Red Storm Rising Docs by Sierra Hotel Preface by Tom Clancy The submarine tactics with which most of us are familiar never really happened. We've all seen the dramatic movie representations of sweating men in the tight confines of a fleet boat's conning tower. But in fact the most effective work done by submarine commanders in WWII was conducted on the "roof", where they could use their higher surface speed to conduct "end runs",get ahead of their targets, then close in and fire at close range before escaping in the confusion. Technology has changed all that, even while it was happening in the Second World War. Improved radar sets and continuous aerial surveillance chased German U-Boats below the surface even at night. This denied them the mobility upon which they depended to close with thier targets, and in doing so cost Germany her best chance of winning the Second World War. Nuclear power and improved sonar technology changed things yet again in the 1950's. A nuclear-powered submarine can now outrun most surface ships, and modern passive sonar can actually out-range the radar used by American WWII submarines. It is not unusual today for a submarine to detect a surface ship, on sonar, at ranges over thirty nautical miles. Torpedoes, once relatively simple machines that ran a straight course until they hit a target or ran out of fuel, are now robotic kamikazes, programmed to search for thier targets with active and passive sonars, then close on and destroy it with a half-ton (or nuclear) warhead. Or the submarine skipper can fire surface-to-surface cruise missles that easily fly those thirty nautical miles. But one thing has remained constant: the business of a submarine is stealth. Once detected, the enemy surface commander has more ships and weapons to use than the submarine. Helicopters with sonobuoys and dipping sonars-the submarine's deadliest enemy-can hunt and localize their quarry, then engage it with homing torpedoes of thier own. You are safe only so long as you are undetected. Your only real advantage is invisibility. Submarine warfare is ambush, followed by evasion; a game of life and death played in three dimensions of cold, wet, unforgiving darkness. The submarine's other enemy is another submarine. He lives in your enviroment, knows everything that you know, is trained, armed, and equipped as you are. And enemy submarines are getting better. The Walker spy ring and foriegn companies like Toshiba have given the Soviets priceless information and hardware with which they have been improving their ships and their training. Their mission is to sink you, to sink the other ships in your fleet, and to sink the merchant ships without which your country and the NATO alliance cannot survive. Simply put, the job of the United States Navy is to control the sea. The job of the Soviet Navy is to deny us the use of the sea. You can guess which is the easier mission. You are the commanding officer of an American SSN, a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine. The word has only just arrived from National Command Authority: Your country is at war. All during the spring of this year, while you prepared your boat for her next deployment, the media was full of stories about the Spring of Promise, perhaps the long-hoped-for end of the cold war, as East-West arms-control agreements reached fruition after generatoins of frustrating effort. Then only days after you sailed on your deployment, something went wrong. Some disaster changed hopes of lasting peace to fear of a real, shooting war. You do not know what happened-SSN's don't get much in the way of news analysis-but none of that matters. Your country is at war, and war-fighting is what they pay you for. You are thirty-nine years old. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, you've worked your way up the ladder of your chosen profession: Nuclear Power School; Prototype School; Submarine Officers Basic School;Prospective Nuclear Engineer Officer School; Submarine Officers Advanced Course; Prospective Executive Officer Course; then, Prospective Commanding Officer School; and along the way you picked up a Masters Degree in Operations Analysis at the Navy's own post-Graduate School at Monterey, Califorina. You've served both on SSN's and SSBN's- the "boomers", the ballistic-missile submarines-but fast-attack was what you wanted, because fast-attack is where the action is. You've been an Engineer, a Navigator, then an XO. All this has a price. Endless cruises far from home, seperations from your loved ones, mini-wars at AUTEC in the Bahamas, fleet excercises in mid-ocean, too many exams and tests to count, month-long strings of eighteen-hour days. But what that price has bought you is association with and respect from the finest men your country can make. You have spent seventeen years learning your craft, and six months ago you achieved a dream you've held since high school-command of your own SSN. You are now the commanding officer of a ship of war, the most demanding and most god-like job in the world. You are