Welcome to the revised Harpoon II frequently asked questions (FAQ) help
file. This file contains valuable Harpoon II troubleshooting information
and general play tips as compiled by the Three-Sixty Technical Support
staff, and by fellow Harpoon II users. We hope that you find it useful
and informative. If you have any questions regarding the included material,
please feel free to contact us on any of the online services, or by
contacting Three-Sixty technical support at: 409-776-2187 (M-F 9:00 a.m
to 6:00 p.m. CT).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION 1: Harpoon II Common Error Messages and Solutions
SECTION 2: Harpoon II Video Display - Common Troubleshooting Tips
SECTION 3: Optimum System Configuration for Harpoon II
SECTION 4: Making a Boot Disk
SECTION 5: Harpoon II Sound - Common Troubleshooting Tips
SECTION 6: Speeding Up Harpoon II
SECTION 7: Harpoon II and OS/2
SECTION 8: Common Harpoon II Questions and Answers
Appendix A: VESA Manufacturer List
SECTION 1: HARPOON II COMMON ERRORS MESSAGES AND SOLUTIONS
This section discusses some of the more frequently encountered Harpoon II
error messages and how to resolve them.
ERROR MESSAGE: Country border data file not found
If you receive the above error, try increasing the FILES line in your
CONFIG.SYS file to read as:
FILES=40
Remember to reboot after effecting this change to your file.
ERROR MESSAGE: Interrupt 0DH, General Protection Fault, Possible Illegal
Address
Try making a boot disk using the optimum Harpoon II CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT as discussed in Section 4 of this document. You can
of course modify your existing CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, however we
recommend that you back them up first before doing so. Make sure to have at
least 10MB of free space on the hard drive where Harpoon II resides.
Also make sure that this drive has been de-fragmented. De-fragmentation is a
process whereas the fragmented files on your hard drive are consolidated,
thus increasing performance (most commercial utility programs such as
Norton Utilities and PC Tools have this capability). If this fails, try
setting Harpoon II to run with no sound, through H2SETUP.EXE.
ERROR MESSAGE: Cannot read drive
Set the LASTDRIVE line in your CONFIG.SYS to the next highest letter.
(i.e. if the CONFIG.SYS has LASTDRIVE=F, set it to LASTDRIVE=G)
ERROR MESSAGE: Interrupt 0DH, General Protection Fault, possible illegal
line 2.
The sound card in use is most likely a Gravis Sound Board. Disable all
Gravis drivers which are in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files and reboot.
Harpoon II should now run properly, but without sound. Please read section
5 of this document for a more complete compatibility explanation.
SECTION 2: HARPOON II VIDEO DISPLAY - COMMON TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS
If you receive an error message to the effect of "No VESA driver loaded"
after attempting to start Harpoon II you will need to read the following
section. Also addressed in this section are special problems that
some users have experienced with certain types of video cards. If you
are receiving video display anomalies of any kind, you should also
read over this section.
What is a VESA driver, why do I need one and how do I load it?
With the advent of SuperVGA display modes, and the subsequent release
of a myriad of different types of video cards and other display hardware, the
software development industry quickly realized that some standard needed to
be set so that SuperVGA software and hardware would work together under one
standard. Thus, VESA (or the Video Electronics Standards Association) was
organized in order to establish software development standards, thus
ensuring (ideally) that all SuperVGA software and hardware would work
together without problems.
As you are probably aware, there are literally hundreds of different
types of video cards. As each video card handles SuperVGA display routines
in its own way, a VESA driver needs to be loaded before any SuperVGA
software product can be run on your system. This VESA driver basically serves
as an interpreter between your video card and the software you wish
to run which utilizes SuperVGA display modes.
We have included several different VESA drivers with Harpoon II. These
are located in the "DRIVERS" subdirectory under your "HARPOON2" directory.
If you can't find a driver which matches your video card, you will
need to contact your video card manufacturer to obtain one. The
manufacturers telephone number can usually be found in your video card
documentation. You may also reference Appendix A of this document, which
contains several video card manufacturer phone numbers and addresses.
Before running Harpoon II, you will need to load your VESA driver. To
do this, enter your HARPOON2 directory by typing:
CD HARPOON2
NOTE: This assumes that you used the default installation routine. If you
did not you will need to insert the appropriate path name above (e.g.
C:\GAMES\HARPOON2)
Once you are in the HARPOON2 directory, type:
RECON
This will activate our technical support program. At the main menu
type, "HARDWARE". The lower half of the screen will now display information
regarding the video capabilities of your system. Examine the VGA BIOS
and VGA CHIPSET readouts. Write down the vendor name and save this
information for now. You should now exit RECON by clicking on the EXIT
button.
Now go back to your HARPOON2 directory, and re-enter your DRIVERS
subdirectory. Look through the drivers (by typing "DIR/P" at the
DOS prompt). Once you see a video driver that matches your video
card BIOS or CHIPSET, type in the name of the file. For example a
Trident video card owner might type:
TRIDENT.EXE
After typing this in, move back to your HARPOON2 directory and try
and start the game again. If you still get a "No VESA Support" message,
you can try one of two things: first check the DRIVERS directory again
for any other VESA drivers that might match your card. Type these in
and attempt to start the game until you find a match. Remember to
reboot after you try one and before loading another as some of them
may conflict with one another. If this doesn't work try contacting the
company who manufactured your video card and ask them for the exact name of
the VESA driver required for your video card, and how it is loaded.
Special Circumstances:
Some video cards do not require the user to load a VESA driver, as
the VESA driver is already contained in a chip on the card (you
will sometimes hear this referred to as the VESA driver being "on board").
The Diamond Viper card is an example of this. However, in order to
insure that the Viper's on board VESA driver activates, the following
commands need to be in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
C:\VIPER\VPRBIOS
C:\VIPER\CHKPATH C:\VIPER
If errorlevel 3 Path c:\Viper;%Path
Set VIPERPATH= c:\Viper
While in the Viper Directory type: VPRMODE VESA. This command will load
the VESA driver and you can now run HARPOON II.
Harpoon II And The XGA Chipset: (used by actual IBM machines):
Several users have reported problems with the IBM XGA VESA driver and
Harpoon II. At this time we recommend that you contact IBM and
obtain the updated VESA compliant drivers which they offer on their
BBS system, or via their technical support network. Their BBS can
be contacted at: 919-517-0001.
Harpoon II and the ATI Graphics Ultra Pro:
Suggestions for users of ATI Graphics Ultra Pro VLB (VESA Local Bus)
with 2MB (MACH 32 chip):
1) Ensure that you have the latest ATI VESA driver (for a while
new releases and updates for this particular driver were released
very frequently).
2) Run the ATI supplied VESATEST program to see what modes
your system supports.
3) If the modes used by H2 (101, 103, 105 and 107) aren't
supported, you may have to change the memory size option used by
the ATI install routine. With the GUP, you are asked to specify
how much memory should be reserved for VGA. ATI recommends
setting this parameter to "shared" but this setting doesn't give you
all of the available VESA modes. If you select "512K" instead, you
will pick up additional VESA modes.
Harpoon II and Headland Video Cards:
We have had continuing reports of poor performance from the V7/Headland
video cards. For those who are experiencing snow and mouse trails, try both
V7 drivers (V7VESA.COM and V7WVGA.COM). We have had a report that the
Microsoft mouse driver 9.1 helps with the cursor problems, and we also have a
report of the VESA driver OAK.COM working well. We are still
researching this problem.
