Okay, I managed to put a few hours into DW and I am starting to make some progress. First, I did the Seawolf demo mission where your whole crew is sick and you need to get back to base ASAP. This was a piece of cake, especially if you are used to maneuvering with the Seawolf from SC. No problem.
Then I did the FFG demo called Dirty Atoll. This one proved more difficult than I first expected. Maneuvering the ship so close to land was instructive in itself---a FFG handles like a pig compared to a SSN. Now I understand why bridge crews always appear so tense when they are docking the ship! It must be like dancing with an elephant! Well, after three tries, I finally did manage to reach both waypoints without grounding my ship.
However, once the mission changed to getting the terrorists---well, that one has bested me so far. The FFG is a very complex platform and I think I need to wait for my printed manual to arrive before I can properly decipher all the weapons and sensors. I put that one on hold for now.
My last mission was the MH-60 demo where you hunt the Victor III. That was fun! It was a perfect scenario to teach you about using the various sonobuoys. I am proud to say that after a 2 hour search, I nailed the sub with a Mk 50!
Boy that was fun and very realistic! The sub almost got away because, at first, I didn't understand how to read the buoy contact info. Each buoy seemed to be detecting a sub on a different portion of the map. It confused me...until I noticed that all the bearing lines were intersecting in one general area. Bingo! Triangulation at work! I dropped my MAD gear and made a lucky pass over the sub. Then a dropped a few DICASS buoys (accidentally scuttling two
) and with an active search using my dipping sonar---bingo! I had bearing and range (which I determined without crew help!). The rest, as they say, is history.
Great game! This might actually pull me away from SH3 for a few days.