In-game event

Aircraft overhaul and strategic bombing update now available

War on the Sea · published 3 years ago · build 13554989

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The recent aircraft performance overhaul and strategic bombing features are now available in the live version with this new update.

Remember, if you want to maintain the version 1.08g7h2 prior to this last update to finish a campaign or maintain mod compatibility see here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1280780/discussions/0/5710018482977588195/

The overhaul of aircraft flight performance was initiated by community members and we'd like to thank them for taking the initiative to improve aircraft combat as well as perform testing for these changes.

Contributors - Luminary, YorT
Testers - Markuss, Wouter Ootman, TigerAce121, Kraznova and Choccy

For reference, full change log is below:

Version 1.08h5

27 Feb 24 (Beta 25 Feb 24)

Fixed a bug in campaigns where terrain tiles would not correctly display.

Version 1.08h4

Beta 27 Jan 24

CAMPAIGN
Player aircraft correctly replenish if the Location Panel (or Create New Air panel of that location) are open when that location receives replenished aircraft

setup.txt added new variable "strategicBombCooldownMinNumberAttackers":8
The cooldown penalty applied to a location that is bombed is now dependent on this value. Attacking a location with this number of aircraft will apply 100% cooldown duration while values less than this will only apply their percentage.

Airfields now launch correct numbers of aircraft for strategic bombing raids.

When AI launches air cover to escort Sea groups, the number of destroyed aircraft at that location are now correctly calculated. This was particularly an issue when a location was taken over and all aircraft were set to destroyed in order to be replenished over time.

Version 1.08h3

Beta 7 Dec 23

AIR COMBAT IMPROVEMENTS
All aircraft_data.txt files edited to adjust dive, climb, maxTurnRate, turnRate, speedPenaltyAtMaxTurn, weight and maxKnots. These values have been brought in line with historical flight characteristics of each aircraft to provide advantages and disadvantages to each individual aircraft type in combat.

corsair_model.txt, hellcat_model.txt, zero_model.txt and zero_kamikaze_model.txt modified to fix fixedGunData to reflect historical armament

Air combat dogfight AI improved

Added a check for minimum distances when placing Nav Points on tactical map to ensure slower turning aircraft can turn towards intended destination

STRATEGIC BOMBING

Aircraft loaded with bombs can now bomb locations on the campaign strategic map. Fly to a target and use the Bomb button on the air group panel to bomb that target.

Damage done to target based on:
- number of aircraft attacking
- payload carried (HE bombs are much more effective than AP)
- weather conditions
- total rank of port and airfield of location

Attacking aircraft will take damage and losses based on:
- total rank of port and airfield at that location
- aircraft armor

Enemy will strategically bomb from airfields and carrier groups as appropriate based on range and weather conditions.

Campaign setup.txt added the following variables:
"enableStrategicBombing":true
Enables strategic bombing by player and enemy for a campaign

"strategicBombDamageModifer":850
Damage done calculated as total kg dropped by all aircraft / 850, so the larger this modifier, the less damage per kg dropped.

"strategicBombWindModifer":[1,1,1,0.9,0.8,0.6,0.4,0.2,0.1]
Damage done decreased by wind level (sea state)

"strategicBombCloudModifer":[1,0.8,0.6,0.4]
Damage done decreased by cloud conditions: Clear, Scattered, Broken, Overcast

"strategicBombPrecipModifer":[0.8,0.7,0.5]
Damage done further decreased by precipitation: Rain, Snow, Storm

"strategicBombLaunchProb":[0.3,1]
Enemy checks every hour of flight ops time and has this probability to launch a mission if conditions are favourable

"strategicBombMinWeatherModifier":0.7
Enemy will not launch a strategic bombing mission if the damage modifier due to weather at target location is below this threshold

"strategicBombLosses":[0.15,0.25,0.35]
Combat damage to each attacker determined by a 0-1 probability roll applied against all 3 values;
< 0.15 +3 damage (represents a direct Flak hit)
<0.25 +1 damage
<0.35 +1 damage
Example: a roll of 0.2 would incur 2x +1 damage for a total of 2 damage to an aircraft
3 Damage to an aircraft destroys it.

"strategicBombDefenderRankBonus":0.015
Numbers in strategicBombLosses above increased by this amount per rank of port or airfield at location. Example: Attacking a 5 Port and 5 Airfield location would add 0.15 to all losses so strategicBombLosses would become [0.3,0.4,0.5].

"strategicBombAttackerArmorModifier":[0,1,1]
For each value in strategicBombLosses, damage can be absorbed if another p < strategicBombAttackerArmorModifier for that value.
Note 0 for the first value representing Flak not absorbed by armor.

"strategicBombCarrierBuffer":600
Carriers performing strategic bombing will not do so if they detect hostile units within this range in km.

"strategicBombLatestHour":17
Aircraft must be able to reach target by this hour, otherwise enemy will not attempt a strike

All Aircraft will immediately return to base once outside hours of allowed air operations as defined in setup.txt

Campaign folders:
Added new file strategicBombing.txt
Specifies the aircraft type, payloads to carry (HE Bombs) and ranges at which this aircraft can attack. Used by the enemy to determine which aircraft to send on strategic bombing raids and MUST be present if "enableStrategicBombing":true in setup.txt.
"minNumber":[6,12] is the minimum aircraft required from an airfield, carrier

default/language/english/dictionary/campaign_message.txt added lines to support strategic bombing messages:

NoStrategicBomb=Must be within <0> of enemy location to perform strategic bombing.
NoStrategicBomb=audio/ui/AlarmBlip
StrategicBombNoBomb=Aircraft must be armed with bombs to perform strategic bombing.
StrategicBombNoBomb=audio/ui/AlarmBlip
StrategicBombEmpty=Aircraft have no bombs remaining to perform strategic bombing.
StrategicBombEmpty=audio/ui/AlarmBlip
EnemyStrategicBombed=<0> bombed by enemy aircraft.
EnemyStrategicBombed=audio/ui/AlarmLow

Bomb Target Button added to Air Group Panel
default/interface/styles.txt added entry for "BombTarget" button
default/interface/images/ui/bombTarget.png icon added
Note this button only appears when "enableStrategicBombing":true in setup.txt.

default/campaign/campaign_tutorial/setup.txt added "enableStrategicBombing":false to disable strategic bombing for tutorials

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