responsible for the saftey of your ship, for the lives of over one hundred men, and most of all, you are responsible for carrying out the missions assigned you by COMSUBLANT and COMEASTLANT. You know why you are here. You know what the job is. You are about to find out how good you really are. A Quick Start --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Manual: This manual is divided into 3 parts. Part 1 gives specific instructions for all simulation displays and controls. Part 2 provides greater insight into the tactics, tricks, and subtleties of the game. Part 3 provides background data on weapons, ships,and boats involved. (Bullshit. It's only there for the purpose of code words, the game shows a picture of a ship or sub and you suppoed to choose the correct class of ship. It has been disabled in this version and therefore I ain't puttin' in section 3) Beginners should learn how the game is played before tackling the Campaign. So, if this is your first try at Red Storm,select training scenarios, experiment with the displays, make some kills, then move on to the next higher challenge. Battles and Campaigns --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Battles: Once you've cut your teeth in the traing scenarios, it's time to try a "real" battle. Not much here. Try all the battles, with differing degrees of challenge, and don't be supprised if your ambushed. It happens in real life too. After experimenting with a variety of battles, select "a chance engagement", where you never know what you're up against. You may find that adjusting your boat or time period makes life more interesting. The Campaign: You should move on to a campaign shortly after trying the chance engagements, it won't take long to get the hang of things. The game gets old after playing thru several campaigns, so try switching time periods and boats to keep the games interesting. It won't take long to get to the Ultamite challenge level, and after a couple of campaigns, you will be ready for a new game. Red Storm isn't hard to master, but will be fun each time you play it. Efficiency rating, etc... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Efficiency Rating (ER): After each engagement, your ER is updated as a USNavy captain. It's the average of your performance to date. Obviously, the higher the better you are. Decoratoins and Medals: Occur only in the campaign game. CM-Navy Commendation BSV-Bronze Star of Valor SS-Silver Star DSM-Distinguished Service Medal NC-Navy Cross CMOH- Congressional Medal Of Honor, the highest. Promotions: None here. Only after war is over, it will give a final rank. The USNavy needs the experianced CO's to fight the war. Part 1: The Operations Manual ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Year: 1984-Russian naval forces lack "stolen" western technology. However, your sub is limited to weapons availible at the time: the original Mark 48 torpedo and the Harpoon missle 1988-The new Russian SIERRA and KILO class subs appear, as well as the first fruits of the stolen technology from the West. However, you have the new Tomahawk missle and the improved Mark 48 ADCAP torpedo. This scenario represents the situation at the time of the action in the novel RED STORM RISING. 1992-A nuclear aircraft carrier joins the Red Banner Fleet, while technological upgrades spread to more of their vessels. Meanwhile, the Sea Lance ASW missle and the Stinger SAM masts are availible to NATO. 1996-The Russian northern fleet continues to expand in size and virtually all frontline ships have received technological upgrades. Fortunately for the West, the first boats in the new Seawolf class are launched, carrying the new silent-launching ("Swim Out") Mark 48 torpedo. Warship ID Test: Just pick anything, it won't matter, that part has been deleted, or shall I say "corrected". Boat Selection: List from older to newer, and depends on which time period you picked. You can let the Navy pick your command for you for better realism. Level of Challenge: Introductory-recommended for the first few games. Compared to reality, enemy ships are easier to find and track, while your sub is very resistent to damage and your crew quit expert. Normal-for casual gaming the books says. Skip it and move on. Serious-fully realistic the book says. Try a few and then go to the next level of play Ultimate-just as realistic as Serious, but takes a less optimistic view of sub survivability (one hit, you go down). In this level, you must personally ID every contact, your crew being too indecisive. The book says not to try this level unless Serious seems like childs play. It better, if your not up to Ultimate in just a few battles, you're a hurtin' puppy! Scenarios: 3 types, training, battles, and campaign Training: you take NO DAMAGE level of challenge decides location of fight intro-open sea normal-drift/floe ice serious-beneath ice pack(except for vs. destoyer) ultimate-in the shallows Battle simulations: A duel: go one-on-one with a nuclear attack sub The cruise missle sub: higher challenges often add one or more