donaldseadog

Toolbox is an add-on style program that runs within Harpoon Classic to provide extra function and information. This is a collection of three basic (low action) scenario that illustrate the various functions of the main Toolbox features.
Toolbox can be downloaded from the HarpGamer forum download section - tools.
Many thanks to TonyE for the continued development of the powerful export.dll structures that allow toolbox to operate.

 Use Database HCDB2 170909 and Westpac Battleset.

Toolbox version 1.5.2 requires at least GE 2015.015 or newer up to GE 2017.04
Toolbox V 2.4.2.1 (zip 2.4) +  requires GE V 2017.013 - v 2022.027 (including Matrix Patch 2022.027)
Toolbox vers 2.6.0.1 + require GE 2023.006+
This tool provides a window which resides in the Harpoon game window providing tools for:
manipulating air units formations within groups;
edit two air group's courses for joining;
in flight reassignment of missile targets;
deploying air groups exactly over known position of enemy unit;
capturing enemy groups;
and duplicating the message log window (so that it can replace the message log window for screen space saving).
It provides some game status information not available in the game including information on the loaded scenario, detailed list of destroyed assets and damaged assets and any victory conditions that have been met.
Attacking Neutral Penalty
Toolbox keeps track of attacks launched by the player and if any target a neutral asset (including if the asset is shown as unknown side) the player is penalised by the attacked group changing to enemy and if the attack is launched from an air group, that group will change to neutral (and RTB at bingo) so to be unavailable in short term for further action.
In most pages of toolbox player groups are selected if they are currently selected in the game. The selection can be overridden with normal mouse selections.
AirGrpForm window:
The "Search" button brings up a list of all current players groups that include air units. By selecting one of the listed group its air units will list in the next box.
By selecting one of the units you can then edit the flight level of that unit or give it an offset from the group centre position. The offset is approximately nautical miles and a combination of N/S (+is south) or E/W (+is east). If the group is in the unit window you should see the shift instantly. There is an idicator for if the unit is NOE capable or not.
To cause two air groups to join select one group in the group window and press one of the 'Grp' buttons (or use right mouse click popup menu), the group ID will be shown,then select the second group and press the second 'Grp' button, finally press the 'Join' button. The groups will be vectored to meet and join.
ASW, CAP, EW and AEW - To add a hexagon based patrol select an air group, select a non zero base size (approx NMs) then press the appropriate button ASW low alt (vlow if capable), CAP medium alt with 1 in 5 min intermittent radar and AEW at highest alt capable with 1 in 10 min intermittent radar, EW like AEW but 2 1/2 in 3 min radar. If the selected group already had a course set then the patrol will be centred on the first course point, otherwise it is centred on the groups current position.
If the group already has a multi leg course (no in course orders other than the last leg eg RTB) and the patrol size is set to zero then the course remains and the legs are populated with the loiter/hover and cruise orders plus radar as per the hex patrols.
Pause will pause the AI but still allow some game interaction, eg move game focus.
Attack window:
gives information on enemy units and groups that are visible to you. An asterisk (*) before an enemy unit name indicates that an exact fix is known. A group '00' indicated unknown size. Some experimental functions include an ability to reassign missiles' targets (if capable and in the correct guidance phase), attempt to capture certain enemy or neutral assets, 'defection' of groups and directing a group to move exactly directly over the current known position of an enemy unit (or centre of uncertainty zone if no exact fix exists).
Air Refuel window:
This adds versatility to the already good GE refueling ability. You can set the toolbox to automatically pause the game as refuel events are queued by the main program and bring up the event information. You can bring up a list of all your groups for which refueling is current and select a group to show its units' and refueling information. You can also search for a list of Air Groups that include a tanker.
Two 'manual' refueling tasks are available to supplement game refueling, you can manually "Queue" a new refuel cycle for the whole group and select the refueling unit if there are more than one (like alt+R in game but you can select which tanker unit refuels). You can also refuel tanker units from other tanker units in the group or transfer fuel internally of a tanker unit (so as to use refuel store to increase the tankers range or in reverse so as to use some of the tankers fuel for refueling). Single units can have stipulated amounts of fuel transferred without starting standard refuel cycle, so you can refuel high unit # units without waiting for the whole group to be refueled, handy if you have just joined low fuel units to a large group. In the unit information window there is information to help you estimate your refueling needs: unit endurance in minutes, unit range at current speed in nm, unit estimated range if it is split off from the refuel group (and may have a cruise speed high than the refuel group) and the nominal max range (at normal cruise speed) of the unit. The last two 'range' values allows you to estimate how much fuel can be taken up by the unit while in the refuel group.
Groups window
this provides information about units in your various groups.
Status Window includes four pages for Loaded game and scenario information, victory conditions achieved, damaged unit list and dead unit list
Settings window
gives instruction on using toolbox and a setting for the number of lines to show in the message window, which reproduces the in-game messages so that if you wish you can delete the std in game messages for more space.
Includes summary of handy short cut key commands.
To use the program unzip the ToolBox.dll file into the exportDLL folder of your HCE installation. To uninstall simply move or delete the file.
The program utilises 'LazGUI.dll' code by Tony Eischens and adapted by Don Thomas.
Please direct any queries or bug reports via Harpgamer.
2175

