Amnectrus
Posts: 80
Joined: 10/22/2015 Status: offline
|
I've played it twice, failed the first time and partially succeeded the second. The Sturgeons in 1975 don't have a towed array, but they do have an exceptionally long ranged hull sonar (40nm). I noticed there's one CZ ring showing, near the outer limits of the range, and I had thought that only towed arrays could see CZs (I'm too new to post links, but see the Mega-FAQ on the Warfare Sims site), so that confused me for a while. I found that losing stealth on the subs pretty much means death. If they pick you up, they can launch the Soviet anti-sub rockets that drop a torpedo on you from about 30nm, and I believe they must also have helicopters and/or maritime patrol aircraft, as I'm pretty sure I've been tracked while being outside all visible enemy sonar ranges. If you stay carefully hidden though, the Sturgeons have a lot better equipment than the Soviet stuff. I blundered into an ASW patrol on my first one and USS Whale died quickly. Decided to restart and seemed like I got luckier in the beginning and missed the patrol altogether. I put my two subs in line-abreast formation, just within mutual supporting sonar range, creeping from the southern datum to the northern, and used one sub to take out targets for the second with those nuclear SUBROCs (which are amazing, but don't drop them too close). I know there have been discussions here about the handling of sub communication in the game, and this felt kinda bad since my subs wouldn't have been able to communicate detailed targeting information to each other (AFAIK). But I killed one boomer and an attack sub by the southern datum using that method without drawing any return fire, so I went up toward the northern datum waypoint. Tunny found the other boomer, but got too close to the escorting subs and ships, and was localized and killed. Whale got picked up as well, and I thought I'd broken all contact, but then there was a string of torpedoes out of nowhere. Dodged two but the third bored right in and Tunny was gone. I'm attributing that one to maritime patrol aircraft. Still, killing one boomer, even at the cost of both subs, gives you enough points to pass, so I'm on to try out the next mission. Two questions I've had on my mind: * As mentioned above, the Sturgeon-class available in 1975 does not have a towed array, but does show one CZ ring. The Mega-FAQ suggests that CZ rings are an indicator that the towed array is working, so which is correct, and/or how do we tell if a towed array is deployed or not? * I've been able to track surface ships while they are clearly in my 'baffles', the wedge of dead-space behind the Sturgeon where the hull sonar can't hear. Is that because they are above me (on the surface), and so they're outside the 'baffles' as modeled in 3D?
|