escorting "guardians" The wolfpack: group of subs using wolfpack tactics The boomer bastion: find the boomer among it's fast attack escorts and sink it, can be very difficult. a strike group: task force of Russion surface ships an ASW group: an anti-sub force which may or may not have subs in it. Can you successfully hunt the hunters? a carrier task group: you've stumbled into a submarinr's dream: a Russian carrier task force. A chance at a Russian carrier is an oppurtunity you won't want to miss. No big deal to me. Once you've sunk a carrier, they're all the same. a chance engagement: a random choice of one of the above Red Storm Rising: WWIII, from first invasions to victory or defeat. Lasts many missions and many hours. Mission Orders: self-expanitory, tells ya what to do Battle:Engaging the Enemy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attack Center Console:Shows the primary, secondary, and navigation displays. -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- ------------------------------------ - - - - - Top Display - - - - - ------------------------------------ - - - - / - - - - ----------- Navigation Display - - - - \ - - - - - - - - Primary Display - - - - - - -------- - - - - - - - - / - - - - ---------- Secondary Display - - - - \ - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------- - - - - - Verbal Reports - - - -------- -------------------------------------------------- - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Navigation Display: This info is always present Primary Display: Select from one of eight primary displays Secondary Displays: Select one of five secondaries; some primary displays automatically bring up a secondary Verbal Reports: Reports and confirmation of orders appear here Top Display: shows sensor functioning A=Active sonar T=Towed array R=Radar passive sonar is constantly on and ESM is auto on above 55 feet also shows Acoustic Volume (AV) of your sub, measure of how loud you are as you move thru the water. Also shows zoom factor. Navigation: shows how your boat is traveling ------------------------------------------------------------- Heading: north is 000degrees, south is 180, etc...... Speed: in knots. A "C" symbol indicates your propellers(screw is what they should be called) are cavitating(making large amounts of noise). As you go deeper, you can go faster and faster without cavitation. Depth: in feet. A special symbol indicates wheter you're above or below the thermal "layer". The "layer" interferes with sound-keeping the thermal layer between you and the enemy is a good way of hiding. Rudder: current course command. "Steady" indicates running straight ahead. Planes:current setting of diving planes, which control the depth of the boat. "Level" indicates running level(not changing depth) Course: to set a course, hit F10 key, type in one to three digits for course, from 000 to 360. Depth: to set depth, hit F9 key, type in from one to three digits, from 010 to 999. NOTE:Modern nuclear subs never surface during battle. There is no advantages and lots of disadvantages. In fact, surfacing means "I surrender". Therefore, minimum depth is 10 feet. That's what the book says, actually, surfacing and going to max spped is good for taking out surface ships, doesn't work to good on subs though. Speed: to increase speed, hit + key, or - key to decrease speed. When turning or after substaining damage, speed will decrease. Emergency Turns:use . key and , key for right and left rudder, useful when dodging torpedoes. Sharp turns or fast speeds will break a control wire to all of your torpedoes, so use the two sparingly. Straight and Level: the / key will cancel all navigation commands and you will be at the course and depth you were at when selected. Tactical Display F1 key -------------------------------------------------------------------------- F1 key puts your location and all contacts on the primary display. Zoom in and out with the z and x keys. From zoom fgactor of 2 to 7. This is the main display used most frequently. Enemy vessels first appear on this display as dim symbols. The direction is accurate, but usually the range is unknown. As your sensors collect more info over time, the accuracy of the info increases and the symbol changes color. When detection data is good enough, the display plots a course track, recording his movements. If contact is lost, the symbol gives a "best guess" of enemy's position. Course tracks also appear for all weapons in the water, yours and theirs. You can't see the airborne enemies(missles and helos) unless you're at periscope depth with radar on. NOTE: Dim, uncertain contacts will bounce around the display,don't put too much trust in the "dim" contacts. Map Overlay: haven't figured out how to get up on the Amiga. Shows an overlay of water conditions. Shows acoustic absorption, depth of the shallows, or icepack pressure ridges, depending on situation. Acoustic Absorption-in deep water with or without drift ice, shows the local conditions for sound absorption. Darker areas with few dots absorb