Hog heaven, Crimea, Toko-Ri, Bekaa and nuclear CentFront: 15 new Command scenarios released

May 31, 2016 · Posted in Command · Comment

Miguel Molina has released the updated version of the Command community scenario pack. The new release includes a whopping fifteen brand-new scenarios:

Frigate Duel in the Scotia Sea, 2023: Tensions have increased between Argentina and the United Kingdom, partly because of the recent discovery of large deposits of valuable minerals in the undersea basins south of the Falkland Islands. Argentina has replaced its aging destroyer fleet with a quartet of fast frigates based on the LCS-Independence design. One of these ships is steaming off Cape Horn to contest the area against a RN upgraded Type 23 frigate.
The Lost Province, 2017: Nearly 70 years after the Nationalists fled to Taiwan, the PRC leadership has decided that the time has come to retake the island. You are ordered to initiate the invasion with a large air and surface force, supported by a hail of ballistic missiles.
Operation Mole Cricket 19, 1982: During the 1982 Israeli offensive into Lebanon, it became apparent that the strong presence of Syrian SAMs would threaten Israeli air superiority over Lebanon. As Syrian Forces moved even more SAMs into the region, Israeli leadership ordered strikes against the SAM sites. What followed would be subsequently known as the “Bekaa Valley turkey shoot”.
Skagerrak, 1963: A NATO task force must escort two ammunition ships through the Skagerrak Straits to the inlet of Oslo.
Contigency, 2016: France has a long and accomplished history of successfully projecting military power in support of its national security goals from the American Revolution to the current war on terror. It does that by acquiring basing rights and staging small detachments of ground, air and naval forces worldwide that in the event of a crisis are in a better position to impact an outcome while more power is pushed into the theater. This scenario demonstrates the extend and limits of this ability in a series of evolving crises.
The Honduran-Cuba War, March 12, 1968: In 1955 large quantities of iridium were discovered in Honduras. The country, which suddenly found itself in possession of most of the world’s accessible supply of this rare metal, quickly took advantage of its new wealth to become a regional power, purchasing military aircraft, a flotilla of small warships, and even a submarine from the United States. Unfortunately, the newfound prosperity could not solve every problem, and Honduran relations with Cuba have deteriorated since the Communist Revolution in that country. By 1968, tensions with Cuba have reached a breaking point. When a Cuban patrol boat fired on a Honduran fishing boat that had strayed too close to (but, according to Honduras, not within) Cuban waters, a Honduran destroyer first requested it break off its attack. When it was clear the Cubans had no intention of ceasing their attack and that civilian lives were in peril, the Hondurans sank the Cuban warship. Cuba has declared this casus belli and is preparing for war.
The Honduran-Cuba War, March 19, 1968: So far, Honduras is “winning”; while they have lost several aircraft, one of their elderly destroyers, and one of their minesweepers (which double as offshore patrol vessels), Cuba has lost three small frigates and more than a dozen combat aircraft. Cuba has sworn to make Honduras pay for its “crimes against world socialism”. Honduras is concerned about merchant shipping; it relies, among other things, on being able to get the iridium it mines to wealthy buyers like the United States. It also needs to purchase and then transport munitions to replace those expended so far in the war. Of particular concern are the Komar-class missile boats operated by Cuba. Honduras operates a number of older vessels purchased from America which offer significant firepower in the form of naval gunnery but have limited anti-missile defenses.
The Honduran-Cuba War, March 26, 1968: The war continues. Honduras has managed to negotiate an emergency purchase of F-4 Phantoms to replace those lost in combat; in addition, it has assigned some of its elderly but still capable F4U Corsairs to fly CAP missions over the northern coast. The real problem is ammunition–the supply of missiles for the Phantoms is running short. A convoy with badly needly supplies is en route from America. It is essential that at least some of these ships make it to Honduras.
