[Herman]

Originally Posted by Bubble Head

The colins class sub I had out there did not go so well. Had her under, with sonar going - moving slowly to the east and tracing a recon circle for another sub. Initially was alerted to her presence when she fired a torpedo at me and missed. Went deeper and kept trying to get a lock on her, no dice and within short shrift she had me torpe'd and on the ocean floor - just couldn't get a fix even though I went silent, stationary and had sonar only pinging and she was obviously in close quarters? Did I miss something?

Glad to see that you tried the "1.0 Beginner Walk-Thru Scenario" from the WestPac battleset.

One of the first things you learn about submarines is Silence is Golden. The fact that you turned on your active sonar means that you can be counter-detected at much longer range than the effective range of your sonar. As my personal rule of thumb, I expect that my active systems (radar and sonar) can be counter-detected at 150% of their effective range. If my active sonar can detect a sub at 10 nm, I expect that the enemy probably heard my sonar at 15 nm or more. That likely explains why your first indication of the enemy sub was via a Torpedo Telegram.

When you went deep (a typically good evasive manoeuvre), you placed the enemy sub on the other side of the thermocline layer. If you do not understand what The Layer is, you can check out this video:



More than likely, he was just too far away for your active sonar to detect him. It is like shining a flashlight in a darkened house. You can be seen from a longer distance than your light beam will actually illuminate.

One thing you could have tried was to go above the layer to search for the enemy sub. The Layer is always between the Shallow and Intermediate depth ranges in Harpoon. You could also try to point your sub in the direction of the enemy since your sonar has a blind spot to the rear known as The Baffles.

If the enemy has detected you before you detect him, one of the best tactics is to run and clear the area and come back to search for him since he has you at a significant disadvantage.

Originally Posted by Bubble Head

Also - I attempted a 17 bird bombing run on the norther Queensland airbase - everytime I attempted to get birds out there (F111 Ardvarks) it kept telling me they only had a 50nm range - which seemed a bit low to me - 50nm? These are long range strike craft and should have been able to make the hop to qld from vic easily - beat the **** out of the field and get back to base with fuel to spare - I sent them anyway in the interest of science, and they managed to pound the air base but bingo'd on the return trip... again - did I miss something here?

Sorry for the major noob fest out here but those things threw me somewhat - any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sir, the effective attack range for these aircraft is 50 NM. Target range is 601 NM. Should we close and attack?

The 50nm warning message you received was only meant to tell you the weapons range for your aircraft. It refers to the AGM-130E Popeye missiles carried in your loadout. Your planes had plenty of fuel to reach the actual target if you selected the "Yes" option.

Other than that, I think your air mission was successful. If you require further assistance, just ask. A video can be prepared for this scenario if you feel it is necessary to walk you through the process. However, I think you learned the appropriate lessons from this introductory scenario.