little sound resulting in good sound transmission and recception. Lighter areas with more dots absorb more, causing poorer transmission and reception. In shallow water, this map overlay shows the depth of the water. Each digit represents one hundred feet. 2=200ft, 4=400ft,etc....the deeper the water, the better the sound transmission, worse in shallow water.Of course, running into the bottom of the ocean floor is hazardous to your life! When operating under the ice pack, the overlay shows the depth of the ice into the water. The sames applies for ice ridges as with the bottom, i.e. don't run into the ice. Sensors ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sensors are devices that find and track the enemy. "Passive" sensors constantly "listen" for enemy signals without emitting any betraying signals. "Active" sensors broadcast a signal and "listen" for the return. Active sensors function only if turned on, give detailed data quickly, but often reveal your location to the enemy. View Contacts: hit the C button to rotate thru contacts on the secondary display. When viewing contacts, the incoming sound from that contact is channeled to the screen. Contact: The type of enemy contacted. This progresses from totally unknown to general type (ship or sub) to a specific class of ship. The word CONTACT may change color to indicate whether the contact is continuing, or is lost (and the data deteriorating). Bearing: The direction, in compass degrees, from you to the contact. Your course does not affect the bearing. Sensor: The left value is the signal strength recieved on your sensor, and which sensor has the best reception(A=active P=passive T=towed R=radar). You can't see a contact until a signal strength of at least 8 is recieved, but once you've found a contact, a signal strength of 0 or more is enough to maintain the contact. If signal strength is negative, you've lost the contact. The right value is the signal strength the enemy's best sensor would get from your boat. This is known only if you know the enemy's specific class, and thus can predict what sensor equipment he has. When his predicted sensor value reaches 8 or higher, he will "see" you. Don't get complacent because no contacts show an 8 or higher. Your contact data may still be incomplete, and worse, there could be "unseen" enemies who alredy "have you number". SOL: The acurracy of your data. The highest is 99%, which can still be inaccurate. Low percentage solutions are very unreliable. CRS/SPD: The contact's course and speed (in compass heading and knots). Range: range to contact (in thousands of yards). The vertical arrow symbol represents his position above or below the thermal layer. Passive Sonar(P): unless damaged by a hit, this sensor is always working (i.e. no key controls it's operation). Passive sonar gives the bearing to the enemy with great accuracy. In addition it lets you slowly determine the type of enemy ship. Once that is known, estimates of speed, course, and range develop quickly. Towed Array(T): This long, computerized array of hydrophones is towed ("streamed") behind your boat. It functions only when trailing in a straight line or a smooth curve. Any tight or fast turns causes "kinks" and "whiplash" that ruin reception. Similarly, if you come to a full stop, it goes slack and fails. You must maintain "headway", a minimum speed of 4 or 5 knots, to keep the array fucntioning. Because the towed array trails dee in the water, it always listens under the layer, even if your sub is above it. The towed array functions like passive sonar, but is much more sensitive. Active Sonar(A): hit the 8 button to toggle active sonar on and off. One active sonar "ping" gives the exact bearing and range to a contact. Multiple pings establish the contact's course and speed. Unfortunaately, these pings also reveal your location to the enemy. The Baffles: Your boat's motion leaves an area of confused and disturbed water directly behind it. Sound travels poorly in this area, called "the baffles". It is about 60 degrees wide (30 degrees on each side). More on this later. Your hull-mounted passive and active sonars are "blind" in the baffles. Your towed array is unaffected, since it trails far to the rear, safely below the disturbed water. ============================================================================ Type of sensing advantages disadvantages sensor medium ============================================================================ Active water:sound -1 ping gives range -reveals position to enemy Sonar -multiple pings give at longer ranges than it detailed data can detect them -works best at 0 knots -limited to 300 degree arc Passive water:sound -recieves only, does -gives data slowly Sonar not reveal position -provides range last -gives bearing fast -works best at 0 knots -longer range than -limited to 300 degree arc active sonar in most conditions Towed water:sound -longer range than -stops working during and Array active or passive after hard and/or fast sonar in most turns, high speeds conditions -stops working