Watch crew question...

[oblio]

What is the sampling rate for identifying (ship, aircraft) contacts. Example: How many times per minute does the watch crew (sonar guy also) check for contacts?

Also, does this sampling rate remain constant for all TC values?

Thanks!

[vils]

its random, its human. See them as a real watchcrew and not robots :)

[Sawdust]

You can watch the hydrophone guy spin the wheel. You should be able to get an idea as to how fast he checks in any direction by how spins the wheel. As far as I can tell, he will notice a contact when the pointer reaches the correct bearing for that ship, though weak signals are sometimes missed.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

You can increase the probability of your crewmen's ability to find contacts by making sure he is awarded qualifications that relate to his work.

[_alphaBeta_]

Sometimes the watch crew will spot contacts that you can barely see. Other times you wonder how they're missing the huge convoy heading right for you.

If the weather is good, the watch crew usually has an edge on you. If it's foggy with limited visibility, you can usually spot things first. If you tracking a target on the surface in bad weather, you may want to stay up there with them.

If you stop underwater with zero propulsion, you have a major edge on the hydropones.

[oblio]

All good points! Thanks.

The reason for my initial question (see 1st post) is to help determine what time compression setting is "best" (others may use the term "most safe"). I suspect Sawdust may be on to something in regards to how many degrees of horizon are covered during a time interval, for both the sonar guy and watch crew. From what I've read, 64 is the highest TC settings for "safe" operation... maybe I'll just stick to that.