ASW - all units converge on single sub, leave rest of area unprotected

[ColonelMolerat]

When I have a large ASW patrol, and a contact is spotted, all of the units assigned will barrel towards the target, then drop all of their sonobuoys on it.

If the target is destroyed, they will fly back to the rest of the ASW area, but drop their sonobuoys on the way, often running out.

This leaves one portion of the ASW area totally saturated with sonobuoys/detection, and the rest totally bare.

If I tell the units to drop the contact, they pick it right up again.

If I unassign units from the ASW patrol, and manually send them to patrol the 'empty' areas, reserve units (under the 1/3 rule) will take off to fill the place they've left, using up unnecessary assets.

Does anybody have any tips for how to avoid this?

[mikmykWS]

Try prosecution zones.

Mike

[ColonelMolerat]

Ah, cheers! I've not used them very much. Time for some experimenting!

[Aivlis]

It sounds like your patrol area might just be too big. Consider giving each ASW detachment its own hunting grounds; it's both simple and realistic.

[Rory Noonan]

Also if your sure you're not interested in a contact mark it neutral and it will be ignored.

[ColonelMolerat]

ORIGINAL: Aivlis

It sounds like your patrol area might just be too big. Consider giving each ASW detachment its own hunting grounds; it's both simple and realistic.

Haha, yes, as soon as Mike mentioned prosecution zones, I got thinking about patrol areas and came to this conclusion.

It's funny - I've played several hundred hours of CMANO in the last few months, and every single one of my ASW zones has been one big area (for each type of asset) around my convoy. It wasn't until this comment that it even occurred to me to split it into multiple zones!

[SeaQueen]

I do that all the time to avoid exactly the problems people discussed, I put the helo beyond ASROC range and the MPA somewhere beyond the area I give to the helos. Depending on how much I have, I might split things into sectors. For example, if I have a few helos dipping in front of some advancing ships, I might divide the space into a sector for each so that they all don't rush to attack one target if something is detected.

Using a different combinations of prosecution areas, patrol areas, and confining units to their patrol areas allows one to be fairly sophisticated in how you manage a battle. You can also experiment with different tactics.

ORIGINAL: ColonelMolerat
It's funny - I've played several hundred hours of CMANO in the last few months, and every single one of my ASW zones has been one big area (for each type of asset) around my convoy. It wasn't until this comment that it even occurred to me to split it into multiple zones!

[ComDev]

Known shortcoming. Might try a fix for whatever version comes after 1.11. Or the one after the one after 1.11 [8D]

[SeaQueen]

I wasn't aware there was a shortcoming.

Sometimes I want to have more than one asset attack a target. I might chose to have an MPA and a helo work together, for example. I'll have the helo fly an orbit someplace nearby, set a prosecution area for it that is the same as the MPA patrol area. Then I tell the MPA not to drop torpedoes on submarines in the doctrine screen. The MPA ought to do the search and localization, while the helo goes in for the kill.

I think I can do that as things currently stand.

ORIGINAL: emsoy

Known shortcoming. Might try a fix for whatever version comes after 1.11. Or the one after the one after 1.11 [8D]

[ComDev]

I'd like the player to be able to specify how many flights shall investigate each contact. The default value will be 'not specified' which means that, unless explisitly changed by the player or scenario designer, the behaviour will be identical to what it is today [8D]

No promise on ETA, as usual.

[ColonelMolerat]

ORIGINAL: emsoy

Known shortcoming. Might try a fix for whatever version comes after 1.11. Or the one after the one after 1.11 [8D]

Known shortcoming. Might try a fix for whatever version comes after 1.11. Or the one after the one after 1.11

You devs are phenomenal! Cheers!

This may well be something players can work around (as others have said), but for those of use who are less experienced, that'd be a great addition - thanks!