In real life, you're supposed to drive ships with random zig-zags added to the course. Does this have any advantage in Harpoon? If not, it would be really tedious to put them in, given that the scale of a leg relative to the overall travel distances is quite small.

In real life, you're supposed to drive ships with random zig-zags added to the course. Does this have any advantage in Harpoon? If not, it would be really tedious to put them in, given that the scale of a leg relative to the overall travel distances is quite small.

My thought is that a zig zag course should help especially with closing subs but that I can never be bothered to do it unless I know for sure that they're about.

Interested to read what others do.

DonThomas

I think it is only useful against straight-running torpedoes.

I see the game engine guides the guided torpedoes with not-proportionally navigation aiming constantly the torpedo after fired to the variable target position, before the ultimate phase of terminal tracking with the torpedo sensors.

i.e. if you zig-zag against a guided torpedo, the game engine automatically ever aim the running torpedo to the variable target position, zig-zag is futile.

Zig-zagging will be minimally useful in preventing the AI from localizing you with ESM. The direction changes will temporarily partially confuse any refinedment of your position. I don't think it is practically useful though (not worth the effort).

In real life, you're supposed to drive ships with random zig-zags added to the course. Does this have any advantage in Harpoon? If not, it would be really tedious to put them in, given that the scale of a leg relative to the overall travel distances is quite small.

I've typically used it - just on general principles, I guess - but I don't recall any indication that it actually does any good as far as Harpoon gaming is concerned.

 

If it does have any benefit - either in real life or in the game - would it be more in relation to avoiding subs/torps or to reducing general detectability/trackability?