SECTION 3: OPTIMUM SYSTEM CONFIGURATION FOR HARPOON II
The following section contains optimum configuration settings for
your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. By "optimum" we mean a system
configuration that has been stripped of any unnecessary terminate and stay
resident programs (TSR's) and DOS commands which may conflict with
Harpoon II. If you are not experiencing problems with Harpoon II under
your current system configuration, we recommend that you do NOT make
any changes to your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files. If you are experiencing
problems, try the following configurations (remember to back up your
AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files before making any changes):
Your AUTOEXEC.BAT file should read as follows:
PROMPT $P$G
Path=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\PATH TO YOUR MOUSE DRIVER;C:\PATH TO YOUR VESA DRIVER
MOUSE
VESA
NOTE: Insert the name of your VESA driver in place of "VESA" The same
applies to your mouse driver. If your mouse driver utilizes a name
other than "MOUSE" then you will need to insert the appropriate file name.
Your CONFIG.SYS file should read as follows:
FILES=40
BUFFERS=40
NOTE: if you decide to run SMARTDRV under DOS 6, then you must include
HIMEM.SYS and lower BUFFERS to 5. While a SMARTDRV disk cache of 1MB
will increase game performance, it should be noted that some users
have reported incompatibility between HIMEM.SYS and Harpoon II. Thus,
if you receive any lock-ups or crashes after installing HIMEM.SYS
and SMARTDRV then you will want to remove them from your CONFIG.SYS file.
SECTION 4: MAKING A BOOT DISK
An inherent disadvantage of creating specialized CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
files is that each time you wish to play Harpoon II you will be forced to
reinstate them and then reboot your machine. One way around this is to
create a boot disk, which when placed in your A: drive, will boot your
machine with your special Harpoon II AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. The
following section explains how to do this.
First, make sure that you have a formatted diskette in your designated
"A" drive. Next, move to your Harpoon2 directory and type:
RECON
This command will activate our technical support program. When Recon comes
up select "Tools" and then "Make Boot Disk" from the menu. Now simply follow
the on-screen instructions.
After you are returned to the main menu, select "Hardware". On the bottom
half of the screen you will be presented with information regarding
the video display capabilities of your system. Look at the section
labeled "VGA BIOS" and "VGA Chipset" and write down the displayed
information. This will tell you what company manufactured your video
card and subsequently which VESA driver your system utilizes. Save this
for now as we will need this information shortly. You should
now exit Recon by clicking on "Exit".
We now need to find out where your mouse driver is located on your hard
drive. Thus, type the following:
C:
DIR MOUSE.COM/S
You may be presented with an entire screen of text, however the
only information that you need to take particular note of is the text
which follows the words, "Directory of". Write down this text as it
indicates the path to your mouse driver. It is concievable that you will get
the message "File Not Found". If this is the case, type in :
C:\
DIR MOUSE.*/S /P
This will list all of the mouse related files on your disk, look for a
MOUSE.EXE. If you find a MOUSE.EXE, use it just as you would a MOUSE.COM.
If you are still unable to find a mouse driver, try finding out which one you
use in your normal setup and using that in the boot disk, or call us at
(409) 776-2187 and we can help you further.
Now we need to find out exactly which VESA driver your system requires
to run Harpoon II. Change to your Harpoon II directory by typing
the following:
CD HARPOON2
NOTE: This assumes that when you installed Harpoon II you used the default
installation path as provided the installation routine. If you changed
this path before you installed Harpoon (i.e. something like:
C:\GAMES\HARPOON2) then you will need to edit the above command to
reflect that change. For example: CD GAMES\HARPOON2.
Once you are in the Harpoon II main directory, you will want to enter
a sub-directory entitled "DRIVERS". To do this, type the following:
CD DRIVERS
Once you are in the "Drivers" directory, type:
DIR
There are many drivers here all listed by their respective manufacturer.
Find the one(s) that match the name of your chipset (remember you wrote this
down earlier while using RECON). If there are more than one, write them
all down. You are now ready to create the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS
files which will be placed on your boot disk. To start this process type:
A:
EDIT CONFIG.SYS
You will now be presented with several lines of text. Delete all the
lines so that only the following text remains:
FILES=40
BUFFERS=40
After you are done with the editing, choose "SAVE" from the "FILE" menu.
Now choose "EXIT" from the "FILE" menu.
Next type:
EDIT AUTOEXEC.BAT
You will again be presented with several lines of text. The last two lines
should have "LH" in front of them. If they do, go ahead and remove
LH's from the front of each line. The second to last line should read
"MOUSE", change this to reflect the path to your mouse driver (For example
"C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.COM").
The next line in the list loads your VESA driver. Change it to read as:
C:\HARPOON2\DRIVERS\driver
where "driver" is the VESA driver you determined your system utilizes
as per the chipset indicated by RECON (for example "V7WVGA.COM" or
"TRIDENT.EXE"). Also, if you did not use the default installation path of
C:\HARPOON2, then you will need to edit this part of the line as well. For
example if you installed Harpoon II into a "games" directory, and your system
uses the TRIDENT.EXE video driver this line would read as:
C:\GAMES\HARPOON2\DRIVERS\TRIDENT.EXE
Choose "SAVE" from the "FILE" menu. After the file has been saved,
choose "EXIT" from the "FILE" menu.
You should now restart your computer with your new boot the disk in your
"A" drive.
After the reboot is complete, switch to your hard drive by typing:
C:
Now enter your HARPOON2 directory and try to run the game. If at this
time you receive a VESA driver error message, try replacing the driver you
loaded in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file with the next one by the same manufacturer
(assuming that you found more than one VESA driver which might match
your chipset). Be sure to reboot between each attempt since the drivers may
conflict with each other. If all else fails try reading the documentation
which accompanied your video card to determine the exact name of the
VESA which you need to load. You may also try calling your video
card manufacturer - often times they will tell you the exact name of the
driver or will even help you load one into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
SECTION 5: HARPOON II SOUND - COMMON TROUBLESHOOTING TIPS
If you are experiencing problems with the Harpoon II audio effects
(i.e. garbled sound effects, excessively loud pops etc.) then we recommend
that you read the following section.
The Harpoon II sound routines were programmed very specifically in
accordance with the SoundBlaster development guidelines (hence the system
requirements label which reads, "Supports SoundBlaster & 100% Compatibles.")
Unfortunately, this means that some cards which are not of SoundBlaster
brand may experience some difficulties in playing the sound effects/music.
During the quality assurance process we tested HII against many
different sound cards with varying success, and we found that
"100% Compatible" actually meant about "90% compatible" with some sound
cards. However, some testers were able to configure their sound cards
anyway with no problems by manipulating their IRQ and DMA settings. We
spent a lot of time attempting to "tweak" the sound routines to work with
all cards (i.e. trying to develop a semi-SoundBlaster standard) but each
time we attempted this we inevitably would end up with one or two cards that
just were not compatible. Thus, the only option remaining to us was to
move forward with the SoundBlaster development guidelines - which
unfortunately meant that some non-SoundBlaster cards were going to
experience some problems.
Pro-Audio Spectrum 16 and Harpoon II:
Problems with the Pro-Audio Spectrum 16:
A) Loud "snap" in place of Tactile Feedback sound. This is still
being researched, but several users have achieved success by running
PAS.EXE and lowering the volume. A setting of 35 seems to work well.
B) If the game is hanging at the introduction (credits), run
MVSOUND.SYS and use "HARPOON2 -t" to start the game. This will force
Harpoon II to skip the introduction sequence.
