“Tides Of War” and v1.09 update now available!
Companion to Tides Of War: The Command v1.09 update
“Tides Of War”, the new DLC pack for Command, is launching very soon. (Make sure you don’t miss its unique new features, such as the persistent campaign progression!). As is often the case, the new DLC release is accompanied by a major CMO engine update, and in the fine tradition of past updates, this one too packs a wallop. The full release notes for the update are available HERE.
Let’s take a quick look through the major additions & tweaks:
* Explicit GNSS jamming and jammer units: This is effectively the follow-on to the abstract GNSS jamming made possible through the “Side Enablers” feature and introduced in v1.08. In addition to defining “access/no access” to specific GNSS networks (GPS, GLONASS, Beidou etc.) at the side- and area-level, you can now use distinct platforms that have the ability to jam these critical systems. Just like with radar & communication jammers, these platforms tend to be expensive and scarce, so you must position them carefully to maximize their coverage and prioritize the assets you wish to protect (or the area to negate). Also similar to other jammer types, their signal can be detected, localized and used to attack these platforms.
Moreover, the way that GNSS disruption affects terminal weapon accuracy has been tweaked. Instead of measuring the “time without a PNT fix” and using that to calculate the INS drift, the simulation now actually keeps track of the last 50 PNT-fix attempts (both successful and unsuccessful) and uses a simulated Kalman filter to derive the final internal drift. This provides a more true-to-life effect on disruption, as (for example) a single PNT fix is not sufficient to fully “reset” the navigation precision to nominal status.
* Salvo simultaneous weapon arrival: “I wish my cruise missiles arrived at the target area in a nice, strung-out line so that the defences could swat them down one by one” – said no strike planner, ever. The navigation logic on weapons that support TOT has been tweaked so that, within a salvo, all weapons will closely bunch up in order to arrive at the target simultaneously, overwhelming the defences. (Inter-salvo coordination remains the responsibility of the player, either manually or through the MDSP).
* Launch speed-dependent variable burnout speed for air-launched boost-coast AAW missiles. In other words: It is now actually important how fast an aircraft is flying when it launches a boost-coast missile (Optional, enabled by default on new-construction scenarios and quick-battles, disabled by default on existing scenarios).
When enabled, the burnout speed (per altitude) of boost-coast AAW missiles now varies according to the launch speed (in addition to the already-critical launch altitude). The weapon’s nominal range assumes a M1.5 launch at 36000ft. If the launch speed is lower (which is usually the case), the effective burnout speed and kinematic range of the weapon will be lower; if however the launch speed is higher this can significantly boost both the burnout speed and the reach of the weapon, way above nominal.
A faster burnout speed provides three critical advantages in the BVR “missile joust”, all other factors being equal:
* Your missile flies further out expanding your WEZ and reducing your exposure to counter-fire.
* Your missile flies at higher average speed, which shortens your commit-engage-disengage cycle and may even turn the tide in your favor if the other guy shoots first.
* Your missile will likely arrive at impact with a higher terminal speed, thus improving its hit probability against an alert and evading opponent.
If you’ve ever wondered why fighters tend to aggressively punch the afterburners while preparing to launch missiles, this new wrinkle will make it abundantly clear.
* Incremental / timestamped saves: You’ve long asked for an easy way to undo/rollback edits or changes on a scenario, and this it. This new feature saves timestamped copies of the played scenario, instead of overwriting the existing scen/save file. This takes up more disk space, but makes it easy to go back to a past version.
* Vast A2AR improvements: An enormous amount of work has been dedicated to improving the mechanics and experience of air refueling operations:
– General reliability whit high sim speed: Increased reliability by throttling down sim speed (from double flame to single flame) when performing or about to perform AAR.– Prioritization and Reservation: Reworked prioritization logic to better handle concurrency between clients in scenarios with few tankers, taking better consideration of other enqueued clients when calculating availability of fuel and refueling equipment on the tanker. Also fixed various issues such as AAR being cancelled right after being scheduled, wrong tanker selection criteria being utilized in various situations.– Execution: Tankers and clients now follow refuel orders even when unassigned or without a course, forced and manual refuel orders are respected and refueling from a tanker that is being refueled is now prevented.Other fixes resolve issues with AAR triggering on the incorrect flight-plan waypoint, cargo missions not refueling on RTB and various other issues that caused AAR doctrine to not be followed as expected.
