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0rpheus · 08-24-11, 10:59 PM

Thanks for the reply Stormfly. I guess in terms of year we're talking no later than '42, as the farthest I've got so far is the second Mediterranean campaign.

Everything I know about Silent Hunter AI I know from SH4. This post, courtesy of Ducimus explains how the active sonar works in 3/4 and is what I base my questions on: http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/ai.htm

I'm assuming that things are the same in SH5 (if they're not then all my reasoning is flawed lol) - that is to say, below a certain depth active sonar is no use as you're too low for the ping to reflect from the boat. And like you said, you have to be vertically below the active sonar's area of effect and presenting as little aspect as possible. That much I understand.

Now in SH5, on the TAI the enemy active sonar is represented by the red cone, and passive by the yellowish circle. The lower you go, the smaller the red cone gets, until it disappears entirely. It's at this point that I would expect enemy active sonar to be useless, and for them to switch to the passive - which, if I'm doing one knot, at say 160 metres should make me damn hard to hear.

But in practice I'm not seeing this. Below Active Sonar depth, at one knot, 160m depth & silent running, they still ping and still follow me around like hawks, sometimes literally for 24+ hours - even though none display active sonar cones. So how are they detecting me? Is it solely on passive sonar and even at that depth/speed I'm still audible? Going any deeper is awkward as the sub won't keep depth past 170metres at 1 or even 2 knots (for some reason I don't understand, even though the hull is safe a little lower than that), and going all stop for any length of time often leads to me being crushed by the hull of a ship killed by collision while trying to DC me.

The carpet-charging tactics I could understand, and probably figure enough out from the TAI and DC pattern to know that's what was going on.. it's when they literally follow me like hawks at the lowest possible depth & speed, when their active is (theoretically) useless that's making me scratch my head... especially if playing possum doesn't/can't work.

What about thermal layers? I've never heard anyone mention it for 5, but it was often a key factor in SH4.

08-24-11, 10:59 PM	#3
0rpheus Grey Wolf Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: UK Posts: 857 Downloads: 87 Uploads: 3	Thanks for the reply Stormfly. I guess in terms of year we're talking no later than '42, as the farthest I've got so far is the second Mediterranean campaign. Everything I know about Silent Hunter AI I know from SH4. This post, courtesy of Ducimus explains how the active sonar works in 3/4 and is what I base my questions on: http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/ai.htm I'm assuming that things are the same in SH5 (if they're not then all my reasoning is flawed lol) - that is to say, below a certain depth active sonar is no use as you're too low for the ping to reflect from the boat. And like you said, you have to be vertically below the active sonar's area of effect and presenting as little aspect as possible. That much I understand. Now in SH5, on the TAI the enemy active sonar is represented by the red cone, and passive by the yellowish circle. The lower you go, the smaller the red cone gets, until it disappears entirely. It's at this point that I would expect enemy active sonar to be useless, and for them to switch to the passive - which, if I'm doing one knot, at say 160 metres should make me damn hard to hear. But in practice I'm not seeing this. Below Active Sonar depth, at one knot, 160m depth & silent running, they still ping and still follow me around like hawks, sometimes literally for 24+ hours - even though none display active sonar cones. So how are they detecting me? Is it solely on passive sonar and even at that depth/speed I'm still audible? Going any deeper is awkward as the sub won't keep depth past 170metres at 1 or even 2 knots (for some reason I don't understand, even though the hull is safe a little lower than that), and going all stop for any length of time often leads to me being crushed by the hull of a ship killed by collision while trying to DC me. The carpet-charging tactics I could understand, and probably figure enough out from the TAI and DC pattern to know that's what was going on.. it's when they literally follow me like hawks at the lowest possible depth & speed, when their active is (theoretically) useless that's making me scratch my head... especially if playing possum doesn't/can't work. What about thermal layers? I've never heard anyone mention it for 5, but it was often a key factor in SH4.