at 0 knots -works best at 5 knots -total 360 degree arc Active air:radar -best, often only way -signal reveals position Radar to track aircraft or to all ships and planes incoming missles in area, and subs at -range equal to ESM mast depth -unaffected by speed ESM air:radar -receives only, sends -mast may reveal position (Radar no revealing signal -does not detect sub Receiver) -range superior to unless it is using periscope/laser, can active radar be superior to sound -unaffected by speed Periscope air:light -sends no revealing -mast may reveal position (with laser) signal to enemy -mast needs to be higher -can track aircraft than ESM or Active Radar with some difficulty to achieve equal range -unaffected by speed =========================================================================== Factors in Sonar Sensoring Factor Effect =========================================================================== Acoustic Absorption -the greater the absorption around sensor and/or target, the lower the contact value Surface Noise -the greater the ocean surface noise, the lower the contact value, provided either or both vessels are near the surface. Icepack has the lowest suface noise, open sea or shallows is average, drift/floe ice produces very high noise Surface Duct -if sensor and target are both in surface duct, contact value is increased; the stronger the duct, the greater the contact value Thermal Layer -if sensor and target are on opposite sides of the layer, contact value is reduced; the stronger the layer, the lower the contact value Water Depth -the shallower the water, the lower the contact value. This only applies in shallow water. Icepack -the deeper the ridge of ice, the lower the contact value. Diastance to target -the greater the range, the lower the contact value Direction target faces -if target's broadside faces sensor, contact value is slightly increased(very small change) Speed of target -higher speed=higher contact value Quietness of target -quieter vessel design=lower contact value Speed of sensor -the higher your speed=lower contact value Sea conditions -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This primary display provides a handy visual reference about current conditions at various depths. Hit the F8 key. Compare sonar --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hit the F6 key to compare your sonar aagainst that of the contact. Acoustic signature --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hit the F5 key to compare incoming sound data with data files about enemy ships to ID the class of ship. Normally, the crew does this. But in Ultimate challenge level, you must do this for all contacts. Use the shift key to select different clases to compare to the incoming data. Once you've found a match, use Ctrl key to positively ID the contact. If you've choosen wisely, the class of the ship is displayed with the contact data and the firing solution increases. If you didn't choose the correct class, the firing solution decreases alot. Surface sensors -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sensors mounted on the masts that come out of the sail (used to be called conning tower) have different degrees of effectiveness, depending on how high they stick out of the water. Each mast is 60 ft. long, so if you're at 15 ft., the mast will stick out of the water 45ft. The greater the mast sticks out of the water, the greater the range (due to the curvature of the earth). At 10ft. (minimum depth) radar can see 100 Kyds and periscope 50. Whenever you're at 55ft or less, your ESM mast is out of the water and you risk detection. Hit the F4 key to look thru the periscope and hit c button (view contact button) to rotate thru contacts. This is not reccomended. NOTE: You CAN find NATO ships and subs, so make sure you ID something before you shoot it. Ship Data Base ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hit the F7 key to get this primary display. Then choose letter of class you want info on. Not much real use. Weapons --------------------------------------------------------------------------- All weapons are "intelligent": they have a homing system that "turns on" at a pre-planned point (the PAP:pre-planned activation point). From this point forward, the weapon "sees" in a 90 degree arc ahead of it, seeking the nearest target (this can also mean YOU). Ice and Missles: All weapons except torpedoes launch themselves from the sea into the air. In drift/floe ice conditions, there is a 25% to 50% chance that the missle may hit a piece of ice as it emerges from the sea, which wrecks the missle. A Sea Lance's torpedo head must drop back into the water at the PAP, and again there is a chance of hitting ice. Stinger mast has problems too. Though hitting the ice with the mast will only destroy one stinger, not the whole mast. Beneath the ice pack, don't try wasteing your missles on the ice, unless you can find "open water" areas. weapon avail. speed range controls available name from targets warhead (knts) (Kyds) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mk 