Warthogs Over Latakia, 2013: The 2013 Syrian chemical crisis has escalated into total war. NATO’s initial strikes on Syria’s chemical weapons facilities have proven insufficient, and the downing of several NATO aircraft during the attacks has made the government overconfident. The decision has been made to strike directly at the regime’s army, as losing its conventional strength would mean being overrun by rebels. Two squadrons of A-10 Thunderbolts have been assigned to the task.
The Bridges at Toko-Ri, 1952: The movie “The Bridges at Toko-Ri” was based on author James Michener’s writings as an embedded reporter on USS Essex (CV 9) and USS Valley Forge (CV 45) in the winter of 1952. This scenario is loosely based on the movie. Take command of Task Force 77.9, centered on the USS Essex, and execute defense suppression strikes in support of a USAF attack on the two railroad bridges.
Crimea River, 2016: The winter of 2015 was a brutal one for Russian-annexed Crimea. Due to the collapse in oil prices and continued economic sanctions by the West, the Russian Federation economy was in shambles. In January 2016 dissatisfaction turned to uprising, and the first Crimean rebellion was brutally supressed by Spetsnaz elements. After leaked footage of mass graves was published, NATO was politically forced to take sides. A large strike on Russian military assets in Crimea was planned and NATO assets were assembled. Russia was alerted in time, however, and placed significant forces in anticipation of this attack. Despite Russia’s readiness, the political climate still necessitated direct action. NATO’s strike, codename OPERATION CLEAN SWEEP, was authorized to proceed.
Convoy ’88, 1988: This scenario takes place in May 1988, five days into a hypothetical NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict in Europe. Had the Cold War escalated into a shooting war, control of the North Atlantic would have been essential for both sides. For NATO the objective would’ve been to keep the sealanes open and protect the convoys bound for Europe from Soviet submarines and bombers. The Soviets’ primary goal was to close the Atlantic and deny NATO resupply from the sea. Convoy ’88 puts the player in the role of Convoy 88-7’s commander for 24 hours. This is primarily an ASW scenario, however a respectable air threat is also included.
The 4th of July, 1989: It is the summer of 1989, and the revolutionary wave of dissent that has been sweeping through the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact Countries has been brutally put down. Soviet military forces on the Central Front have been reinforced, and NATO intelligence is seeing some disturbing movement of Soviet front-line tanks and troops in East Germany. Recent NATO troop withdrawals in Europe have once more made tactical nuclear weapons necessary to stop a possible Soviet breakthrough. The Soviets would also be expected to employ tactical nukes. It is now July 4th, 1989, and the Soviet Union has decided to lay claim to all of Germany.
Korean Campaign, 2018: It is the spring of 2018, and it appears that Kim Jong-un is finally going to make good on his constant threats to launch an attack into South Korea. After upgrading some of his military equipment from China and Russia, Kim has massed over 600 tanks, long range artillery batteries, and infantry units along the border. The U.S. and South Koreans are prepared to launch OPERATION BROAD SWORD, a pre-emptive combined-arms attack on the North Korean Ground Forces. A reinforced convoy is en-route to the port of Busan with critical fighting forces and supplies. The Chinese also have substantial forces in the area, but are not considered hostile as of yet. Can the U.S. and S.Koreans stop the massed North Korean armor before it reaches Seoul, and get the convoy safely to Busan?
White Piano, 1966: Italy and Yugoslavia are mobilizing against each other. Italian intelligence suggests that Yugoslav forces are about to attack Trieste, the important and long-contested port city. A surface group centered on the aviation cruiser Andrea Doria is dispatched to protect the city.

