The thing to do if you're going to set a group to loop is to set to the time period of the layer, such that 41a runs from November 1, 1941 to February 28, 1942, which is 120 or 121 days (yes, the game does do leap years), or 2904 hours (174,240 minutes). The 42a runs for a year, so 365 days, or 8760 hours (525,600 minutes). Those should be your minimums, so that you do not generate more than one of any given group during the run of the layer. Of course, in some places, it wouldn't hurt to have a couple patrols running about a harbor, but if you notice, there are multiple patrols that do already run through some areas... You should not notice a difference in performance. It would be basically the same, since the unit is tracked in the database until you come within spawn range, and it is then generated in 3D. Similarly with the docked ships. You should not have more than one spawning per layer. That was the reason we split the Jap_HarborTraffic file into separate "layers" of 41a, 42a, 42b, 43a, 44a, 44b, just like most of the other files. For the next release, we are doing similar with the US_HarborTraffic file. Doing such eliminates (if done correctly
), multiple spawns occupying the same space.
As for unchecking the DockedShip=true flag, that would allow some of the PC type craft to come after you. We used to have some set that way, but not very many. They have a tendency to wander off on their own afterwards, and will travel about the globe, actually traveling through the polar ice caps, rounding the world in perpetuity... ~THAT~ will adversely effect the game efficiency, and eventually cause a CTD from having so many ships driving around on their own volition. You definitely want to avoid that. You can however, set a ship with waypoints, but have it set to zero (0) knots where you place it. I cannot remember, but you might have to set the first waypoint to zero also, else the ship will average between the zero at origination, and whatever the first waypoint is... I cannot remember that detail.