48 1984 sub,ship large 40,55 0-40 wire,PAP homing,search Mk 48 ADCAP 1988 sub,ship large 40,60 0-40 wire,PAP homing,search Mk 48 Swimout 1996 sub,ship large 40,60 0-40 wire,PAP homing,search Harpoon UGM 1984 ship mdm 560 6-120 PAP homing Tomahawk TASM 1988 ship large 475 6(or 8)-500 PAP homing Tomahawk TLAM 1988 land large 475 6-1000 pre-programmed Sea Lance/Mk 50 1992 sub small 625+ 6-60 PAP homing,search FIM-92A Stinger 1992 aircraft tiny 1260 0-6 PAP homing torpedoes have active and passive speeds, Sea Lance does work on ships too wire-means the launcher can control the weapon while it's running, provided the wire is intact. PAP homing-means the weapons goes to the PAP and the activates, searching a 90 degree arc in front of it. If weapon is jammed, it continues flying straight ahead unless other controls take over(wire or search). Search-if the weapon misses, it circles, searching for a target. Pre-progammed at port-means the weapon has a guidance program loaded into it that can't be changed on the boat, must return to port to select another target. Weapons Loadout ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This secondary display shows the weapons availible and the reserves in your magizine. Hit the V button once to see what's loaded in which tube. Hit it again to see reserves in magizine. To load an empty tube: hit the shift key and the weapon key at the same time. This will load selected weapon in first availible empty tube. To load a loaded tube: hit the shift key and weapon key and if all tubes are full, you're promted with "which tube do you which to unload". Just select the desirde tube and it will switch weapons in that tube. 3=stinger (doesn't need to be loaded, it has it's own mast) 4=Mk 48 5=Sea Lance 6=Harpoon UGM 7=Tomahawk It takes time to load the weapons, so a light weapon name in the loadout displays indicates that the crew is still loading and the weapon isn't ready for use. Mk 48 Wire Guided Torpedo ========================================================================= Once lauched, you can guide it by means of a wire until it hits the target, runs out of fuel, or has the wire cut by high speed, tight turns, or if it's coming after you, you can drop the wire (cut it yourself). If it is cut, the 48 will go on a pre-programmed search pattern (circle left or circle right). A 48 can be launched at any depth,min. range is a few hundred yards. Firing the 48: 1. Hit the 4 key. This brings up the torpedo fire control computer, where you select the PAP. 2. Use the mouse or joystick to select the PAP. This is where the 48 will switch on it's active sonar, increase speeed, and seek the enemy. At the bottom, it shows the range to the PAP. 3. Press the joystick fire button or the mouse button to actually fire the 48. $8's are launched with compressed air. This "launch transient" temporarily increases your loudness by 8 AV. This could be enough to reveal your position. However, the 48 Swimout has no launch transient, as it just "swims out" of the torpedo tube. A 48 trails a fine wire behind it with which to control th 48. As long as the wire is intact, you can change it's course or PAP. W=wire good, X=wire broken, and control lost. To control a running torpedo, hit the N key and cycle thru all active torpedoes untill you get the desired 48. This shows the Torpedo Control Secondary Display which gives the following info: Torpedo Name A,B,C, or D. Only can have 4 48's running at a time. Torpedo Status: either ---- for inactive (while it heads to it's PAP), active, homing, or jammed. If a 48 gets jammed, it's good to take manual control and steer around the decoy or noismaker or knuckle. Time to Run: # of seconds the 48 will run before it runs out of fuel Time to PAP: # of seconds to PAP Speed: duh? in knts, w=wire good, X=wire broken Heading: current course /Search: whether the 48 will search left or right if the wire is broke or it loses homing, and wheter the 48 is programmed to run above or below the layer. Hitting the F2 key will bring up the primary display of Weapon Control, which will bring up the secondary for the first 48(A first, or B if no A, etc.....), then hit V button to cycle to desired 48. This gives you a "torpedo's eye view". If the torpedo is not yet active, it's PAP will also appear so you can redirect the PAP. If the 48 is active with good wire, use the joystick to make the 48 go left or right. You should be able to hit every target with some experiance under your belt. You can zoom in and out in this display with the Z and X keys. If it hasn't reached PAP yet, you can change depth (above or below the layer) and search pattern of the 48. I haven't figured which keys do this, but the book says it's possible. Anyway, you shouldn't need this, assuming your wire is good. If the wire isn't good, you must have other things to worry about! Important: You can also manually activate a 48 before it's PAP. Once again, I didn't find out how to do this as of this writing, but this is deffinetly handy to use, so figure it out, you will need