This scenario is the second in a series  in which some of the Naval Gun weapon types newly developed or being investigated are at you disposal in a large scale exercise between AUKUS members USA (Red side) and combined AU, UK and guest NZ (Blue side).
Here the Blue side has HMAS Hobart played by an Indian type 15B DDG that includes a 127/64 Oto LW mount with extended range and guided Vulcano weapons.
Compare this with the realistic Hobart included in scenario #1 of the King Series (KingASW)
 

What are the future weapons of choice for screening a surface group from enemy surface and submarine attack? Some years back it was thought that the humble naval gun was an antique, but with ever improving missile and area AA defenses new high technology artillery rounds are being studied and developed for both anti surface and subsurface attack.
This scenario is is intended to be the benchmark (current equipment) in a series  in which some of the weapon types newly developed or being investigated are at you disposal in a large scale exercise between AUKUS members USA (Red side) and combined AU, UK and guest NZ (Blue side).
HMAS Perth (39) forms the centre piece of the Blue side, along with UK Astute class SSN Arafura (Hypothetical RAN AUKUS unit) you should be able to get the upper hand over the American buddies playing Red.

Scenario Background:
In August 2023 it was announced that RAAF Tindal would be upgraded to host USAF B-52 bombers.
The AUKUS agreement from 2021 is to result in RAN obtaining US SSN attack submarines and announced 2023 upgraded maritime patrol aircraft capability will bring  upgraded P-8A Poseidon and MQ-4C Triton.
Much of the reason for these expenditures are the tension caused by the Peoples Republic of China's policy of reunification with Taiwan (Republic of China) and a desire for an Australian reach into the general South China Sea and Taiwan region.
It's june 2024, Australia and Taiwan join to seek out and neutralise suspected Chinese forces intent on a Taiwanese landing.
Use database HCDB2-170909 or newer, and custom Battleset either my SouthPacificIslands or SouthPac-Seas Named test BS
Any comments or suggestions are always appreciated, I hope you have some fun.

This Battleset is to test the idea of text in the texture file naming geographical features, in this case some of the seas and oceans.
The text is rather grainy and is not well aligned but is something that perhaps can be improved and show an idea for future more sophisticated work.
The included scenarios are to be played using Database HCDB2-170909 and toy with an upgraded australian defense capability in line with various announcements of the early 2020s.
Note for scenario 3, in order to obtain maximum surprises ensure you you have not disabled nuclear weapons.

170909
Scenario Background:
In August 2023 it was announced that RAAF Tindal would be upgraded to host USAF B-52 bombers.
In this scenario, which is aimed to be the first in a series, RAAF Tindal hosts not just the USAF B-52 but also thier long range IFR tankers, F/A-18 tankers, F22 fighters and F15 attack aircraft supported by RAAF AEW and maritime patrol and F/A18 and F-35 attack/fighter units. A small RAN surface group is present to patrol close in waters to the north.
The principal task is to provide anti shipping patrols over the numerous seas between Australia and China. Some Chinese air defense is present, but not numerous nor widespsread. Chinese submarine patrols may also be present.
An intersting aspect is the management of RAAF F35 fighters as escort units, and the difficulty in giving them sufficient range (via IFR tankers) to operate away from base.

A scenario to be played by either red or blue. There are two conflict areas, one is red surface groups hunting blue sub groups, the other is red sub hunting blue surface convoy.
The scenario has no deep design but is an extension from a simple scenario written to test ASROC style ASW weapons.
Played in the GIUK 2003 battleset using the default game HCDB database. (HCDB 150929)
The game is best played with a new beta version of HarpoonClassic vers. 2023.007 or better but should also play with the latest official patch 2022.027 from Matrix.