C) In order to get the Pro Audio Spectrum 16 to work try these
settings: (Thanks to N5VUO on America Online!)
Your CONFIG.SYS file should have the following settings:
NOTE: ("J:" is the joystick toggle, if you have one, there should
be a 1 here, otherwise you need a 0)
Your AUTOEXEC.BAT file should have the following settings:
SET BLASTER=A220 D1 I7 T3
NOTE: A = address, D = DMA channel, and I = IRQ.
NOTE: if your settings are changed here, they are reflected in the
CONFIG.SYS. For additional help with the PAS16, we recommend
that you contact MediaVision directly. MediaVision can be reached
on CompuServe and via their BBS:
BBS: 510-770-0527
CompuServe: Go Mediavision
Gravis Ultra and Harpoon II:
This card is incompatible with Harpoon II.
SECTION 6: SPEEDING UP HARPOON II
During the quality assurance process, several of our testers provided
some very good tips on how to increase Harpoon II's performance.
This section discusses several such points.
Realizing that Harpoon II pushed the envelope in terms of system
requirements, the Harpoon II development team spent a lot of time optimizing
Harpoon II for speed. One of the reasons that Harpoon II runs slowly at
times is due to the amount of calculations that are occuring every
second during the simulation. You can imagine what the processor is up
against when it has to simultaneously calculate hundreds of performance
models such as SONAR, RADAR, ESM, ECM, etc, etc. under varying conditions
for every unit on the screen. While these routines are quite processor
intensive and sometimes result in sagging game speed, it is all
neccessary in order to be the most accurate naval simulation available
today.
As mentioned there are many different variables that will cause the game to
slow down. The primary one is the number of active units in play (which you
can't do much about), but there are some variables you can adjust:
1) set your screen resolution to 640x480x256.
2) close unnecessary windows. If you have windows open, and you
are not using them, close them. If you want to use them later
then you should iconize them.
3) Toggle off any unecessary Window preferences. Also, if you
spawn a new window from an old one, the new one retains the
settings for the old one. If you do not need them, turn off all
of the active range circles; this will result in a speed increase.
Latitude/Longitude lines and borders also slow the game down
somewhat.
4) Run SMARTDRV. The cache size should be set to 256k.
Please note however that under DOS 6.x HIMEM.SYS is required
to load SMARTDRV, and as we recommend that you do not use a
memory manager with Harpoon II, this may cause a conflict.
5) If you are setting patrol zones in the formation editor, make
sure that they are as squarish as possible to reduce course
changes and recalculations.
6) Try not to use tracking threat axes. (SLOOW)
7) As distasteful as the idea is, buy more RAM. Harpoon II uses
a Virtual Memory engine, which in affect serves as a buffer for
when you run out of memory. When this happens, Harpoon II will
use part of your hard drive as a virtual memory space. However,
the problem with this is that it involves a tremendous
amount of disk access, which is extremely slow compared to
chip based RAM.
8) A math co-processor will speed up Harpoon II. If you have
a math co-processor installed, Harpoon II will use it
automatically.
SECTION 7: HARPOON II AND OS/2
The following section discusses some OS/2 settings that various users
have found success with. It should be noted that the operating system
requirement for Harpoon II (as noted on the box label) is DOS 5.0 or
higher. No formal testing was conducted with OS/2, thus we cannot
guarantee that Harpoon II will work correctly under any OS/2 settings.
The following settings have been used succesfully by OS/2 users:
DOS_HIGH=1
DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION=0
HW_TIMER=1
IDLE_SENSITIVITY=100
IDLE_SECONDS=60
EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT=0
XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT=0
DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT=6*
VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION=0
VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION=1
VIDEO_8514A_XGA_IOTRAP=0
All other settings are defaults.
NOTE: O=OFF 1=ON. THESE ARE INTERCHANGEABLE - each represents
switches on a notebook entry for the full-screen DOS-session.
* This number is a representation of usable ram for OS2. Unless you have a
really good reason, it should not be more than the total PHYSICAL ram the
machine has. In any case, for Harpoon II's purposes, it need not be any
higher than 6MB).
SECTION 8: COMMON HARPOON II QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Questions Addressed in the Frequently Asked Questions for Harpoon II
(FAQ.TXT)
1. Group speed changes
2. Sub Depth
3. 1:1 time with staff messages
4. Group speed to 0
5. Plotted and Unassigned missions
6. Unavailable carrier-based aircraft
7. Minimal loadouts
8. Colored Maps
9. Air-to-air missiles
10. Strike aircraft won't launch
11. Losing contact with units or groups
12. Mission names
13. Cancel Return to Base (RTB)
14. Time compression rates
15. Game pause
16. Losing contact
17. Contact color changes
18. Aircraft mission behavior
19. Intercepting enemy contacts
20. Remove units from mission
21. Aircraft mission list
22. Cancelling a mission
23. Changing mission reference points
24. Patrol aircraft behavior
25. Permanent game and symbol preferences
26. Memory Remaining window
27. Staff Message windows
28. Centering map windows
29. Sea State
30. Ship contacts on land
31. Uncertainty regions
32. Groups break up when attacking
33. SAMs fail to allocate
34. Losing contact with missiles
35. Missiles hitting target
36. Point defenses
37. Electronic Counter-Measures
38. Turning communications off
39. Passive and active sonobuoys
40. Dipping sonars
41. Aircraft loadout types
42. Tanker aircraft
43. ASW threat axis
44. Formation Editor range rings
45. Threat and Detections
46. Reloading mounts
47. Sensor selection
48. Disappearing torpedoes
49. Jumping contacts
50. Aircraft refuse orders
51. Database selection
52. Clearing old contacts
53. Damage to enemy bases
54. Aircraft won't drop bombs
55. Diesel submarines
56. Giving waypoint orders
57. What is an Alaska class ship?
58. Why do my missiles miss?
59. How do DICASS sonobouys work?
60. How to control ECM status through EMCON mission status.
61. Why no nukes?
62. Planes and intercept missions: Why plane groups split
63. What is a group, and how do I make one?
64. Groups demystified
65. Why no range circles for groups?
66. Why no range circles for the enemies?
67. Where are they: communications and unit control.
68. Info on enemy contacts in database.
69. When I make a air mission, how many aircraft go?
70. Why won't all the air platforms I select launch at the target?
71. Why don't the hotkeys work?
72. Threat axes and formation editor hints.
73. Mission editor tips and tricks.
74. How do I get my A6s to launch their decoys?
75. Why won't my platforms use the BGL 1000 Laser-Guided Bomb?
76. Why don't my units do what I want them to?
----------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Q: When I give my Task Force a speed order to go at Full Speed or
Flank, why does it slow down to 5 knots off and on?
A: If there are units in the Task Force formation which are off of
their designated stations, the whole formation slows down a bit to
allow them to get where they are supposed to be. Be patient; the
speed will resume when the Task Force AI is satisfied.
---------------------------------------------------------------
2.
Q: I told my submarine to go to Deep and he stays at Shallow or
Intermediate depth. Why won't he dive where I told him to?
A: Make a Zoom window around the submarine. Then, click on the PREF
button and click on Water Depth. Chances are the water is not deep
enough for the sub to dive as deep as you ordered him. Alternatively,
turn on the toggle, which will display information
(including the current depth/height) about every location where you
click the mouse. This information will be shown in the Incoming
Messages window.
---------------------------------------------------------------
3.
Q: Why does the game stay in 1:1 time after clicking on a staff
message?