it sooner or later. Also......I keep thinking of more stuff... there is a way to "drop" the wire, useful to get rid of hopeless lost 48's, making room for another 48 nto shoot. Remember, only 4 at a time. You can use the PAP to "sneak" up on a target, not letting it go active until it's right on the target. Tomahawk and Harpoon ======================================================================= They both fly toward their PAP, and once there go active (which makes them easier to shoot down). So you should use the same tactic of not letting it go active until it close to the target, not giving the enemy any reaction time. You must be at a depth of 300ft. or shallower to fire these. Harpoons are launched from torpedo tubes only, while Tomahawks can be launched from vertical launch tubes in the Los Angles class or torpedo tubes in all subs. To fire a Harpoon or Tomahawk, it's like a 48. First, hit the 6 or 7 key, select PAP point, then hit fire button on joystick(a mouse is not recommended, since you can't control a 48 with the mouse). Once a missle is fired, it's "on it's own", meaning you have no control whatsoever. Select a PAP about 2/3 of the way to the ship, giving a wide arc for the missle to find the ship (remember, the position on the display may not be exact, which means you can overshoot or shoot to the side of a target, out of the 90 degree search arc. Sea Lance Mk 50 ======================================================================== This missle is designed to attack subs, but will work on ships, but has a smaller warhead than a 48. Must not be deeper than 300ft. to launch. It flies to PAP, drops it's Mk 50 torpedo in the water, which then goes in circles looking for a sub (or ship). Very useful for keeping an enemy sub busy while you sneak up on it or taking out a sub trying trying to escape. Also useful for finding subs. Just drop a couple of Sea Lances where you think there is an enemy sub and flush him out as the Mk 50 homes on him and he goes to full power (very noisy) to avoid it. Fire it like everything else. Use 5 key to select. Once fired, you can't control the Sea Lance/Mk50. Stinger Missles ===================================================================== Effectivee only against helos, it is fired from a mast above the water, so you must be 55ft. or shallower to fire. Select 3 key to fire. Minimum range is a few hundred yards and max range is ONLY 6000 yards (6 Kyds), so don't shoot until the helo is within range, at which time it will probably fire one of it's own torpedo's at you! Defense Display ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hit the F3 key to get this display, useful for avoiding those anoying torpedos of the enemy. This brings a display similiar to the tactical display, but centered around your boat, showing a close up view of all threats in the area. A warning is sounded whenever a new threat is identified, which means CHECK THIS DISPLAY! If an enemy torpedo is homing on you, you should go to this display IMMEDIATLY to check out the situation, or you could ignore it and DIE. If an enemy torpedo is homing, you'll here it's "pings" bounce off your hull. Threat weapons is a secondary display that goes with the defense display, showing range and bearing to the enemy's torpedos. This can be brought up by hitting the M key, without bringing the defense display. Defense Equipment ======================================================================== There are 3 techniques for "fooling" enemy torpedos: noisemakers, decoys, and knuckles. Each relies on the limited sonar abilities of a torpedo: it's sonar only faces forward in a 90 degree arc, 45 on either side of forward. Noisemakers: hit the 1 key to release a noisemaker directly behind your boat. A noisemaker jams a torpedoes sonar if (a) the noisemaker is fairly close to the torpedo and (b) if the torpedo is facing toward the noisemaker. Jammed torpedoes may head straight ahead or steer around it. But, once past it, they usually circle and seek you once more. Noisemakers are small devices. Subs carry nlarge numbers of them and can drop them fairly quickly. However, if you drop too many too quickly, you will temporarily be out while the crew loads another one. Knuckles: If you make a tight 15 degree turn at high speeds, your sub forms a "knuckle" of turbulance in the water. The knuckle acts like a niosemaker, but lasts for a far less time. Furthermore, a knuckle is only effective if it is closer to the torpedo than your boat. If your boat is closer, the torpedo will ignore the knuckle and go after you! Decoys: Hit the 2 key to launch a decoy. A decoy travels straight at 20 knots. It sends out and reflects sound signals that immitate your sub. Actually, it's good enough to fool a torpedo, but not a human sonar operator on a sub or ship. A torpedo homes on the decoy if (a) the torpedo is closer to the decoy than it is ti your sub and (b) the torpedo faces the decoy. Decoys are launched from a special tube. Reloading and programming a new decoy takes considerable time. If you attempt