This is a modification of TonyE's lazGUI.dll.   It isn't a tool for game play per se but for those interested it does expose some of the game internals.
It adds for certain selected event types an automatic game pause when they are queued by the main program and showing information regarding the respective event. It provides certain information not seen in the game but useful for better understanding game operation. It includes game/scenario/database information handy to provide with reports to HarpGamer.
old zip version 5 will run in GE v 2017.05 -2022.027 and in  Matrix Patch 2022.027
current dll version 2.1.2.1 requires beta 2023.004+
 

A seek and destroy scenario using DB hcda090513 and hunting red and green pirates and drug runners. Green targets must be taken using some form of boarding party (to confirm they are pirates/drugrunners), this can be done with correct helo loadouts and by selecting target and using "intercept" command, you can't "attack" a green target.

Requires HC version 2017.013 - 2022.027 Including Matrix patch 2022.027
AARdata.dll is an add-on program that is activated by copying the file into the exportDLL sub-folder of Harpoon installation. To uninstall, just remove the file to another folder, change the .dll file type name or delete the file.
The DLL will produce at the close of a game or game session a txt file AARdata-(battleset file name)(scenario number).txt. (Scenario number for custom scenarios is '0').
Within the txt file the report is made up of titled sections providing:
Scenario information,
Initial Start information,
Time information for each session of play
Detailed game log messages in time order  
List of units destroyed for each side in summary and in detail
List of damaged units at time of game close and
List of changes to game time compression.
New:
When you start a scenario from its beginning, if the AARdata file for that scenario exists, it will be firstly deleted so the report is cleared of information from previous games,
AARdata.dll file version is listed in the Initial Start data.
Victory Events log summary added
Player Side added to Initial Start info section

After going to the effort of producing and sharing a HC scenrio it's very nice to see some one has gone to the trouble of producing an AAR, itself requiring quite a bit of effort. I hope this tool will help those people who already bless us with AARs, and encourage more people to share their action with us all.
Don Thomas.

This Battleset covers the islands of SouthWest Pacific extending to the east to Hawaii (Pearl Harbour),to the west to much of South China Sea and to the south to the northern end of New Zealand.
The built in scenarios use database HCCW-140314 (available in Harpgamer downloads) but you can write scenarios using any database, this zip pack includes a template style scenario for HCDB 150929 as a suggested easy starting point The idea of this scenario is to allow easy writing of new scenarios by moving groups to where you want them, or deleting unwanted ones, setting up victory conditions and orders. The databases do not include many of the islands by name so I've put them in the template scenarios.
To use the battleset exract the HDSU.rsr and HDSU res files into your main harpoon directory/folder probably HUCE in a std installation. To play the built in scenarios you need to copy the HCCW-140314 database into the main folder or use TonyE's HC Launncher (from the Harpgamer downloads) and select that database before opening the game.

A Battleset with inbuilt database and ten storyline scenarios.
Installation instructions are in the download zip file.
 
Malacca Straits, Asia equivalent to the Straits of Hormuz. A strategic trade choke points for several Asian countries including China.
The straits run along the coastlines of Indonesia and Malaysia with Singapore in the middle. China's major trade route to Africa and the west makes it of high trade and strategic importance. China has for decades claim reef, shoals and uninhabitable island as their territory and by threaten or actual force taken them. The island building campaign first stated as just claiming lost Chinese territories has become a military base initiative to levy control over the South China Sea of which the western part leads to the Malacca Strait.
The Malacca straits is located on the western part of the South China Sea which connects it to the Indian Ocean near the Bay of Bengal which is controlled by India. Australia being a large supplier of LNG to India also though not a strategic see value in not allowing China by any means control it.
A major part of Chinese energy is dependent on the Malacca Straits and see as a major vulnerability. China through trade agreements has keep the peace with counties belonging to the ASEAN trade pact. The island building program has some countries to back away from China due to militarization of the South China Sea.
Australia lately has condemned Chinese action in the South China sea and ever more their interaction with Australian military units. Australians LNG export to India are aided by unmolested transit of the Straits.
The U.S. continues its Freedom of Navigation in the SCS but not without harassment and warnings from Chinese built island bases in the SCS.
India has maintained as best a relationship with both side with the recent military exercises with China and Russia. While also doing so with the U.S. and E.U. countries.
In the region China has used it wealth to create favorable treaties and if needed coercion to control all shipping in the SCS. This leave not only Taiwan separated from possible allies' intervention of a Chinese invasion but many countries in the area also vulnerable.
China has laid claim on the Indonesian island chain of Natuna but has yet attempted to move on them. Indonesia is yet an unknown of how far they will go to defended them and who of the ASEAN countries and Australis would aid them in a standoff with China.
Natuna island would be a huge advantage for China in not only controlling the western part of the SCS but also that of the Malacca Strait.
Malaysia and Singapore are continuously busy with increase pirate activity of whom seem to have an endless supply chain.
China has increased it harassment of other countries military forces as they try to surveil the SCS in further intimidation or hiding what they are up to in the Western part of the SCS.
The control for the SCS trade sea-lanes and riches moves West