A: There may be one or more staff message boxes hidden behind your
map. After clicking on the one you see, if the time still goes to
1:1, try minimizing all the windows and seeing if there are any open
staff message boxes. Closing them all cures the problem.
There is a check box in the Staff Message window that should be
checked if you desire the game *stay* at 1:1 after you close the
message window.
---------------------------------------------------------------
4.
Q: Why do my groups suddenly go to 0 speed?
A: The groups course may have been inadvertently set to 0 or it may have
reached its destination. Giving the group a new course should cure
the problem.
---------------------------------------------------------------
5.
Q: What is the difference between "Plotted" and "Unassigned"?
A: Any units on the "Plotted" mission belong to you. Your automatic
Formation AI will not touch them. Neither will the Mission AI. They
are completely yours to operate however you see fit.
Any units that are "Unassigned" have no mission, and may be assigned
to any mission (included "Plotted" if you wish control of them). The
Formation AI will take unassigned units and use them if needed. The
Mission AI will not use "Unassigned" units. It will only use units
on a mission that are assigned to that mission.
---------------------------------------------------------------
6.
Q: Why are all my carrier-based aircraft unavailable for missions?
A: When a ship is assigned to a mission, all unassigned aircraft on
that ship are also assigned to that mission. When you give the
carrier a path, it changes from "Unassigned" to "Plotted." Its
aircraft change too. You can either make the aircraft missions first
or unassign them using the "Remove Aircraft" function of the mission
editor.
---------------------------------------------------------------
7.
Q: Why can't I load some aircraft with anything other than "minimal?"
A: Some aircraft have no adjustable loadouts. These aircraft are
generally good for only one type of mission. Examples include and
E-2 Hawkeye or a Boeing-747 passenger liner. The "Ready" button will
not respond when these aircraft are selected.
---------------------------------------------------------------
8.
Q: How can I get my map window to look like the color map displayed
on the box?
A: Use the window preferences tool to turn on the display of land
elevations and water depths, then shrink the window size. This works
best with large area maps, and, although colorful, isn't really very
useful.
---------------------------------------------------------------
9.
Q: How come my air-to-air missiles keep missing the target?
A: The probability of an air-to-air missile hitting the target
depends greatly on the geometry of every situation, as well as which
kind of missiles and targets are involved. Many factors will
increase or degrade the probability of a hit or a miss. A common
occurance of this is when a missile is fired at a target that is
moving away (an opening shot). The probability of a successful
engagement is greatly reduced for long range opening shots. Another
common situation occurs when non-dogfight capable missiles such as
the AIM-54 Phoenix are employed against nimble fighters. These
missiles are designed for shooting down heavily laden, unsuspecting
bombers, and as such, don't work very well against most modern
fighters.
If you are *really* doubting the validity of the model, you can run
Harpoon2 with the "-W" command line parameter. This will show (in
the Message Window) all the factors, modifiers, etc, of *every*
missile engagement. Keep in mind that this will also ruin part of
the fun of playing the game because information not normally
available to you will be shown. We call this "cheating".
---------------------------------------------------------------
10.
Q: How come my strike mission aircraft will not launch?
A: Strike aircraft do not launch until they have a known hostile
contact within engagement range. If you specified a target when you
created the mission, the aircraft will wait until that target comes
into range. If no target was specified, they will wait until the
first appropriate target shows up. Keep in mind that aircraft combat
ranges will be much shorter than the optimal ranges shown in the
Launch/Ready dialog. This is because combat aircraft conducting
strikes must fly faster and sometimes lower to avoid radar and enemy
defenses. This consumes fuel at a much higher rate than normal
flight.
---------------------------------------------------------------
11.
Q: How come I lose contact with my units or groups?
A: Harpoon uses a fairly realistic communications model, and several
factors can drop a unit off the network. Some common ones are:
a) The unit is out of range of your comm gear.
b) The unit, either by design or enemy action, is now under water.
c) Your communications gear or their comm gear has been
destroyed or turned off.
When the communication net breaks down, you will retain control of
those units which are on the same net as your designated flagship.
Others will act as their mission dictates. Aircraft which have flown
beyond contact range will return home when they run out of path or
complete their missions. If an aircraft runs low on fuel it will also
return home. Submarines without orders will rise to periscope depth
and 'phone home'. Submarines on patrol will periodically do this
anyway. When these 'lost' units return to your local network, they
will share with you any contact information they current hold.
The "Auto Datalink" option (in Difficulty Settings) prevents this
modeling and allows you to talk with all of your units, regardless of
range or depth. When you play in this mode, if a unit will not talk
to you then it is either dying/badly-damaged (eg. no radios), or it's
not on your side.
---------------------------------------------------------------
12.
Q: How do I edit the mission name list?
A: Once a mission is created and approved (by pressing OK in the
Create Mission window), you can't change it. Before that point
however, you may type over the suggested mission name with whatever
phrase or word you like. The computer will randomly generate mission
names for you, drawing on the contents of two text files in your
Harpoon2 directory. These files are MISSADJ.TXT and MISSNOUN.TXT and
may be customized using any text editor. MISSADJ.TXT contains the
adjectives (the first word) and MISSNOUN.TXT contains the nouns (the
second word). These names will be matched randomly; results during
development ranged from bland to appalling.
---------------------------------------------------------------
13.
Q: How do I cancel an aircraft's Return to Base (RTB) order?
A: Select the aircraft and hit the "Unassign Aircraft" hotkey (the
"U" on the IBM PC). After this point, the plane (or air group) is
yours. It is moved into the unassigned list and will loiter until
given further instructions. If the plane was landing because of fuel
considerations ("BINGO") it will still stop and await orders; it's up
to you to get it to a tanker or a base before it runs out of fuel.
---------------------------------------------------------------
14.
Q: How come the time compression rate is so slow?
A: Performance varies with scenario size. The larger and more complex
the scenarios will take more time to process, and should be run at
lower time compression, especially on slower machines.
---------------------------------------------------------------
15.
Q: How can I pause the game and still have access to game menus?
A: At any difficulty level but full reality (HARD), the pause key
will still allow the user access to the entire interface. This can
be set at will using the Custom difficulty settings. The "Enforce
Realtime" check box, if checked, causes the modal (blocking) pause
and will not let you effect the game until you unpause it.
---------------------------------------------------------------
16.
Q: How come I lose contact with all of my units?
A: Check to make sure your flagship is on something reasonable.
Designating a submarine as the flagship is liable to leave all your
other units on their own when you submerge. If there are no units
under your control at all, they're all dead. Better luck next time;
Select Resign from the File menu and see how you did.
---------------------------------------------------------------
17.
Q: Why do contacts change colors?
A: Contact colors indicate two things; your posture towards them and the
certainty with which the contact is known.
Posture:
Initially, most contacts are unknown, and are displayed as such. If
an unknown contact is seen to take hostile action, it will change to
the Hostile shape/color, although you still may not really know what
side it is on. You may designate an unknown (or a known) contact as
Hostile with the hotkey ("H" on the IBM PC), but you
ought to have a good reason for suspecting them or you may be cited
for a Rules-of-Engagement violation in your evaluation.
Certainty:
In the default palette set contacts are brighter if you have an
exact location for them. They tend to grow dimmer if there is
some uncertainty about their location.
---------------------------------------------------------------
18.
Q: How come all of the aircraft I have assigned to a mission do not
launch at once?
