A quick question...

 

Using full realism, once you tell a submarine to go on a mission or plot a course, it submerges and you cannot communicate with it anymore. Is there a mission setting that tells submarines "when you reach point X, please come to periscope depth so you can receive further instructions" or are subs effectively out of your control for the duration of the scenario once you give them a mission?

 

Thanks.

 

Mark

Hi Mark,

 

A quick question...

 

Using full realism, once you tell a submarine to go on a mission or plot a course, it submerges and you cannot communicate with it anymore. Is there a mission setting that tells submarines "when you reach point X, please come to periscope depth so you can receive further instructions" or are subs effectively out of your control for the duration of the scenario once you give them a mission?

 

Thanks.

 

Mark

 

Interesting question. Since starting with the nearly identical H2 back in 1994, I´ve almost never played

with Full Realism setting, always auto data links.

 

Just tried it: Assigned to one sub a Transit Mission and to another one a Plotted Mission.

 

Both dived, disappeared...and never surfaced again.

 

 

 

Then I looked into the current ANW Manual: ""When a submarine reaches the end of its Plotted Mission, it will set it speed to 0 knots and will be facing in its last ordered direction."

 

No word about an automatic re-surfacing. That is really interesting. Thought I knew the sim

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Ralf

I've had it happen a few times where they do come back and you can give them new orders, but I don't know how to make it happen. It's odd...you would think there with everything else in the game there would be a command for that, especially at the end of, say, a plotted course. I suppose the idea is that you give a submarine its orders and then you just have to count on it to do everything it can think of and hope for the best.

 

I suspect on full realism, you decide what the submarine should be doing and just let it do it. For example, you set a plotted mission, then set an ASW patrol...the sub will move into position, go on patrol, and will do that until the end of the scenario or until it is destroyed. I guess the idea is that scenarios do not last long enough that you would need to change a submarine's orders very often.

This submarine issue (I'm a submarine fan) was one of the many causes of my abandon of Harpoon 2/ANW a lot of years ago, and I've never returned to play it ....

This submarine issue (I'm a submarine fan) was one of the many causes of my abandon of Harpoon 2/ANW a lot of years ago, and I've never returned to play it ....

 

I did notice one thing...if your FLAGSHIP is a sub, you can operate the submarine...but then you're out of touch with your OTHER assets while you're submerged.

This submarine issue (I'm a submarine fan) was one of the many causes of my abandon of Harpoon 2/ANW a lot of years ago, and I've never returned to play it ....

 

I did notice one thing...if your FLAGSHIP is a sub, you can operate the submarine...but then you're out of touch with your OTHER assets while you're submerged.

Oh, yes, I don't remembered this awful solution to the problem ...

This submarine issue (I'm a submarine fan) was one of the many causes of my abandon of Harpoon 2/ANW a lot of years ago, and I've never returned to play it ....

 

 

 

Well, this isn´t an issue, it´s just an option. One of H2/H3s many details making a high level of micromanagement possible.

 

Just set it to auto data links, like almost all players do, and you´re fine.

 

Regards,

 

Ralf

You know, I was playing around with ideas and I think I found a partial solution to this...

 

On full realism, when you create a mission for a submarine, if it is possible to do so, put ONE of the reference points in shallow water (20 m). Make sure it is right on the edge of where the depth is only 20 m. Every time the submarine goes to that reference point, it will go to periscope depth for at least a few minutes and one can give it new orders if necessary.

 

Naturally, this involves some risk to the submarine--it could be spotted by the bad guys while it comes up to say, "Hello...anyone else you want me to kill?" And, depending on where the scenario is set, it may not even be feasible. So it is not a perfect solution, or one that can be used in every scenario, but at least it is an option that can be used in some cases.

 

Any thoughts on this?

In 199something when I read the first review of Harpoon II in Swedish magazines and they took the simulation to officers aboard one Swedish disel-electric. I seem to remember a baltic scenario with Swedish subs against Russian intruders. Well, the sub officers said what impressed them the most was this aspect of the game. Subs out of contact, together with the Zones that could be created gave them a realistic impression. How hard it is to control subs from naval command and the limitations they get.

 

I bought the game then Didn't play it much back then for some reason... But I bought it again now... Read that command links are horribly bugged and so on. The part that sold me over 10 years ago

 

At least for that review with the submariners watching "Auto command links" was off and that made it less of a "game" for them and it sold me as a 16 year old

 

Just an anecdote.

In 199something when I read the first review of Harpoon II in Swedish magazines and they took the simulation to officers aboard one Swedish disel-electric. I seem to remember a baltic scenario with Swedish subs against Russian intruders. Well, the sub officers said what impressed them the most was this aspect of the game. Subs out of contact, together with the Zones that could be created gave them a realistic impression. How hard it is to control subs from naval command and the limitations they get.

 

I bought the game then Didn't play it much back then for some reason... But I bought it again now... Read that command links are horribly bugged and so on. The part that sold me over 10 years ago

 

At least for that review with the submariners watching "Auto command links" was off and that made it less of a "game" for them and it sold me as a 16 year old

 

Just an anecdote.

 

I have to admit it was one of the things that really bugged me when I first started with H3 years ago...now, it is one of the things I really like because it is more realistic and makes the game more of a challenge.

 

I have noticed that you can set a submarine to stay at periscope depth until you assign it to a specific mission--this gives you time to determine the full nature of the situation and design patrol areas accordingly, but once you do it, the submarine is out of your control.

Hi Mark,

 

You know, I was playing around with ideas and I think I found a partial solution to this...

 

On full realism, when you create a mission for a submarine, if it is possible to do so, put ONE of the reference points in shallow water (20 m). Make sure it is right on the edge of where the depth is only 20 m. Every time the submarine goes to that reference point, it will go to periscope depth for at least a few minutes and one can give it new orders if necessary.

 

Naturally, this involves some risk to the submarine--it could be spotted by the bad guys while it comes up to say, "Hello...anyone else you want me to kill?" And, depending on where the scenario is set, it may not even be feasible. So it is not a perfect solution, or one that can be used in every scenario, but at least it is an option that can be used in some cases.

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

IMO this is both a good way to command a sub and to play it realistically.

btw Mark, really impressed how fast you learnt the details of playing H2/H3. Think you really have fun, haven´t you?

What would be nice is the ability to send an ELF message to a submerged sub. The response of the sub being to come up for a "chat".