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2024-11-04 NACV 1 US East Coast
2024-11-04T17:24:06Z New Sea Power naval combat game-play session is starting. I just spend good amount of time editing a mission in the editor, I took bits and pieces meaning saved groups and re-created my previous mission called Reuben James NACV but this time its tiny, very short 39.5nm distance to the objective area in the New York coast line.
This new mission is called pmc_kiddie_nacv_1_us_east_coast_2024-11-04 and the actual properly initial cased characters name is pretty much the same hehe.
Game version and dev branch build is Sea Power 0.1.0.14169 (#3193).
2024-11-04T17:28:26Z Started the mission, here I go 
In-game 1985-06-26T10:00:08Z lets roll out 
Task manager CPU 17%, RAM 53%, GPU utilization 99% and dedicated GPU memory 5.9/12gb.
Set convoy speed to ahead 1/3, waypoint to the objective and its ETA shows 16:53 which is 6hrs 53min traveling in-game time.
In-game 11:20:13Z first SH-2F sea sprite helo is bingo fuel, RTB. So cool to have this feature in on the current dev branch build 
Second helo was bingo fuel minute later.
In-game 11:24:28Z third helo is bingo fuel and heading back to the ship, okay all done in the first round of sonobuoys, now need to rearm and refuel. Hmm kind of bad to have all helos do this at the same time, not really rotating loop so to speak, I should give it a little bit time before launching helos so there would always be someone up monitoring sonobuoys or streaming MAD device.
In-game 11:33:15Z helos landed and launching immediately two new ones, leaving one helo as backup for the upcoming rotation.
2024-11-04T18:36:07Z Oh noe! I felt the first game freeze, just a fraction of a second but it was there! 
Task manager CPU 20%, RAM 48%, GPU utilization 99% and dedicated GPU memory 6.4/12gb.
Hmm odd, those task manager specs do not indicate any kind of issue yet, not even close. Anyways we got a contact, whee, the hunt is on!
In-game 11:37:49Z new passive contact! This contact was from "James", huh what, james bond? heh. I assume it means reuben james but perhaps there is a bug or some oddity in unit information display.
In-game 11:38:35Z sonar contact is classified as hostile submarine. Possible matches are delta 3, yankee, echo 2, oscar or november. Yikes! 
Set convoy speed to ahead 1/3, which actually I assume it already was, but just in case. I want them to creep until I'll take care of this contact. Now as I'm typing this its been narrowed down to echo 2 or november class. Contact speed 5kts, course 285 and depth 110ft. Shes heading towards my convoy.
In-game 11:49:19Z contact is now classified as november class soviet submarine, specifically K-115 and now I have 3D world view on it, yeah buddy, come to daddy, I got my torpedo waiting for you sweet cheeks 
Because this november class max firing range is 10nm or something like that, I'm going to keep an eye on it for now, I'm trying to find her friend as hmm she should have a buddy, november is supposed to be attack sub so she should be escoring some more dangerous sub. This is unfortunate that I know it from mission editing, if I were a regular community player I would have no idea that what I'm tracking here is only one of the subs in this group. I really want randomization into mission editor
November class K-115 unit information panel now reports AN/SSQ-53 sensor: passive sonar, next to the "James" who initially reported this contact.
Interestingly moments later Reuben James was removed from the "reportees" list, guess she lost the contact then, glad I got a sonobuoy on the scene.
In-game 12:45:08Z still no other contacts, hmm I know there is bare minimum one other sub out there, close to the november, but hmm guess I have to shoot the november soon, haven't measured how far its from Reuben James but well I don't want it to get too close. I just feel that when I sink this november, then who ever its escorting will go to high alert, no idea if she could run away or something I highly doubt it, but overall the role playing of naval warfare fleet tactics, surely the other sub is aware that there is helo overhead or something if the escort sub gets blown up.
Checked from Reuben James, distance is 19.5nm so still far away from november to launch torpedoes. Of course its a whole another matter if she can already hear my ships so she could pass that targeting info to which ever baddie she's rolling with
Oh well got to get to work, time to sink that november.
In-game 12:51:09Z SH-2F sea sprite dropped MK-46 targeting november class K-115 soviet submarine.
In-game 12:52:12Z hit track seven zero zero one! 
K-115 got hit port side under the conning tower, she still got propulsion. Now I'm going to chill and watch what happens over time.
In-game 12:53:41Z K-115 went flank speed ahead judging by the engine rumble sound and caviation bubbles she is putting out, she also started surfacing. Cant wait to see what she is doing, these sub hit procedures are always so fascinating (although to some level quite predictable).
