Best way to search for enemy ships

[Hnrq]

Topic says it all.

What are the best strategies to search for enemy ships, all sorts.

Should I stay put and listen? or drive around? submerged or on surface?

Thanks allready for help.

ps. I have TMO + some other mods.

[howler93]

Welcome to subsim!

Best way to find targets? Stay on the surface and use your SJ radar. Dive for any aircraft, and resurface 1-2 hours later.

Best of luck and good hunting!

Howler :arrgh!:

[Hnrq]

Welcome to subsim!

Best way to find targets? Stay on the surface and use your SJ radar. Dive for any aircraft, and resurface 1-2 hours later.

Best of luck and good hunting!

Howler :arrgh!:

Okey... What about early on my career when I do not have SJ yet?

[gAiNiAc]

Welcome to subsim!

Best way to find targets? Stay on the surface and use your SJ radar. Dive for any aircraft, and resurface 1-2 hours later.

Best of luck and good hunting!

Howler :arrgh!:

Okey... What about early on my career when I do not have SJ yet?

Get to your patrol area. What I do is draw a circle indicating the radius I shouldn't travel out as per the orders.

Then........look at the map and determine what the shipping lanes are. After that I set up a search pattern in that area.

How I set up a search pattern is I draw a bunch of 10 mile radius circles, that's about the max range of the hyrdrophones.

The circles are arranged such that they all bump up against one another but don't overlap.

They're usually arranged on axis with the shipping lane. I then plot a course connecting the centers of all the circles. Whenever I reach a center I dive and do a manual hydrophone sweep.

If I pick up a contact I then proceed to intercept. I usually dash at flank for about 7 miles and then dip and listen again.

By now you should be able to plot an intercept.

Here's a picture:

http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/7845/searchpatternef4.jpg

[Schroeder]

If you want to "cheat" a little then the time compression can help you to detect shipping. Every time a ship spawns the clock will stop for a second or so (You can see that nicely at the clock when going 2048x). If you notice the clock to stop it's time to submerge and listen.:D

[AVGWarhawk]

gainiac.......that is quite elaborate strategy:o Does it net you some good tonnage?

[gAiNiAc]

gainiac.......that is quite elaborate strategy:o Does it net you some good tonnage?

Yup. I average 35K - 55K, If I pushed it and wanted to be choosey (large juicy targets only and economic with torpedoes) I could easily average 70K.

What ends up happening is you start to see traffic patterns develop in certain areas so the next time you visit it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

The idea is to not unecessarily overlap already patrolled area.

When I finally get radar I just open the circles up to 20Nm radius.

I look forward to concerted depth charge attacks by the AI because that's when I really have fun. Quite the ballet!

:)

[gAiNiAc]

If you want to "cheat" a little then the time compression can help you to detect shipping. Every time a ship spawns the clock will stop for a second or so (You can see that nicely at the clock when going 2048x). If you notice the clock to stop it's time to submerge and listen.:D

Yup!

Kind of a spoiler, you know you've got a rather large set of contacts when the TC really ceases up temporarily.

I just chalk it up to "Divine Providence".

[Sledgehammer427]

same here i use the shipping routes and when tc starts acting poopy i just head towards the nearest lane etc

[Castout]

Err I think you can listen even while you're on the surface.

My sonar officer would sometimes tell me of sound contact while my boat is cruising on the surface. At first I thought it was weird but I think US boats had sonar devices under their keel to listen while being on the surface. I could be wrong and it's another bug though. Anyone?

[gAiNiAc]

Err I think you can listen even while you're on the surface.

My sonar officer would sometimes tell me of sound contact while my boat is cruising on the surface. At first I thought it was weird but I think US boats had sonar devices under their keel to listen while being on the surface. I could be wrong and it's another bug though. Anyone?

You can't listen on the surface. Those erroneous sound contact callouts only happen when the seastate is high enough that the hydrophones submerge on the downside of a swell.

[SleightOfHand]

Your sonar guy is just /really/ on the ball. :P

[seafarer]

You can listen at surface in a Sargo or Salmon boat - the hydrophones are "chin" mounted (under the forefoot).

[Castout]

You can listen at surface in a Sargo or Salmon boat - the hydrophones are "chin" mounted (under the forefoot).

Are they the two mini balls pointing downwards ?

Actually it is a smart thinking to place the hydrophones under the keel so that the submarine would still be able to listen even when they are surfaced much like a destroyer hydrophones.

[gimpy117]

underwater, slow (1/3 or stopped) this is called a sound check
use your hydrophones

do a full sweep manually and look for that little green light
then ping to find range (unless you think it's a dd)

[gAiNiAc]

You can listen at surface in a Sargo or Salmon boat - the hydrophones are "chin" mounted (under the forefoot).

