Torpedo Evasion Celebration
 

I think I may finally be getting the hang of Dangerous Waters. I was playing kilo earlier against a Victor I. I managed to evade all eight SET-65 torpedoes fired at me. According to steam I've spent almost 180 hours on the game between two accounts...and I'm just now celebrating my first torpedo evasion (that is, torpedoes I've evaded, not torpedoes I've fired that the other guy has evaded, I've got plenty of those). I still couldn't seem to TMA a pair of torpedoes onto him though, every time I thought my torpedoes were getting close he'd increase speed and my torpedoes would die before hitting him, kinda gave up after I ran out. Using DWX by the way.

8?

cmon! was it a frigate "pack attack"?

i tell you what though, i had one dropped right on my head by a helo last night.

i was using an akula, it was a the SD breakout mission in which your position (off the san diego coast) is compromised (due to the incompetence of one of your crew) to an oliver hazard perry class frigate, and his helo minion.

you have to clear 15 NM of the area w/o detection. well of course i was detected because i blew the frigate out of the water using a wire guided 65 cm torpedo.

i couldnt resist. one less to deal w/ right? it was a lucky shot because it was from very long range.

anyway, i'm almost outside the 15 NM area traveling south @ five knots.

stupid me decides to go to radar depth because i wasnt getting anything on the sonar, fearing something else (aka a los angeles class SSN) would be waiting for me right near the goal.

the ECM picks up the helo, and radar places it about 45km away, closing rapidly from the north.

the good news? no sub. the bad? active sonar intercept picks up a 20k+ hz pinging me from bearing 155.

literally five seconds later..."con, sonar, TIW...bearing 158." lovely.

it acquired quite rapidly from bearing 158.

right away i gave the order to all ahead flank, in the opposite direction, because i know i dont even have time to use NB sonar to get a make/put a tracker on it, let alone be able to hear it going that fast.

i start making 40 degree turns to port/starboard @ about 500 meters depth, listening to the torp's active sonar ping intervals get smaller and smaller by the second.

countermeasures were released at this time. first the passive, then the active a few seconds later, making sure to reload both immediately after that, just incase.

i keep turning, relative bearing away from 158. reduced speed to 4 kts. went hard to starboard, released another passive countermeasure. blew the ballast. up we go. stopped our ascent right around radar depth again.

i didnt even bother surfacing or trying to look for the helo in an attempt to get out the 'ol RPG, figured it'd be best if i just gtf outta dodge before it launches another one.

the last CM must've done the trick because the active sonar stopped and i lived to tell the tale.

dove back down to roughly maximum depth and snailed away @ 4 knots to freedom.

a good thing too because the high pressure air tanks were spent, and for some reason, werent recharging either, even @ ventilation depth.

it was close.

what did i learn? not to use ECM or the radar if i know theres a pissed off helo lurking.

incidentally, since we're on the topic of evading, there are some good points contained here:

http://www.commanders-academy.com/wi...sonar_.28NB.29

SET-65 have short leg. Evading UGST or Mk 48 torpedoes ore any other heavy torpedo is much more challenging.

If you miss a lot it may mean a combination of these
1. You fired way too far. While it is true that heavy advance torpedoes may have the range to go for the long range kill that is only true for attacking commercial ships which have neither sensor to detect your attack nor speed to evade it. You need to get within relatively close range to attack warship or slow SSK and even closer to attack enemy SSN. I wouldn't consider attacking enemy SSN beyond 5 nautical miles unless I have no option.

2. You haven't had a good TMA track on your target which means there hasn't been enough time to develop a good solution on the target range, bearing, course and speed. Stalk your target before committing to take it out. Take your time when you have time to make a good solution and then closing on it for the kill.

3 Against human player you need to fire a couple of torpedoes within bracket. So you need to manually set the torpedoes bearing to ensure at least one torpedo is going to home in on the evading target. Fire at least 2 torpedoes at human player within the bracket of his possible evasion track.

4. Just small tips that if you have good solution on a relatively far submerged contact you may want to use ASW missile. If you are close enough and have good solution, you may want to use Shkval to deprive the enemy submerged contact from prosecuting evasion maneuver. When engaging warship with surface missile do not launch it at relatively far target. In DW warships are always in battlestation which means they are always in 100% combat ready state. Thus launch surface missiles at nearer distance in order to minimize their reaction time. Of course launch in salvo of at least 4 or more.

When evading torpedoes the rule is never launch countermeasure unless you are sure there is at least one that is already tracking(homing in on) you.

