DW RA 688i Turorial Mission Towed Array

[SirJohn]

Hi there.

Try to work my way into the sim but stumble over a problem right away.

I installed the current version of RA and found the 688i tutorial missions are in there. Great. So I start #1 "One step at a time".

The manual says, I have to deploy the TA up to 2600 feet. Mine deploys to 719 feet. I switch the winch off, but no audio appears when I hit the "Towed" button. Neither in Broadband, nor in Narrowband.

I am currently at 60 feet PD and going 10 kts.

I try to find the answer in the manual and via google search.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance.

[SirJohn]

Facepalm myself.

My mistake...wasn't using the towed array, but the floating wire antenna. Found the TA under the orders menu.

Sorry people...

[Ghost Dog]

Was just about to say its the floating wire. in the 688i, you dont see the actual length of cable for the TA. just a bar that fills up.

Keep in mind, the 688i has two different TAs.

Port TA is the TB-16, less sensitive but breaks at 28 kts

Starboard TA is the TB-23, most sensitive but breaks at 24 kts

[SirJohn]

Thank you very much for your answer.

I hope it is ok to that I ask another newb question: I try to work the sonar manually and go through the steps described in the tutorial.

When I can hear a new signal in broadband I hit Designate target and the Sonarman tells me he has this new target which is now designated Sierra two for instance and it is bearing 062 . I can see it on the map and have no clue what it is. But when I then switch to narrowband and go through the frequencies at or around 062 I can see the signature and the “filter” assumes this could be a Victor 3, but I cannot designate this assumption to S2 because in narrowband around 062 there is no S2 but only three dashed lines.

How do I get S2 over to narrowband? I tried to flag it as assumed hostile and submarine on the NAV map, but that doesn’t change a thing.

Thanks in advance!

[Pisces]

Once you assigned a tracker on broadband, you cannot assign a tracker to that contact on a specific frequency (wavy line) in narrowband. You need to free the tracker in broadband first. And vice-versa if you want Demon data (not available from narrowband trackers in vanilla DW at least), you need to unbind the narrowband tracker and assign a broadband tracker to the contact.

The assign button also does not work if there are signals of 2 or more contacts overlapping. In narrowband you may be able to assign the tracker to a unique frequency. Slightly shifting the bearing marker at the top of the bearingscale should show brightness changes in the frequency lines (they change brightness in sync) to indicate which frequencies belong together. Choose the brightest one that isn't overlapping with another frequency.

Also your classification is done on the marker on the map. Right-click to open the classify menus. The filter on the sonar interface only shows which classes fit the lines in varying degrees of likeness. The more lines of a specific class it can show, the more likely it filters out the only one possible remaining.
It doesn't make the classification stick to a contact. (though Sonar autocrew may classify for you and make it stick)

[SirJohn]

Thank you. It is quite confusing that the manual(s) describe things quite detailed, but although there are not many buttons and functions it leaves so many questions.

One thing for instance, that needed intense googling was TLAM manual waypoint function!
You have to set the destruct radius to 4 nm to let the missile explode at the 4th waypoint! WHAT? The manual says (like you could guess): “ Set the destruct range for the missile. This is the range at which the missile will self-destruct if it has not encountered a target.” but whatever I did (like entering 10 / 100 / 800 Nm), it always self destruct at waypoint 1! Then I found the answer in a steam forum, where someone quoted fpschasley saying: “enter 4 to make it explode at waypoint 4”.
That truly works…weird.

[FPSchazly]

Originally Posted by SirJohn

Thank you. It is quite confusing that the manual(s) describe things quite detailed, but although there are not many buttons and functions it leaves so many questions.

One thing for instance, that needed intense googling was TLAM manual waypoint function!
You have to set the destruct radius to 4 nm to let the missile explode at the 4th waypoint! WHAT? The manual says (like you could guess): “ Set the destruct range for the missile. This is the range at which the missile will self-destruct if it has not encountered a target.” but whatever I did (like entering 10 / 100 / 800 Nm), it always self destruct at waypoint 1! Then I found the answer in a steam forum, where someone quoted fpschasley saying: “enter 4 to make it explode at waypoint 4”.
That truly works…weird.

Yeah that's just how it works in RA You can do a lot of elaborate weapon things with RA by pressing weird button combos, but it's often too much for me to care about it.

[Pisces]

That's the thing with mods like RA. It doesn't always use the user interface elements like the original manual explains them. It gives them different functions to allow more complex behavior and control over them. Same with torpedo settings.

Only trust the manual when it comes to a vanilla install.

[SirJohn]

Oh I didn't know that this was actually due to the mod, but thank you for clarification.

I understand, that there might be a purpose behind the function to let it explode let's say at waypoint 2 although there are waypoints 3 and 4 coming after that, but to be honest: it doesn't make any sense.

Anyhow.

I thought RA would be something like "community's finest mod/patch" and installed it right away. Well reading helps...as this forum does.

Thanks again.

Might try LWAMI, too, as you FPSchazly recommend it...but first need to find out the differences and features

o7

[Kapitan]

If you think playing in a submarine is hard try playing the FFG or DDG

Theres loads of info out there and a couple of groups on discord that play regularly and these groups can help you plus not to mention it is great fun !

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by SirJohn

...
Anyhow.

I thought RA would be something like "community's finest mod/patch" and installed it right away. Well reading helps...as this forum does.
...

It's the latest and currently still worked on I guess. But seems to significantly change the user interface to model other playable classes. And does change the doctrine scripts more than LWAMI does over stock DW. It adds more complexity to the game, so will be harder to learn I guess. But if you start with stock DW or LWAMI then you have to unlearn some things if you play the others. But that is modding rules of the trade, as always.

Don't forget mods usually come with their own documentation on what they changed over stock DW.