SC Campaign - Beginner - Sonar/TMA "Helmet-Fire"
 

Heya guys n' gals,

After finding that having just Silent Hunter 3-5 wasn't enough, I went and bought the NCP off Amazon that had SC, FC, and 688(i). (Boy, did I wish I had bought the 4-pack off Steam, but then I couldn't cash-in on the Amazon commissions given to SubSim if I had... Oh well, I can buy DW later...)

Anyhow, I ran through the tutorials just fine, and actually re-did the TMA tutorial, just to hone my skills. My issue? Halifax. I'm not more than maybe a minute in, and my SO keeps tossing me contacts almost every five seconds. I've found the cargos nearby, clogging up the scope (actually dropped one accidentally. Thought I had the Akula pinged, but I had fired on the wrong contact. Maybe I had too much on my mind from playing Silent Steel just prior... "Someone bring me some coffee!")

Now I'm all for reading the scope, changing course to get a fix via the towed array, and staring at waterfalls all day, but when I've got umpenteen contacts, including a submerged contact right below an Arleigh-Burke friendly, what's the best way to get a grip on the situation, and not be overwhelmed by your SO's constant "New contact, bearing..." updates? From what it looks like, I don't need to rule out ambiguous contacts, which cuts my time at the sonar station in half, but the downside is that if needed, I can't adjust my ADCAP settings without switching auto-crewing off. I'm sorry, but a 15k RTE seems a bit too long a distance if you're about 8k away, don'tcha think?

Maybe I'm just trepidated by the number of contacts, but I can't seem to get the right fix on the proper target, especially when new contacts arise to distract me.

Also, just so I make sure I do it properly, how does one complete the wargames without firing actual ordinance? From what I recall, you're not supposed to utilize live rounds, yet I didn't see any options to set anything as such.

I refuse to let my purchase go to waste in vain, so let's see what I can work out here.

Alright, I think I've figured it out, to an extent. I just need to sort two things out now.

First, upon examination of all sonar can offer, except for active, I'm getting dual contacts on my two allied vessels participating in the torpedo/ASW exercise. One with an M designation, and the other, I can't recall. (It's a completely unknown contact, but it usually trails aside, or is directly astern the friendly vessel on the NavMap.) Would that be the actual sonar contact of the friendly vessel, and the already pre-classified friendly vessel shown on the NavMap just be there for kicks?

I'll see if I can annotate my next session better to get more details.

Secondly, the Akula - I know where she is, and I've been pointed right at her but from pretty far out, since I'm running silent, or around 3 knots at periscope depth, however, I can't pinpoint her on sonar to ID and classify. Need I drop down a layer and see if I can hear her then?

Honestly, I'm beginning to feel that I'm way better off in Silent Hunter than I am in Sub Command. :/\\!!

The information panel of a selected contact should show what sensor provides the position/bearing data. It could be 'link data', think of it as position info of friendly units transmitted over a secure communications channel. However it seems like it can defy the laws of physics in terms of receivability. How would you receive such data if your radio cable isn't streamed out. I'm stumped.

I don't know the mission, but if there is a layer, then do make sure you listen under it. Realise that you do not have to be in it, to listen in it. You've got a microphone on a cable behind you. ;)

Also, you may have to alter your screen brightness/contrast/gamma settings to make all lines visible. The rest of the interface might start to look ugly, but that really faint line at 50 Hz is allways a pearl to see.

Thanks! I'll be sure to check and see if it's link data or not. I suppose it's the whole "practice mission" making me over-analyze everything. It's beaten the mind out of me to figure out how to simulate a torpedo attack, since it's noted that I'm restricted from utilizing (but still able to use) live weapons.

For reference, I'm barely getting started in the Seawolf campaign.