A: Strike and ferry missions are single events, and all launch
together. All other missions are attempting to maintain a steady
on-station presence. These missions will try to keep one third of
their aircraft in the air at once, replacing them as needed. If you
wish to saturate an area immediately, the aircraft can be ordered to
launch manually, and will join the mission. Be aware that you are
leaving yourself open to shortages down the road.
---------------------------------------------------------------
19.
Q: How do I intercept enemy contacts?
A: There are two methods of getting an intercept.
a) Select the interceptors, hit the air-ops button, and select the target.
This is very fast, but does not provide much information about
ranges or times. There may be other air assets better capable to
intercept the target than the one you chose.
b) Select the target (any contact), and hit the air-ops button. This
will bring up a dialog listing all air units available, with ranges
and loadouts listed. This takes longer, but allows you to pull units
out of group CAP or ASW stations pretty fast, and allows a more
considered response.
---------------------------------------------------------------
20.
Q: How do I remove units or groups from a mission?
A: Aircraft can be removed quickly with the "Unassign Aircraft"
hotkey. For all other units, bring up the mission editor dialog,
select the mission, and deallocate the units. This also works for
aircraft, launched or landed.
---------------------------------------------------------------
21.
Q: How do I get a list of aircraft currently assigned to a mission?
A: Select the mission in the mission editor dialog. Aircraft in the
air will be in the assigned units column. Landed aircraft can be
viewed using the "Remove Aircraft" button in this dialog. This is
also a way to change the loadouts of assigned aircraft; it is not
necessary to remove them.
---------------------------------------------------------------
22.
Q: How do I cancel a mission?
A: Bring up the mission editor and delete the mission. All units on
the mission will become "Unassigned." Mission generated launch
orders and paths will be deleted for these units, and the units
will become unassigned as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------
23.
Q: How to I change which reference points an existing mission uses?
A: Select the reference points, then bring up the mission editor.
The "Remove" button under "Selected Reference Points" will remove the
selected reference points from the list used by the selected mission.
The "Add" button does the opposite. This makes some actions a two
step process. If you have an anti-ship patrol "MOVING WINDOW" around
reference points 1,2,3,4, and you want it to use 3,4,5,9 the
following actions are needed.
1) Select reference points 1 and 2.
2) bring up the mission editor.
3) Select MOVING WINDOW.
4) Hit "Remove", then "Ok" to leave the mission editor.
5) Deselect points 1 and 2. (Don't forget this!)
6) Select points 5 and 9.
7) Bring up the mission editor and select "MOVING WINDOW".
8) Hit "Add", then "Ok" to leave the mission editor.
---------------------------------------------------------------
24.
Q: Why do aircraft on an area mission sometimes patrol outside the
region defined by the reference points?
A: Aircraft on patrol are fairly curious about unknown contacts.
They will wander over and attempt to ID contacts that match their
patrol types (eg. Surface patrols look at ships, AAW patrols look at
aircraft, etc). This 'closer look' might take them beyond their
defined area by a few miles. Known hostile contacts will be attacked
by Patrol missions if possible, and avoided (but reported on) by Recon
missions.
---------------------------------------------------------------
25.
Q: How do I set my permanent game and symbol preferences?
A: Run H2SETUP.EXE to set your preferences. This program makes changes to
the HARPOON2.INI file. When loading a scenario, Harpoon II will default to
the settings found in the HARPOON2.INI file.
---------------------------------------------------------------
26.
Q: Why do I have more memory listed in the Memory Remaining window
than I have in actual RAM?
A: Harpoon II uses a virtual memory DOS Extender. This means the
theoretical maximum amount of RAM a program can use is limited by the
disk space on the drive with the executable. It should be noted that
the game does slow down somewhat when virtual memory is actually
used, so it is only used when no more real RAM remains.
---------------------------------------------------------------
27.
Q: There are too many Staff Message windows. How can I get rid of
them?
A: Select Game Preferences from the Settings menu and turn off the
more common ones. The messages will still be shown in the "Incoming
Messages" window; the only difference is that the Staff Message
pop-up windows allowed you to put the game in 1-1 time.
---------------------------------------------------------------
28.
Q: How come I can't center my map window?
A: Map windows won't move outside the defined scenario boundaries.
If a Map Window is against one or more of the scenario boundaries, it
will not move or expand further in that direction. The main map
window contains the entire area of the scenario and can't be moved at
all.
---------------------------------------------------------------
29.
Q: How come Sea State data is shown on land?
A: Sea state data also shows wind speed.
---------------------------------------------------------------
30.
Q: Why are ship contacts appearing on land?
A: If the contact is uncertain, it is displayed in the center of the
uncertainty region for the contact. This sometimes shows contacts
over land, especially for detections that reveal only a relative
bearing or direction (eg. "We hear something over that-a-way, but
we're not sure how far"). ESM detections commonly do this.
---------------------------------------------------------------
31.
Q: What are the lines, expanding circles, and wedges that appear
around contacts?
A: These are the uncertainty regions mentioned above. The
uncertainty region is created by the accumulated information from the
most recent detection cycle, and then it ages when the contact is no
longer detected. These concepts are explained very thoroughly in
the tutorial section of your manual.
---------------------------------------------------------------
32.
Q: How come my group breaks up when I order it to close and attack?
A: The units which are capable of attacking the target are removed
from the group and placed on an intercept mission for the
contact(s). I don't recommend doing this with your carrier groups.
---------------------------------------------------------------
33.
Q: Why do my surface-to-air missiles fail to allocate?
A: The theoretical engagement distance for semi-active missiles is
much longer than the engagement distance against low targets. These
missiles require direction from radars on the firing platform, and
any target over the radar horizon can't be engaged. This will
display as "Target not Illuminated". Sometimes you will see a range
ring that indicates an optimal engagement range against closing
targets. This optimal range is not often realized and you must
frequently wait until the geometry is more favorable (ie. the target
is closer). The missile will also fail to allocate if the projected
intercept point is beyond the range of the missile. This will
display as "Out of Range."
---------------------------------------------------------------
34.
Q: Why do I lose contact with the missiles I just launched?
A: If the missile does not have a command data link, it must be
tracked with a search radar just like everything else. You have to
decide if your curiosity about the fate of that Tomahawk is worth
giving away your location by turning on a radar. But that's up to
you.
---------------------------------------------------------------
35.
Q: How come I can't see when my missiles hit their target?
A: For the same reason you don't know what is happening anyplace
else you can't see. If you don't have a current
visual/IR/passive-sonar track on the target, or a datalink with your
missile, you will not know what is going on. You can later fly over
the target and perhaps you'll see some visible damage. Perhaps your
plane will be shot down instead. But that's a kind of target damage
assessment too, now isn't it?
BDA (Bomb Damage Assessment) is always shown for individual
land facilities. Make sure you have UNITs showing instead of
GROUPs and you will see any relevant damage to facility targets.
If you can no longer find the target facility (which are always
automatically detected) then you have destroyed it. If the
facility is not destroyed or visibly damaged, that does not mean
it has any functional equipment remaining.
---------------------------------------------------------------
36.
Q: How do I use point defenses?
A: Point defenses are automatically fired for you. This includes
chaff and flares, and point defense deceptive ECM (if you have the
appropriate gear). If you do not have the "Weapons Tight" option
set, missiles will be engaged by longer ranged SAMs as soon as an
intercept is possible.
---------------------------------------------------------------
37.
Q: How do I use Electronic Counter-Measures?
A: The ON/OFF switch can be found in the Sensor dialog. This will
activate any barrage/noise jamming equipment for the selected
platform. This will certainly give away the location of the jamming
platform, but may hide other platforms or weapons from detection.
