newbie to DW

[tmdgm]

Hi,

Bought this game a while ago and never had time to figure it out. I still don't have time but am trying to get into it. I've patched up to 1.04. Are there any mods out there that's recommended. I see this LWAMI?

And I have tons of questions. I'm just trying to figure out the FFG for now.

1) If I'm playing a FFG mission, can I tell the helicoptor to use MAD or sinking hydrophone? I don't think so but thought I'd ask

2) In FFG missions, how do i know how much fuel is left on helicopters?

3) I'm playing the stock gulf breakout mission and after dropping some buoys and after some time of not being able to find the kilos, I keep gettin an audible message saying mission cannot be completed. I'm dropping VLAD buoys both deep and shallow from the helo and OTS. Also deploying towed array but haven't found a kilo yet.

so far game seems to have some bugs.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by tmdgm

1) If I'm playing a FFG mission, can I tell the helicoptor to use MAD or sinking hydrophone? I don't think so but thought I'd ask

Mad is always 'on', in stock the heli won't use its dipping sonar. In LWAMI we made it use it when it reach a "fly to" waypoint.

2) In FFG missions, how do i know how much fuel is left on helicopters?

There is no fuel gauge. Only thing you can do is check the clock. The Seahawk has about 2 hours of fuel.

3) I'm playing the stock gulf breakout mission and after dropping some buoys and after some time of not being able to find the kilos, I keep gettin an audible message saying mission cannot be completed. I'm dropping VLAD buoys both deep and shallow from the helo and OTS. Also deploying towed array but haven't found a kilo yet.

The kilo is quiet passive buoys might not pick it up. Try active dicass and your onboard hull sonar in omnirotational active mode.

[tmdgm]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Mad is always 'on', in stock the heli won't use its dipping sonar. In LWAMI we made it use it when it reach a "fly to" waypoint.

There is no fuel gauge. Only thing you can do is check the clock. The Seahawk has about 2 hours of fuel.

The kilo is quiet passive buoys might not pick it up. Try active dicass and your onboard hull sonar in omnirotational active mode.

ok, thx. So do the helicopters crash if you don't think of landing after 2 hours?

Also, what are the vlad's for if I need to use dicass to detect the kilo? The manual said to use the vlad first cuz it has the longest range (what is the range of a vlad?). Then once you know he's out there, use difar and then dicass.

[ASWnut101]

1) Yep, the crew goes for a swim when it runs out of gas.

2) VLAD buoys are not for any particular detection purpose, just like any sonobuoy, but they have certain advantages in certain situations.

VLAD buoys are used more for "blue water" scenarios, as their sensors deploy much deeper (600ft shallow/1200ft deep) than DIFAR buoys (90ft shallow/400ft deep). They are also slightly more sensitive than DIFAR, if my memory serves me correctly. The deeper depths for the sensors allow them to find targets potentially underneath the thermal layer, which can often be deeper than 400 feet.

DICASS buoys have an active sonar mode as well as a passive mode. Their sensors deploy very shallow (90ft) and very deep (800ft), but, I think, are the least sensitive buoys of the three you can deploy.

[tmdgm]

Originally Posted by ASWnut101

1) Yep, the crew goes for a swim when it runs out of gas.

2) VLAD buoys are not for any particular detection purpose, just like any sonobuoy, but they have certain advantages in certain situations.

VLAD buoys are used more for "blue water" scenarios, as their sensors deploy much deeper (600ft shallow/1200ft deep) than DIFAR buoys (90ft shallow/400ft deep). They are also slightly more sensitive than DIFAR, if my memory serves me correctly. The deeper depths for the sensors allow them to find targets potentially underneath the thermal layer, which can often be deeper than 400 feet.

DICASS buoys have an active sonar mode as well as a passive mode. Their sensors deploy very shallow (90ft) and very deep (800ft), but, I think, are the least sensitive buoys of the three you can deploy.

wow, that stinks, and now warning for the helo, huh? and no way to tell. seems like should be a way to tell.

k, thx for the info on the VLAD. I didn't realize the shallow went that deep. That explains why they kilo was right on top of the vlad and never heard him.

What's the range on the dicass? What's the range on all of em for that matter?

After your post, i went back and put show truth and used dicass and it didnt' seem like it picked up the kilo until 1-1.5 nm. And I couldn't detect his range using active until he was like less than 1000 yds. With only 4 dicass/helo, seems like you gotta drop all of em just to get and idea where he's at. And they only last 2 hrs.

[ASWnut101]

Uh, the max possible range to detect ships on active DICASS is 12,000 yards (6.8 miles) due to the limits of the gram window, but the probability that you'll detect a submarine out that far is almost zero, simply because most aren't large enough to show up that far. Passive detection is another story...

In stock DW 1.04, all sonar sensors have a "hard capped" range. That is, no matter how loud the target is, if it is out of the hard cap range, there's no way to detect it. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what this hard cap range is in 1.04 because I've played the LWAMI mod for so long (which removes the cap). I reckon, however, that they are not much farther than 7 miles, which seemed to be the maximum range at which I ever detected anything with them while playing stock DW, which was a really long time ago, which means I don't really know .

In LWAMI, as I said, the cap is removed, making the detection range a function of target noise and sensor sensitivity (plus a few other things), as you might expect in reality.


Here's the deal with detecting Kilos with passive sonar: It almost never works. Kilos are extremely quiet boats, even in stock DW, and if it's creeping along at less than 3 knots or so, the first thing you likely to hear on passive is his torpedoes leaving their tubes.

The only reliable way to detect it is to just keep banging away on active sonar, making sure to change course and speed often to keep him from getting an easy firing solution. Use the MH-60's buoys once you've got an idea of where the Kilo is at. It seems odd, but sometimes, at these detection ranges, the FFG's own torpedoes are likely to come into use with attacking the boat.

You should note that the LWAMI mod allows the helo to make use of it's dipping sonar, which works wonders in saving sonobuoys for use elsewhere.

[tmdgm]

thanks for the info. i'll give lwami a shot. I just downloaded 3.09 and the 3.10 patch.