kmart494

Turn 1306. The Bear has radar contact with the suspected NATO formation. This info passed to the sub (SIGINT location probability now at 15%). He will continue to make the rounds of identifying the single contacts without getting too close to the formation. The NATO convoy has ESM bearings on a Big Bulge A radar. Their "friend" is back. That means something is up, so we will begin ASW operations by deploying towed arrays and one helo from Iroquois. Halifax will slow to 5 kts and listen.

Turn 1303. The Tu-95RT has returned to the area and made radar contact with multiple surface ships. Also, K-503 has come back up to periscope depth and slowed to 5 knots (since it was known that the Bear would return at this time). After a few tactical turns, K-503 was able to classify two sonar contacts as ships. The sub will communicate with the Bear to verify the contacts and their range (these are CZ contacts and the sub does not know how far away they are). The Bear will remain at High altitude and move towards the estimated NATO position. (The image below represents all the information available to Red side. However, it is a combination of radar and sonar contacts, but the sub and Bear only knows "what it knows." So, the Bear sees surface contacts as Large and Medium ships, but the sub only sees sonar bearings. To keep things realistic, a player would have to keep in mind which information goes with the right unit, until they communicate and share data. But the more they communicate, the greater the change of a SIGINT giving away the sub's location). I have range circle functionality up and running now (but no labels yet). The yellow circle around the Bear represents the maximum distance to detect a Medium contact with Big Bulge. The red circle around K-503 is the range of the SS-N-9. These circles will be used as "reminders" of when certain events can take place, such as detection or weapon firing.

I discovered an "oopsie" while playing the Indian Ocean Escort scenario. When the Bear-D left the map and was deleted from the scenario, the ESM bearings the NATO player had on it did not automatically delete as well. This caused the program to crash, but I was able to restart by deleting the bearings from the current turn text file. Until this problem is fixed, I suggest first deleting any ESM/sonar bearings related to a unit you intend to remove from the game.

Turn 0730. The image below is the last information that K-503 will have until it can get close enough for sonar contact, or until the Bear returns. K-503 will go deep and faster to get into a better position to intercept the NATO formation, which can be computed from this info. In the mean time, the Blue player will launch a helo and do some surface scouting of its own. Also, the Blue player receives a SIGINT (signal Intelligence) but not a location (failed dice roll).

Turn 0657. The Bear is only allowed to remain in the area for two hours, so it must depart to the North by 0803. For now it can afford to stick around and monitor shipping traffic for another 30 minutes (positioned so it can maintain radar contact with all known vessels), then it must begin heading home. At 0730, the Red player will place reference points at all ship positions and "transmit" the information to K-503. The sub will then be able to reposition itself for a better identification of the suspected NATO formation. The Bear can return around 1300.

Turn 0654. The image below demonstrates one of the neat things you can do with SimPlot. A player can graphically track unknown contacts and make decisions based on the available information. Here, reference points were placed at every 3 minute turn where the ESM lines converged. The NATO group classifies the ESM contact as a Bear D. A look through the Data Annex shows that only the Bear D and some helos carry Big Bulge. Based on the distance of the original contact, and the radar horizon, it was at an altitude above most helos. Also, subsequent contacts revealed the speed to be greater than any helo. It seems that the Bear has spotted the formation, and is now just outside SAM distance at 70nm.

Turn 0642. The Bear continues to climb on a heading of 180 deg. He picked up another contact further to the south. However, the NATO convoy has picked up an ESM signal that is believed to come from a single source approximately 130 nm away. Someone is snooping! NATO will monitor the ESM bearings and see if a track develops. The image below shows Blue side only.

Turn 0636. The Bear made a positive ID as a neutral merchant. The next move is to climb back up to High altitude and search for more ships. Edit: I recreated the screenshots and saved them as PNG. They look much better now. .

Turn 0630. Radar contact with the second ship has been re-established. The Bear is still at Low altitude and the contact is alone, so we will make an ID pass on this one.

