• To make an approximate classification of vessel type, use the DEMON display. Count the number of blades.
• If you see a very faint contact on the broadband, try clicking rapidly to assign a tracker if one click won't do it.
• When using the ESM, a few feet less depth will increase the signal.
• Merge two contacts when you've firmly established they represent the same vessel.
• Drop a contact from the tracker once it has been neutralized.
• Change course after 10 minutes to narrow your shooting solution. Three such changes greatly enhance your solution.
• To determine if a contact is above or below the thermal layer, cross the thermal yourself and check the signal strength. It is strongest on the side of the thermal the vessels occupies.

• Use Harpoons against small ships only. They aren't as powerful as your ADCAPs and can be knocked down by SAM missiles.
• Use an active torpedo and follow it by a passive torpedo set at a slightly slower speed. The active will spook the enemy and make him turn max knots, which aids the passive's tracking system.
• Route Tomahawks around known SAM sites. SAMs have a range of 10 nautical miles.
• When operating in a well-defined thermal environment, set one torpedo to travel above the thermal and one to travel below the thermal.

• As you earn points from single and career games, you can upgrade your crew capabilities. Be sure you enable the crew assist features in the option page. This is legal and different from the "expert crew" cheats.
• Maximize the TMA crewman first. He has the most difficult job.
• The most useful upgrades improve your detection advantage. Use points to improve the spherical and towed arrays, and own ship quieting.
• To take advantage of the detection advantage, next improve the ADCAP.
• The propeller upgrade allows your boat to reach speeds of 40 knots. Very useful in multi-player games.

Harpoon Employment Tips

 It has been suggested that you should fire more than one Harpoon at surface ships, It's been my experience that the minute the ship you are attacking is fatally wounded, (as determined by It's characteristically breaking in half) even if 90% of the ship is still above the water line, any following Harpoons will circle the dying vessel until she goes under then search for the next available target to aquire. Now because the shut down ranges for the Harpoon are so very far apart, I suggest firing one at a time until you learn through either experience or documentation how many missiles it will take to sink each different ship in the sim. If were talking about an FFG or DDG that has SAMs, what you do is work your way in close enough so as not to give the enemy ship ample reaction time. Your other option is of course, ADCAPs. In a situation when while in one mission it takes one Harpoon to sink an Osa II and two days later in the same mission it takes two Harpoons to do the same job and there is a 20Mi. gap between the Harpoon's shutdown ranges and you have multiple neutral surface contacts, I've found that "Better Safe Than Sorry" is the term you want to embrace! If there are no other surface contacts, and you don't have to conserve your ordnance, then by all means fire away!! But as we with 688i experience all know, very few of the more advanced missions and certainly not the more advanced campaigns make things that easy, and if they were, how much fun would they be?  -- submitted by Christopher

• Need help setting up a multi-player game? Read the MULTI-PLAYER GUIDE.
• When Sonar reports torpedoes in the water, stealth becomes low priority. Be prepared to turn maximum knots.
• Hold your countermeasures until you are certain the torpedo has targeted you.
• To evade passive torpedoes, you would assume you need to minimize noise and go slow. Not true in a multi-player game. Passive torpedoes give off no sonar pings to warn you of their arrival. If your opponent launches a torpedo and you do not hear the characteristic pinging after a few minutes, you can assume he's guiding a passive torpedo to your sub using the 3D viewer. The only evasion technique is to turn and burn and dump CMs.
• Active sonar has few disadvantages in multi play.
• Use the 688(I)'s maximum depth capabilities.
• Hold your fire if you can. This allows you to close the distance between you and your opponent after he has fired first. Then you can bring your ADCAPs to bear at much more effective range.
• Use any surface traffic as camouflage. A tanker will mask your signature quite well and draw enemy torpedoes.