Rescue Surviror Button

[skirich]

Anyone ever use this option?


Rescue who? Whats the point?

[propbeanie]

The Manual is sadly lacking in detail on any of the missions you might encounter, but especially so for the Special Operations. For a rescue to be performed, you have to have a "Survivor", which would be simulate downed pilot. If there is a pilot capable of being rescued, you would see a pink glow, more easily seen at night, but able to be seen during daylight also. This is also sometimes a "sonar line" emanating from them. You have to drive your submarine to within 400-700 yards of them at a minimum, depending upon conditions. Just like with gun targeting, it is easier to get them just off the port or starboard bow than it is from the side, due to the pitch of your boat, but also from possibly being in too close and unable to "target" them. Targeting them requires you to be on the Bridge view, using your binoculars. Similar to "targeting" a ship for gunnery with the spacebar, you would press that Rescue button when you have the pilot survivor in view within your binoculars, and the crosshair goes from yellow to red - press the button and if all goes well, the pilot is magically on your boat and being attended to by medical personnel, and asking about lunch. There are missions with Rescue as the objective, and you might have to pick-up five "survivors, you might have to pick-up ten. Seems to me that the earliest you'll get one is later 1943, and some do attempt to coincide with actual real life missions, but most do not. They can be stressful, because you are on the surface (and you'd better be at battle stations, guns manned), and the shtinking survivors drift and move away from you... You almost have to "track" them sometimes.

So Life Guard duty, you have to be on the surface, manning the bridge using the binoculars. Insert missions with supplies or agents, you have to surface and get the prompt to launch. In both cases, very low speed is required, and you have to be within a designated area. Photo missions also have a defined area, you have to use the periscope, you have to "Lock" the target, you have to use the Camera button, and you have to be close enough and targeting the correct target...

[Sniper297]

Should also add here it's similar to the photo missions - if your patrol doesn't specify photographing or the scope is pointed at something other than the designated target, the camera button does nothing at all. My GONE ASIATIC mod;

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/dow...o=file&id=4358

Has a bunch of planes getting shot down, with both friendly and enemy survivors parachuting down and getting in rafts, but the Rescue Survivor button doesn't work because none of the guys floating around are in the mission orders.

My oldest son joined the Army instead of the Navy because I dropped him on his head too many times when he was a baby. If I had dropped him a few more times he might have become a game programmer.

[jimmbbo]

As propbeanie posted, the rescue missions are woefully under documented in the manual, but there is information on SubSim...

The mission usually requires the sub to be in the designated position at or before a specified date.
On the plot board (F3) the "survivor" is indicated as a target. As you close in, it becomes a parachute, and on the bridge view you'll see an orange smoke flare.

IMO the biggest challenge is that the downed pilots drift significantly from the original plotted position, which must be accounted for when approaching for the rescue...

I am unaware of any means to determine the number of pilots rescued, nor how many are required for mission completion, making the mission the most difficult in SH4

[skirich]

Thanks everyone, good info!