Evasion Tactics

[Krauter]

Hey all,

From reading through the [REL] Prolonged Depth Charge thread in the Mods section, I figure I'd give it a try. Now the point of this thread is:

What are RL evasion tactics I can employ with this mod.

And what are some of your 'trick up your sleeve' or favorite tactics to employ while evading.

Now I realise there is the generic 'dive the deepest you can go and shut down and become a hole in the water' or 'least aspect ratio, etc' but if you guys could describe in depth that'd be great.

Krauter

[Armistead]

The first rule of evading is not to be found in the first place. A good place to understand AI is here.

http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/ai.htm

Obvious it differs with different mods. The AI is very hard with TMO.

The most important factor is water conditions. You can get by with murder in rough seas, but in calm water you can be heard from far away and easily pegged.

Obvious being below the thermal layer helps some, but not near as much as good water conditions.

I always ID the DD screen. I want to know what ships will soon be throwing charges at me. My tactics for evading a TYPEAB with 6 Y guns differs some from an escort with only rear racks.

You want to be on silent running when it benefits you. Those that think they can evade running silent at 1kt all the time are usually those that get killed. Your tactics have to change as the enemy responds...direction, speed, ect. But in general you want to head away from the direction of the convoy.

The common tactic that everyone uses is to wait and listen for the dd to speed up as it makes it's run. As it starts the run, most hit flank speed and turn some. The deeper you are the better. It will take some time for the charges to reach you in the depths, so at flank speed they will almost always fall behind you. If a escort has lots of Y guns, I seldom turn hard, just a 10 degree turn. If you turn hard, you're basically turning sideways into the Y gun pattern. A mild turn you keep your speed and it's enough to get out of the way of the rear drops, but not enough to turn into a spread from the Y gun.

Escorts do one of two things..They ping with sonar or listen. If they're pinging, they can't hear you so you can crank up speed, if they're listening, not pinging, that's the time to be quiet, run silent, until you have to evade. Still, one may be listening why one is pinging. You always want to keep a narrow profile as possible to the closest ship.

There is some debate. At some moment the JP's have to decide your depth and how deep to drop the charges. They don't drop some shallow and some deep, but they don't all explode at the same depth, usually 100 ft of each other. I think they determine your depth when they speed up. So I will sometimes be at say 300 ft and dive for deeper depths when they drop charges. If I'm in shallow water, say 300 ft, I'll come up fast as they speed up and charges will usually blow below me. Simply, if you can change your depth right before they drop enough, they will blow above or below you. If the water is 400 ft, I don't just go to 400 ft and stay there. I'll go to 300 and dive deeper when they make a run, then repeat.

Another tactic I found that works great in shallow water, say 100ft or less. Is not to flank when the DD passes. Stay almost at 1kt. Right before I think it will speed up or when I hear it speeding up I hit flank reverse. If I time it right all the charges will blow in front of me. I only do this against TypeAB's with 6 Y guns as it's about impossible to get out of their drop pattern in 200ft of water or less.

It really differs. When I play without cams or contacts, you really have to pay attention. If you use the cams while being attacked, it's rather easy to evade as you can see everything and adjust...stay in the sub where you can't see what's going on, it can be loads of fun.


There's a lot more, other will add, can't write a book.

[V.C. Sniper]

'dive the deepest you can go and shut down and become a hole in the water' always works for me

[Platapus]

There's a lot more, other will add, can't write a book.

Great tactics. Thanks for posting. I think this is the first post I can remember that addressed, in specifics, tactics of evasion.

Good stuff to learn. :salute:

[RodBorza]

Wow...great thread!

A lot of things I thought I knew but I didn't.

Now I wonder why I got depht charged so often... :rotfl2: