Nightfighter - Anyone wanna play?

Started by Silent Disapproval Robot, October 26, 2015, 07:10:28 PM

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Silent Disapproval Robot

If I turn your plane to the right, I can't get it to hex 0611.  I can if I turn left.

Which direction would you like it to face once it gets to hex 0611?  NE, SE, or S?





Staggerwing

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on November 01, 2015, 07:12:20 PM
If I turn your plane to the right, I can't get it to hex 0611.  I can if I turn left.

Which direction would you like it to face once it gets to hex 0611?  NE, SE, or S?




Sorry, latent dyslexia strikes again. Your graphic is correct. Also, thanks for asking about final facing. Due South, please.
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Silent Disapproval Robot

Got it. 

Your radar has a contact.

Do you want to try a tally roll?

Staggerwing

Yes, Rolling for tally:

[blockquote]Rolled 3d6 : 2, 4, 4, total 10[/blockquote]
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Silent Disapproval Robot

No tally.

On to turn 5.  I can bring another bomber onto the map this turn (or delay its entry up til turn 7.)


You can move your fighter and do your radar thing.



Turn 5 map.

Staggerwing

Move three and turn left, radar on hex 0715.
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Staggerwing

I'm still a little fuzzy on what the 'sweep' counter tells me.


  • A 'contact' means that there is a contact within the range of the radar installation but cannot tell me in what direction.
  • A 'sweep' shows a direction but doesn't tell me if there is actually something there, like a radar ghost.


Shouldn't a 'contact' indicate direction from the emitter as well since it represents greater fidelity?
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Silent Disapproval Robot

OK, you still have a contact on your radar.  Roll for a tally if you wish.






A contact means that you have a positive radar contact somewhere within the 3 hex radius of your search marker.

If there is no positive contact within that radius, the sweep marker will indicate the direction towards the closest bomber to the search marker but is outside of the 3 hex radius.

The Tachi-6 radar is pretty crappy and can't resolve a fix closer than about 2 miles.  The game portrays this poor tracking ability by making the search cone so large (3 hex radius).


Silent Disapproval Robot

Here's an example of how the radar works.

In this picture, there is a B-17 in hex 1322.  Because it's within the 3 hex search cone radius of the Tachi-6 radar, I flip the marker over from the search side to the contact side.  Normally the bomber chit would be hidden from you.  You don't know where it is, just that it's somewhere within the 3 hex radius of the radar contact chit (the region shaded lighter than the rest of the map.)





In this picture, the B-17 is outside of the radar's 3 hex radius so I don't flip the marker to the contact side.  Instead, I inform you that there's no contact and I place a sweep marker next to the Tachi-6 search marker.  I have to place the sweep marker so that it's adjacent to the search marker and indicating the direction to the closest bomber.  In this example I could have placed the sweep marker in either hex 1422 or 1423 because they're both 4 hexes away from the bomber.


Staggerwing

Roll for tally:

[blockquote]Rolled 1d6 : 6, total 6[/blockquote]
[blockquote]Rolled 1d6 : 6, total 6[/blockquote]
[blockquote]Rolled 1d6 : 3, total 3[/blockquote]



AFA the radar goes:
So basically, the closer to the emitter the plane is, the harder the return but the less fidelity in direction; the further out the plane is the weaker the return (or maybe even a false return) but the greater the indicator of directionality? That seems counter-intuitive some how. Shouldn't a hard contact also indicate what direction from the emitter that contact is?


Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Silent Disapproval Robot

Think of it like this.  Assume that the radars in the array are constantly doing their 360 degree sweep.  Occasionally, an operator will take control of one of the dishes and do a tight beam focus on a bit of sky where he thinks there might be a contact.  This is what happens when you place your search marker.  Most German radars in this game have a 1 hex radius so if you get a contact, it's pretty easy to narrow down where exactly the bomber is in that 1 hex radius after a few search placements.

The Japanese radar depicted in the scenario was really rudimentary and could only get an interceptor within 2 or 3 miles of a contact.  It was unable to tell contact height, only direction and the displays were so coarse that the radar" fix" was several degrees wide.

The game kind of expects you to try to narrow down the possible location of the bombers by placing the search marker far out on either side of a contact as it works its way down the map and getting to to determine it's location by a process of elimination.


Staggerwing

So basically bracketing either side, squeezing in closer and closer, 3 hexes farther south each time?
Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys

Silent Disapproval Robot

Sorry for not replying until now.  My place lost power sometime late last night and it's been out all day.  Hopefully it'll be back on when I get home from work tomorrow morning.

Yes, I think doing the bracketing thing would give you the best chance of narrowing down a location.


Your tally attempt failed to spot anything.   

Silent Disapproval Robot

The good news is my power is back on.  The bad news is that the .vsav file for turn 5 seems to have some issues and I can't get it to load.  It will be easy for me to rebuild but I won't be able to get to it until tomorrow morning after work.


Staggerwing

Vituð ér enn - eða hvat?  -Voluspa

Nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls and nothing's ever worth the cost...

"Don't you look at me that way..." -the Abyss
 
'When searching for a meaningful embrace, sometimes my self respect took second place' -Iggy Pop, Cry for Love

... this will go down on your permanent record... -the Violent Femmes, 'Kiss Off'-

"I'm not just anyone, I'm not just anyone-
I got my time machine, got my 'electronic dream!"
-Sonic Reducer, -Dead Boys