Float Planes at night

[Boomer Redleg]

I noticed that I can't assign a float plane to an ASW mission at night but I can assign Naval Search at night. Does flying a Naval Search mission at night with a FP at a low altitude in a tight search radius of 1 hex help prevent enemy sub attacks at night?

[obvert]

Yes, but since your TF is likely moving, and the sub are moving, more than one hex can help too. Night and day search plus ASW al work to keep sub DL up so that they have more difficulty attacking and you have a higher possibility to one.

[Boomer Redleg]

ORIGINAL: obvert

Yes, but since your TF is likely moving, and the sub are moving, more than one hex can help too. Night and day search plus ASW al work to keep sub DL up so that they have more difficulty attacking and you have a higher possibility to one.

Each hex is 46 miles. If I'm trying to find enemy subs at night why would I fly a float plane beyond a 1 hex range? Does not the chance of detecting a sub increase if I decrease the search area?

Does the hex type my TF is in factor into detection? Is it easier for FP to detect enemy subs in coastal or shallow hexes instead of deep sea hexes?

[Lokasenna]

ORIGINAL: Boomer Redleg

ORIGINAL: obvert

Yes, but since your TF is likely moving, and the sub are moving, more than one hex can help too. Night and day search plus ASW al work to keep sub DL up so that they have more difficulty attacking and you have a higher possibility to one.

Each hex is 46 miles. If I'm trying to find enemy subs at night why would I fly a float plane beyond a 1 hex range? Does not the chance of detecting a sub increase if I decrease the search area?

Does the hex type my TF is in factor into detection? Is it easier for FP to detect enemy subs in coastal or shallow hexes instead of deep sea hexes?

With float planes, you don't really run into the problem of inverse relationship between search distance and sighting chance. As far as I know, search in this game engine works by arcs of 10 degrees. Note that there are only 6 hexes adjacent to any one hex; therefore, each of those hexes has somewhere around 6 arcs searching it. It isn't until you get out to longer ranges, perhaps near the maximum Jake search range, that you may suffer from gaps in hexes searched due to arcs not overlapping. Even if you don't set arcs, I think the game still uses them (they are random if you don't set them manually). I'm about 85% sure on everything I just said.

[alimentary]

ORIGINAL: Lokasenna
With float planes, you don't really run into the problem of inverse relationship between search distance and sighting chance. As far as I know, search in this game engine works by arcs of 10 degrees. Note that there are only 6 hexes adjacent to any one hex; therefore, each of those hexes has somewhere around 6 arcs searching it. It isn't until you get out to longer ranges, perhaps near the maximum Jake search range, that you may suffer from gaps in hexes searched due to arcs not overlapping. Even if you don't set arcs, I think the game still uses them (they are random if you don't set them manually). I'm about 85% sure on everything I just said.

Of course, at ranges of 4 hexes or less, search arcs are irrelevant. You get 360 degree search regardless and without penalty. So any discussion of search arcs must involve range 5 or greater.

At a 9 hex range, 10 degrees is a search arc that is one hex wide.

The search probability algorithms are, to my knowledge, undisclosed. My expectation would be the algorithm would be such that all hexes within the search sector(s) would have a non-zero probability of detection and that the probability would reduce with increased distance. The manual explicitly mentions a drop-off in detection chance after 5 hexes. Forum discussions have mentioned a further drop off beyond about 11 or 12 hexes iirc.

In answer to the question: "Does reducing range increase detection chance?", the manual answers specifically and in the affirmative. Section 7.1, page 151:

"Setting the max range to a lower range than
the full extended range will improve the chance to detect, as this can
translate to more flights by the same plane. Because the search can be
terminated due to detecting a TF, it possible better targets may be missed."