It was about eight torpedoes, yes, not fired at once though, couple pairs over an hour or so. Laugh if you want, I'm still kinda proud I managed to get past the "duh, which ones is mines and which ones is his?" part I seem to get stuck on so much. Is there any trick to separating different contacts on the same bearing? Also, I've been using the autosonar to try and focus on TMA and it seems that the autosonar can pick out targets that I can't see at all on the narrowband or the broadband sonar, clearly I'm missing something vital maybe someone can point it out for me?

i wasnt trying to be an ass, i was just teasing you because it was such an outrageous number, put yourself in the reader's perspective.

not to mention id rather be shot at by those torpedoes that the ones helos drop right on top of you. :o

sonar interpretation is just as important as using the TMA.

as far as classification is concerned, the 688 class subs seem to have a more reliable nb classification as opposed to the russian ssn or ssks.

dont forget to change frequencies and use the towed sonar array for most of the nb classifying that you do.

keep the filter on (at the proper range, first contact in lower frequencies are usually correct, or close) and dont forget to scroll through (arrows) sometimes if you suspect what it first tells you to be incorrect. (known intelligence briefings, visual information, etc)

other times, it comes down to two or three and you have to narrow it down even further using other methods...

1. like active sonar intercept frequencies. (compared to the USNI reference ranges under the sensors tab) it may even be a torpedo w/o audio announcemnt from AI if the frequency is real high.

2. reading the demon display after you designate and track it (again see the USNI or game manual) to at least rule out other possibilities... to see how many screws has, if its a high tpk, chances are its a merchant ship.

3. just flat out visually IDing them using the periscope (on surface contacts)

4. just like torpedoes, there are certain ranges that are just too ineffective. try getting closer.

also...

dont forget that when using narrowband and making course changes this creates the "ambiguous" bearing marks on your sonar. wait until you are done turning (and then the towed array after that) before you go looking at it again.

or observe the contacts that dont change bearings while you're turning and then try looking at them through a different array, chances are if they exist on 2 different arrays, its proabably a real contact.

dont forget that the towed array turning to match your heading will sometimes produce your OS as a contact. if youre in an akula and just come round to finish a course change and nb shows and akula..its not another akula, its you.

if all else fails and youre really unsure, you can just turn the truth filter on until you get the hang of doing sonar manually and observing how the contact behaves on the sonar from there to familiarize yourself with classifiaction.

hint: you know you got it right if what you classify in narrowband shows up on the navigation map.

as far as separating multiple contacts from the some bearing, pay mind to which of your sensors detected it by the color codes in the LOBS themselves. ( red for visual, purple for the towed array, etc)

sometimes its just 1 contact from different sensors, and you can just merge the tracks in the TMA plot, cutting down the clutter and confusion going on in the middle of a potential scenario.

again, i encourage this:

http://www.commanders-academy.com/wi...sonar_.28NB.29

No one is laughing at you. Maybe I forgot the congrats word :DL

@Green_Abobo: Do you consider yourself a liberal btw? Or perhaps even an activist of any sort? Have you ever suffered persecution to your personal freedom? Or are you used to decision making by yourself?

I ask because your posts tell that you treasure independence very very much. :O:

I'm not joking. Willing to bet money that it is true.:03:

if i have learned anything, its that you dont discuss politics or religion.

its like tic tac toe, or paper rock scissors.

i try not to judge people, out loud anyway, if you really want to know. ;) like i said, i didnt mean to offend anyone about the torp evasion comment i made. i made the comment as if i were discussing it w/ a good friend, busting their balls if you will.

he should be proud, you're right. my bad.

i like submarines, and i like subsim because its not like other internet forums. poeple are educated, and not ignorant. i learrn something new almost everytime i come here.

thats where my head is at.

Ah I was discussing how you write. :O:
It tells me you value independence very much. :D

Having trouble identifying target zigs when I don't have a solid speed through DEMON.
Any guides out there that address this? The red book seems to rely a lot on DEMON and I often find that I don't have broadband data on a submerged contact.

i think its just because they travel slowly (4-6 knots usually 4 or 5, and have usually 5, 6 or 7 screws) and in a circular pattern when patrolling.
get a track on multiple arrays and merge them in tma to keep an eye on them, and get more demon readings, hope they dont hear you first.

they are sneaky. considering they can dive too. sometimes you'll see them from the scope, practically surfaced sometimes, just sitting there.

a neat tactic i learned is you can bottom the boat (if you know they are close) and even if they find you and fire right away, theyll often shoot right over top you, which gives you just enough time to fire back at him before he has another chance to.

not for the feint of heart.

if you don't have demon lines then you don't have the target tracked in broadband. This means it is too far away. Get closer so you can track him with broadband.