Teleporting nav map contacts

[Tango589]

I've noticed that sometimes the nav map contacts can jump from one place on the map to another, with no warning, and this can really mess things up if I've just launched a Mk 48 at the target only for it to disappear at the last minute!

What's the cause of this and can it be fixed?

[FPSchazly]

Well, is this with truth on or not? Is this with Autocrew TMA on or not?

[Pisces]

Or is the position or bearing data coming from your own sensors, or through the (data)link.

[Tango589]

Truth is off, autocrew TMA is on. This is either with another allied vessel ie. quick mission, or my own sensors, ie. Campaign Vladivostock recon mission.

[Pisces]

This is either with another allied vessel ie. quick mission, or my own sensors, ie. Campaign Vladivostock recon mission.

Well, that doesn't really narrow it down. Can you provide a screenshot the next time it happens in your game? Include the TMA plot.

Also, do you mean jumping in range, along the bearing/Line of Sound?, or really 'all over the map' ... left right and nowhere. If the later, you may have tried to shoot torpedoes at an airborne target.

The Auto-TMA crew updates the position to the best of its possibilities based on the bearings it gets from your sensors. (And some Divine Inspiration) If the bearings are angled such that no precise range can be found then the solution might wander all over the place in range. A slight variation in bearing change might make a big difference in range. It's hard to tell what happened since we do not know what the TMA bearing plot looked like.

Allied vessels usually show up as a blue (data)link contacts, provided this layer is allowed in the configuration settings, and selected in the right-click menu of the map. These data link contacts are pretty accurate and realtime. To my knowledge these do not jump. They seem to work even if there is no radio antenna extended or streamed. So I wonder if this is sort of a cheat/simplification.

[Tango589]

Sorry about being vague, I'm still getting to grips with it all. When I say 'teleporting' I mean miraculously moving from one point on the map to another a couple of nm's away in an instant. One of the oddest I saw way during the campaign mission to drop arms on the oil rigs and I was watching one of the rigs drifting through the sea like it had broken free of its moorings!

[Overkill]

From what you've described I'd have to agree that it's most likely the Auto-TMA. As new info comes in from sonar the auto-crew will try to update the TMA picture and in the process the location will often move several times and usually over great distances. It even does it with stationary objects as technically they are guessing as to the actual location of the object.

I hope that helps rather than cause'n even more confusion.

[FPSchazly]

Yeah, sometimes when I have auto-TMA on (only in the Perry, I swear..), I will sometimes get the auto-TMA thinking an air contact has turned into a cargo ship or something so I see a cargo ship flying through the air haha it's happened a few times in my videos. Link has also been on when this has happened so who knows where it's actually coming from. I can guarantee, though, that if Link and auto-TMA are off, this will not happen

Also, show Allies is indeed analogous to showing truth. Those are real contacts.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by FPSchazly

...Link has also been on when this has happened so who knows where it's actually coming from....

Well, if you select the contact the bottom of the data windows shows which sensors provide the data to the TMA station.

It is important to make a distinction if the jumping around is along the range direction, or if it is also moving to a different bearing. The last case suggests the contact is the fake mirror contact of the Towed Array, or somehow a fast moving (likely airborne) contact. (or a late update of the solution after regaining the lost signal) And the AutoTMA crew seems to get a divine message which one it is when you designate a contact, and drops it.

So the first case is most likely happening. The bearings given by the sensors do not contain enough information to the TMA-Autocrew to narrow down the range. Changing your speed across the line of sound makes a difference in that. Either change speed (significantly) on your current course for a couple of bearing intervals, or change course to the other side of the line of sound. When making a course change you need to wait before the towed array has been straightened out again. The intermediate bearings cannot be trusted and should be ignored. This causes different patterns in how the bearing lines cross and can help tell minimal and maximum distances, or if the contact is stationary. But if the other guy has detected you too, this can be beneficial for him too. The AI may not be smart enough to make use of these paterns, but multiplayer-opponent can if they are clever enough.

On Subguru.com you can find several documents that explain the TMA dotstack and line of sound behaviour. Maybe there are still other sites where you can find it. (probably here on subsim too) But I simply don't know any current ones.