Sarata Mod Documentation

Mod Revision 1.2

Author IV/JG7_4Shades, 24 March 2012

Mod Revision 1.1

Author IV/JG7_4Shades, 11 March 2012

• To perform alpha testing of indirect fire artillery barrages (a new mod developed by Charlie, Emil and 4Shades intended for public release with HSFX6)
• To test new technics data for direct fire ranging, specific for the Sarata campaign German and Soviet orders of battle

Sarata Mod Notes

• Attack Ranges: Attack ranges have been adjusted in the technics file to allow long-range guns to be employed in stand-off mode, which is realistic for a siege engagement. Sarata terrain is low rolling hills, with very sparse trees. Therefore line of sight (LOS) is generally good and hindered only by low hills and buildings within villages. The ranges affected by the mod are tabulated in the enclosed SarataRanges.xlsx spreadsheet. Typically, attack ranges are set to approximately 2/3 of the historical effective range per gun type.
• Attack Range vs Engagement Range: In this mod the SEOW Engagement Ranges (which are the ranges at which direct-fire units will first open fire against an approaching enemy) have been set to be equal to the technics AttackMaxRange values for each object type. Of course, as noted below, low morale may act to reduce engagement ranges below the AttackMaxRange values.
• Morale: Some new morale effects have been introduced in the indirect fire aspect. Barraging units will reload more slowly as their morale declines. Morale will also also affect their start-up performance, i.e. the time taken at mission commencement for each unit to fire its first salvo. This complements the standard SEOW engagement range effect of morale - lower morale shortens the engagement range of each unit.
• LOS Direct Fire: Three objects in the Sarata order of battle are capable of both direct fire and indirect fire. These are the Soviet Katyusha rocket launcher (3000 m direct fire range) and the M30-122mm howitzer (4000 m), and the German 150mm howitzer (4000 m). The direct fire ranges of these objects have been reduced to sensible LOS distances, so no longer is it feasible to simply point these guns at a distant enemy and let the guns acquire and shoot at will at a target many kilometres away.
• Indirect Fire: The three objects capable of both direct fire and indirect fire can only shoot to maximum historical range once barrage orders are given. The maximum historical ranges are Soviet Katyusha rocket launcher (8500 m) and the M30-122mm howitzer (11800 m), and the German 150mm howitzer (13250 m). Minimum ranges in indirect mode are set equal to the maximum direct fire ranges mentioned above. Barrage orders are given for each indirect fire unit using the MP:Logistics:Barrages tool, which now automatically caters for rocket launchers and for indirect artillery fire. Howitzers that have barrage coordinates recorded will shoot at the coordinate locations until their supplies are exhausted. Rates of supply consumption during barrages are high - 50% supply per mission. Barraging units will ignore any approaching enemy at closer range, and they will need regular resupply between missions. If they have no barrage coordinates recorded, they will revert to Direct Fire mode and will engage enemy at will up to the direct fire ranges noted above, and will have normal idle supply consumption rates.
• Barrage Effectiveness: Detailed calculations of explosive and ballistic lethality against infantry have been used to set the effectiveness of rocket and artillery objects used in indirect (barrage) mode. Information on these calculations is supplied in the enclosed EffectCalculations.xlsx spreadsheet. For all but the heaviest of barrages, the main effect on the enemy forces was a drop in morale, sometimes severely so. It is difficult to get the IL-2 engine to perform exactly to these requirements, but the Sarata technics.ini and rockets.ini files give reasonably close performance. These files may be refined in later versions of this mod.
• Radio Moscow Broadcasts: Some IL-2 standard radio broadcast file are supplied in the zip file enclosed. This file contains a folder named "19440812" which should be placed inside your "samples/Music/Radio/Radio_Moscow" folder of your HSFX v5.0.1 game directory. Note - you need to do this manually - just activating this mod will not enable radio broadcasts. There is an actual broadcast by Uncle Joe in this set of files. Something to listen to as you scan the horizon for enemy activity!
• SEOW DCS Sarata Patch: A new DCS patch will be released to support the Sarata Mod features. The DCS patch handles the automatic direct/indirect mode swapping for howitzers and the Katyusha, and also calculates supply and morale effects of barrages. The DCS patch has code revision 3.3.10.
• SEOW Database Sarata Patch: The Sarata campaign requires a non-standard SEOW database structure and data set. We are using a transitional database established in preparation for HSFX6 requirements.