Sonar and radar - worth the investment?

[Immacolata]

Will the sonar and radar become useful during SH3s career or will they be so much of a liability that you never use them? I am just wondering if I should try and purchase them before my next winter patrol.

[Ducimus]

Radar is well worth it in foul weather. Although i woudlnt leave it on all the time.

Sonar is probably more worth the renown then radar is, as you can range targets with it in any submerged situation. (IE, not just useable in foulweather ) Moreso worth it, because unfortunatly the AI doesnt respond very well to active sonar pings from your uboat. Ive heard that 5 or 6 pings will get their attention, but ive never really tested that so i can't confirm it.

[Immacolata]

Why is that unfortunate? Was sonar dangerous in the actual war conditions to use? I know that a modern submarine commander would never allow the active sonar to be used, because hydrophones can pinpoint the datum point. But could they back then?

[Ducimus]

They could hear a pumps and machinery on a uboat, active sonar ping would be like saying, "here i am, come and get me!"

[Finnbat]

Only once had use of radar. The weather was very bad and didnt see anything, so with the help of radar I found my enemy.
Never had any use of sonar.

Radar: I upgraded to radar once, long ago. I'll never do it again. For one thing, I kept forgetting to turn it off at the very start of a patrol, and having it on all the time is like saying 'Come and get me!'. Secondly, I never really got it to work, so it seemed rather useless and pointless.

Sonar: I always upgrade to it when I can. I rarely use it, mostly because it does risk giving me away when I do. There are, however, times I do effectively use it. Mostly that's during very bad visibility when I'm pursuing a one or two ship contact. I'll position myself (hopefully) in an intercept position then, when my sonar operator starts reporting contacts I'll ping then once and mark their position, then ping them once again 5 - 10 minutes later and make a second mark to establish their baseline course and speed. I'll periodically ping until they're within 1 klick then I'll rise to periscope depth and continue with visual observations.

I've never had a merchie react to my pinging them. Then again, I might only have pinged them a total of 5 times over 50 minutes, and I'm pretty sure a merchie crew isn't on their toes 100% all the time listening for pings (assuming they'd even hear one at 4 klicks out). I'm not sure how escorts react, as I've never pinged one before.

On the same hand I don't know how escorts react when you ping for depth either. My understanding is that they can hear you ping for depth (which certainly makes sense) so doing so is pretty much announcing a U-boat is in the area. Now I have pinged for depth with escorts around. However, as they were within 1 klick of my position and already actively pinging me, and as I was flank-speed 'crash-diving', I wasn't overly worried about my pinging for depth giving me away Smashing into the seafloor, however, was something that concerned me, which is why I take the time to ping whilst evading.

[andy_311]

Either am very lucky and the escorts Iv'e encountered in late 44 are dumb(very doubtful) but when I pinged for depth not 1 has detected me or came towards me even if I tried to do my best to attract his attention,okay I have done a few stupid things in late 44 ie periscope fully erect thats got me a few times and travelling at hight speed suberged but pinging no.
Secondly it was mentioned you can turn your radar off how do you do that?

[THE_MASK]

Originally Posted by andy_311

Either am very lucky and the escorts Iv'e encountered in late 44 are dumb(very doubtful) but when I pinged for depth not 1 has detected me or came towards me even if I tried to do my best to attract his attention,okay I have done a few stupid things in late 44 ie periscope fully erect thats got me a few times and travelling at hight speed suberged but pinging no.
Secondly it was mentioned you can turn your radar off how do you do that?

Pretty sure i read somewhere on the mods forum that pinging for depth unfortunately doesnt have any affect on AI .

Originally Posted by andy_311

Secondly it was mentioned you can turn your radar off how do you do that?

There are two ways. The first way is to click on your radio operator, then click on the radar button, then click on the power button.



The problem with that is that the button doesn't ever change, so you've no real way of seeing if the radar is actually on or off. The better way is to go to the radio room and look at the radar, and click on the power toggle switch on the actual radar (as I don't have radar I couldn't screen-shot it for you). I believe the switch is labeled 'ein/auf' but don't quote me on that.

Physically toggling the power you'll see the radar screen turn on and off.

[kylania]

Originally Posted by Albrecht Von Hesse

The problem with that is that the button doesn't ever change, so you've no real way of seeing if the radar is actually on or off.

Are you sure about that? I was using GW 1.1a last nite and the proper state of the radar was tinted gold. While off the "power" button you've highlighted above was gold. While on the "continous sweep" or single was tinted gold.

Originally Posted by kylania

Are you sure about that? I was using GW 1.1a last nite and the proper state of the radar was tinted gold. While off the "power" button you've highlighted above was gold. While on the "continous sweep" or single was tinted gold.

Actually, no, I'm not positive about that. I am positive about that when running the stock (vanilla) game, but I'm not sure what, if any, changes might exist within GW 1.1A, as I've never upgraded to radar and tried it out since modding to GW.

[Hybris]

I can support kylania in GW1.1a the buttons are gold tinted.

[Hylander_1314]

I don't use either one, as they tend to be too much of a liability to me, personally. Too many times they drew DD's or aircraft to my position and ruined my attack approach. The radar warning equiptment is good to have though. It let's you know if there are lots of escorts by the ammount of warnings you get.

I prefer to stay with the hydrophones and the upgrades as they become available. It's not as effective as the more modern gear, but it will make things easier for you, as you can still sneak up on a convoy, and get into a pretty good firing position, albeit further distances than you may be used to.

[fxn]

I've never used either one, mainly because I've never gone so far in the game where the upgrades are available. What I would like to know, are there any historical records of u-boats using Radar and/or Sonar effectively during the war? If I was a u-boat captian I would stick to hydrophones, the Allied ASW were far too superior. Radar/Sonar would just be a liability.

[Incubus]

Yeah, given my new doctorine (avoid DDs like the plague if I can) I'd rather have passive detection gear than active stuff. Although if there was a radar capable of detecting aircraft outside visible range/in clouds, that would be useful later on- if they were that close they probably already know you're there already, but you have enough time to crash dive before the bombs start falling.