Hi All,

 

I'm wondering how I should go about prosecuting contacts detected via ESM. I've seen this happen quite a bit from, say, patrolling ASW aircraft, but can never seem to get a more solid fix. Usually when I send a ship out to close with them, it gets into attack range and my missiles don't find anything.

Is this a matter of turning on radar and maneuvering? If I have a bearing to a contact, I assume that's the bearing from the platform which detected them, and not necessarily that of the group as a whole.

Often I end up surprised by sudden damage, without a prior contact. I wonder if I'm just getting unlucky. I've noticed this most in "Gauntlet," but it seems to happen elsewhere as well.

 

Thanks for any thoughts.

Hi All, I'm wondering how I should go about prosecuting contacts detected via ESM. I've seen this happen quite a bit from, say, patrolling ASW aircraft, but can never seem to get a more solid fix. Usually when I send a ship out to close with them, it gets into attack range and my missiles don't find anything. Is this a matter of turning on radar and maneuvering? If I have a bearing to a contact, I assume that's the bearing from the platform which detected them, and not necessarily that of the group as a whole. Often I end up surprised by sudden damage, without a prior contact. I wonder if I'm just getting unlucky. I've noticed this most in "Gauntlet," but it seems to happen elsewhere as well. Thanks for any thoughts.

 

It always depends.

 

Generally speaking, if you're a ship and the ESM contact is not within your own radar range (if the radar were energized), or the potential radar range of the contact (i.e. it is painting you), then you should not immediately energize your radar.

 

Use your offboard assets (especially aircraft) to try and triangulate the ESM contact until it can be better localized, or alternatively, use that airborne radar(s) to search out the target.

 

If you get an ESM hit and then begin to sustain damage, its likely that you were within radar range of that ESM contact and he detected you and fired upon you. In that circumstance, there are few reasons not to energize your own radar, if only to detect incoming attack or get your own shots away.