Turn 0618. The Bear has reached Low altitude (a requirement for getting ship class) but overshot a bit (using 3 minute turns). I had him turn back and make a direct pass. Just a neutral Tanker. On to the next contact! He has lost radar contact with it but still has a good idea of where it is. He will remain at Low altitude until contact is re-established. I re-read the rules on visual sighting from the air and I think it may not have been necessary to go to Low altitude. I think from any altitude the ship's wake can be sighted at 100% range, the type at 75% range (warship or merchant), and the class at 50% range (but only at Low or less). I suppose a Navy Auxiliary could look like a merchant, so maybe the altitude change was a good exercise.

Turn 0603. The Bear has entered the game at High altitude. Below is the Red side view only. The Bear has two radar contacts and has classified them as Unknown. He will go down and take a closer look. The Bear will be at Low altitude at 0618.

I am playing the Indian Ocean Escort scenario from HNR'03 using SimPlot. I am going to use many screenshots to help illustrate how SimPlot can be used to play H4. I apologize in advance if this topic eventually takes too long to load. I will limit my posts and screenies to just relevant points in the game. I will make one post per relevant turn. Below is the starting position of all units (0600). Because this area is heavy with civilian air and sea traffic, there will be additional neutral units that come and go within the game screen (which is between South Africa and Madagascar). Civilian ships will use Nav Points R007 and R008 as shipping lane turning points. At 0600 + 2D6 a Russian Tu-95RT will enter from the North. It can only stay around for two hours, In the mean time, K-503 (Charlie II) will remain at periscope depth to await information from the Bear. The 4 ship NATO task force (Iroquois and Halifax classes with two auxiliaries) will transit to Nav Point 2 then turn due North. The threat level is considered to be minimal. However, because of the heavy traffic, all ships will have their navigation radars on. (I am making the assumption that all Navy ships have International Nav Radar sets and the task force was ordered to use them to avoid collisions.) Other radars will be off just in case someone gets snoopy.

Javier, I have decided not to implement ship advance for SimPlot at this time. Aside from the problem of getting user input data, another big problem is tracking that data from turn to turn--especially if the turn needed to be saved. Right now all units save the same types of data (if even they all don't use it) which makes saving and loading the data very easy. I don't want to modify this simple process right now. Once I migrate away from using simple text files for saving data, I expect the opportunity to add more complex data structures will present itself. This will likely become a future version 2.0 rewrite. For now I do have a suggestion. Using full 30 second engagement turns, a ship at 12 knots will travel 200 yards. So, to simulate ship advance, plot the turn of heading change and implement a delay. For example, you plot to change heading by 55 degrees at 0930. At the 0930.0 turn, select 30 second turns and move the ship straight (the advance). At 0930,5 turn the ship 45 degrees and move. At 0931.0 turn the ship 10 degrees and move. At the conclusion of that turn, you will be at 0931.5, so finish the move with 30 second turns to get to 0933 (the nearest tactical turn). Ships at higher speeds will have more advance, which is accurate I suppose.

File Name: The Last Exocet File Submitter: kmart494 File Submitted: 21 Nov 2015 File Category: Scenarios This is a SimPlot scenario setup file for "The Last Exocet" scenario in the South Atlantic War publication from The Admiralty Trilogy. I had to take some liberties with the UK starting positions as some things were not clear (maybe just typos in the original scenario). This scenario uses the Falklands 1 map from the Map section. Some aircraft units have no velocity. This is to simulate aircraft in a holding pattern. The aircraft that just launched from Rio Grande are climbing/accelerating and have a reduced speed and altitude. Please note there is a flight of A-4 aircraft over the Rio Grande base, so they might be hard to see until you click on them. Click here to download this file

SimPlot v1.4.2.0 is available in the downloads section. I added a 256 pixels/nm map zoom level.