---------------------------------------------------------------
38.
Q: Why would I ever want to turn my communications off?
A: Broadcast communications gear can be intercepted by ESM
equipment, and may give away your location. Most modern
communications gear, when employed properly is hard to detect. This
type of datalink is shown in the "Secure datalink" color. Some units
aren't capable of using this type of equipment (or have moved beyond
its' range) and must now broadcast openly to remain in communications
with you. These units have datalinks shown in the "Broadcast
datalink" color. Units will always attempt to use secure gear where
possible. Turning communications to Active gives the selected unit
permission to broadcast (if needed) to stay in communications.
Broadcasted communications links only give an ESM cut to listening
enemy units. Since most units are capable of secure communications,
we recommend you just keep this on for most units. The AI opponent
does NOT currently take advantage of communications ESM cuts so there
is no penalty.
NOTE: Sonobuoys will self-destruct via sinking if they lose their
datalinks with their parent unit. Selecting a buoy and turning off
its comm gear is a good way to drop unneeded sonobuoys.
---------------------------------------------------------------
39.
Q: What is the difference between a passive and active sonobouy?
A: Passive sonobuoys use passive sonar. Active sonobuoys will give
a more positive location on the enemy, but can be easily detected
by submarines and tells them how close to being discovered they are.
Active sonobuoys are also useful in shallow water, where all passive
sonar works poorly.
---------------------------------------------------------------
40.
Q: How do I use dipping sonars?
A: If the helicopter is hovering at or below fifty meters, it will
deploy dipping sonar. If you tell the unit to use active sonar, it
will go active when the sonar deploys.
---------------------------------------------------------------
41.
Q: What loadouts should I use for various aircraft missions?
A: This is a style question. Generally speaking, the following
holds true;
IB (Iron Bombs) will give you the most destruction per aircraft.
The disadvantage of IB loadouts is that you must fly very close
to the target. If the target is heavily defended...
SO (Standoff) loadouts tend to work on heavily defended ships where
the price for a close-in attack with IB may be too high.
PGM (Precision Guided Munitions) require a fairly close attack
(though not as bad as IB), but promise a much higher hit ratio.
SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) tends to be either decoys
or anti-radar missiles and can help reduce the defenses around a
target.
ATA (Air-to-Air) is good for shooting down other planes.
This is by no means an exhaustive list... Many variations on loadouts
exists such as LR (long range) loadouts which tend to trade ordnance
for extra fuel. This means you can strike targets further away.
Read up on how modern aircraft are generally employed and as always,
experiment.
---------------------------------------------------------------
42.
Q: What types of aircraft can I use as tankers for aerial re-fueling?
A: Obviously, anything with a TANKER loadout will do, as will any loadout
containing a buddy-store. Single purpose tankers will not have
loadouts, but will be described in the platform display. Common tanker
aircraft include the Kc-135, the KC-130, the A-6, and the Tu-16 Badger.
---------------------------------------------------------------
43.
Q: Why can't I move the ASW threat axis in the formation editor?
A: The principle ASW threat comes from the PIM (Path of Intended
Motion), because a sub in front of your group can wait quietly for
you to set the shot up for him. Elsewhere he must make noise to
close range. We therefore tie the ASW axis to the group path, as per
USN doctrine. If resources permit, ASW units are placed behind the
group as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------
44.
Q: Why are my range rings in the formation editor showing up as only
ones and zeros?
A: The formation editor window is sized to include all of the vessels
in the group and all of their stations (even if they're not there
yet). The range rings are then placed evenly out from the center. If
the group is less than 2 miles across, the described behavior will
occur because we round the displayed number down the nearest mile.
Don't panic, the rings can be dragged to wherever you want them
and the window can be zoomed.
---------------------------------------------------------------
45.
Q: What is the difference between a Threat Nav Zone and a Detection
Nav Zone?
A: Threat Nav zones are placed around areas where positive danger
exists, such as around enemy SAM sites. Detection Nav zones are used
for areas where detection is either possible or certain. They operate
in the same way, but units can always be told to ignore any of them
separately.
---------------------------------------------------------------
46.
Q: How do I reload my weapons mounts?
A: Mounts will automatically reload from on-board magazines when
completely empty. To change the loaded weapon or reload early, use
the reload toolbar button. The dialog works similar to the Weapon
Allocation dialog.
---------------------------------------------------------------
47.
Q: Even though I select Sonar, Radar, ECM, and Comm Link active, only
some of them change?
A: You only keep sensor states for those types of sensors you have.
If there are no sonars on the ship, they will always come up
"Passive."
---------------------------------------------------------------
48.
Q: Why do my missiles/torps turn dark blue and disappear?
A: The missile has gone out of your sensor range.
---------------------------------------------------------------
49.
Q:. Why does a contact seem to jump from place to place?
A: You are probably getting uncertain contacts from several different
detecting units. Not all of these will get hits every cycle, so the
contact may be updated differently. This is pretty common when a sub
crashes through a sonobuoy line.
---------------------------------------------------------------
50.
Q: Why won't my planes follow my orders to go somewhere?
When planes are launched as a group, they must form up as a
formation before they can go anywhere. This means that all of the
planes you launched as a block will wait until they are all airborne
before they set off on a path or mission. Generally speaking,
planes launched together will form into groups of 4.
If you don't want them to be in a group, break them into
single unit launch requests.
It is also possible that the plane is going home, either because
it has run low on fuel or ammo, or perhaps has completed the
mission it performing. These must be unassigned before they will
follow orders.
---------------------------------------------------------------
51.
Q: When I select a ship in the game and press DATABASE, it shows me
the wrong ship entry.
A: You cannot get DATABASE information on unknown contacts because
you do not know what they are yet. If you selected a ship whose
exact identity is known, or if you selected one of your own ships,
then you will see the database entry for the class of ship to which
your selection belongs. For example; If you selected the USS
Eisenhower and pressed DATABASE, you would see the entry for the USS
Nimitz aircraft carrier because the Eisenhower is a member of this
ship class.
---------------------------------------------------------------
52.
Q: I have an old contact left behind from a ship I sank with
missiles. Since I didn't actually *see* it sink, (but I'm pretty
sure it did), how do I get rid of the old contact which is still
cluttering up my screen?
A: By selecting the contact and pressing the hotkey
(3/PGDN on the IBM PC). If the contact is not really gone, you
will see it again as soon as it is redetected.
---------------------------------------------------------------
53.
Q: Why does the is the enemy airbase I keep bombing still say "No
Apparent Damage" in the Unit Status window?
A: Many of the bases in the Harpoon II scenarios are groups of facilities.
Use the hot key to toggle to unit view to see the individual components
that you have been targeting during your attacks. Each individual
facility will have a damage level.
----------------------------------------------------------------
54.
Q: My planes won't drop bombs or fire air-to-ground missiles, why?
A: There are restrictions on some weapons as to what speed and altitude
they can be released from to operate properly. Try using medium altitude
and cruise speed.
----------------------------------------------------------------
55.
Q: What is the difference between diesel and electric power for diesel
submarines?
A: Diesel subs use electric motors with battery power when submerged.
The fuel status indicator shows the endurance at the current throttle
setting. If you switch from creep to cruise you should see a dramatic
drop in the amount of endurance. To charge batteries, you need to go to
at least periscope depth to run the diesel engines to charge the batteries.