Sub got into 34ft and stopped right there like hitting a geometry block, at this time SH-2F sea sprite has visual contact on it, I went to the 3D game world view and now you can clearly see the sub through the water from a helo for example (or especially from a helo). However I'm still wondering... can the helo really see the sub WITHOUT MASTS OUT from 0.77nm from such a shallow angle as helo was hovering at 244ft altitude, hmm to me it looks like no way he can see the sub, not from that shallow angle, there must be some MAST up in game data but its not rendered in 3D world, dunno I'm just speculating but makes perfect sense to me. Anyways, unpausing the game after this analysis and continue watching with great interest what K-115 does next.
She started diving again, same routine as I've seen so many times before with subs that got hit. Since she got propulsion it might be that she just tries to sail away but hmm truly interesting see what happens.
My SH-2F hovering mile away still has plenty of fuel, so I can wait this out before needing to re-engage and then RTB.
In-game 13:06:18Z the other non engaging sea sprite is bingo fuel, RTB. Okay guess its time to drop that second MK-46 into K-115 and be done with it, I don't want to leave it for the last gallons of jet fuel.
In-game 13:08:15Z weapon away! second MK-46 dropped from SH-2F and the bird immediately said RTB, interesting, could that be some kind of overall sensus judgement that its winchester (out of weapons) and low on fuel?
In-game 13:09:03Z another hit for 7001, starboard side near the propeller plane things ie stern, she still got propulsion which is quite crazy considering where she got hit, but perhaps that location is just a bit higher from the propeller shafts or whatever those things are called. Really interesting.
So guess its time to spool up another bird from Reuben James, we need more sonobuoys and torpedoes here, but first... restroom break while game is paused, I don't want to miss a thing!
In-game 13:09:26Z K-115 sank, bubbles coming out and she is going down, goodbye.
In-game 13:09:50Z Soviet submarine November K-115 came to rest in New York coastal water ocean floor at 392ft depth. Rest in peace.
Set convoy speed to ahead 2/3.
SH-2F helo took off from Reuben James, I sent him towards the objective where nearby I just sunk K-115. Need to search for her buddy, she is out there, I can feel it...
In-game 13:24:31Z new passive sonar contact, 26.74nm from Reuben James who detected it along with AN/SSQ-53 sonobuoy. Sending helicopter to investigate. Its odd as this sonar contact is in the mission objective area, I don't remember placing any sub groups in that path, at least not initially, all have waypoints reaching there after they hook up through my convoy, but that ain't happened with this latest contact for sure.
In-game 13:25:40Z sub contact was classified as Romeo class dimitrovski komsomol diesel electric soviet submarine. She is snorkeling.
When helo flew by the romeo I could see its snorkel from helos perspective, I had surface search radar on the helo but didn't get contact sensor report about it. Once I flew the helo back right on top of the romeo still nothing, but now even Pharris FF-1094 can hear it with passive sonar, I don't get why this helo cannot visually spot the periscope.
In-game 13:30:36Z weapon away! Dropped MK-46 after the romeo, its go time baby!
But the torpedo missed, I think it was too close just like in The Hunt For The Red October and it couldn't arm itself hehe, no not really, but yeah it missed, it just went merrily by the boat without locking into it even though it was right next to its path. Oh well, I need to keep at least 1nm distance to target before dropping a torpedo from a helicopter, any closer and you might miss for whatever reason.
Now romeo is launching noisemakers and running away.
In-game 13:35:34Z my MK-46 torpedo hit a noisemaker and exploded, ouch. Okay going to drop another.
Dropped MK-46 and again as soon as it was done my helo said RTB just like before, cool. No reason to hang out if you're out of ammo.
MK-46 missed, AGAIN! Argh, it ran right by the stern of the sub, geez.
In-game 13:38:43Z weapon hit romeo! Boom, starboard side just below the conning tower, good hit!
Propulsion was knocked out, shes dead in the water, for now...
In-game 13:39:45Z she died, bubbles coming out and it started to sink, adios
In-game 13:40:42Z she is now resting at 438ft depth.
2024-11-04T20:30:57Z Okay I need to take care of a quick household chore, will be back soon, so this is a quick break...
2024-11-04T21:20:43Z Back. Went to the local supermarket to return some plastic bottles which ever long overdue and while there bought couple of junk food items, I want to enjoy my time at least tonight and tomorrow while playing Sea Power, although I have already ordered huge amounts of groceries for Farming Simulator 25 release which just happens to be same day as Sea Power early access release. But since I got into Sea Power beta testing team, to me that nov 12th means nothing now, well except that I switch over to play a lot of FS25
Anyways, going to grab a snack (I told you I got some goodies in the kitchen), I'll let game sit paused while I eat, then hunt continues, in fact my convoy should be pretty close to the objective, this will be exciting, but now... Junk Food!
