Multiple Naval Task Forces Question

[+allenjb42 4,234]

Does anyone know why on some terrains the game generated single missions create a carrier group and also secondary naval groups built around amphibious ships or battleships but on some terrains (I'm playing a lot on Libya at the moment) you only get a carrier group?

[Wrench 9,848]

may be tied into how many "cv zones" are painted on the water bmp?

[+eburger68 201]

Wrench:

 

It's tied to whether the game can find either of the following two ships:

 

- LPD-4

- LCC-19

 

Remove those two ships from \GroundObject and, in my experience at least, the game will not auto-generate an amphibious group tied to the main carrier group.

 

This was a huge problem with the OpDarius SF2NA conversion because in single missions the game was auto-generating an amphibious group with one of the two above ships with every carrier group. And the amphibious group was always positioned at a pre-set distance behind the main carrier group. The result (depending on the direction of the carrier group) was ships churning up desert sand because the game ran out room in the Gulf to position one of the groups. Solution: remove LPD-4 and LCC-19 (both new in SF2NA) from \GroundObject. Presto! No more auo-generating amphibious groups on land.

 

I believe the game can also auto-generate secondary battle groups based around other non-CV capital ships (battleships, cruisers), but the positions of those groups relative to the main carrier group don't appear to be as narrowly fixed as amphibious groups built around the two ships listed above.

 

Eric Howes

[macelena 1,070]

Didn't single missions often generate soviet surface groups in Iceland? If put to effect that could replicate something like a PIRAZ group in the Tonkin gulf, an amphibious group evacuating Saigon and so on

Edited August 28, 2014 by macelena

[+allenjb42 4,234]

I'm not having any luck on the Libya terrain. I've checked the ground objects and both LPD-4 and LCC-19 are present. I've also edited the water.bmp so there are more than one CV zones, but when the game generates a mission there is just the carrier group and no other naval groups.

I thought it might be to do with the terrain's nations.ini so I added Soviet as a second enemy nation. All it did was to make the enemy fighters Soviet instead of Libyan and didn't even add a Soviet naval group to fly against in strike missions.

What am I missing?

[+Gepard 11,296]

Is there a way to have more than one carriergroup per side? Or multiple carriers in one battlegroup?

[+eburger68 201]

Gepard:

 

Yes, you can have multiple carrier groups. Some of the custom campaigns for the SF2NA Expansion Pack uses 2-4 carriers groups on the Blue side. I don't recall ever having seen the game itself generate multiple carrier groups in Single Missions, but you could script missions with multiple carrier groups.

 

allenjb42:

 

I would check the Nations.ini to ensure that USN is the first nation listed. I would also check to ensure that the designated nation of the carriers you're using matches the nation for the amphibious group. Also check service years for the amphibious ships and other capital ships that could be used for battle groups.

 

One thought (which I haven't been able to test): the generation of an amphibious group might be tied to the possibility of a ground war. Does the default front line in the terrain you're using allow for a ground war? Does the terrain's Movement.ini have the InvasionRoute data for CAS missions?

 

Another thought (again, untested): all the terrains where I've seen the game generate amphibious groups (SF2NA Icleand, OpDarius Iran/Iraq, ODS Persian Gulf) do not use discrete CV zones in the water map. Instead, they use contiguous friendly vs. enemy zones that take up the majority of the water surface area available on the terrain (with a small neutral border around land masses and the map edges). It might be that the CV zones the terrain is using are too small. Take a look at the SF2NA Iceland water map to see what I'm talking about.

 

Eric Howes

[+allenjb42 4,234]

 

allenjb42:

 

I would check the Nations.ini to ensure that USN is the first nation listed.

 

That sorted it Eric!

As long as FriendlyNation001=USN I get multiple naval groups.

I'm now getting up to 3 USN naval groups when I generate missions around 1988 - a carrier group, an amphibious group and a surface group built around an Iowa class battleship.

 

Thanks for all your help guys.

[krfrge 742]

Gents,

 

I want to make sure I understand the above. For the above to occur (Carrier Task Forces, Amphibs, etc.) do the terrains have to be in SF2NA?

 

Krfrge

[+WhiteBoySamurai 1,094]

No, they can be located in any game folder if you have all the titles merged.

 

Here are the requirements for auto-generated task forces in summary:

1. The terrains need to have the "NavalMap=TRUE" line set in the .ini

2. There must be a water map with properly placed zones for friendly and enemy surface groups

3. The nations you want to spawn ships must be set as FriendlyNation001= and EnemyNation001= in the nations.ini file

4. Those nations must have capital ships and escorts available

 

The game will attempt to build task forces around one or more capital ships, i.e. aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and transports. If no aircraft carriers are available, it will check for battleships. If no battleships are available, it will check for cruisers. If all ship types are available, the game may create up to three groups centered around a carrier, battleship, and transport. The battleship's surface group will typically be forward relative to the carrier's position, and the amphibious group will be behind the carrier group.

 

The game will attempt to spawn at least the minimum number of escorts for each surface group. Destroyers and frigates are always escorts, but battleships and cruisers will also be assigned as escorts if available.

 

When using the mission editor or creating a custom campaign, however, you can create any sort of fleets you like in any formation you prefer. However, I'm pretty sure that only one carrier can be active per group, and it has to be the flagship of the group for carrier ops to work correctly. Other carriers should have their own task forces.

[krfrge 742]

WBS,

 

Thanks for the explanation. This has helped a lot.

 

Kindest Regards

 

Krfrge

[+Menrva 4,200]

 

I believe the game can also auto-generate secondary battle groups based around other non-CV capital ships (battleships, cruisers), but the positions of those groups relative to the main carrier group don't appear to be as narrowly fixed as amphibious groups built around the two ships listed above.

 

Eric Howes

 

The fact that these two ships generate amphibious groups at almost fixed distances unlike addon ships, as you stated, makes me wonder.  Maybe there is a parameter in the .ini files which controls this behaviour, or maybe the whole thing is controlled by the .exe, so no chance of correcting this 'bug' easily.

[Peugeot205 2,745]

 

1. The terrains need to have the "NavalMap=TRUE" line set in the .ini

 

 

But, if you have that statement as "true" , and you don't have SF2NA installed, the map will only work at campaign mode.