The battery charge process happens automatically when you reach periscope
depth as the sub will start using the diesel engines as soon as the snorkle
can be deployed. There are two fuel indicators for diesel subs, one shows
the endurance at the present speed and the other shows the endurance
capability of the batteries.
----------------------------------------------------------------
56.
Q: When I set a waypoint order for a unit or group the order is not being
executed when the waypoint is reached. Why?
A: Waypoint orders can only be set AFTER the course has been plotted. If you
are in navigation mode (pencil cursor) any order you give a waypoint will
not be retained as the waypoint does not exist until after you click on the
Navigation toolbar button to exit the navigation mode. After the course
has been created you can assign waypoint orders.
----------------------------------------------------------------
57.
Q: What is an Alaska class ship?
A: The Nuclear Battlecruiser Alaska found in Harpoon II was named after
the US Navy's Battlecruiser program in 1943-1944. They were named after
territories (Alaska, Guam, etc) and completed just before WWII ended. By
design, the BCs were fast pocket battleships designed to cream Japanese heavy
cruisers and to raid convoys. By the time the Alaska was in service
however, (Dec 1944) there were very few Japanese heavy cruisers to
bushwhack and no commerce to raid. The US had shifted to air attacks as its
principal anti-surface tactic and the subs were better at sinking commercial
tonnage which no longer ran in convoys anyway. The Alaskas were essentially
5/8th scale Iowa's with 12" guns and a 38kt top speed. Fast, well armed and
with all the new accessories, (modern gunfire radars, superb damage control,
fast gun loaders, scout planes, long range, etc...) they would have been
deadly if available a year earlier. The Alaska was decommissioned in the
early 1950's and it is unknown whether the Guam was ever finished.
Several 'what-if' platforms were tested in Harpoon II to show off
some of the more advanced modelling capabilities we built in to the
simulation (eg. the Metcalf Strike Cruiser, the Alaska, a well-armed
Volkswagen Bug, etc...). Certain official organizations have sent us
outlines (and even plans in one case) of future what-if platforms that we
might someday use in BattleSets. We'll see. Alaska was retained in the
BattleSet for both nostalgic reasons and to show off what we could do.
---------------------------------------------------------------
58.
Q: Why do my missiles miss?
A: The probability of a missile hitting a target depends greatly on the
geometry of the situation as well as which kinds of missiles and targets
are involved. Many factors will increase or degrade the probability of a
hit or miss. For example, when a missile is fired in a long range
opening shot at a target that is moving away, the probability of a
hit is greatly reduced. Other factors that also affect missile hit
probabilities include the ECM and point defense capabilities of your target,
target size, what decoys are in place (chaff & flares), the image
signature of your target (i.e. does it have a highly visible radar cross
section), weather conditions (affects optically guided missiles), etc,
etc. As you can see, firing a missile at a target doesn't necessarily
mean that you are going to paste it!
If you are *really* interested in the missile performance models
that Harpoon II uses, you can run Harpoon II with the "-W" command line
parameter (i.e. type "harpoon2 -W" to get the game to run). This will show
you all of the factors and modifiers for every single missile engagement in
the message window. Keep in mind that this will ruin part of your enjoyment
of the game as information not normally made available to you will be shown.
---------------------------------------------------------------
59.
Q: How do DICASS sonobouys work?
A: All of the DICASS buoys in H-II operate in medium frequency (MF)
range and are subject to the pathloss limits of that frequency range. Since
we attenuate the figure-of-merit appropriately for different frequencies,
(not to mention location, seasons, shipping noise, etc.) you will have a
reduced chance of detecting signal sources outside the normal range of the
receiver. Additionally, each model and type of sonar set has a different
sensitivity and S/N level.
Yes, you can get passive MF detections with a DICASS buoy. No, MF
passive sonar isn't very good, and you won't get detections on every
platform unless they are pretty loud or *really* close. Passive MF also
implies direct path (or possibly bottom bounce), non-integrated source
signals. The detection period is adjusted for this as well.
---------------------------------------------------------------
60.
Q: How to control ECM status through EMCON mission status.
A: The missions do not (at this time) control the ECM. It is used by
computer controlled units in a defensive manner only (i.e., when my ship
detects incoming missiles that it thinks are targeted at it, or another
friendly ship on the network, it turns on the jammers).
The possibility exists that this option may be included in future
versions of Harpoon II.
---------------------------------------------------------------
61.
Q: Why no nukes?
A: The various routines for handling nuclear weapons are currently
in the program, but not implemented. Thus, there is no way to obtain nuclear
release (right now). It will probably appear in the future.
---------------------------------------------------------------
62.
Q: Planes and intercept missions: Why plane groups split
A: Remember; if you assign a airgroup to intercept, only those planes
capable of executing an ATA attack will split off (and they WILL split
off) individually. If you want to split a couple of planes off, select the
airgroup and then go to the formation editor and split off a few planes,
then assign them to an Intercept mission. Remember that an air group will
loiter at its optimum fuel-saving altitude.
---------------------------------------------------------------
63.
Q: What is a group, and how do I make one?
A: Groups are a bunch of units that are in formation with one another, and
their relative positions can be assigned in the formation editor. You can
combine several units into a Group by clicking on the center of a unit and
dragging a line from the unit to another.
The two methods of creating a group are: Select all of the units by
using the drag-select or by using shift-click to select each one
individually. Once all of the units are selected, use the hot key to
create a group with all of the selected units (make sure that NumLock is
NOT on, or the hotkey will not work); or select a single unit and hold the
mouse button down to drag a line from the selected unit to another unit,
the two units will then form a group. This is explained more fully on
page 142 of the manual.
---------------------------------------------------------------
64.
Q: Groups demystified
A: We have two methods for viewing your units; the absolute view and
the relatively uncluttered group view. Often the volume of information
can become overwhelming, and so we allow for it to be managed this way.
Normally, what we do is toggle back and forth from the group view to the
unit view and back again with the hot key (9 on the numeric keypad) to see
the ranges. To find the range-to-target, we suggest making a Zoom Window
around the target, make the window tracking, then toggle unit view for that
window, and watch all the range circles necessary, while the main window is
still in group view.
---------------------------------------------------------------
65.
Q: Why no range circles for groups?
A: The inherent problem with range circles is how to best show them.
We could show all of them but that would defeat the purpose of having the
group view. We could only show the outer limit of the overlapping ones.
This also has the effect of slowing down the game to the point where it
would become unacceptable. Nevertheless, many people have requested this
option and it may appear in a future version. We recommend you try using the
group view and switching to the unit view (via the "9" hotkey) for ranges.
---------------------------------------------------------------
66.
Q: Why no range circles for the enemies?
A: The reason that enemy weapon range circles are not displayed
is due to the fact that you would not have access to this sort of
information in a real-life encounter. After all, how can one tell what
weapons the opposing ship has available to it?
If one really wants to know the weapon ranges they can be
looked up in the database under the appropriate ship. This information
will indicate what the standard loadout for that vessel is, and what the
ranges on the weapons are. You can then subsequently use range and bearing
to determine if you are in the danger zone for what you think they might
have. It should always be remembered that loadouts vary, even for ships...
It should be noted however that many people have requested that this
information be provided, and it may appear as a realism option in a future
release.
---------------------------------------------------------------
67.
Q: Where are they: communications and unit control.
A: When you are using full reality in communications, you will lose
contact with units when they travel out of range or submerse under water.
These units will continue to follow their last orders and mission. Subs will
pop up periodically for new orders.
---------------------------------------------------------------
68.