As always, the community scenario pack is available for download from the Command downloads page: http://www.warfaresims.com/?page_id=1876 . The scenarios are also available individually for download on the Command workshop on Steam.

Tags: no tags

Triple Aces: Command v1.11 has been released

May 9, 2016 · Posted in Command · Comment

It took our longest-running public RC phase yet, but it was worth it. Command v1.11 is now available through the MatrixGames and Steam updaters, and joins our long list of major free updates.

To quickly recap why this is arguably our biggest v1.x release yet:

Pier-docking Operations add a whole new operational/strategic dimension to CMANO’s gameplay: Ships and submarines can now dock to their parent hosting facilities (either a shore pier or a mother ship/sub) and refuel, re-arm and even repair their damages. Will you push your ships to the limit and risk withdrawing too late from the fight? Or too early and give your enemy free reign? Will you take your time to fully repair (and possibly let your enemy get away), or put back to sea too early and risk being outgunned? The choice is yours.
Proper Winchester, Shotgun, Bingo, Joker and Chicken states for aircraft: Want your aircraft to do one-pass engagements and run away even with almost full weapons? Sure. Want them to fight until they’re flying on fumes? Check. Want them to retreat early and fight another day? Done. “My pilots don’t fight the way I want them to” is now officially dead as an excuse.
Thoroughly revised air-to-air refueling mechanics and AI: Not only is the pilot AI a whole lot smarter on refuelling decisions, but the player is also given a lot more options to finetune refuelling plans if he wants to. Want to stick tankers to fixed orbits and serve anybody in need? Sure. Want them exclusively assigned to a mission instead? Check. Want them to tag along with the strike package and peel off after providing their fuel? Can do. With the v1.11 update CMANO leaves even many dedicated combat flight sims in the dust when it comes to refueling ops.
ORBAT recon of air/naval bases: “The last satellite pass 4 hours ago showed that an additional 12 fighter-bombers had been moved outside from their shelters and parked on the perimeter revetments, probably in preparation of a major sortie. Accordingly, the raid leader adjusted the targeting and weaponry of the second wave; instead of blasting the hardened shelters with precision penetrator munitions, most of the strikers would sprinkle the open parking spaces with cluster bombs”. You can now do this stuff in CMANO.
AGL altitude settings, stores jettison and mission player feedback: Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference. Your terrain-following capable aircraft can now go really down in the weeds and stay there. You can now define (with doctrine, so per unit, group, mission or entire side) which aircraft will jettison their heavy stores when under attack, to amnouver better, and which will hang on to them. What risks will you take?
New submarine options: Submarine captains are now even smarter, more evasive and take better advantage of their diesel-electric propulsion and especially AIP capability. If you thought hunting subs until now was tough, prepare to be amazed.
Last but not least: Massive performance/scalability gains: 3x to over 10x speed gains on large, complex scenarios. You read that right. And even more finetuning options for tailoring speed to your specific hardare & OS setup so you can squeeze every ounce of horsepower from your rig. Now bring on your world war creation. You know you want to.

Go get it! And enjoy.

Tags: no tags

From fishery squabbles to PacRim and WW3 epics: 26 new Command scenarios available

April 1, 2016 · Posted in Command · Comment

Miguel Molina has released the updated version of the Command community scenario pack. The new release includes a whopping twenty-six brand-new scenarios:

Crossing the Line of Death (The War That Never Was), 1989: The two most powerful militaries in North Africa, Libya and Egypt, were not necessarily aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. This scenario, based upon the book The War That Never Was by Michael A. Palmer, begins with the neutrality of these states in doubt. Will Qaddafi side with the Soviets? Can the US cash in all the Egyptian IOUs?

Air Battle – The Litani River, 2017: Syria has placed SAM facilities in southern Lebanon, near the Litani River, and close enough to the Israeli border that they represent a threat to Israeli aircraft. After an incident in which an Israeli F-15 was nearly shot down, Israel has decided to eliminate the threat.

Battle of Kodel Channel (The War That Never Was), 1989: Geography was not kind to the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. The Russian, Polish, and East German ports on the Baltic Sea were blocked from accessing the North Sea and ports beyond by the nation of Denmark. The Danish islands formed the “cork” that sealed Warsaw Pact forces in the “bottle” of the Baltic Sea. This scenario attempts to re-create the “battle of Kodel Channel” from Michael A. Palmer’s novel The War That Never Was. The Warsaw Pact forces are charged with being the “corkscrew” by forcing an amphibious landing near Copenhagen. To do this they will have to overcome air, surface, and subsurface (including mines) forces.

Great Pacific War – Breakout, 2020: It has been several years since the Taiwan reunification with China. War has broken out between the Sino-Russian (axis) alliance and Japan after an escalating crisis related to the ongoing dispute over the Senkaku Islands. The US and allies side with Japan but devastating Chinese and Russian strikes have crippled Japan and the major US bases in the Western Pacific. The axis have air and maritime dominance in the East China Sea and are preparing to invade Okinawa. An axis CSG group has passed through the Miyako Straight into the Western Pacific to cut off Okinawa and Japan from allied reinforcements. An allied carrier strike group sailing toward the area is tasked with the securing sea lanes leading to Japan.

Great Pacific War – Breakout, 2020 [No subs]: A variation of the above scenario without submarines.