You've done that in game? I haven't driven a Sargo or Salmon.

[seafarer]

Yup, the WCA acoustic set is modeled in game, with chin sensors.

P.S. my favorite start to a career is a Sargo boat out of Manila at the very start of the war. Try it - some great early war patrols out of Manila, and I just like the Sargo's - they're kind of the bruisers of their day.

P.S. I can't find it, but WernerSobe had a thread back a year ago or thereabouts dealing with optimizing the passive sonar for surface listening (it was pre-1.4/1.5 anyways).

[seafarer]

You can listen at surface in a Sargo or Salmon boat - the hydrophones are "chin" mounted (under the forefoot).

Are they the two mini balls pointing downwards ?

Actually it is a smart thinking to place the hydrophones under the keel so that the submarine would still be able to listen even when they are surfaced much like a destroyer hydrophones.

Yes, those are retractable hydrophones for supersonic sounds, but you can pick up subsonic sounds sometimes (see http://hnsa.org/doc/fleetsub/sonar/chap1.htm )

also - http://hnsa.org/doc/sonar/chap14.htm

[tbarak]

Yeah parking in the shipping lanes is the best as is the surface radar - when you have it. I normally surface and run a couple of complete circles since the radar has a fairly narrow cone. I usually pick something up near the lanes that way then race towards it at high speed. Caught two liners together like that the other day.

[Hnrq]

Thanks to everyone for your help.

Another question, what are radiuses for surface radar and hydrofones?

[gAiNiAc]

Thanks to everyone for your help.

Another question, what are radiuses for surface radar and hydrofones?

For hydrophones I keep it at 10nm, radar I use 20nm, although I've had contacts out to 22 - 24 nm using radar.

[gAiNiAc]

You can listen at surface in a Sargo or Salmon boat - the hydrophones are "chin" mounted (under the forefoot).

Are they the two mini balls pointing downwards ?

Actually it is a smart thinking to place the hydrophones under the keel so that the submarine would still be able to listen even when they are surfaced much like a destroyer hydrophones.

The two "balls" projecting off the keel are the supersonic hydrophones (JK/QC gear).

The hydrophones (JP gear) the operator actually listens with is the rotating T shaped device projecting from the subs deck.

If the submarine is on the surface moving at a good clip their typically is too much water flow noise around the hull for the hydrophones to work.

I've never gotten a sonar contact just by listening on the surface or at any point above periscope depth, other than under the specific conditions I detailed earlier.

[gAiNiAc]

I'll be damned..........I was putzing around in my USS Tuna and I figured I'd just stop and listen on the surface for a while........

The supersonic array can detect ships while surfaced, the range is much shorter though (6nm) than diving and using the hydrophones (10nm).

I think speed may (and should) be a factor as well.

Prior to getting radar your longest detection ranges are still going to be achieved by diving and doing a manual hydrophone sweep.

[Hylander_1314]

Yep, Gainiac uses the same tactics that I use. It works wonders for finding shipping in the pre-radar era. One thing it helps to offset, is the early war faulty torpedoes. During that era, I tend to stay away from smaller, shallower draft ships that are less than 15ft from the waterline to the keel. You will still have problems with fish running too deep, but most will hit home if the ship is a deep runner. And don't waste your early torpedoes on any warships smaller than a heavy cruiser, and it needs to be fairly calm for the sea-state. Nothing over 6mps. I wish the wind was in knots. Watching Deadliest Catch, the CG still gives the weather reports with wind speeds in knots, and mph.

[Frame57]

Stay in the historical japanese shipping lanes. An actual map came with my copy of the game and it has proven to be valuable when hunting. I am not sure if that map is available at the UBI site or not.

[Captain Vlad]

Using the shipping lanes as a guideline is a plus, obviously. After a few patrols in the same area, you'll figure out which of those tend to bear the most fruit and plan your patrols accordingly.

I'm not as energetic as some of the other posters when it comes to 'area coverage'. If I figure I'm in a likely spot, I'll spend a day or three, motionless, submerged in the day, surfaced at night, waiting for a sound or radar contact.

[Guysmiley]

Stay in the historical japanese shipping lanes. An actual map came with my copy of the game and it has proven to be valuable when hunting. I am not sure if that map is available at the UBI site or not.

I just picked up SH4 via Steam, and there is no map! There's a PDF version of the manual (which is a joke BTW, 60 whopping pages of nothing, if I hadn't played SH3 I'd have no idea what to do), but no map.

