Ship Speed Question

[Beebop]

I copied this from another thread that has been lost in the "Swamp Of Old Posts".  In that post I was wondering why my Destroyer in a convoy was sailing backwards.  I was advised not to use Command formation for convoys.  My first try had the ships to tightly packed and the destroyer wove it's way through the convoy to get to the next waypoint.  It missed most of the time and there appears to be no collision model at least between friendly ships as at one point the destroyer passed through one of the convoy ships without damage to either.

.

I  decided to restructure it and give all ships separate waypoints triggered by a common Mission Begin > First Waypoint Timer.  I deleted all but one ship of the Formation Convoy setup and it's set of waypoints and re-created the convoy using individual ships.  
When the convoy was completed I Target Linked the Waypoint Timer to all first waypoints.  All ships move at same time and there are no collisions or odd behaviors.

Since it was Copy/Paste all ships have the same waypoint Advanced Properties of priority (Medium), radius (100m) and speed.  For timing purposes I had set the speed to 30KPH or 16 knots.  Research has shown me that convoy ships usual speed was about 11 knots so I don't feel I'm pushing the envelope to far.  I did that because at 20KPH (11 knots) the wakes were small and too short to my eyes.
But here's the problem.  I took the last ship and made it a destroyer to act as an escort and defend against the incoming Wolf Pack.  But the destroyer just sails up through the convoy passing everyone.
Why?  The waypoint speeds are identical to the cargo ships.

 

QUESTION:

Is there an upper limit to cargo/tankers speeds or a lower limit to destroyers/warships?

 

In Sketch's "Make Ships Move" video he used destroyers going 60KPH (32 knots) and no mention is made of any speed limitations/"rules" in either ship video.
Neither manual talks about ship speed limitations either.  A search of the site garnered few results other than not use of formation command, waypoint distance and IckyATLAS's post on the Command Formation MCU.

All my waypoints are ~10K apart, safely separated on the 'Y' axis and in a straight line although I'd love the have them zig-zag like in real life but based on what I've read so far that would be asking for trouble.

Any help on the destroyer speed appreciated.  Otherwise the convoy is fine as is.

 

 

I am thinking of Target Linking the Destroyer to the lead ship and use a Formation Command with Vehicle: Off Road User Formation so it keeps station at the rear of the convoy.

Attached is my proposed solution.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Beebop

[[DBS]Tx_Tip]

Yes you need to match their speeds and IIRC Cargo/Tanks have a top limit of 9 to 17/kph. Maybe has changed. In any event you'll need to have the Destroyer match their speed or circle round them.

There's a Destroyer escort group where the escort steams around the freighters available in the "Groups" section of this forum from several years ago.

Download it and look at how the logic works.

 

*Edit actually the tankers and freighters have different top speeds as well. Everyone needs to be brought down to the lowest speed in the convoy.

***Oh now I remember. Not only do the ships have different top speeds. But just setting the same kph/knots for each vessel is not enough as the tonnage of the ship is taken into effect as well. 

Example: Setting a destroyer and tanker with the same kph and the destroyer will still outpace the tanker.

The devs really did a good job on this.

 

Good Luck in your mission design.

Tip

Edited May 13, 2020 by [DBS]Tx_Tip

[Beebop]

Thanks for the tip Tip.

Now I've let the mission run on Spectate and watched the convoy.  Over ~30 minutes the takers and cargo ships have not changed relative positions.

In 1946 if you set a ship speed at 100 it would default to the ships max speed number.  I guess that doesn't happen in this ME.

So I am clear, you say max speeds are 9-17KPH which converts to 5- 9 knots. 

I'll look for that Group you mentioned.

[[DBS]Tx_Tip]

2 hours ago, Beebop said:

Thanks for the tip Tip.

Now I've let the mission run on Spectate and watched the convoy.  Over ~30 minutes the takers and cargo ships have not changed relative positions.

In 1946 if you set a ship speed at 100 it would default to the ships max speed number.  I guess that doesn't happen in this ME.

So I am clear, you say max speeds are 9-17KPH which converts to 5- 9 knots. 

I'll look for that Group you mentioned.

 

It's been a while since I seriously messed with the ships in creating something so my recollection would be suspect. Looks like you've got the ship speed nailed then.

If I didn't put this up in the groups sharing topic back in 2018 then I probably should have. Possibly did just what I'm doing right now. Sharing it with regards to someone's post.

You could put more than one escort as it take a few minutes for the circuit. Only a few seconds for aircraft to ruin a tankers day. 

Here you go:

VVS Flotilla with Escort.zip

 

Good Luck,

Tip

[Beebop]

Thank you sir.  I will try it out.

[SAS_Storebror]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread...

 

On 5/13/2020 at 6:30 PM, Beebop said:

All my waypoints are ~10K apart, safely separated on the 'Y' axis and in a straight line

 

Since I'm fighting with an old idea of mine, where a whole convoy travels into a harbour all the way to the pier, let me ask this:

What's the "Y-Axis separation" for?

When I read this post, I thought "hey, that might be the key!" but no, it isn't.

Whether I have all waypoint's Y-Axis set to sea level, or all of them separated by 100m, there's not the slightest change in ships' behaviour apparently.

 

Mike

[Beebop]

2 hours ago, SAS_Storebror said:

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread...

 

 

Since I'm fighting with an old idea of mine, where a whole convoy travels into a harbour all the way to the pier, let me ask this:

What's the "Y-Axis separation" for?

When I read this post, I thought "hey, that might be the key!" but no, it isn't.

Whether I have all waypoint's Y-Axis set to sea level, or all of them separated by 100m, there's not the slightest change in ships' behaviour apparently.

 

Mike

Sorry for the misunderstanding.  I'm used to 1946 where 'X' was North/South, 'Y' was East/West and 'Z' was Up/Down.  I've learned that 'Y' is Up/Down in this mission builder so N/S-E/W is 'X' and 'Z'.

I just don't understand this "new math".  ?

[SAS_Storebror]

Ah okay I see, thanks for clarification!

 

Mike