Questions

[Black_Dingo]

Hey all. got some quick questions.

1. are "transients" modeled in the game? flooding tubes, launching...ect? can they be detected on sonar?

2. Why do even 'strong' BB contacts show only a moderatly bright line in the BB waterfall? in the akula, a strong BB contact will show a strong spike.

3. is it just me, or does DEMON not work whatsoever?

4. Can masts, antennas and periscopes ever be detected by radar? it seems as long as I keep my sail beneath the waves, im immune.

5. how come Auto-TMA seems to ignore WAA and RAP-LOC?

[TLAM Strike]

Hey all. got some quick questions.

1. are "transients" modeled in the game? flooding tubes, launching...ect? can they be detected on sonar? Kinda you have to spot them the Auto crew donsn't

4. Can masts, antennas and periscopes ever be detected by radar? Nope.

5. how come Auto-TMA seems to ignore WAA and RAP-LOC?[/quote] because hes the auto-TMA guy. Even if you do it manualy you will still need to go and enter a new solution in the TMA screen because the new WAA range will be droped after a minute or two.

[Molon Labe]

3. If you're an SC vet, this probably took you by surprise, (along with most of us when DW was first released) but DEMON is only available for broadband contacts.

[Black_Dingo]

Thanks on the DEMON tip. it seems that Sonar Auto-Crew always tags a tracker on the narrowband and often wont tag same contact with another tracker in broadband. most often you have to assign BB tracker manually. but at least it works now.

[Dr.Sid]

Btw. it seem to me really technically to get BB trackers at all (IRL). A mean when two lines crosses, how do you find which is which ? With NB you can 'track' special frequency. But with BB there is much less choices.
So, real bubbleheads: are there BB trackers (I guess so) ? How do they handle line crossings ?

[Black_Dingo]

im not a bubblehead but I would guess there are 3 ways of dealing with that.

1. you have warning the lines are about to converge, cross and diverge. so, based on bearing rates of each line, you can distinguish which is which.

2. you can turn on your headsets and listen. unless theyre both similar contacts, you should be able to audibly tell them apart.

3. modern subs have software to help them analyze broadband noise in ways human ears cant. your computer may be able to help you right?

[Henson]

Dr Sid, the answer to your question is currently changing. We do use broadband almost exclusively for a lot of reasons, but the new sonar systems introduce some changes in employment considerations that I'm not certain I should get into here.

I hate to be so vague, but that's as far as I'm willing to comment.

Also, on the boat, we have several sonar operators all performing different functions. We generally have two guys looking at broadband, one guy looking at narrowband, another looking at class (the real DEMON for sake of making things simple) and a supervisor. The newer systems have a spherical array guy and a towed array guy with extras thrown in. Most narrowband tracking is done by the Towed Array Workstation operator, but all of our sonar displays have the same tools available.

As far as handling crossing contacts, we use the fire control system and common sense. I can't count the number of times I've seen trackers 'bounce' off of each other and both magically turn at exactly the same time as they crossed each other. When I see that happen I just call up the sonar sup and tell him to smack his broadband operator. If we really want to get technical we can send the guys into class and figure out which is which. The poster above was right; we have tools that analyze broadband noise to a degree that will never be modeled in game. Our trace analysis goes well beyond DEMON.

[Dr.Sid]

Thanks a lot. I understand perfectly that human can tell them apart. Tools like demon too, for sure. Bearing rate, intensity, all can be taken into account to make auto-trackers better.
But most important thing for me is that sometimes it just does not work :|\\