This is a more demanding remake of the standard scenario one from the MEDC 2003 battleset "Vengeance"
In the haste to get underway the US carrier group is short handed, friends of Lybia are nosing around and possibly giving aid.
You'll need to plan IFR and carefully utilise your available strike assets. If you've played and mastered the original then this will have a few twists to extend the fun.
donaldseadog 21/Dec/2022

BATTLESET: Southeast Asia (By Divefreak)
DATABASE: HCDB2 170909
SCENARIO VERSION 7 requiring GE  2021.009
A simple situation where sealanes have been mined and perpetrators (and the mines) are pursued by local countries co-ordinated by Malay AirForce.

The aim is to transit a group of international ships the length of the Straight between Taiwan and Mainland China.
Expect resistance to this transit by Chinese aircraft from both shore and ship based groups.
You need:database HCDB2-170909, Westpac Battleset and  HUCE version minimum  2021.009.
Game intensity is moderate and significant time can be spent at accelerated time settings if desired.

A very simple scenario allowing use of exportDLL "Toolbox" (obtained from the downloads - tools/mods/... section) to practice your skills in using IFR tankers to extend the range of air groups. A couple of few simple targets at long range from your airbases make it essential to use tanker supported strike groups.

This is a revamp of an old scenario played in the Westpac Battleset using HCDB data base with operations revolving around a small surface group comprising RAN helicopter carrier Canberra transiting from north of Australia thru to Singapore. Air assets are available from Australia and Singapore and need to be used along with Canberra's helos to seek out and destroy hostile installations.

A basic tool that lets you set a custom database (for post EC2003 battlesets) and launch the scenario editor without having to swap the main folder database file or hand write shortcuts.
Other settings such as selecting the battleset and existing scenario are also available.
IT should be unzipped into the main HCE/HUCE folder.
 
Edit: version1.2
A minor change so that the scenario editor select window defaults to the folder in which the program exist, so place the program in the same folder as the Scenario editor (default is the main harpoon folder)
Also a slight change in the program name to better indicate that it relates to the scenario editor.
 
Edit version 3.0
A different layout so as to show all of the entered custom database files in one window and let you select the file with a simple mouse click. Data is now stored in an ini file so except for the initial use it is just point and click ...
 
Edit version 4.1
File size reduced and changes to layout.
 
Edit version 4.2
The window showing battlesets is taller to allow easier selection and scrolling.

This program runs in the background and when the Harpoon session is finished files TimeCompressUse.Ini & TimeCompressUse.txt are created in the main Harpooon folder (where the winharp32.exe file is located) or updated with information on the last five game sessions. The information being the file path/name of the scenario (for custom scenarios) or the battleset and scenario number (for built in scenarios), the date and time the session started, the duration of the session and the percentage of real time spent in each time compression value.
Accumulated data is also shown including the total real time played since TimeCompressUse.dl was first used.
To view the data you can either use a simple text editor to open the TimeCompressUse.txt file or select the file in windows explorer with the preview panel operating.
Much thanks to TonyE for helping me in this and other projects.

Use Divefreak's Indochina battleset and official dtabase HCDB 110531 (or newer).
Chinese carrier group with land based air cover muscles in on the Spratley's under the protection of a combined Australasian surface/ subsurface groups with limited air support.

A small scale, short duration action using gunboats, helos, anti-shipping mines and mobile land units.
Escort two convoys from the pacific ocean to the entry to Panama canal and protect canal structures.
Use minimum HCDA - 110225 database but please note Brad has made some improvements in HCDA-110606 which give improvements.
Don Thomas

A small basic scenario for the old GIUK HDSI battleset. Mostly airborne action but plenty of naval and ground targets that must be 'had'.

This is a non combat scenario with some 'exercises' to help hone skills in getting fuel to airborne aircraft with minimum effort.
Probably only of interest to newer Harpoon players that don't already now the ropes of IFR.
In the ZIP file there is a text file that gives the details of the included exercises so that you can have that open as a separate window for reference during the scenario.
(31/3/11) Up dated orders to correct a feature regarding fuel allocation to multi unit groups.
Don Thomas

A final of three small scale scenarios concentrating on SEAD operations and EW.
Here Blue (play blue only) has no fixed wing planes but relies on helicopters for attack and SAM for defence.
Uses Westpac battleset and standard database (HCDB-110225).
Ever wanted to use helos as your front line interceptors?? Now's your chance (but don't waste them, hey).
Don Thomas