Matrix Games Forums

So I just got into Harpoon after getting the book "red storm rising" from a friend, reading it is like reading a very fancy AAR, I bought both the CE & ANW but prefer the CE.

Anyway, couple of questions.

Towed sonar array's, I know not all ships have them, but do you manually deploy them or are they done auto? If not how do you deploy?

Sub hunting... If I play as NATO I rarely find a sub, Im trying everything from creeping with passive to slow crusie with active, along with spreading out my forces and covering parts of my formation with ASW helo's. The normal result is for me getting a torp in the side of my ship before I even know what happened. If I play as the reds lots of my subs are found all the time by helo's, I swear the AI knows exactly where I am at the start of the scenario? Even though Im creeping at deep with active sonar off, they still find me!

What am I doing wrong? Also, Is there a way to setup ASW patrols outside of your "formation" that will automatically drop sonobouys or must I do this manually (which I do but I forget about them and they just go off without dropping bouys ).

ORIGINAL: Piggy

Towed sonar array's, I know not all ships have them, but do you manually deploy them or are they done auto? If not how do you deploy?

Welcome aboard, shipmate. [8D]

Towed sonar arrays are always automatically deployed whenever possible. You can see which ships have them by enabling it with the Game Option menu (Ctrl+M). In the unit window, you will see a little line extending from a ship that is pulling a towed array. If your ship turns, it takes a few minutes for the arrays to straighten out before they return data to you.

Thanks,

Just read in another thread that ASW patrols outside of your formation will not auto drop sonobouys... oh well.

Sorry I didnt get to your PM Hermanhum, I fired up the ANW but wow... didnt really like it, I find CE to way more appealing at the moment.

ORIGINAL: Piggy
Towed sonar array's, I know not all ships have them, but do you manually deploy them or are they done auto? If not how do you deploy?

Automatically deployed as Herman as described, but keep in mind they will be useless to you at high speeds. Optimum sonar performance will be achieved at cruise speed (typically 19 kt) or less.

Sub hunting... If I play as NATO I rarely find a sub, Im trying everything from creeping with passive to slow crusie with active, along with spreading out my forces and covering parts of my formation with ASW helo's. The normal result is for me getting a torp in the side of my ship before I even know what happened.

There's a thread somewhere on this forum that talks about ASW tactics generally, but note that generally speaking, submarine sonar performance will outclass your surface ships, especially if you're part of the 'thundering herd'. You may have ships in your formation that are much louder than others, and you may have others that perform 'sprint and drift' ASW search (and when they're sprinting, or changing formation, they tend to be loud).

Using active sonar, meanwhile, is sometimes compared to shining a flashlight in a dark room containing bad guys. It may let you see quite well over a short distance, but it also tells everybody where you are.

If I play as the reds lots of my subs are found all the time by helo's, I swear the AI knows exactly where I am at the start of the scenario? Even though Im creeping at deep with active sonar off, they still find me!p

If you've been driving Warsaw Pact submarines, they're typically louder than Western designs with inferior sonar sets. If you run under a sonobuoy or active dipping sonar, or travel a little too fast, you stand a good chance of being detected.

Also, Is there a way to setup ASW patrols outside of your "formation" that will automatically drop sonobouys or must I do this manually (which I do but I forget about them and they just go off without dropping bouys ).

We don't have this ability yet in HCE. But its something everybody wants and its high on the 'wish list'.

ORIGINAL: Piggy

Sorry I didnt get to your PM Hermanhum, I fired up the ANW but wow... didnt really like it, I find CE to way more appealing at the moment.

No sweat. I play both versions, but others have a personal preference. Should you decide to try out the MP function for Harpoon ANW, I'm always around for a game. Unfortunately, ANW is the only Harpoon that has MP at this time (although there are lots of folks hoping that HCE will have MP in the future [8D])