688i Question...radar distances vs...

[Goat]

I'm in my First Training Mission... Nothing on Broadband. The Nav Map showed two surface targets [as they should be] one 8.8 NM the other 4.5 NM... I surfaced, lit off the radar and got two good targets AT 19000 and 37000 YARDS ! Still nothing on broadband so I went active.. see nothing. 8.8 NM is around 19000 yards alright, but 37000 yards is around 18.5 NM !!!

Whaddahell is going on here ???

It is correct that the radar bearings are True ?

[Goat]

OK... Radar Bearings are True... What about the wild difference between the target distances on the Nav Map and the Radar ???

[Goat]

Can a ship underway... at a few miles...be almost silent... on the broadband ??

[Hitman]

Hum, veterans from 688i and sub command as well as DW players would be able to help you much better than me, but since they don't seem to browse much this forum I'll try to clarify some things (Speaking out of memory, because I shelved my good old 688i long ago in favour of SC):

-First, do not surface your nuke sub!! This is a bad tactical move as it will expose you to very bad things (Missiles to be more precise). You can lift your radar mast while at 60 feet (Peri depth) and at less than 5 knots (More speed breaks the mast)

-Second, your BEST sensors are, no doubt, radar and active sonar. They will locate precisely any target within their range, but unfortunately they will also give away your position.

-Third, radar can aqquire targets at great distances, up to 50000 yards, and active sonar I think about 20000yards. Thus a target at, say, 30000 yards will show up in the radar but NOT in the active sonar.

-Fourth, broadband/narrowband in passive sonar are limited to your passive sonar range, which in turn is affected by weather, depth, thermal layers, etc. But in any case I think 12000 yards is about the max you get from it on average. Thus it is logical that a target at 30000 yards -the example above- is not located by your passive array.

-Fifth, the map is updated not with the REAL position of contacts, but with the position your sensors determined. Thus, a map icon that appears due to a radar or active sonar contact will be almost exact, but a icon that appears when you locate a target in your passive sonar (Assigning a tracker and receiving the familiar message "Conn, sonar, got a new contact, bearing XXX, designated SierraX...") will have lots of error until you work out a good solution.


Anyway, to learn a lot about the 688i gameplay, I recommend you the "Bluebook" of tactics. You can download it here at subsim, in the "downloads" section, here: http://www.subsim.com/subsim_files/patches2005.html#688

Also, you can ask your questions about sensors and tactics in the "Sub Command" forum, while explaining you are using 688i. Many more "nuke" players take a look there than here.

Hope this all helps :up:

[Goat]

I appreciate you taking the time to reply, and explain. By the way, I only surfaced for the purpose of being able to run the radar, and compare the radar distances to the sonar ones.

Since I posted this, I have been advised to...give up 688i. I thought it would be a good idea to use it for 'learning', but I guess in the Virtual World, a 688i in Jane's is not a 688i in DW !

Anyway, I have installed DW again, and I am fighting my way through the complex manual. It probably will work out for me.. although I sure did like the simplicity of the Jane's Manual..

Thanks again...