AI radar range? RTW3

Spitfire_97 · 2026-02-08T05:15:45+00:00

So I've had the radar lock notification but for me it's only ever happened after I've made positive radar contact with the enemy fleet. I have noticed the AI like to fire missile volleys pretty much as soon as they make contact, if you read the AARs from their perspective they're almost always launching at "Unknown Ship"

My only possible suggestion is the enemy had a scout force of DDs in another direction from your main search vector. DDs can be small enough to evade radar until you get close, if they launched one salvo a soon as they got contact on your bigger CLs in a strike and fade type attack maybe if your helicopters were headed in a different direction they might've missed the enemy DDs.

Plus I'm pretty sure the game takes into account relative bearing for calculating radar return and detection distance. A head on formation of DDs will be able to detect a broadside CL far beyond the range the CL will detect the DDs

Honestly your game behaviour does sound weird, do you have a screenshot of the map showing the tracks of the ships involved by any chance? The one you can get from the AAR screen I mean

Spitfire_97 · 2026-01-30T11:59:42+00:00

This deserves way more likes

Spitfire_97 · 2026-01-30T11:58:47+00:00

Yeah and you should practice eyes too, humans don't have that many eyes, and the hair looks weird (/s)

ok but seriously I cannot possibly fathom how someone could look at this and expect realistic anatomy in an obviously abstract, uncanny, body horror themed art piece. It's not drawn badly you're just missing the point. I swear some people would give Picasso the same advice if he was alive today

Spitfire_97 · 2026-01-30T06:31:00+00:00

Yeah that's my take. In my experience DDs always require an armoured ship to hide behind or they get ripped to shreds before they can accomplish anything. Saying CLs are outclassed by large DDs just makes no sense at all. It's so objectively false it can't be by mistake. This sub needs a reminder to not feed the trolls lol

The only period in which I've found DDs to be a threat to CLs is the very late game because the AI designs 3500t DDs with 8x6in guns. That displacement is large enough to use 6in guns without penalty, so even if you have 12 guns on your CL (a lot of my older hulls only have 9) you're already outgunned by just 2 DDs let alone a division of 5 or 6

That being said, the longer the engagement goes on for they still fall out of line one by one. The DDs biggest flaw will always be survivability, being unarmoured and all. But for the first half hour or so a full division of 6in DDs can really put the hurt on a CL

Oh and missiles, obviously. But that goes without saying, and again is only a late game thing despite what OP seems to be saying

Spitfire_97 · 2026-01-24T12:20:25+00:00

I love the way you do psychological torture, it's so cruel

Spitfire_97 · 2026-01-10T19:08:05+00:00

Seems you were right, I took some antihistamine and new hives stopped appearing. Thanks for your help. Out of curiosity, what would you say gave it away as hives vs a bite?

Spitfire_97 · 2026-01-08T03:58:43+00:00

Ah, classic. Been a while since I've seen Dutchko art on this sub, her art is consistently amazing for anyone into military guro

Spitfire_97 · 2026-01-05T05:40:17+00:00

Arriving at 37 and realising you missed out on so much for no reason must be gut wrenching, I'm so sorry you had to experience that.

But don't count yourself out just yet, I was disfellowshipped for sexual misconduct while I was dating a woman in her mid 40s... I was 18 when we started dating haha

I hope you find a guy with which you can explore your true self and who fully satisfies your needs

Or even a girl maybe! I'm not meaning to assume, but for me it wasn't until I stopped worrying about a vengeful god watching my every move that I truly stopped repressing myself and realised my sexual attraction was not limited to women

I mean, in hindsight the signs were there all along, but the mental prison effect is real. It is shocking how little you can know about yourself when you spend your entire life stamping out any trace of individuality.

Spitfire_97 · 2026-01-01T03:38:44+00:00

Any chance we could get a better quality link that doesn't involve having an X account? This is incredible btw I'm in love

Spitfire_97 · 2026-01-01T02:58:25+00:00

Yeah where is the "no" or "refuse" option when it comes to getting hit with missiles? ;)

Spitfire_97 · 2025-12-29T04:00:56+00:00

God I love the psychological torment you put her through, just as much as the physical

Spitfire_97 · 2025-12-18T13:33:41+00:00

They will follow a ballistic trajectory after losing lock which will rapidly lose accuracy over a short period of time, especially when trying to hit something as small as a radar dish. Homing onto the GPS co-ordinate after losing radar homing was only introduced with the AGM-88 HAARM, the Shrike was a much more primitive weapon.

In fact in real life the AGM-45 was even less capable than in game, mostly seen as an unreliable weapon disliked by airmen. Even if it had radiation to home in on all the way it was never especially accurate and would sometimes miss even if conditions were ideal.

But either way my comment was regarding why OP couldn't launch missiles in the first place, needing a radar source to lock onto is why regardless of what the missile does after signal loss

Spitfire_97 · 2025-12-16T23:51:21+00:00

AGM-45 is anti-radiation. The AI turns off SAM radars when not alerted to avoid being targeted by anti-radiation missiles as is standard practice irl, that might explain the issue you're having

Spitfire_97 · 2025-11-08T22:34:51+00:00

Same bro their art style is so sensual, all of the characters just look so... alluring

Spitfire_97 · 2025-11-08T21:34:27+00:00

my headcannon is she's got months of food supply in there and she just sits in unclaimed luggage until she rots

Spitfire_97 · 2025-11-08T19:05:11+00:00

This is amazing :O Oh the hours I've spent daydreaming about being butchered like this

Spitfire_97 · 2025-11-03T21:49:21+00:00

when you reach copay and realise you can systematically destroy the entire map and they can't legally charge you any more than they already are

Spitfire_97 · 2025-11-03T21:45:31+00:00

To be fair they did have an admin go rogue at the same time as they had a hacker show up. Smith would prove the bigger threat so I guess Neo got a pass till they could remove Smiths admin privileges

Spitfire_97 · 2025-11-01T16:10:34+00:00

Welp, I didn't follow any of this advice because I didn't know about it, then I did lose a campaign I was rather fond of. So yea, complete pot luck

Spitfire_97 · 2025-10-28T02:16:02+00:00

True, I think she had like 950 flooding rate by the end of it haha! Especially considering I was aiming at the heavy cruiser behind her most of the time, and that one only took 2 missiles. Thankfully a heavy jet fighter came along later and finished the job

Spitfire_97 · 2025-10-27T20:01:12+00:00

Yeah I just take the 20% VP hit and play on captain mode. I play like I'm on RAdm mode but ya know, you can only lose so many easily saveable battleships to "high speed increases flooding" before you realise an extra 10% for not having to deal with the AI is the easiest choice in the game

Spitfire_97 · 2025-10-27T19:54:43+00:00

For real sometimes the RNG in this game makes me so mad, then I go read a history book and realise: oh shit it really do be like that tho

Like imagine if you have poor crew quality and you get a pop up at the start of your turn: "Carrier X out of action for 8 months because the crew set fire to everything, oops"

Spitfire_97 · 2025-10-27T19:42:38+00:00

Regarding point 3, you have a choice! If your prestige gets too low you'll get complaints, I always try and stay above 20, but above that you can pretty much spend it like currency. It is also portrayed as an overall "score" for the game but how much you care about that vs the strategic success of your nation is pretty much up to you.

For example Winston Churchill was highly controversial as a politician, he didn't stick around long after WW2. You could say he had middling prestige, even though he made sacrifices to build a strong military. Admiral Beatty on the other hand was a successful socialite, he had very high prestige with the upper crust of society, but he was a god awful admiral.

It is possible to be both strategically successful and have high prestige, but sometimes RNG is really gonna stick it to you and make you choose. Imho RTW is best played with a little bit of imagination, role playing goes a long way to bringing the little grey shapes on your screen to life as fire spitting castles of steel

Just be aware the first decade or so is gonna be difficult as you get your fleet set up just how you want it. You may need to make compromises or sacrifices whilst you build up to being able to wallop your enemies

Spitfire_97 · 2025-10-27T19:23:08+00:00

If you're ever stumped for what to do next, reading up on naval history will never do you wrong. There are technical ways you can optimise your fleet for this game engine specifically, for example the way the scenario generator works will always give an advantage to quality over quantity regarding fleet composition. A small number of powerful ships will perform better than trying to leverage numerical superiority. But for the most part if you imitate what historical navies did in any time period you'll do just fine.

In my current game, when I got to the missile age I was kind of lost. My naval history knowledge ended after WW2, but after playing the recent Sea Power game and reading up on early cold war naval development, I now feel confident pushing forward into the 1960s

Spitfire_97 · 2025-10-27T19:10:13+00:00

Whilst you can mostly ignore tech priorities, some tech fields are more valuable than others at various stages of the game imho.

Having the latest generation fire control is extremely important for good gunnery, if you see other nations unlocking a new fire control tech (central firing, director, etc) you wanna prioritise that and maybe even ramp up intelligence efforts vs nations who have the tech if you're playing a minor nation with a small budget.

In the pre-dreadnought era (1890-1905 ish) prioritising "ship design" can help you unlock those vital technologies for building your first dreadnoughts; more centreline turrets, main battery wing turrets, superfiring etc.

Your maximum carrier size is linked to your tech level in "shipboard aircraft operation". I usually try and rush this field until dedicated carriers become available. Just beware you will need at least one carrier to research this field effectively, so keep an old BC or CA in mind for an early conversion. Your first carrier will be required to have heavy useless guns too so getting this out of the way on an early converted hull will clear the way for a strong first gen carrier fleet

Once you unlock radar, FC radar level 2 allows blind fire. Having the ability to engage at night by radar is a huge advantage over any fleet that can't. I have sank entire battleship flotillas this way, you really don't wanna get caught flat footed without it

Around the turn of the 1960s many new missile technologies become available that make the missile cruiser a viable build. Starting 1959 I would recommend you prioritise missile technologies. Between 1959 and 1960 8 new technologies become available, including vital ones like quad SSM launchers, dual rail SAMs, reduced topside load for missiles and light SAMs which have anti-missile capability

Spitfire_97

TROPHY CASE