hydrophones below thermal layer

[Joe S]

Are hydrophones supposed to work below a thermal layer/ I dove under a thermal layer to allow the escorts to pass over, and when I popped up to periscope depth the entire convoy had passed over, my sonar man and the sonar lines on the map did not indicate that the ships were passing over. This is correct? Thanks! Joe S

[Powerthighs]

Sonar should still work under the thermal layer, just not as well. I'm not sure if the game only models the effect to active sonar across a layer, or if it affects passive (hydrophones) as well.

Another thing it keep in mind is you can't hear things right behind your sub as the noise of your screws blocks it out.

[John Channing]

Something else that people forget about the Sonar Operator is that if you order him to track a specific target (Closest Contact or Warship) he will track only that contact, ignoring everything else, until you tell him to stop by either clicking on the Closest Contact/Closest Warship button again or clicking on the Normal weep button.

Once you do that all of the other contact lines will be updated continuously by the Plot team based on information from the Sonar Man.

JCC

[Joe S]

I didnt know there was a track closest warship option, how do I do that? Thanks! JoeS

[scrag]

In real life the layer - if strong enough will form a surface half channel and keep the skimmers signature bundled between the layer and surface. This is also called a surface duct. It would have the same effect on his active too. Some of the sound rays will escape depending on the angle they interact with the layer and will be detectable. There is more to it but that is the gist. Game mechanics wise who knows (developers probably). I generally do not depend to greatly on what the sonarman says as he is operating on a very limited system.

[-Pv-]

As John mentions, you probably lost the conatacts in your baffles. I usually get useful information from my soundman (and even more when I do it myself) under the layer.
-Pv-

[Joe S]

I didnt think the baffles would be a problem because I shut the motors down to reduce the noise. I would be interested in knowing how to get the sonarman to track a warship. I do not believe that is one of the buttons available to me. Thanks! Joe S

[Peto]

Joe--I think that the "tracking warship button" is available in the RFB mod. In fact--I know it is.

[Rockin Robbins]

Part of the problem with helping people with SH4 is that we have multiple button bars, none of which have names. So you never read descriptions of where the buttons are, only that they exist. In Trigger Maru there is a "track nearest warship" button. First you press the sonar button on the top bar and then the track warship button on the lower.

[Joe S]

:hmm: Thanks for your help everyone, I dont have Trigger Maru or RFB so that explains why my sonar operator cannot track warships. Up until the latest patch I could not run SH4 without crashes, now that I have it running with the sound mods that I want I do not want to take any chances with further mods, so unless it is availabe as a stand alone mod I will have to live without it. Thanks for your help. Joe S

[Payoff]

Hey Joe, you can simply map a keyboard command to that feature & many others.
Have a look in SHIV/Data/Cfg/Commands. :up:

[-Pv-]

The stock game has the track nearest contact button. If a warship is closest (which is typical when your being attacked) you can use this to help know when the ship is converging or moving away which helps you choose evade tactics.

It doesn't matter what speed you set. When a ship moves into your baffles, the sonar operator will ignore the contact until you use the sonar head yourself, focus on the contact of interest and send the contact to the TDC. You will then see the contact tracked for a short while. You can only have the Sonar AI track a baffle contact automatically when you are all stop. Even one knot will baffle rear contacts. Fortuantely, DDs on the hunt will move around a lot and you'll pick them up again pretty quickly. Constantly turning yourself not only is a good evasive strategy, but helps you clear the baffles.
-Pv-

[scrag]

Aloha - I guess that depends on where the sensor is mounted - the bottom mounted hydrophones are for the most part omni directional - with the operator interpeting strength based on what side is strongest - this phone system would suffer from hull shading from a contact above it but it would also depend on the arrival path of the sound (I.E. Bottom Bounce or multi-path signals) - so in theory there would be no baffles on some cases. The Rotating "JP" antenna was also limited but not by "Baffles". The biggest thing limiting it would be the speed of the ship with water flow over this system. The ships self noise component would be minimal - particularly at 3 knots. Once the boat speed up and started to cavitate then there woud be an area astern that would be Own Ship Self Noise - but since the antenna was trainable and mounted in the Torpedo Room this would probably also not be that bad. Here is a link discussing WWII Submarine Sonar systems.
http://www.fleetsubmarine.com/sonar.html
If the game has "Baffles" then it is not accurate in that regard.

[Joe S]

Thanks everyone for your help. I did check the config file and found the following commands that interest me. However, before I mess with them I would like to know if anyone has tried to activate them so I know exactly what I will get and if there are any potential unanticipated consequenses. If anyone has used these let me know:

#261 Report weather
#322 salvo tube What does this do?
#328 set torp speed This reminds me of another question: can torp speed be defaulted to fast so you dont have to individually set each tube as it is loaded?
#339 target nearest merchant
#340 Target nearest warship
#343 ID target
#351 set spread angle
#483 sonar follow nearest warship
#488 sonar estimate range to target

Thanks for your help everyone! Joe S

[Zergos1985]

why would there be any negative consequences... lots of mods modify them
I just did it myself after reading your thread

[Cmd343]
Name=WP_Identify_target
Ctxt=1
MnID=0x3F130002
Str=1073
Key0=0x4e,C,"I"

[Cmd261]
Name=Report_weather
Ctxt=1
MnID=0x3F250006
Key0=0x4e,C,"B"

[Cmd434]
Name=Report_nearest_visual_contact
Ctxt=1
MnID=0x3F0A0008
Key0=0x4e,C,"G"

[Cmd451]
Name=Report_nearest_radio_contact
Ctxt=1
MnID=0x3F290002
Key0=0x4e,C,"F"

[Cmd482]
Name=Report_nearest_sound_contact
Ctxt=1
MnID=0x3F260003
Key0=0x4e,C,"R"