Realism mod (discussion)

[The Bandit]

Originally Posted by PL_Harpoon

I think, with all the available exposed parameters it's more up to us, than developers to find the most realistic parameters for various systems in the game.

The reason for this thread is that we can discuss ideas to make the game more realistic within the boundaries of what's currently possible. I don't want this thread to turn into "what could have been done if the devs do xxx" so that we can focus on the actual improvements. Then we could put everything together and release as a realism mod.

For starters, here are a couple of ideas from me:

1. The towed array should be more sensitive in comparison to spherical one.
While playing DW I noticed that towed array usually can detect targets at almost twice the range of sphere sonar. I could be wrong with the numbers here but I think there's enough people here with enough knowledge to find the proper values. In any case I think we should either improve the towed array or nerf passive sonar.

2. Mark 48:
- sensor range should be 1600 instead of current 4000 (according to this site: https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/weaps/mk-48.htm)
- sensor angle should be smaller (currently it's 80 which I think is a little too large)

3. MAD sensor range should be around 200-400 yards, not 1000.
(according to this paper: http://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/han...pdf?sequence=1)

4. Sonobuoys should be less effective than dipping sonar - that's just my impressions with my limited time with DW.

What do you think about those ideas?

I think this is a good idea, and you're generally right in what you are saying, however there are always exceptions.

Early 80s for towed array is a little iffy for me, I think the 688s just had the TB-16 starting out (so did some of the Sturgeons) but many of the others had earlier "clip-on" types BQR-15 and -23 if I'm not mistaken, which were a step or two behind the TB-16 and came with speed restrictions (would be very interesting if the clip-on Towed array could be an inventoried item like the sonobuoys, so if you ripped it off you could choose to fit another when you enter port).

As far as the sonobouys, I'm in agreement, typically I wouldn't think that the batteries would be as strong as what a helo could put out through a dipping sonar, however what I'm most interested in when it comes to buoys is if they act like they "should" specifically if they are alternated over / under the layer and if the AI will use / has to use patterns to correctly localize a contact. My understanding is that until the electronics got a bit more sophisticated, the passive buoys were very general with little to no bearing information, so typically patterns would be dropped and signal strengths compared to localize the contact (or you could risk just dropping an active buoy if you think that the passive contact is strong enough). The point I'm trying to get across is that I don't feel that dropping one buoy which is then followed by a rain of depth charges and torpedoes really fits with realism.