Q: Info on enemy contacts in database.
A: You can get info on enemy contacts, but only once you have identified
them. You must first get the name and unit type, then select them
and click on the database key. The database will then jump to the unit type.
---------------------------------------------------------------
69.
Q: When I make a air mission, how many aircraft go?
A: If you make a mission that is not a specifically targeted strike
mission, then only 1/3rd of all of the planes assigned to the mission will
launch at any one time. If you want to take out that base, launch a strike
mission with it as the designated target.
In addition, when you want to attack specific parts of a base, toggle
groups to units and you will see all of the base parts (a base is a group
of land units).
---------------------------------------------------------------
70.
Q: Why won't all the air platforms I select launch at the target?
A: Strike missions that have no specified target will launch one group
(of at least one up to how many you assigned to that group, default is 4) of
that type of plane at the first target that satisfies the mission. Any
additional groups of plane types will wait for the next viable target. If
you create a mission to attack a specific target such as, say, Haifa, then
all of the units (planes, ships, lifeboats, etc.) assigned will move to
attack with.
---------------------------------------------------------------
71.
Q: Why don't the hotkeys work?
A: The hotkeys must be enabled by turning NUMLOCK and
CAPSLOCK off.
---------------------------------------------------------------
72.
Q: Threat axes and formation editor hints.
A: When you select a unit in the FE, the current threat axis for that
unit's station is shown. Every station has a threat axis, and the station is
always relative to that threat axis. An example; you have an aircraft on a
station that appears about 90 DEG(East) from the group center, and
the active threat axis for that station is the AAW axis, and the AAW axis
is 000 (North); If the AAW axis is moved (either you drag it manually, or
the staff decides a new threat warrants reorientation) to, say, 270 (West),
then the air station will now be at 000 (North). All stations are attached
to an Axis. When the Axis moves, the station moves with it.
You can change the Axis a station uses by selecting a unit with a
station and then picking some other Axis (the triangle tags). The ASW axis
points along the path of intended motion for the group, so Station Keeping
type stations tend to use this axis by default.
---------------------------------------------------------------
73.
Q: Mission editor tips and tricks. (Thanks to the Beta Team on CompuServe)
A: 1) For patrol missions, assign 3 times the number of A/C that
you actually want on station at any given point in time.
The AI launches only 1/3 of the assigned A/C in order to
provide for relief.
2) Even though dissimilar A/C types can (and should) make up a
mission, they will launch, transit, attack and recover in
separate groups by A/C and loadout type. For example, a
strike mission assigned 2 A-6s with HARMS, 4 A-6s with
Harpoons and 2 Tomcats with Aim-54s will launch as 3
separate groups.
3) Reference points are not placed relative to a formation or
base. They are fixed points in space. This means that your
CVBG can sail under your BARCAP, unless you manually move
the reference points.
4) Unlike Harpoon 1, you do not get range circles for groups.
They are available for units, however. If you like to have
your main battle management window display groups, then one
option is to use the "9" key on the keypad to toggle the
display to "show units" for a moment, check the shown ranges,
and then toggle back to a unit display.
5) With your display zoomed out, selecting a particular unit in
a crowded area can be frustrating. To fix this: Zoom in
until you can distinguish the individual units. Select a
unit in the center of things and convert the window to a
Tracking window. The window will now always follow this
designated unit, and you can iconize the window until you
need it (for increased speed). Also, do not forget that
the "space" and "backspace" keys work as they did in
Harpoon 1. (See Harpoon II Command Card for details.)
6) If you play at Full Reality, don't blindly set a submarine
at Deep, Speed at Creep, and lay out a 400nm course. As
soon as he descends, he is out of contact and control, and
will not come up until he finishes his orders! Lay in your
course carefully, with many surface checks for new orders.
---------------------------------------------------------------
74.
Q: How do I get my A6s to launch their decoys?
A: The keystroke is CTRL-F1.
---------------------------------------------------------------
75.
Q: Why won't my platforms use the BGL 1000 Laser-Guided Bomb?
A: They won't, can't, and don't. As per the database, these
otherwise-potent purveyors of potential peril lack the guidance devices
necessary for them to hit their targets. Thus, they are never
launched. This bug is really only relevant in "A Naval Border War".
This is a bug which is slated for possible future upgrades.
---------------------------------------------------------------
76.
Q: Why don't my units do what I want them to?
A: IF YOU ASSIGN UNITS TO MISSIONS YOU ARE GIVING CONTROL OF THEM TO
THE AI. If you want to make a plane group fly a roundabout course to a
target, don't put them on a strike mission. Move them to Plotted. Plotted
means it is under your control. If you want your planes to avoid a
particular area of the map, you should use a Navigation Zone. Look them up
in the Manual for details on how to use them.
APPENDIX A: VESA Manufacturers Listing
Ahead Systems Inc.
44244 Fremont Boulevard
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 623-0900
Appian Technology Inc.
(206) 649-8086
ATI Technologies Inc.
3761 Victoria Park Avenue
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada M1W3s2
(416) 756-0711
Boca Research Inc.
6401 Congress Avenue
Boca Raton, FL 33487
(407) 241-8088
Chips and Technologies
3050 Zanker Road
San Jose, CA 95134
(408) 434-0600
Compaq Computer Corp.
(800) 345-1518
Cirrus Logic
1463 Center Pointe Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035
(408) 945-8300
BBS: (510) 440-9080
Diamond Computer Systems Inc.
(408) 736-2000
Everex Systems
48431 Milmont Drive
Frement, CA 94538
(510) 498-1115
Genoa Systems Corp.
75 E. Trimble Road
San Jose, CA 95131
(408) 432-9090
Headland Technology Inc.
46221 Landing Parkway
Fremont, CA 94538
(800) 248-1850
Hercules Computer Technology Inc.
(510) 540-0749
Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd.
(800) 462-8769
Micro-Labs Inc.
(214) 702-8654
Micron Technology Inc.
(800) 642-7661
MaxLogic Systems Inc.
48350 Milmont Drive
Fremont, CA 94538
(415) 683-2684
NEC Technologies Inc.
(800) 388-8888 ext.43
Nth Graphics
(800) 624-7552
Number Nine Computer Corp.
(617) 674-0009
Orchid Technology Inc.
(510) 685-0540
Panacea Inc.
(603) 437-5022
Paradise
see Western Digital
Sigma Designs Inc.
(510) 770-0100
STB Systems Inc.
1651 N. Glenville
P.O. Box 850957
Richardson, TX 75085
(800) 234-4334
Tecmar
(800) 344-4463
Trident Microsystems, Inc.
321 Soquel Way
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(415) 691-9211
TrueTech Inc.
181-B W. Orangethorpe
Placentia, CA 92670
(714) 961-0438
Tseng Laboratories Inc.
10 Pheasant Run
Newtown Commons
Newtown, PA 18940
(215) 968-0502
United Solutions Inc.
(800) 365-4995
ViewSonic
(213) 944-3041
Video Seven
see Headland
Western Digital Imaging
800 E. MiddleField Road
Mountain View, CA 94043
(415) 960-3360
ZyMOS Corp.
477 N. Mathilda Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 730-5400
--
Jordan E. Keister
TSPI's Unofficial Internet Representative
Correspondence Management/ Disk Exchange Internet:
America OnLine: THREESIXTY THREESIXTY@AOL.COM
GEnie: THREE-SIXTY 76711.240@COMPUSERVE.COM
Compuserve: 76711,240 THREE-SIXTY@GENIE.GEis.COM
