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So, the second mission of the Red Storm Rising campaign, Hold-down Exercise, has some undesirable behavior that I modified for my own and, hopefully, your pleasure.
TL;DR
You can't complete the mission until a minimum of 100 minutes after starting the mission. I decided to remove this time constraint as I think it makes for an unenjoyable experience. Now, you just have to stay within 3 miles of the target sub for 15 minutes (same as the original mission) to force it to the surface.
NOTE: This is for Bill Nichols' original Red Storm Rising campaign only, which means stock and LwAmi Dangerous Waters ONLY. I have no idea if this bug still exists in the RA version of Red Storm Rising but this fix will NOT work for RA due to how RA handles the player version of the Perry.
PROBLEM:
I'm prosecuting the sub and it hasn't surfaced yet.
I originally thought this was a bug and others I have discussed this with have also thought so. Upon digging into the mission file, the mission actually won't let you complete this objective until a fixed time into the mission, so no earlier than 100 minutes in (it can be 130 minutes depending on randomizing). To complete the objective, you have to be within 3 miles of the sub for 15 minutes but the game won't even start counting to 15 minutes until 100 minutes have elapsed. Based on the time it takes for the target sub to reach its final maneuver waypoint, this time is likely chosen to coincide with when the subs finish their waypoints.
SOLUTION:
I removed the start time constraint. Why "punish" the players for finding the sub earlier by making them wait longer for it to surface? I think this mission is more satisfying when there is a consistent time frame for completing the objective. I thought about whether to make the time spent within 3 miles of the sub longer, but I think the original 15 minutes is good. It could take the player at least an hour or two to find the sub, which overall I think is a fine mission time.
I also made the "flavor" radio message telling the player "war is imminent" to arrive a little earlier because the mission can be finished earlier now.
PROBLEM:
My ship detects the sub when it's not surfaced and prematurely ends the mission.
SOLUTION:
The two possible Foxtrot subs that can spawn are at an initial depth of 60 ft with their mast exposed and come to this depth once or twice more during maneuvers. This can give a return on the surface radar if the player has it on and will prematurely end the mission (the end trigger is the player getting a contact on the surfaced submarine). I changed these subs to start at a depth of 80 ft and go no shallower than 80 ft before they're forced to the surface, which prevents this broaching bug.
PROBLEM:
Enemy sub just won't surface after 15 minutes.
SOLUTION:
This seems to be an issue with the tactic set for the enemy AI subs. The original tactic was "Transit Search" which allows the AI sub to deviate from its plan to search for enemy contacts (mostly a problem with the advanced sonar sensors on the Kilo that are more likely to counter-detect the Perry). When the sub deviates, it seems to ignore scripting, thus won't come to the surface. To fix it, I changed all subs to "Transit" so they blindly follow their path and thus respond to the mission scripts when ordered.
So, there you go. If you didn't have a good time with the original mission, I hope that you will now enjoy it.
Please be sure to post here if you find any bugs or weird behavior. Also, for those of you more visually minded, I made a video that details the bugs and how to install: https://youtu.be/apoULaC-Gus
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