1. For all Harpoon games I would love to see false echo's. This affects sonar more than radar, and I have seen SAU's prosecute non sub targets more than once.
   

False echos - succinctly explained. Can you give any more detailed information on how long it might take to determine that a contact is a false echo, how that procedure has changed with changing technology, any other helpful information? False contacts are in the code of HC, it was disabled at some point and there are no comments as to why (though I've often wondered, I've also never turned them on 'just to see what would happen').

Sorry about the delay to responed....I have been moving house and in Hospital.

 

To answer in a technical frame, a false echo or return is a spurious noise source. Ok now in english. I will deal with is in two ways first sonar then radar.

 

In water we have eddie currents, flow noise and biological's. These all cause different types of noise. Eddie currents generate echos the may or maynot have doppler associated with them Doppler is important in ASW because it is how we classify Non Sub contacts i.e. A reef or wreck wont have doppler as it isnt moving, however this is where eddie currents reak havoc. They move within a current and will have significant doppler FROM MEMOERY 1knot of movement is equal to 12hz of doppler. So if your current is moving at say 3 knots that will give you 36hz of noise that your sonar trackers will interperate as movement, therefore POS SUB. In Australia we have signifcant eddie current that last from a few minutes to a few days.

 

Flow noise is generated when water moves over a solid object. This will cause doppler on a non sub target but will be picked up by a good operator as the target will not move. Also boundries between temperture layers call Thermoclines and density differences will also cause some noise.

 

Biologicals, my favorite! The first thing everyone thinks of is whales but the are other things in the sea. Schools of fish produce echoes with doppler. However the doppler is not constant....... I havnt finished I having a break more to follow

Another option might be just to create a somewhat stealthy submarine Neutral called "Unknown" in the database. While the player could localize, they might never know what they were throwing Torps at. Tight Rules of Engagement could really get them running in circles.

 

Airboss

In war, the proper objective of the Navy is the Enemy's Navy. - Mahan

Airboss, that is a good work around. I'm still hoping to hear more about how (and more importantly how long it takes) the systems (be they people or electronics) figure out what is a school of fish, what is an eddy, etc. The physical phenomenon aren't all that challenging to understand, what I cannot read in a textbook is how the systems and submariners handle the situation to decide what is what (and again more importantly, the amount of time it takes). The Dangerous Waters manual only takes a person so far

Airboss, that is a good work around. I'm still hoping to hear more about how (and more importantly how long it takes) the systems (be they people or electronics) figure out what is a school of fish, what is an eddy, etc. The physical phenomenon aren't all that challenging to understand, what I cannot read in a textbook is how the systems and submariners handle the situation to decide what is what (and again more importantly, the amount of time it takes). The Dangerous Waters manual only takes a person so far <g>

 

Having some current/former sonar operators to ask would be a big help here. I'm sure it depends on the competency of the operator, years of experience, etc.

Wishes 1-1noted for the big redesign.