[Molon Labe]

Originally Posted by SandyCaesar

All right. Lots of nice advice here, thanks a lot.

So, in an aircraft it boils down to getting lucky with methodically placed active buoy fields supplemented with MAD. I don't have enough GRAMs to keep track of all the buoys, but I suppose the computer the can do that?

Eh, luck only is a major factor if your buoys are spread out too much. It's more about being realistic about how much area you can search/secure given your target class, target speed, and the acoustic conditions. The smart money is always on the P-3 in a DW scenario (unless the pilot forgets the range of hostile SAM systems in the area..cough, Oneshot, cough cough) so you're not the one in need of luck.

It's the frigate that worries me. Once again, it boils down to its active sonar, right? That, and its MH-60. The thing is, there are several cases where I could hear the echo off a submarine, but not see it on the screen. My guess is that it's either far away or at an unfavorable aspect. In either case, all I know is that there's a sub out there somewhere--I can't tag what doesn't show up on the screen, and the helo can't prosecute what I don't tell him.

Even if you haven't been able to tag him, the audio report tells you the range. You'll be able to tag him pretty quickly knowing that, and even if you don't, working the helo around that range will result in a dipping contact from a side aspect if he's bow aspect to you.

But the idea of running around like a torchbearer, pinging madly, screaming the equivalent of "Here I am! Torpedo me!" has never really appealed to me. The SSK--if it doesn't send a USET-80 or a 53-65K down my throat--would either steer around me or duck beneath a layer.

The SSK is going to detect you and/or the ships you're protecting on passive sonar long before you hear him. You have nothing to lose by going active.

Case in point: "Holddown Exercise" from Bill Nichols' Red Storm Rising campaign. I performed marginally against the Foxtrots, but at least once I've gotten a general direction I have a helo to help. Against that Kilo: I don't know anything about him, so there was no way I could've chased him. It's frustrating having to run in circles looking for a ghost while the captain of said ghost is probably laughing his head off and polishing his TMA solution at me.

Maybe I could track in on his laughter, if nothing else.

The RSR campaign is made for stock DW. Holddown Exercise is essentially scripted so that you detect the sub at mission start; but if you're using LWAMI and it's different detection ranges, the mission may not work as intended.