El Cid from your AAR 11c test

[Buck Beach]

I copied this from your AAR

"3 old USN 4 pipers scored 3 hits on Ro-49 at Tarakan".

Just an observation but I find these hits very interesting. What Pattern DCs did these DDs have? If consistent with other DDs of a similar class, should be Pattern 2 Large and if so the 3 hits is very unusual.

[el cid again]

You are correct in all respects.

There are cases where large patterns miss - and there are cases where small ones hit. It is all a matter of "die rolls." It appears that the NUMBER of die rolls is (now - in RHS - with one roll per pattern fired) a function of luck - but usually as many as three per vessel. That is - each AS ship gets more than one pass at the submarine - usually - UNLESS it fails to "localize" the submarine. Rarely - a sub will be detected but NO AS weapons get fired at all. More often - several AS ships in a TF try to attack - and 1 to several get to shoot. IF that happens - then the whole process repeats - and it keeps on repeating typically for three rounds. Rarely it can go four or more rounds. The more ships detect and attack per round - the more likely there will be a following round. However - after about three rounds - the chance this is the last round rises dramatically.

Anyway - because of this process - you don't get only three die rolls - but for three ships typically nine die rolls. You only have to be lucky three times to get three hits. And - note - that a large DC pattern is about 50 per cent more likely to hit than a small DC pattern of the same size is (using RHS values). That is, the chance the sub is somewhere in the pattern or close enough to the pattern to be damaged is higher than for more common British or Japanese or Russian or French (i.e. small) DC.

I am very pleased with the way ASW is working in RHS now. My main problems are

a) Subs are far too likely to fire on an ASW group
b) Subs fire torpedoes at PT boats and other small vessels too shallow to be hit - and hit anyway
c) Subs will fire too many torpedoes at some targets - the AI does not chose as well as a human between large and small spreads. However - I have partly corrected this by providing for shots of 1, 2, 3 and 4 torpedoes - and sometimes it works very well.

A significant factor is experience: ASW units become much more effective AFTER they have engaged in ASW combat for a while. It appears similar to fighter pilots - IF they actually attack - they gain experience rapidly - so after just a few weeks a unit becomes very much better than it was to begin with - assuming it had a chance to learn in combat. This means sthe early days of the game are kinder ones for subs - and the old subs with poor depth ratings are more likely to be hit and sunk - so after mid war - it is wise to take them out of service - just as IRL. [Depth rating = durability of a sub]