Time of ascent/descent of a captive observation balloon (originally posted by greybeard_52)

[TG-55Panthercules]

This active/recent thread on the old RoF Forums looked really interesting so I've brought it over here in case folks want to keep posting about it going forward.

 

originally posted by greybeard_52

 

I observe that in balloon busting missions the AI and myself never manage to reach the balloon before it has descended too far to be able to follow it in the dive. It seems to me that this cable rewind speed is unrealistic. I have not found any historical value, but the motor winchs that are currently on the market seem to have maximum speeds around 20 meters per minute. This means an hour's time to descend from 1200m (where I often see balloons placed in the game). I wonder if this should be corrected: in gavagai's mod "reduced lethality" I see that there is a "CordSpeed=20.0", which seems to me expressed in meters per second, which would involve a descent time of one minute from the height above mentioned. Is this value historically and technically correct?

 

 

VonS, on 11 May 2023 - 13:29, said:

 

Hi Greybeard,

 

The stock winch speed for observation balloons does seem a bit too fast. If you want a mod for that, one is available in my "consolidated" AI/DM tweaks package for RoF (click on the link below each of my posts here, and go to the "about me" tab while there, to find the RoF mods link, if interested).

 

I have the cord speed set to a value of 8.0, by the way -- looks more realistic that way when attacking balloons. If you do download the consolidated package, the relevant mod that tweaks balloon descent rates is located at the following folder path: ROF_ConsolidatedModsNew_VonS/01_ROF_AInDM_VonS_ver1.4/ROF_DM_Tweaks_ver1.0_VonS.

 

According to this website, Parsevals and Caquots could be hauled down, in emergencies, at speeds up to 6 m/s, so my value in the tweaks package seems a pretty good option to the stock number of 20 m/s.

 

(The DM mod, among other things, also strengthens aircraft frames and wings, and should be used only alongside the improved gun accuracy option set to "on" in the RoF in-sim menu. Leaving that option off gives you unhistorical/really bad gun dispersion in RoF when firing guns - which complements nicely the exaggerated flimsiness of aircraft in un-modded RoF.)

 

Happy flying,

 

 

greybeard_52, on 11 May 2023 - 18:44, said:

 

Thanks so much VonS for the great historical reference. I think for now I will adopt the speed of 6 m/s for the gavagai's mod. I've taken note of your larger package of tweaks.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by TG-55Panthercules