When people reference the shipping lanes I'm totally in the dark. Does anyone know of a place where I can see a PDF or scan of this map?

Not too pleased with Steam so far with this game, they don't even have version 1.4, I'm stuck with 1.3. Tried running the Ubisoft 1.4 installer and it errors out saying I don't have SH4 installed.

[krylon666]

Stay in the historical japanese shipping lanes. An actual map came with my copy of the game and it has proven to be valuable when hunting. I am not sure if that map is available at the UBI site or not.
I just picked up SH4 via Steam, and there is no map! There's a PDF version of the manual (which is a joke BTW, 60 whopping pages of nothing, if I hadn't played SH3 I'd have no idea what to do), but no map.

When people reference the shipping lanes I'm totally in the dark. Does anyone know of a place where I can see a PDF or scan of this map?

Not too pleased with Steam so far with this game, they don't even have version 1.4, I'm stuck with 1.3. Tried running the Ubisoft 1.4 installer and it errors out saying I don't have SH4 installed.

here is a pdf of the map: http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.4902

they also have a pdf of the quick reference chart for the keyboard, which i found handy. i do think its weird that the steam version is 1.3 - but they have the expansion on there, so that should kick it up to 1.5 technically. i read that there were some problems getting the expansion to work initially though

[schurem]

so where _are_ the shipping lanes? is there a mod that ads them to the map?

[krylon666]

they're the "black" lines on the map previously posted

[LeeVanSpliff]

you can pick up subsonic sounds sometimes (see http://hnsa.org/doc/fleetsub/sonar/chap1.htm )

Probably a dumb question but doesn't "supersonic" mean "faster than sound" (in whichever material we're dealing with)? That would make what that manual mentions "sound that is faster than sound" which is sort of a paradox.

Anyhow I'm nowhere near certain (not a native English speaker).

[Seran]

That was throwing me off, too. I read a bit of the posted document, however, and I see what they mean now. By supersonic, they're referring to sounds on a frequency too high for a human being to hear naturally. What modern speakers expect to hear is ultrasonic. They mean things like Active Sonar; the pinging and such.

Regarding the topic: I've always used a mixture of in-game box search patterns and haphazard manual waypointing to cover my area. Like a few other posters mentioned, I draw the circle on the map, and just cover as much area as I can. If there's really obvious routes in it (for example, a patrol right off Taipei or South Taiwan; freakin' goldmine, those), I camp in that area, kind of pacing around. Tend to stay surfaced at all times, though I've started to do occasional hydrophone checks.

I admit to cheating a bit when it comes to the slow-down one sees as ships are spawned. The moment that happens I cut TC, do a hydrophone check, and generally scour the area. Though it doesn't work as well as you'd expect it to...haven't found anything yet, that wasn't already in my path.

I've never just sat in a common area and waited, though. Gotta try that. Sitting outside Tokyo Bay must be pretty good.

[LeeVanSpliff]

That was throwing me off, too. I read a bit of the posted document, however, and I see what they mean now. By supersonic, they're referring to sounds on a frequency too high for a human being to hear naturally. What modern speakers expect to hear is ultrasonic.

<proud>I get it!</proud> Thanks.

[DemonTraitor]

Hi, I have been reading this thread, and was wondering...

My first patrol is "off Honshu Island". I got to the "Star" marked area, and "drove" around a bit. So, what actually am I supposed to do? How far can I venture away from my "Patrol Mark"?

I am hoping it is ok to get to the designated area, and then go wandering off to where ever you like?

Thanks.

[Rockin Robbins]

How far can I venture away from my "Patrol Mark"?

I am hoping it is ok to get to the designated area, and then go wandering off to where ever you like?

Thanks.

Nope. Not allowed. Almost all the patrol areas will permit you a 75 mile radius. There are one or two that go 50, but I haven't found them. Call in at the end of each day until the patrol mark grays out, showing you have completed the objective.

[SteamWake]

Thanks to everyone for your help.

Another question, what are radiuses for surface radar and hydrofones?

Pretty damn far... Miles even.

As the others have said take the occasional dip slow down and give a listen. You can hear them alot and I mean alot further than you can see them.

Woops Im a little behind on this one :D

[DemonTraitor]

How far can I venture away from my "Patrol Mark"?

I am hoping it is ok to get to the designated area, and then go wandering off to where ever you like?

Thanks.

Nope. Not allowed. Almost all the patrol areas will permit you a 75 mile radius. There are one or two that go 50, but I haven't found them. Call in at the end of each day until the patrol mark grays out, showing you have completed the objective.

Zoiks! How do you find the patrol radius? And... I did not know you have to report in at the end of each day. :nope:

Thanks