Iran Airbase Attack Drill, 2014: The Iranian Air Force has decided to stage an exercise testing their offensive capabilities. Aircraft from an airfield in western Iran are to hit another airfield defended by the best technology the nation can provide.

Littoral Mission – Cebu Strait, 2018: This scenario assumes serious civil unrest and terrorism has continued to plague the Philippines. The Philippines has turned to one of its closest allies, the United States, to assist them in hunting down terrorists based on Bohol Island.

Mexican Fishery Conflict, 2017: Mexico’s navy is not primarily designed for power projection, but rather to defend its long coastline and its large exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This scenario assumes that Guatemalan fishing boats have been violating Mexcian fisheries. The crews of these fishing boats have started to take matters into their own hands, ramming other boats and occasionally firing shots from pistols and rifles (not to mention the occasional black market machine gun). Both Mexico and Guatemala have deployed patrol vessels to the area to keep the peace.

Northern Fury #9.7 – Sub Surge, 1994: The situation in the North Atlantic remains desperate. The rapid capture of North Norway and Iceland have allowed the Soviets to surge almost 100 submarines into the Atlantic. The USS Enterprise CVBG spent two difficult days blunting an attempt by the Red Banner Northern Fleet to interdict the sea lanes, she is now preparing to retire for re-supply and re-organization, as are the major Soviet surface units. The USS Carl Vinson CVBG is moving up to relieve the Enterprise. The USS Eisenhower, after three days of hard fighting in the Mediterranean, has passed through the Pillars of Hercules and is heading north. She will join the USS Carl Vinson CVBG to strike at Soviet forces around Iceland in three days. This scenario focuses on pushing NATO submarines and some unique capabilities through the Greenland Sea to the very edge of the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The Soviets consider this area home waters, and protect the Barents Sea, one of their critical ‘Bastions’, vigorously. In addition to standard sub vs. sub action you will be required to complete several special missions while the Soviets hunt for you with plentiful and alert air, surface and sub surface forces.

Northern Fury #10.2 – Ant Eaters Revenge, 1994: The US 2nd Fleet is now conducting its first major counter-attack. The 1st phase by 2 CVBGs attacking to gain air superiority around Iceland is complete. Now it is time to shut down the Soviet airbases. You are tasked with conducting a decisive airstrike with the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) reinforced, while transiting your forces to England. The 27th TFW consists of 3 squadrons of F-111s and a supporting squadron of EF-111 ECM aircraft; for this strike the wing has been reinforced by a squadron each of F-15C, F-15E, F-16CJ, F-4G Wild Weasel, F-117 Nighthawk and other supporting forces.

Northern Fury #10.3 – Decapitation, 1994: The US 2nd Fleet is now conducting its first major counter-attack. The 2nd phase aimed at shutting down the Soviet airbases on Iceland has just completed. Now Phase 3 is starting: You are tasked with conducting precision strikes to eliminate HQ and C2 facilities on Iceland.

Northern Fury #10.4 – BUFF Stampede, 1994: The US 2nd Fleet is now conducting its first major counter-attack. The 3rd phase occurred earlier today when the 2 CVBGs moved north again to conduct precision strike on C2 targets. Now it is time to bring in the heavy hitters and restore cave dwelling as an acceptable way of life for the Soviets on Iceland! You are to conduct a short, sharp bomb run of key facilities remaining on Iceland while transiting the 2nd Bomber Wing to bases in England. Your bomber wing is comprised of 3 Squadrons of B-52s and has been augmented by a squadron each of B-1Bs, EF-111s, F-16 Blk 40s and several squadrons of tankers. As well as support from elements of 2nd Marine Air Group (2MAG), and a U-2, the ‘Spirit of Missouri’ one of 8 operational B-2s will make that type’s combat debut.

Operation Adelaide, 2016: This scenario assumes an armed conflict has broken out between Liberia and Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone has crossed the border into Liberian territory, occupied the town of Bo Waterside and refused to withdraw. Liberia has requested help from the United States. The USS Jackson (LCS-6) has been fitted with a COIL laser weapon for this mission.

Operation Baltic Vigilance, 2020: Sweden and Estonia are holding a joint Airforce and Navy exercise. You are tasked to destroy several key military and civil infrastructure targets deep inside Estonia, these will be protected by enemy aircraft and SAM sites. Destroying radar installations, SAM sites and airplanes is your secondary objective.

