Akmatov

Is the difference a matter of a different model that handles things differently or is a matter of adjusting the various ranges?

I vote for a sticky directory also.

I know this is an old topic, but I'm reading this stuff for the first time and I'm bored. First of all, yep I'm sure that is a lot of data has been collected on all kinds of stuff. If you remember during the various Iraq strikes the planners were sometimes working with the actual plans of their targets received from the European engineering firms that build the structures. Secondly, having talked once to a weaponeer in Gulf War 1; the strike planners have all sorts of pre-generated norms for the 'DP's of all kinds of targets. So they weren't allocating weapons based on a 'feel' for what was needed, but on a very specific understanding of parameters of their targets. And they were usually right. Therefore, I don't feel it is cheating, especially for a new player who lacks the experience for a 'feel', to know that a large bridge typically has approximately 1000 DPs as information to guide them in their plan. This seems to me to be a more realistic RL method than guessing.

While I'm sure the tonnage numbers are correct, there is an aspect to the problems experienced in dropping bridges in VN that I just recently became aware of. By the end of WW2 the US had had a lot of experience in dropping bridges - basically, the aircraft should fly a course over the bridge along its length, so that if a bomb happened to miss the point of aim it would have a good chance of striking the bridge before or after the indented point of impact. However, in VN the civilian arm chair warriors in DC decided that there was a risk in the bomb over or under shooting the whole bridge and accidentally hitting a bullock cart - thus risking the life of the bullock, and its driver. Therefore in order to safeguard castrated cattle, and their owners, pilots were required to attack bridges at a 90 degree angle so that missing bombs would land in the gorge or river. Therefore the target was reduced from the length of the bridge to the width. This is obviously a LOT smaller target and a number of pilots died as a result of this criminally stupid edict. Only real point here is that the tonnages of bombs that missed NV bridges is deceptive and artificial due to the idiotic tactics dictated by LBJ and Co.

Here is what I did, so maybe I'm doing this wrong. - Download HC_80to95_DB - Unzip and copy the commondb.res file to the HCE directory, overwriting the current commondb.res file - Open Platform Editor and 'import DB' - I then have what I believe to be the HC_80to95 DB loaded into the Platform Editor - clicking on 'Edit Aircraft' and selecting the view where it looks like a spreadsheet, there are a lot of records with the Runway field empty. - When I selected VLarge for a B-52 entry and then 'export DB' and then open ScenEdit I find the B-52 available (and it was not available before I made the change). - I then returned to Platform Editor and added Runway entries to about 20 other aircraft, 'export DB' and then opened ScenEdit - or rather tried to open ScenEdit. After filling in the Runway field on about 20 other aircraft, ScenEdit CTD with an Error Message saying something about 'expected a disk'. This is why I suspected the aircraft annex was very close to full and when I over filled it, ScenEdit CTD. My updating of the Runway field worked for one a/c, but adding 20 to that one was the only change. So my thinking the annex was over max seems reasonable to me - but being at work I can't check the numbers in the a/c annex in ScenEdit.

Opps, doing this from the office by memory without notes. Nice to know that the 2047 max relates to all annexs.

Chatting on IRC yesterday, I was told that the maximum number of installations is 2067. This leads me to wonder what the maximum number of installations is for the other categories might be. If it is listed somewhere, just point me in the right direction. Akmatov

First of all, I'd like to say thanks for the insane amount of work that has been put into this DB! Looking at the installation list I'm seeing every imaginable US military installation! Given that the period 1980 to 1990 has always been the time period I've considered likely for the Cold War to get out of hand, this DB is targeted for me. :) I have noticed that a lot of the aircraft, and possibly other platforms-I haven't checked, lack a value for a field, Runway in the case of a/c. I also notice that these aircraft are not available for assignment within ScenEdit unless you go into Platform Editor and fill in a value for Runway; ie once I put VLarge in the Runway field for the B-52 it became available in ScenEdit. However, after I went into the DB and filled in the Runway field for a number of a/c ScenEdit crashed on startup. I'm guessing, it was late and I didn't have time to experiment, that having completed the record on the extra a/c I have exceeded some sort of maximum number for a/c. 1) Am I correct that completing the record for more a/c exceeded a limit? 2) Would 'uncompleting' the record (blanking out the Runway field) for other a/c enable the ones I want included to become available? 3) I notice that there are a lot of incomplete records, which makes me suspect that the DB has information on more platforms and installations than HCE and ScenEdit can handle and that by leaving one field blank in these 'excess' records they are not counted against the maximum allowable. Is this correct? It would then follow that if I want to include a particular record, I would need to deactivate one to match it, so as to keep the number of active records under the max. I'm thinking I might have this figured out, but advise would be much appreciated, William

Playing the EC2000 Battle for the Norwegian Sea scenario Nordic Light and so far I have shot down 12 Tornado - somehow. Only info I have is that they have been shot down in the Message Log - no other info. What is going on? Assuming they are getting shot down by my assets, shouldn't I at least have some info on it happening? Puzzled, Akmatov

Thanks for the info. Just ran a tiny simulation and do find that the AI will launch bombers on a convoy once recon finds it - so I'm suspecting the AI just doesn't launch on installations, ie bases - or so I'm hoping. Akmatov

Thanks a lot for the fast response. Your answer is saddening. I had hoped the AI would be more reactive; i.e. for example, I could set AI recon patrols with bombers waiting on base and expect the bombers to attack assets discovered by the patrols. Or perhaps, the problem is only with attacking bases? Is there any sort of list of things the AI is capable of doing on it's own without explicate orders or does it only do exactly what it is ordered to do? Surely there must be some amount of initiative, for example a SSN on patrol most surely attack a discovered convoy, right? As always information is appreciated, Akmatov

Looking to create some low unit density scenarios for experimenting with possibilities. Wondering if the AI does anything. Examples: CIS base has MiGs with an AA loadout. I fly in and shoot down the 2 plane CAP and no other ac are launched - the interceptors just sit passively on base. CIS base has bombers with a surface loadout, victory conditions are based on the CIS damaging a Blue base and a CIS recon flight flys into radar range of a base. Nothing happens. Back to wondering if the AI does anything. Information and advise would be very welcome.