to launch another decoy too fast, your crew tells you that a decoy is not ready (yet). The max acquisition range of a torpedo is about 2000 to 3000 yards, depending on sonar conditions. The classic evasive actions are to increase speed, drop a decoy or noisemaker and turn away, getting as far from the torpedo as possible. But remember, the torpedo will go thru or around it and try to relocate you. RBU Rockets ---------------------------------------------------------------------- These extremely short range multiple rocket launchers are carried by most Russian ships. Range varies from a few hundred to a few thousand yards, depending on the class of ship. Generally, the bigger the ship, the longer the range. If a ship knows your location, it can launch the RBU's at you, which drop quickly thru the water and explode around you. Damage Reports --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hit the B key for a list of systems that has been damaged or knocked out. Strategic Transit =========================================================================== In this mode, you manuver your sub across hundreds of miles of ocean, seeking your objective. This mode is reached on in a campaign. Your home port of Holy Loch is on the upper left portion of the isle of England. You will need to return here to replenish ammo and repair damage. Use the joystick button to transit at max power (and thereby cavitate, giving away your position to anyone waiting to ambush you. But this is useful to use to get somewhere quick). The map shows only the latest info on enemy forces, which may be several hours old, and the enemy very far away. When you pause or contact the enemy, this brings a screen with different choices: Review Mission Orders: exactly what it says Computer Log: lets you save the game Continue on Course: not availible if an enemy is encountered Battle Stations: starts the battle. Make sure you see the next one first. XO's Ship Staus Report: Subs don't cruise around with loaded weapons, you should load tubes once a contact is found, or you can waste precious time loading tubes while the enemy is shooting at you. To load a tube, just select the weapon you wish in tube #1,then the weapon in the next tube, etc.., or you can change weapons in a tube by clicking on that tube, and then selecting a weapon for it. Finishing your mission: an after combat report is automattically sent, and a score given (ER). If you finished your mission, you will get new orders. If you just tangled with a patrol, you will still continue with your mission. Be warned though, don't use all your ammo on the patrol ships and subs. Save some for the mission. It takes a long time to return to Holy Loch and reload/repair damage, at which time, it may be too late to achieve your objective. A red and blue bar gauge is displayed between missions, as news reports arrive before and after missions. If the gauge moves toward the WP, then the Warsaw Pact is winning, if it moves toward NATO then NATO is doing better. You play a campaign until the gauge is fully toward one side (the war won by one side or the other). Part 2 The Captain's Manual ========================================================================= I have deleted a LONG explanation about NATO strategy given in the manual. If you would like to see it, go buy, it has no effect on how you play the game. I do not feel like typing the rest of the manual (dealing with tactics), as this would take DAYS or WEEKS. It is a huge manual, 108 pages in all. I will give some general advice. When dealing with surface ships only, a nice tactic to use is to make contact, develop a solution on one or two ships, then rapidly fire a missle at each ship, surface, go active radar long enough to target every ship that doesn't already have a misle going to it, fire, turn off active radar, and GTFO. Of course, you should go to max speed after firing the first missles, this gives you speed to out manuever the incoming torpedoes. Be careful, there is usually a sub with the ships, and this won't work on him. All in all, just remain quiet, sneak up on them, fire, and sneak away. There are many diferent stratagies availible to you, just experiment with different ways of attacking until you get the right way of attacking in different situations. Don't discount the value of a 48, it's the best weapon you have, if used correctly. 1=drop noisemaker 2=launch decoy 3=fire stinger 4=fire Mk 48 ) 5=fire Sea Lance ) use Shift with these to load tubes 6=fire Harpoon UGM ) 7=fire Tomahawk ) 8=active sonar toggle 9=active radar toggle 0=rig for silent running F1=tactical display F6=compare sonar F2=weapon control display F7=ship database F3=torpedo defense display F8=sea conditions F4=periscope vidieo F9=depth control F5=acoustic signature F10=course control + =increase power level - =decrease power level help=suggestions from computer . =right 5 rudder , =left 5 rudder / =straight and level z=zoom in x=zoom out esc=unselect c=view contacts v=weapons loadout b=damage report n=torpedo control m=threat weapons