Operation Bayern, 1965: Tanzania became independent of Great Britain in the early 1960s. This scenario assumes that the Soviet Union replaced its president, Julius Nyerere, with a puppet leader they could control and set about turning Tanzania into a militarized “African Cuba”. President Johnson considers this unacceptable. However, rather than just wait for Tanzania to become a new Soviet fortress in the Third World, Johnson intends to nip the problem in the bud.

Operation Reclaimed Might, 2015: A recreation of the Russian cruise missile strike on Islamic State targets in Syria, from ships in the Caspian Flotilla, on October 7, 2015.

Protecting Peacekeepers on Samar, 2024: The civil unrest that has plagued the Philippines becomes significantly worse by the early 2020s. Several rebel groups are active in the archipelago, some engaged in guerilla activities against government forces, some ideologically-motivated terror groups, and others little more than well-armed gangs of bandits. The Philippines has requested assistance both from its allies and the United Nations. One current operation is the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers and aid workers on the island of Samar, which has become the stronghold of one of the guerilla groups. Recently the rebels were successful in stealing a few older tanks and artillery pieces from the Philippine government. U.N. forces on the island are engaged in peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. The United States has been charged with assisitng the Philippines in providing security for the peacekeepers.

The Shores of Tripoli (The War That Never Was), 1989: The opening moves against Libya by NATO were a great success. The Libyan IADS around Tripoli has been virtually dismantled and the Marines of the 26th MEU have been successfully landed at Zuwara. Initial opposition has been very light and the Marines have driven to within 25 miles of Tripoli. Meanwhile, NATO’s military successes have paid off on the diplomatic front. Egypt has agreed to attack Libya and will begin driving towards Tubruq. Will the Libyan army collapse under the weight of a two front attack? Or does the “Crazy Colonel” have some tricks up his sleeve?

Turkish Revenge, 2012: In June 2012, Syrian air defenses shot down a Turkish RF-4, killing both crew and setting the tone for the confrontational Ankara-Damascus relationship that involved the TuAF shooting down multiple Syrian aircraft, and, most recently, a Russian Su-24. This scenario involves the Turks hitting back at sea instead, with a submarine being deployed to sink two Syrian corvettes. However, the Assad regime and its allies are prepared for any counterattack…

Uncle Mark’s Tutorials #6 – Toledo Hits ‘Em Hard, 2004: Al-Queada camps have been discovered in northern Pakistan. The Pakistani government has been unwilling to allow the United States to strike directly at these terrorists, on the grounds that camps found within their sovereign territory are under their jurisdiction. However, in this case, HUMINT sources indicate that elements within the Pakistani military are sympathetic to Al-Queada and are trying to shield the terrorists. Washington intends to take action. Pakistan has warned the United States that it will not tolerate direct military action against targets within its territory. The US, however, have no intention of allowing the terrorists to escape justice.

Sandbox Scenario #2: East Med A2/AD, 2016: On 13 January, 2016, a Turkish F-16 is shot down by Russian fighters after it crossed into Syrian airspace northwest of Idlib. Russia offers no apology and warns Turkey not to allow its fighters to stray into airspace where Russian military forces are conducting operations. In response, the Turks denounce the Russian action and warn against further Russian aggression. Heeding the advice of NATO military commanders, however, Turkey has been allowing Russian aircraft operating against rebel positions in close proximity to the border some wiggle room. Despite the hostile ‘attack’ against its F-16, Turkey allows the small buffer zone to remain in place. However, Adana has announced that it will regard any aircraft that menaces its airspace as hostile and they will be fired upon and brought down. For one week afterward, tensions have simmered, but Russian air activity over Syria has been nonexistent. Then on 19 January, 2016 Russia announces that airstrikes against rebel positions near the Turkish border will resume within 24 hours. The announcement increases the level of tension in the region as the possibility of a confrontation with Turkey increases. NATO has released a statement warning if Russia disregards the sovereignty of Turkish airspace and/or launches an attack on Turkish forces, Article 5 will be invoked immediately.

