, the E-2B radar only works at full efficiency in its own altitude band and one level up. In particular, the E-2B can detect common enemy …

I wonder if someone can give a definite answer to this question. Probably it has already been answered, and it may well have been asked by me before, because it's the sort of thing I would ask, but I don't remember. When a weapon is launched, does it head for where the target IS, or where the target IS GOING TO BE? Ditto for when the weapon is moving. May depend on the type of weapon.

1I found these instructions for opening the PE using MS Access Runtime. Runtime installed properly as far as I can tell. But it will not open pfbuild2005.mdb. I get an error box saying: "can't be started. was unable to initialize the Windows Registry. Rerun MS Access or MS Office Setup to reinstall." There is a note about problems running the PE under Vista, but I didn't find posted details about what that problem is and what the fix is. I don't have Vista, but I do have Windows 7. Any solution?

I thought I would try the WWII battleset built by Mavgaz, and I downloaded it. When I tried to copy it into the HUCE directory, I was told I would be overwriting other files. The two file names are hdsu.res and hdsu.rsr. AFAIK, I do not already have a WWII battleset installed, and certainly one doesn't show up among the listed battlesets I can select from when I start the game. What would I be overwriting if I put in these new download files? And in what seems to be a related question -- the Battleset builder. It prompts for, among other things, two files with .res and .rsr extensions. And I decided to throw in the hdsu. files (the ones I already had, not the one…

One thing that has puzzled me for a long time is the following situation regarding detection - and then loss of detection - of AI groups: Many times (maybe all times?) if the player has any sort of AEW/EW resources - or even other air groups - aloft (even if they are well beyond their radar ranges), the Staff Assistant will advise that the launch of such-and-such AI air group has been detected by such-and-such (player's) air group. However, said AI air group often is not seen again until it moves well within the radar range of some player's air or surface group. My question is two-part: First, how is it possible for the player's air groups to detect these launch…

First, the big question: Are P-3 Update II Orions used in the WestPac demo scenarios supposed to be refuelable? Either way, I've been seeing some puzzling behavior, and am curious why: When attempting to launch the P-3s, it generally seems to indicate that they are not refuelable (i.e. - If I attempt to send them beyond their own (unrefueled) range it will just give an error beep and do nothing, or else it will allow the destination, but then a popup will report that they are not capable of refueling. I'm unsure what causes the two different behaviors here, though). In any case, if a tanker is joined to the P-3 group (either a single or multiple P-3s), and m…

This probably is two separate questions, but they are sort of opposite sides of the same coin, so: I've noticed from time to time that when I have a strike group attacking a base or surface target that consists of multiple units, if one of the units gets destroyed, the attacking group will "lose" its target and go to loiter - instead of continuing to attack other surface/ground units in the target group. I must then re-initiate the attack. Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong? A recent example of this was that I wanted to pick off the helos in an AI carrier group - to prevent it from detecting and destroying my nearby SAG. So, I launched several separate…

Would someone please explain the actual goings-on relating to "stopping" the HCE game via setting to Zero Sec time compression and via the "Pause" menu item? In particular: 1. Do these methods have any different effects on the game? 2. Do they affect other system resources differently? 3. Does the game continue to "run" in any way that is significant to game events while in either of these "stopped" modes? 4. Is there anything else relating to the use of these "stop" methods that might be useful for the player to know about? I'm also curious if there is any other means for "stopping" the game in some effectively paused and resumable state (other than sa…

Here's something those of you with naval service experience or engineering knowledge might be able to help out with: How long could a warship sustain flank speed? By this I mean pedal to the metal, all out pushing the ship at its maximum capable speed. Now I realize that this varies among propulsion types (steam, diesel, gas, nuclear, etc), ship types, even among individual ships, and of course, flank speed is limited by fuel (something akin to afterburner on a fighter jet), but I'm interested in your educated guesstimate. But if you can be more specific, then by all means please go ahead. If you're really naval engineering tech savvy, then how long do you…

I've got a scenario that requires airborne personnel to dropped onto a beachead. I've simulated this by flying the aircraft with the troops/equipment to the beach head but I have no freaking clue as to whether this worked or not. Can someone lend me a clue?

