My 688 must have a squeek

[PL_Harpoon]

Originally Posted by Nippelspanner

At what distance?
And how fast where you doing this?
A layer is no magic shield that protects you all the time, but it sure can help.

I agree though, the enemy always finds you even if you do your utmost to prevent this - and that really has to change.

It's strange cause I don't have that experience at all.
I believe that at the start of the engagement, if you don't choose to close in the game will put you at a distance at which either you can detect them or they can detect you. So if the sea is really noisy you can start the engagement inside their active sonar range. But in perfect conditions you can start as far as 30 KYDS(@devs - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here)

[Tinman764]

Originally Posted by PL_Harpoon

It's strange cause I don't have that experience at all.
I believe that at the start of the engagement, if you don't choose to close in the game will put you at a distance at which either you can detect them or they can detect you. So if the sea is really noisy you can start the engagement inside their active sonar range. But in perfect conditions you can start as far as 30 KYDS(@devs - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here)

There is an option to change the games distance scale from 1/2 (the default) to 1/1. I had changed this and was getting picked up on the enemy active as soon as I started each time.
I've changed this back to the default and it is exactly how you describe - much more managable.

I'm pretty sure this is a bug.

[PL_Harpoon]

Originally Posted by Tinman764

There is an option to change the games distance scale from 1/2 (the default) to 1/1. I had changed this and was getting picked up on the enemy active as soon as I started each time.
I've changed this back to the default and it is exactly how you describe - much more managable.

I'm pretty sure this is a bug.

The thing is, changing the game to 1:1 was literally the first thing I did after launching the game and I haven't touched that button since then.

[Tinman764]

Originally Posted by PL_Harpoon

The thing is, changing the game to 1:1 was literally the first thing I did after launching the game and I haven't touched that button since then.

Hmm.. Strange. It was the first thing I did too and I've had nothing but frustration trying to play it.
I changed it back to the default and it's *almost* too easy now.

[PL_Harpoon]

There's one other thing though. Some missions (TLAM strike, seal insertion) have fixed starting position. That's where I have problems too and I think this actually is a bug. All the normal engagements seem fine to me.

[cj95]

Originally Posted by Tinman764

Hmm.. Strange. It was the first thing I did too and I've had nothing but frustration trying to play it.
I changed it back to the default and it's *almost* too easy now.

Other than the changes in detection, do you find any downsides to the 1:2 ratio?

Its also pretty much the first thing I changed, but am wondering actually what it does now.

Arcade unrealistic?

[Tinman764]

Originally Posted by cj95

Other than the changes in detection, do you find any downsides to the 1:2 ratio?

Its also pretty much the first thing I changed, but am wondering actually what it does now.

Arcade unrealistic?

It's bareable, but I'd prefer the longer distance scale. The engagements now nearly always start in my favour and it's fairly easy to stay undetected.

[ollie1983]

Err, you say you go to silent running and begin 'beaming' the enemy?

You mean active sonar?

Don't use it. It just shows everyone your position unless they are close- probably 15kyds or less.

Stay at 5-10 knots, move in one direction, then another and rely on passive sonar and towed array.

Avoid making very acute course changes or depth changes as it would degrade tower array performance.

Change depth slowly and with the planes only.

I can kill enemy subs without them ever knowing the direction it was fired from.

[Tinman764]

Originally Posted by ollie1983

Err, you say you go to silent running and begin 'beaming' the enemy?

You mean active sonar?

Don't use it. It just shows everyone your position unless they are close- probably 15kyds or less.

Stay at 5-10 knots, move in one direction, then another and rely on passive sonar and towed array.

Avoid making very acute course changes or depth changes as it would degrade tower array performance.

Change depth slowly and with the planes only.

I can kill enemy subs without them ever knowing the direction it was fired from.

No, I mean presenting the broadside of the sub to the contact to get a better passive return.

[Wiz33]

Originally Posted by Tinman764

No, I mean presenting the broadside of the sub to the contact to get a better passive return.

Ah but if you notice their active sonar strength does go up when you present your broadside. If you face towards them it goes down. so you have to watch that too.

[xXNightEagleXx]

With the risk of being obvious, repeat what has already been said and/or you already know, i'll give you my two cents.

I'll focus on enemy sensors.