Alfa Wolf Pack, 1987: The Third World War has begun. There are offensive operations around all the globe. Norway has signed a pact with the USSR, declaring neutrality. The world is teetering on the brink of a nuclear war. At this moment both sides are only using tactical nuclear weapons at sea due to the threat of Mutally Assured Destruction. A NATO anti-submarine surface group is trying to enter Soviet bastions in order to destroy their SSBN fleet. You will handle the Soviet response to this strategic threat.

The King’s Hand, 2016: The assasination of Saudi Arabia’s King Muhammad bin Salman by Egyptian special forces draws the two countries with teetering relations into dire straits. A secret military plan known as “The King’s Hand”, an assault on an air base in Fayed and the home of the Egyptian military unit responsible for the assasination, comes into play. But some advisors worry that the plan is too little, too late as a military build-up by Cairo has been brewing for months. Can you beat an advisary that has a 2 to 1 advantage in air superiority?

Good Morning Malvinas, 1982: In the aftermath of the re-capture of South Georgia by British forces, it became clear that the Argentine government would not be open to a diplomatic resolution. In light of this, Prime Minister Thatcher authorised operation Black Buck, a series of Vulcan B.2 raids against Argentine forces on the Falklands. Your mission, as commander of TF 317, is to conduct covert insertion of special forces on West Falkland, perform follow-up Sea Harrier strikes on Goose Green Airfield and Stanley Airport, and achieve and maintain air and sea control within the total exclusion zone.

Bosphorus Blues (The War That Never Was), 1989: Thanks to controlling 75% of its borders, the Soviet Union had complete control over the Black Sea. This didn’t provide much of a strategic advantage due to one of the most amazing geological features in the world: the Bosphorus. This narrow waterway, dominated on both sides by Turkey, is the only access from the Black Sea to the rest of the world. This scenario, based upon the book The War That Never Was by Michael A. Palmer, charges the Soviet forces with opening the straight through force. This requires careful coordination between air, land, and sea forces.

Cold War Continued #1: Eve Of Destruction, 1995: On October 28, 1995, an explosion in the Baku Metro in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, killed nearly 300 people. The Soviet Union and her allies blamed western agents for the attack, and promised that a harsh response would be met to the West. The West once again didn’t take this threatening of an attack seriously. What happened on October 31, 1995, changed the world forever…

NOTE: Some of the new scenarios (see the spreadsheet list included in the pack for details) use the new v442 version of the Command databases, thus requiring the v1.11Release Candidate in order to work as intended. We recommend using the v1.11RC in any case, as it offers vast improvements on functionality, stability and performance.

Tags: no tags

Cat launch: Command v1.11 Release Candidate 1 now available

March 15, 2016 · Posted in Command · Comment

USS John C. Stennis operations If our recent stream of posts describing the concentrated awesomeness of the v1.11 update has left you drooling in anticipation, you are in good company – and now, the wait is over. Release Candidate 1 of the new update is available for download.

Download link and the full release notes are on the Matrix Games forum.

If you have missed any of our posts on the key features of v1.11, here is a short recap:

Obviously this is a considerable number of changes and additions, so a careful examination of them will take some time. So give it a spin and let us know in the forums how to make it even better!

Tags: no tags

The great leaps of v1.11: Under the sea and under the hood

March 14, 2016 · Posted in Command · Comment

The v1.10 update for CMANO was released on Feb 26 to widespread acclaim. The dev team is already hard at work preparing the next upcoming major release, version v1.11. After the panoply of new features in past updates, what new tricks do the CMANO devs have up their sleeves? Let’s take a peek.

Under the sea: Improvements on submarine ops

Updated Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) model

The implementation of Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) has been refined in Command v1.11. While it is possible to recharge the submarine’s batteries using AIP, the low power of typical AIP systems relative to the diesel-powered generators means that it would take extremely long time to recharge a deeply discharged battery. Storing energy in batteries is also a less efficient than storing the energy in the AIP reactants. As such, AIP is best used to minimize discharge of the submarine’s batteries, and wait with conventional diesel engine recharging to a time and location that is more suitable. This means the AIP system will only be able to keep up with battery drainage at creep throttle setting. At higher speeds, the electric motors will require more power than the AIP can deliver, which forces the sub to eventually snorkel.