Two or three questions about refueling: 1. How is fuel allocated among differing a/c types in a common group during refueling? For example, if I have groups consisting of an EF-111 (Patrol) and some F-111s (GP), or an EA-6B (Patrol) and some A-6Es (Precis-2), or some other similar combinations where there is a member type that has a much shorter range than other type(s) in the group and the tanker that is re-fueling the group does not have enough fuel to top off all the members, then how is the fuel allocated among those group members? Do the shorter-ranged members get topped off, and the remaining fuel distributed among the others, or (preferrably) does the fuel g…

Good Day fellow harpooners. If this is not the appropriate sub forum, feel free to move this post to a more appropriate one. Long ago and many laptops past I spent many hours having a ton of fun playing Harpoon. Current laptop did not have it installed so I just purchased the latest HUCE from Matrix games and upgraded it to build 2022.27. Have some questions on the availability of a platform editor (not included with my recent purchase of HUCE) I see references to the Reimer PE, but cannot find a current link. Is there still a copy online? Is this the only platform editor? Is there a currently valid link to it? Note I am mainly using HUCE and WestPAC b…

Hello Harpgamers! I'm a noob, playing Harpoon Classic. Well, the thing is that... I can't understand the process of getting new scenarios or battlesets whatever Here are my questions. 1.Is it possible to play other scenarios(like falkland Island war, Korean war, war in South Africa, etc) in Harpoon Classic? 2.If It's possible, what do I have to do in order to play those scenarios? (what are the battlesets? what do I have to do with blq,scq,rdq files?) 3.What do I have to when it shows "Memory Allocation Failure"? Plz answer these questions, cuz I'm desperate to play those scenarios.

What debug option will show a message when my own missiles and/or torpedoes run out of fuel and go away?

I bought HCE a few weeks ago and have been transfixed. I since discovered your incredible site. I like playing with the units in the database of the current latest version, my question (and I'm sure it's really obvious) is this: if I were to download and overwrite with one of the fictional DB's available here, would I keep all the platform I already have and gain some new fan-created ones, or would I lose some of the platforms I have currently? Much obliged Also, I've begun learning how to mod and add ships to my current database (am being cautious and have not exported any frakenstein type platforms yet), is it simple to create a "clone" of a platform (ship)…

Harpoon player from the 80's (still have the box and 5.25 disks somewhere), bought HUCE in 2011 and just reinstalled after a break. Ended up here and appreciate all the work keeping it alive/expanding. Thanks!

I have a question and am not sure if is a defect or not. I'm playing the IOPG2003 scenario 10. After start-up, I use the Formation editor to set-up my air patrols for all my units. With the carriers, I usually set up my range circles so that the outer 2 rings are AEW, EW, ASW, and fighter patrol's. After my aircraft get to their formation zones, I'll set my air and surface radars to mixed. I then turn on only the ASW and Picket rings and keep the AAW and Main radars off. I have noticed that after several minutes of game time, the ASW and Pickets radars will turn themselves either off or to intermittent. I'd like to know if this is supposed to happen, or if there is…

Every 10 to 20 seconds when I am within range of enemy radar, I get a notice to turn on my groups radar. No matter how many times I click yes to this request, 20 seconds later I get another notice. Rinse, repeat over and over. This adds up to 100's and 100's of interruptions per game. This applies to every surface group I have. 4 groups, 4 requests every 20 seconds. Is this a bug or do I have a corrupt file somewhere. Makes no difference if go to group and manually turn of radar.+ I have been playing Harpoon since it first came out. Come back to it every few years and have seen this every now and then but never like this. Dennyb22

Question for the programmers: would it be possible to arrange things so that the detection range circles are displayed relative to the 'active' unit? eg A B-52 is the active (currently 'clicked on') unit, so the range circle of the Red Mainstay shows ~300 nm detection radius. I then click on a nearby F-22 escorting the B-52, and the range circle for the Mainstay drops to, I dunno, maybe 40 nm? It was a lot easier to guestimate the safe zones when aircraft were either 'large' or 'small' ...

I was wondering if others also have problems with the staff assistant recommending turning on radar. I wouldn't mind one recommendation, but the staff assistant keeps badgering me. If I have many groups that are effective, this really makes a busy situation almost unplayable. For surface groups, turning on the radar normally provokes a missile attack, which can be overwhelming. Often the group is protected by AEW aircraft which allows me to judge when it is necessary to turn on the radar. If it is a distant aircraft that is loitering, the staff assistant badgering can go on for quite some time. For air groups, I would rather not have a warning that another group i…