2024-11-04T21:59:51Z Feeding time is over, back to naval combat.
Okay lets see what I got here, Reuben James is the convoy lead and she is 18nm away from the edge of that objective circle, oh wow, I am that close already. Well I mean it was 39.5nm distance at start, ships have been creeping 6kts at first and now they are doing, err, again 6kts, hmm why, did I slow them down due that last sub contact or, hmm anyways, speeding them back up to ahead 2/3 speed now.
Launched SH-2F from Pharris FF-1094, I need to deploy some sonobuoys for this last bit of distance, I am super scared that soviets sneak in cruise missiles or torpedoes my way in the last nautical mile.
On the other hand... as I got this far already, it feels I'm almost there, so this makes me think that on the mission start only one soviet submarine group got created and I have now destroyed it. Its the only logical explanation as I cannot detect anything else. Enemy sub waypoints were towards the convoy so there is no chance of them missing it. So hmm most likely rest of this mission is a milk run, there are no other subs present, I would heard them by now (18nm, remember) from Reuben James towed array sonar and even Pharris hull mounted sonar.
Yeah I think this mission is in the bag, just need to sail 12kts speed to the objective trigger to claim mission success.
As I'm watching helos deploying sonobuoys I'm thinking that this mission has been extremely enjoybale, its not "15min brainless paintball shoot'em up arcade" mission, but still not long enough to get that massive RAM/VRAM usage going on. My goal was to figure out what size ASW convoy escort mission is still enjoyable short, quick and light weight, well this 40nm or less seems to be it. Although I must say that *I* personally don't like any smaller missions than this, I mean forty nautical miles is nothing, its much less than harpoon missile range, its twice the MK-48 torpedo range, so yeah that is very small, you cannot speak about large/long mission definitely when making them this size. So making any smaller distance convoy escort mission is like, dude, why even bother, go to local arcade joint to play some pac-man if that is what gives you pleasure.
However if I would increase this distance, to 50nm, nice round number... I think that could already stretch the duration for so long, with the added enemy units that it might start to consume silly amount of RAM/VRAM. Dunno. I think 100nm is already too long, its just way too long real life gaming hours wise.
2024-11-04T22:23:35Z Task manager CPU 20%, RAM 63%, GPU utilization 99% and dedicated GPU memory 7/12gb.
Not too bad, still have a bit of RAM left. I can see few 1sec or less freezes now, more than before, but this is still fully playable.
Launching one more helicopter from Reuben James even though convoy is already 6.9nm away from the objective, almost there. But maybe the helo has some minutes left to monitor those sonobuoys. Always vigilant.
In-game 14:42:23Z one SH-2F is bingo fuel, RTB.
In-game 15:05:34Z all sonobuoys have expired, I'm not going to deploy any more as convoy is almost at the objective area so Reuben James towed array sonar will hear any nearby enough soviet submarines.
In-game 15:07:08Z last sonobuoy deployed SH-2F is bingo fuel, RTB. Now there is only the latest helo streaming MAD device flying criss cross the area.
In-game 15:08:35Z convoy is 1.4nm away from objective edge, so close...
Its interesting to see how my trigger works, I believe it requires 4 ships to be in the area, so pretty much half, as Reuben James is the lead, then comes 2 merchants and after that when the next 2 reaches the area trigger it should activate and end this mission.
In-game 15:15:35Z Reuben James just reached the objective trigger, now its only matter of minutes until the remaining required ships.
In-game 15:25:58Z two cargo ships reached the objective area, now one more ship...
In-game 15:35:15Z hmm now one of the cargo ships reached the objective area clearly... music changed to more dramatic, more action alike and game paused, ie x0 speed, no dialog message came up, nothing happens game is paused, err what? 
2024-11-04T22:58:34Z Hmm yeah something went wrong with my trigger, as said game paused, I could then unpause it and continue playing, however when I press ESC nothing happens, pause menu does not come up, so now it seems I cannot exit this mission cleanly
Before ending this session took stats: Task manager CPU 22%, RAM 71%, GPU utilization 100% and dedicated GPU memory 7.2/12gb.
2024-11-04T23:01:15Z So I had to go to windows 10 task manager and kill "Sea Power.exe" process hehe.
Then exited steam client as well, going to shut down PMC Gaming computer and go to PMC DevSurf to fix that trigger, then need to create next mission for this mission series, I definitely want to get these tasks done quickly and then return to playing, I want to hunt down soviet subs and sink them
Cu in a moment...
Edit: 2024-11-05T09:48:11Z, well did some editing but then got tired and went to sleep.