Smoke spotted but unable to locate the enemy/Suggestion

[Soldierboy0098]

Hi,

 

I understand it's possible the enemy is just outrunning me at my 19 knot BB but a couple of the campaign games now have ended in defeat somehow because I could not find the enemy. I get the notices smoke spotted from the _________ and head in that direction but often find nothing after 3 hours. The game does not state which ship spotted the smoke (with a spread out fleet this makes a big difference) nor can I visually see it on the horizon if I zoom in and look around. I would like to suggest that the game either gives you a marker that can be clicked on like the division cards to take you to that location of where the smoke was last spotted, allows you to see said smoke, or at least tells you which ship is reporting the smoke to give you a better chance of finding the enemy, possibly all 3. Also not sure how it's a defeat if my convoy survives and we never find the enemy before time runs out. Please let me know if you have any suggestions that may help. Thanks and keep up the good work, I'm enjoying the campaign mode. Trevor

[Iuvenalis]

Sounds like someone needs more fast cruisers!

[RoninSJ]

Sounds more like we need a different game mechanic.

If the enemy retreates directly after the battle starts, there is no reason to a) have this battle in the first place or b) the need to drive around for one real time hour to get the "end message" box

[DougToss]

Maybe a better way to end battles where no contact is made. Losing the enemy in the fog or weather, or them breaking contact is all very probable (look at the Scarborough Raid) but ending the battle when it's clear no contact will be made would be great. 

Maybe and "Do You Want to End or Continue?" prompt when no enemy ships are sighted, and none are within X range ?

 

[akd]

3 hours ago, RoninSJ said:

Sounds more like we need a different game mechanic.

If the enemy retreates directly after the battle starts, there is no reason to a) have this battle in the first place or b) the need to drive around for one real time hour to get the "end message" box

If you were significantly faster than the enemy, then bringing them from smoke on the horizon to mast up should not be very long (but the visibility system in game has nothing to do with reality).  Also as mentioned elsewhere, running away from smoke on the horizon should be very circumstantial (convoy, yeah turn away; cruiser division, not going to run because they see smoke unless it is full fleet), but the AI (and you) know exactly what the smoke is before seeing them and act accordingly.

[neph]

11 hours ago, RoninSJ said:

Sounds more like we need a different game mechanic.

If the enemy retreates directly after the battle starts, there is no reason to a) have this battle in the first place or b) the need to drive around for one real time hour to get the "end message" box

If you head the other way you'll get "end battle" after ~30 in-game minutes. If you just use the pause menu to "exit battle" you'll usually leave without much damage.

[DougToss]

15 hours ago, akd said:

If you were significantly faster than the enemy, then bringing them from smoke on the horizon to mast up should not be very long (but the visibility system in game has nothing to do with reality).  Also as mentioned elsewhere, running away from smoke on the horizon should be very circumstantial (convoy, yeah turn away; cruiser division, not going to run because they see smoke unless it is full fleet), but the AI (and you) know exactly what the smoke is before seeing them and act accordingly.

This would be my ideal solution. Pretty sure this is how it works in Steam and Iron and Jutland Pro

[Skeksis]

If an enemy is traveling north, it means they are within an arc of NNW-NNE, 45`, that's actually quite alot of ocean to search if at distance.

Notice the compass, almost right on ESE, the East bound target is somewhere between ENW-ESE, anywhere in that arc, not actually east. Also as this battle continues the directional message will switch to South-East soon, but that just means the target is just alittle bit pasted ESE, not actually South-East (and soon after that back to east again). Hopefully you can see with an 45` arc there's going to be some searching involved, especially if the target is right on the arc's margin. 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Skeksis

[Waruiko]

Having a [hunt for targets] mode to set the AI to would be nice.  [Scout] would fit the role well rather than having it just be a wider screen mode.  That would not need the player to figure out why they keep missing their target in the mist.

[Skeksis]

3 hours ago, Waruiko said:

Having a [hunt for targets] mode to set the AI to would be nice.  [Scout] would fit the role well rather than having it just be a wider screen mode.  That would not need the player to figure out why they keep missing their target in the mist.

I think intermittent smoke on the horizon could work. Make funnel smoke objects render in after 24km away (RL horizon) or a 'mean' distance. Maybe as new special faded smoke objects. Have smoke intermittent at the same frequency as radar pings. 

Then the player would have a visual reference to follow. For normal mode.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Skeksis

[Littorio]

Smoke needs to rendered, and we also need bearings desperately. The format should be along the lines of: "Ship Spotted Bearing 0-4-9 Long Range!" Just play some Silent Hunter or Destroyer Command to see what I mean.

[madham82]

Lots of good ideas in here. More than one way to fix it for sure. Devs just need to pick a solution. I still go back to my solution related to this that if the enemy flees contact, it should be a loss for them period. But that would require a "flee" command or some kind of retreat zone. So if they do either with a ship, it leaves the battle. If all ships leave, they lose. At the same time I like the idea of "lost contact" and just ending the battle in a draw. This whole topic is tied in with the AI behavior and spotting mechanics as well. So changes there have to be in sync with this.