New submarine doctrines

Submarines have several new doctrine settings. The new settings are:

Dive when threat is detected: User-selectable options are No, Yes on periscope/surface search capable radar detection, Yes when ships are within 20nm or aircraft are within 30nm, or Yes on both ESM detection and threat proximity. In some cases it is not desirable to go to the surface to snorkel or use the periscope. The player can configure whether the submarine should dive if a threat radar has been detected, if there are nearby air or surface threats, or both.

Recharge battery %, transit / station: Set the batter percentage at which the submarine should snorkel to re-charge when in transit or on patrol.

Recharge battery %, offensive / defensive: Set the battery percentage at which the submarine should snorkel to re-charge when engaged offensive or defensive.

Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) usage: User-selectable options are No, Yes, or Yes when engaged offensive or engaged defensive. Allows the player to limit AIP usage, including saving the AIP fuel for attack and defence only.

Dipping sonar: User-selectable options are Automatically deploy in hover and less than 150ft altitude, or Only deploy manually or when assigned to mission. Enable unassigned helicopters to dip their sonar while loitering.

Avoid contact: User-selectable options are Yes or No. This setting isn’t used much by the AI quite yet as it is currently being overridden by built-in mission logics. The functionality be further expanded in the future.

(Click on image for full view)

Under the hood: Performance, memory & pathfinding improvements

“We need greasy, fast speed!”

Command v1.11 runs significantly faster than earlier versions of the simulator. Small/simple scens run just as fast as before (although older PCs may notice a difference in them too), but the benefits become most apparent in large complex scenarios, with speed increases between 3x-10x being common in many setups. The massive gains have come from a number of sources; memory optimizations (see below), more efficient data structures, careful removal of wasteful operations etc. Great care has been taken to leave the “business logic” of the simulation untouched in order to prevent the appearance of bugs. The end result is that v1.11 provides a substantial performance improvement while fully retaining the simulation finesse that Command is renowned for.

New options for game speed

Having a highly detailed and feature-rich simulator engine comes with its share of disadvantages. Command is chock-full of functionality that can easily chew up trainloads of CPU-cycles and cause the sim engine to crawl on even high-end computers.

Command v1.11 adds a ‘Game Speed’ tab in the Options window that allow players to easily turn off CPU-intensive features that may not be needed in the current scenario. The player can also choose to enable a shortcut to the ‘Game Speed’ tab from the main window. The shortcut changes color depending on how many CPU-intensive features are active, which helps the player to quickly determine if the simulator is running at optimum speed.

Memory handling

Since many Command players still use 32-bit operating systems, the sim is limited by a 32-bit memory space. Although switching to a pure 64-bit environment would confer many benefits, the current reality is that we will probably be stuck with 32-bit limitations for quite some time. This is the bad news.

The good news is that Command v1.11 has significantly improved memory handling. During testing, large scenarios have been running continuously for 36-48 hours without any speed drop, memory corruption, or Out Of Memory (OOM) exceptions like those reported on past versions. Another noticeable memory stress-test, loading large scenarios in rapid succession, has been passed with flying colors (more than 60 “monsters” in a row were loaded without any issues).

It is therefore a reasonable claim that most (dare we say all?) of the memory issues that have caused problems in past versions have now been resolved.

Area (Polygon) Validation

In Command, all areas such as mission areas, exclusion zones, no-navigation zones and event trigger areas are geometric figures called polygons. If the lines that make up a polygon cross then the area is considered invalid, and it is difficult for the in-game ‘point-in-polygon’ function to determine if a unit is inside or outside this area. We have noted that sometimes players and scenario designers accidently create areas that are indeed invalid, and tasks such as navigation and target prioritization may not behave as expected.

As such, all windows with area editors now have a ‘Validate Area’ button that allows the player to quickly determine if the polygon is valid or not. The simulator will also display the polygon in the tactical map. This includes areas used by the event engine. Event engine areas are displayed on the tactical map in a ‘Hot Pink’ color (of course…) when the event editor or event trigger windows are open.

Furthermore, all areas in a scenario are validated on load, and the player will be presented with warnings if the scenario contains invalid polygons.