– Flight Plan Editor: Various fixes, and QOL tweaks to the Flight Plan Editor in the management of Refueling Waypoints and their doctrine setting
* Improved manual salvo control: An “Execute” button has been added to the Manual Weapon Allocation (aka “Shift+F1”) window. Now when the player creates weapon salvos through this window, by default they are scheduled to be executed “far into the future”. If the player then clicks on “Execute” or closes the window, the created salvos are re-scheduled to be fired as soon as feasible. The change causes salvos that are created when using this form to be scheduled impossibly far in the future. When the user clicks ‘Execute’ or closes the form then the salvos are all updated to fire as soon as possible.
Therefore, the units assigned to these salvoes will NOT start executing them (or even maneuvering towards the targets if necessary) until the execution is signaled. This gives the user the ability to delete the salvo, plot a course of the salvo, etc. without having to try and do it before the assigned units start firing.
* Improved “one-third rule” on patrol/support missions: Ever been frustrated when the patrol logic treats identical aircraft with even slightly different loadouts as “separate” (for the 1-3rd rule purposes) and thus ruins your intended patrol rotation? The logic can now be made much more “relaxed”, accepting different loadouts, different subtypes and even not grouping aircraft by types at all. So, rotating patrols with heterogenous aircraft complements is a lot easier now.
* The Area & Reference-point Manager window gets a whole lot of deserved love: You told us you love the concept but found the execution missing a few things, and we (again) heard you. The Area & Refpoint manager has received numerous fixes, tweaks and enhancements that increase both its usability and power (check the release notes for details).
* Limpet mines revisited: The fundamental mechanics of limpet mines have been reworked and improved. These mines can be placed by their carrier platforms on ships or submarines, as long as the target is not moving. After being placed, the mines remain attached to the target hull and detonate after the delay (default is 2 hrs) has expired. Because of their direct attachment to the target, the damage effects of limpet mines are similar to impact-detonated weapons (e.g. iron bombs or rockets) rather than the underwater-shock damage incurred by other mine types or torpedoes. Because of their nature, these mines are arguably the ultimate “sneak attack” naval weapon.
* Improved map settings UI: The various map-settings menu options have been duplicated on a dedicated “Map Settings” window (accessible through top menu –> Map Settings –> Map Settings Window). This makes it much faster & simpler to change multiple settings in quick succession.
Other bits & pieces:
* New doctrine option: “Threat Max Distance” (Default: 50nm). This specifies the distance at which units will actively manouver against incoming missile threats. You asked for this to be user-customizable and per-unit configurable, and now it is.
* “Agressive Tile Management” option (available on Game Options). This improves the speed and apparent transition “smoothness” when zooming in/out the map.
* In addition to helicopters, now ships too can use dipping sonar – either manually or autonomously on patrol.
* Numerous new additions to the Lua scripting API. Check the release notes for the gory details.
* Search text-box for menus and submenus. This can be very useful if you do not remember where a specific menu command is located. Type the command text in the textbox and you will jump right into the appropriate menu.
* Effects of natural coolant circulation on nuclear-powered submarines (signaled via the submarine flag “Advanced Propulsor”). Ever heard of the term “quiet as a mouse fart”? These subs are it.
* A regularly-requested QoL add: You can now load a scen/save file simply by drag-&-dropping it into the main map window. (A message box will show up for confirmation (in case the file was dropped by mistake)). NOTE: This is possible only if Command is NOT running in Administrator context.
* If your AU count is exploding: New ability to convert an airbase installation to a single-unit airfield (Right-click –> Scenario Editor –> Convert to single-unit airfield). This can be useful during scenario creation to keep the unit count manageable in large scenarios.
* The quick-battle window and templates have been improved in appearance.
* Tooltips have been added in various aspects of the UI (e.g. scenario realism & features).
* Sinking ships stick around for longer: A sinking ship needs to receive 500% of its original DP value in order to “disintegrate”.
* The “Set orientation” menu item is now available also in normal-play mode, if the selected unit is a non-fixed facility.
* The “Jettison” button now gives you more options of weapon type for you to drop.
* Improved the way images are fetched on-demand from the server and populate the unit image thumbnail on the unit status panel (It is no longer necessary to select another unit and then back the original one in order to see the downloaded image)
* Units tasked with SEAD patrol will engage not only detected radars but also jammers (both radar- and GNSS-jam emitters)
* Units that are within the relevant engagement range of another unit (e.g. aircraft inside nominal range of SAM site) and are being illuminated (for weapon fire control / guidance) by that unit will consider themselves under attack (and take relevant action, e.g. evade if allowed) even if no distinct weapon is detected incoming. This faithfully mirrors the real-life practice of “reacting to being painted”.
And as always, the new update benefits from the updated official scenarios and the most recent releases of the DB3000 and CWDB database.
With the decks now clear, the dev team is racing ahead to continue and complete the development of several new explosive features that are set to transform the Command experience within 2026. Stick around!
