Question about Max Artillery Range Behavior

[LW/JG10_Armwaar]

Hello SEOW,

This is my first post. Let me say, I was suprised at the depth of the system when I was first introduced to it. I have begun to uncover the details of system and I have a question related to the "Max Artillery Range" setting found in the Miscellaneous category.

I have looked in the Wiki and in the forums, and the documentation. If this is an RTFM question, please let me know a link or a page number and I will be happy to refer to it.

I see that each unit has an engagement range specified which makes sense enough.

However, if the Max Artillery Range is set to less than that, I am wondering what the expected behavior should be for the various types of units. The example from our current 1 v 1 campaign is "100 m".

I have seen examples in the campaign mission with this setting where flak guns are engaging units beyond this range, so I am not sure if I am witnessing expected behavior.

I am also not sure what the purpose would be to set it to such a low range.

Any advice or insight is welcome.

Regards,

LW/JG10_Armwaar

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

Hi Armwaar, and welcome.

Several SEOW versions ago, the Engagement Range setting changed from being measured in metres to being measured in percentage of maximum range. So, in the current version, you can move the slider bar all the way to the right to get 100% of the maximum range for the unit type in question, or you can move it all the way to the left to get Brandle's effective range that is optimised for game performance. Any other slider position will give a range specified in terms of the indicated percentage of that gun's maximum range.

Having said all that, all SEOW does is put the appropriate range setting into the mission file for that artillery type. What IL-2 subsequently does in-game is beyond our control. The system works pretty well though - we commonly see short-range flak traps being set in SEOW campaigns now, with devastating effects. But I can't vouch that if a 20 mm Oerlikon has range of "500.0" metres, then it will immediately cease firing if you are 501 m away. One thing to note is that naval ships have their own engagement ranges that are not programmable through the .mis file.

Cheers,
4Shades

[LW/JG10_Armwaar]

Thanks,

So I guess what I am trying to understand is that if the campaign settings tab says "Max Artillery Range = 100m", and each unit has larger engagement range (visible in the cost table), it seems as though flak guns are essentially set to hold fire until 100m and then it is anything goes according to how IL2 handles AI combat.

This might account for the "sleepy flak gun" situation I frequently encounter.

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

Agred. I just tested this out. Some 85mm flak guns held fire until I passed through their set range value, then all hell broke loose. As I ran away, well beyond their set range, they continued firing right up until their maximum range allowed by IL-2.

Cheers,
4Shades