Pathfinding refinements and new options

Command has a pretty sophisticated pathfinder which is used by the built-in navigator to find routes around obstacles like land masses, islands, shallow water (for submarines), No-Navigation Zones, and polar ice. The elevation data used in Command has a resolution of 900 meters at the equator, which is roughly 0.008 angular degrees. The number of sampling points per degree of latitude remains constant which means the resolution increases as we get closer to the poles (with exceptions at the extreme north or south), and the resolution at 60 degrees north or south will be twice that at equator (450m between elevation points).

Pathfinding is extremely expensive in terms of computing power. Finding a path covering just one hundred nautical miles will have to check millions of elevation points, and No-Navigation Zones and polar ice will have to be checked for each of those points as well. Although Command uses multi-threading and hands off complex tasks to helper-threads on other cores, the pathfinding operations will still have to be queued and processed. This steals significant amounts of computing power from all the other multi-threaded operations.

As a consequence, Command was designed with both coarse and fine-grained pathfinding. Coarse pathfinding has a 0.05 angular degree resolution, while fine-grained pathfinding uses 0.005 degrees. The advantage of using coarse pathfinding is speed; it is significantly faster. The drawback is of course that it doesn’t check all elevation points and may miss narrow peninsulas and tips of land, tiny islands, and narrow straits.

In previous versions of Command, fine-grained pathfinding would only take place when the distance was less than 8 nautical miles, and it would search for a path in a box that was 0.5 angular degrees larger than the box made up of the start and end points. Because of these rather strict range limitations it was rarely used. This was by design, but had the side-effect of making some players think the elevation data and pathfinding model was flawed – it never was.

Command v1.11 allows players to configure when to use fine-grained navigation. Our recommendation is to use this feature with caution as it will slow down simulation speed significantly, and for instance a 50 nm course with 2 degrees lat/lon search area outside the start and end points may take up to five minutes to compute on a fairly fast computer with an SSD. After all, the pathfinder needs to check nearly one million (!) points. Most players will probably continue to use the default settings, but in some cases such as ops in littoral waters, being able to change this setting will make a big difference as the ships will no longer drive across an island or two by accident.

(Click on image for full view)

Command’s navigator code can perform complex pathfinding tasks. Smaller paths are typically resolved in a matter of seconds, however longer paths may have to evaluate millions of terrain points and it can take several minutes finish each pathfinder request.

As an example, if you place a sub in the Indian Ocean and put a single destination waypoint in the Atlantic Ocean just off Gibraltar, the navigator will be perfectly capable of finding its way through the Red Sea and Suez canal, across the Mediterranean, into the Atlantic Ocean… a distance of more than 4000nm. See screenshot below, the dotted line indicates it is a navigator-created path as opposed to a manually plotted or mission-created path. (Let’s see any other similar game do that :))

The above path is still a pretty straightforward job for the navigator since it didn’t have to find a route around large land masses. It should be noted that the maximum treshold distance is 20 angular degrees outside the start and end points, which means that the pathfinder would not be able to find a course from the Persian Gulf to the Kola Peninsula because the start and end points are in a north-south direction and the path would have to be plotted beyond 20 angular degrees east or west

In other words, if an Iranian Boghammar boat is assigned to a sea control patrol mission that is not geographically limited by the patrol area or prosecution area, the AI might decide to target a contact far away. The navigator will do its best to plot a path to the target, and will use a lot of computing power to in the process. However in extreme cases it will not be able to find a route, and the Boghammar boat’s AI will soon make another pathfinder request that will do nothing but waste computing power. The cycle will continue for the duration of the scenario, eating up a large percentage of the available computing power and slowing down game execution.

Because of this, we’ve added information about the Pathfinder Queue on the Diagnostics bar. The Diagnostics bar can be enabled via the Options window. This gives the scenario designer and player information about the number of pathfinding requests in the queue, and which platform is currently having its request processed.

Under normal circumstances, units rarely make pathfinder requests. And when they do, the requests are usually processed in 2-4 seconds. If units start making frequent requests it is usually a sign of flawed mission setup. For instance, patrol missions may not be limited by patrol and prosecution zones. Or that patrol areas are too large and ships have to deal with too much land between themselves and their targets. Turning off ‘Opportunity Fire’ can also help, as ships will only stick to mission-relevant targets and not chase after contacts they will not be able to reach.

As with past versions of Command, overall game performance still depends heavily on good scenario design and the way the player has configured the simulator.

Tags: no tags

« Previous Page — Next Page »