I'll start by saying that their passive sensor is linked mainly by these factors:
1 - Noise produced by your ship
2 - Whether or not you are within their operational angle arc
3 - Your distance
4 - Your depth
5 - If the path between both is clear (any ship between can create enough disturb to destroy the signal

What you can do to decrease their passive signal is to put some distance, reduce or kill your speed, activate silent running, put some other ship between, change the layer and most important stay in its shadow zone.
Decrease your depth will be effective only if you can go pretty deep like beyond 1000 ft (works pretty well against choppers)

The active sensor on the other hand are linked to:
1 - Your distance
2 - Your profile exposure

So what you can do is put some distance and try to limit your exposure (having the target directly on your bow or stern) and again stay in the shadow zone.

So first of all please do not beam the target unless the active value is low, otherwise you will just make easier for them to spot you once the value increase. Second decrease any noise generated by your sub as much as possible (or at least the necessary amount in order to avoid finding yourself moving too slow to maneuver in time). Third, try to understand as soon as possible whether there is a safe shadow zone but beware of choppers, if choppers presence are already confirmed then you will have to consider going deep. Fourth, try to use their own sensor limits against them.

Devs already said that limiting your aspect can cut the value by up to 25%. I'll give some examples, if you beam the target with an active value of 10 and he pings you then be sure he will start to track you. On the other hand, if you aim perfectly toward the enemy or away from the enemy, to detect you they will need four time the normal value (10/0.25 = 40). Can you take this as a safe value? No! Because once they are simply too close, like below 3000yrds, they will at least move toward you, maybe without engaging you. It happened more than once that i got a ping from a target about 2.5kyds but the relative bearing was 0 and he simply did not see me.

For last but not least, in theory the active sonar should be disturbed when you are close to the bottom but after many test i can confirm that it is not working like this in this game or at least how the AI reacts to this dirty value. In the best scenario i saw them just parking above me for a long time, but usually they will just stay there and attack you.

[Julhelm]

Ambient noise and flow noise greatly affect the sonar detection, as well.

[Tinman764]

Originally Posted by xXNightEagleXx

With the risk of being obvious, repeat what has already been said and/or you already know, i'll give you my two cents.

I'll focus on enemy sensors.

I'll start by saying that their passive sensor is linked mainly by these factors:
1 - Noise produced by your ship
2 - Whether or not you are within their operational angle arc
3 - Your distance
4 - Your depth
5 - If the path between both is clear (any ship between can create enough disturb to destroy the signal

What you can do to decrease their passive signal is to put some distance, reduce or kill your speed, activate silent running, put some other ship between, change the layer and most important stay in its shadow zone.
Decrease your depth will be effective only if you can go pretty deep like beyond 1000 ft (works pretty well against choppers)

The active sensor on the other hand are linked to:
1 - Your distance
2 - Your profile exposure

So what you can do is put some distance and try to limit your exposure (having the target directly on your bow or stern) and again stay in the shadow zone.

So first of all please do not beam the target unless the active value is low, otherwise you will just make easier for them to spot you once the value increase. Second decrease any noise generated by your sub as much as possible (or at least the necessary amount in order to avoid finding yourself moving too slow to maneuver in time). Third, try to understand as soon as possible whether there is a safe shadow zone but beware of choppers, if choppers presence are already confirmed then you will have to consider going deep. Fourth, try to use their own sensor limits against them.

Devs already said that limiting your aspect can cut the value by up to 25%. I'll give some examples, if you beam the target with an active value of 10 and he pings you then be sure he will start to track you. On the other hand, if you aim perfectly toward the enemy or away from the enemy, to detect you they will need four time the normal value (10/0.25 = 40). Can you take this as a safe value? No! Because once they are simply too close, like below 3000yrds, they will at least move toward you, maybe without engaging you. It happened more than once that i got a ping from a target about 2.5kyds but the relative bearing was 0 and he simply did not see me.

For last but not least, in theory the active sonar should be disturbed when you are close to the bottom but after many test i can confirm that it is not working like this in this game or at least how the AI reacts to this dirty value. In the best scenario i saw them just parking above me for a long time, but usually they will just stay there and attack you.

Hi NightEagle, thanks for you post.

My main issue was I was starting missions where the enemy sub already had over +10 on his passive return to me before I'd even had a chance to take any action.
I don't know if this was because I was using the distance scale set to 1/1 because it didn't happen every time, but since changing it back to the default setting of 1/2 it hasn't happened at all.