File Name: SimPlot Readme File Submitter: kmart494 File Submitted: 21 Nov 2015 File Category: Application/Tools/Mods/Docs This file is the Readme for Simplot v_1.6.2.0. If anything is unclear, or if I missed something, please let me know. Click here to download this file

Upon reviewing the Readme file, I discovered a mistake regarding the use of the Turn key and the Turn Time dropdown menu. The current Readme says to use the Turn Time dropdown to select a new time interval before using the Turn key. This is incorrect. You must finish the current turn by using the Turn key (since movement has already taken place) then select the new time interval. This is the paper rules equivalent of invoking longer or shorter turns.

File Name: Falklands 1 File Submitter: kmart494 File Submitted: 19 Nov 2015 File Category: Maps This is a map of the general area between the Falkland Islands and Argentina. The map was inspired by the scenario "The Last Exocet" from Best of GDW's Harpoon SITREP. Shown on the map are several of the major airbase locations. The map scale is 2.5 pixels/nm. NOTE: The old background was a transparency that caused problems with text rendering. This version uses a black background that cannot be changed from within SimPlot. Click here to download this file

I have begun work on expanding the readme file to include the recent program changes. I am also making it an Open Office document that I can then convert into a pdf. The readme will likely be a separate file in the Application download category so you don't have to download the whole program to get the latest readme version.

Javier, The next update will have a 256x zoom feature that I hope will help with the close-in battles. Regarding ship turning, a few years ago I created a program similar to SimPlot that actually included the ship turning tables from Harpoon4. I cannot use that as of right now since I don't have permission to use any copyrighted rules, but also that would require more input information to use correctly. I suppose I could try your suggestion of having the player input the necessary information at the time of unit creation. Since all units are created using the same routine, I will probably have to wait until a future version that uses separate routines for each type of unit. That would enable me to get specific unit information more easily. As for sunk ships, for now I recommend setting the speed to zero and changing the unit name to include "SUNK" after the name. I am not sure what a sunk icon would look like, but I do like the idea of preserving that unit's track.

File Name: Straight of Hormuz File Submitter: kmart494 File Submitted: 14 Nov 2015 File Category: Maps This is a "blank" map of the Straight of Hormuz area. You will have to create a new scenario and add bases and units to meet your scenario needs. The scale is 3.4 pixels/nm. Click here to download this file

File Name: Indian Ocean Escort Scenario File Submitter: kmart494 File Submitted: 13 Nov 2015 File Category: Scenarios This is a blank scenario file for the Indian Ocean Escort scenario from Harpoon Naval Review 2003. The map and scenario file must be in the same SimPlot scenario folder (or sub folder). There are no starting units since their locations are determined by the referee or player. Click here to download this file

File Name: Indian Ocean Escort Map File Submitter: kmart494 File Submitted: 13 Nov 2015 File Category: Maps This map supports the Indian Ocean Escort scenario from Harpoon Naval Review 2003. The scenario setup file is in the Scenario download category. The map scale is 2.3 pixels/nm. NOTE: The old background was a transparency that caused problems with text rendering. This version uses a black background that cannot be changed from within SimPlot. Click here to download this file

File Name: SimPlot File Submitter: kmart494 File Submitted: 13 Nov 2015 File Category: Application/Tools/Mods/Docs SimPlot (simple plotter) provides Harpoon4 players with the ability to add, delete, modify, and move Harpoon units using a graphical environment. Even a background map can be used to increase scenario realism (although a map is not required). See the SimPlot Readme pdf file for instructions on how to use the program. A copy of The Admiralty Trilogy Harpoon4 paper rules are required to use SimPlot to its fullest potential. The program is available for Windows only, and has been tested on Vista and Win7. Click here to download this file

My apologies, as I forgot to add Airbase to the list of units that can be created as a "new unit." The quick fix is to add a Base unit and save the scenario. In the UNITS section of the scenario text file, change the unit ID letter code from "X" to "Y" and reload the file. From that point forward, an Airbase icon will appear on the map instead of a base.