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Want to get cozy with an oil rig? Well have I got the tip for you  Approach the oil rig to within 3.5 nautical miles. Then come up to periscope depth and take a look at it through the periscope. You should see it once you come inside of 3.5 nautical miles. Once you've 'peeked' at it through the periscope, you'll be able to get really close to it.

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Active pings can be a good indicator of the depth of the pinging sub. At times you will notice that a ping sounds mute. This could be because of distance or more importantly because the pinging sub is across the layer.

Now take the bearing you get from your TBI (True Bearing Indicator) Display and take a look down that bearing in your NAV Map or the Tactical Display. If you’re below the layer and detect a muted ping, look in the SSP screen and get the layer depth then look down the TBI bearing for the areas of water shallower then the layer depth; vice versa if above layer and receiving a muted ping.

Though the tactic is not very useful in open, deep-water scenarios, it can be useful in scenarios with extreme variations in ocean depth or in scenarios with islands or underwater mountains. Remember to always assume you’ve been found by the searching sub, muted ping or not.

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If you're going to use active search, be sure to cover the bases and use it once above and once below the surface. Chances are you may not have gotten a return if the target sub was across the layer.

Everyone has an opinion as to what strength to apply and mine is full power. Just use a low power ping in between to get a clean return display when going active the second time around. 

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Don't be afraid to move! No contacts? Get moving and start searching. Very rarely will someone detect you without you detecting him or her. By moving, I don't mean flank unless you want to do a quick 5-minute sprint. No, I mean speeds of no more than 18 knots. At 18 knots, towed array listening capability goes to the potty (Spherical array blinks out above 25 knots). 

I tend to move around at speeds varying between 7, 12, and 17 knots. If I've been detected I tend to use the higher speeds and feign movement in the direction opposite of where I want to go (not always:)). Then at weapons free, cross the layer and place myself on the opposite side, reverse course and boogie on out of there. 

I feel that it is important to reverse course after you've crossed the layer, as you want his sonar man to last hear you going the one way, while you turn and go the other way. 

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Always keep in mind your surroundings. Unless you’re in open water, there is usually some way you can use your surroundings to your advantage.  

When making an approach on a suspected threat contact location, think of how you can use the terrain or physical aspects of the bottom to your benefit.  

Ask yourself these questions:  

1) If he fires, where can I evade? Can I use my surroundings to effectively ground out an incoming attack? Can my target do the same?  

2) Is there some seamount or ocean floor valley or depression in which I can hide my presence? Physical obstructions effectively mask you from the enemy and vice versa. 

3) Am I ready to launch torpedoes at a moment’s notice? If in transit, using bottom topography to your advantage, a hasty snapshot retaliation may ground out unexpectedly while in transit to target area. Taking note of the surrounding area and making sure your line of fire is clear horizontally and vertically is a good practice.  

Having a plan is always a good thing. :)  

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If considering using your active sonar to find a contact, consider this first. Designate all torpedoes, yours and incoming. This way when you go active the returns that are your torpedoes will be identified as such as will the returns that are incoming or hostile. The unknown return(s) will be your target. 

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Using RADAR to track things? Try this to make things easier. As with the active search, RADAR contacts reflect gained sonar contacts. If you have previously detected someone and then are able to track him/her with RADAR, contact information will be show as designated, e.g. You gain contact M1 on passive sonar. He later runs into shallow water and you are able to track on RADAR. If radar sees it and you click to mark, It will show as M1. Somehow the game is able to accurately correlate the contacts. 

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Want a fix on any incoming torpedoes but you’ve been running at flank to clear datum? There are two ways that I know of to do this. First is the well-known HF Sonar spin; set yourself in the Main Control Room and initiate a full rudder turn watching HF Sonar Display. Any torpedoes within 3.0 nautical miles of you will show up. Downside is that if you dropped cm’s they’ll show up too and add to a bit of confusion in a situation in which confusion can kill you.  

The second way to do it is to order the engine room to back 1/3. This will quickly reduce your speed to within passive tracking thresholds and you can order the speed up fairly quickly too. What I’ll do is turn 50-80 degrees off my egress course and order back 1/3. When the subs’ forward speed indicates 20 knots, I’ll order speed to 18 knots and then go to sonar to check spherical. Within a few seconds, towed array listening will come online and you can check your six. If you have a faint torpedo signature you can adjust course to open up distance yet retain relative stealth, thus regaining the initiative. If it’s a loud signature, you can initiate a full rudder turn back to base course dropping countermeasures and accelerating to flank through the turn (Have this maneuver in your head before slowing as you may need to do it quickly!) 

Of course, the best way would be to monitor the torpedoes from the get go so you can adjust course as needed. This isn’t exactly something you can do at times but when able, clearing datum at no more than 25 knots will allow you to use your spherical array to track any possible incoming. Try to keep in mind, flank speed only as a last resort. Not only does it advertise you ‘loudly’ but also it may give the other guy that sonar contact he was looking for, not to mention leave you completely blind. 

By the way, don’t worry about tweaking your towed array when ordering back 1/3. It will not be damaged as long as you are maintaining forward momentum. Once the sub hits 00 knots though, you’d best quickly order a forward bell or risk losing the towed array. 

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Be careful when evading torpedoes while skimming the bottom. Deployed countermeasures sink and when they hit the bottom, they magically disappear. Sometimes the torpedo gets confused and continues on if it had acquired the countermeasure, but sometimes they start searching again and reacquire you too. 

Though not always successful, I’ve found it best to evade by using the layer. Bear in mind that the layer reduces signals from across by about 50%. That’s a lot less return for an active to get and a lot less noise for a passive to hear. 

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An oldie but goodie, the 6-minute rule. I know a lot of you don't think to use this lifesaving rule though probably because you don't know how to apply it. Here's two ways you can look at it. 

First let's review the 6-minute rule. It's very simple. Take the speed of anything, multiply it by 2 then add two more zeros to the number the product of which reflects the distance the object will travel in 6 minutes. Example, speed of 55 knots x 2 gives you a product of 110. Add two zeros to that to get 11,000 or11, 000 yards (approximately 5.5 nautical miles). The rule simply states that this is how far that object will travel in 6 minutes. 

Let's try another using 15 knots this time. 15 knots x 2 gives you a product of 30. Add two zeros to get 3000, or 3000 yards (approximately 1.5 nautical miles). Once again the rule defines this as the distance the object will travel in 6 minutes. 

Now for an application that most of you should know. Your opponent is 6 nautical miles away. He fires and you go to flank speed. In roughly 6 minutes,

His torpedoes will be where you were. Easy, common knowledge. 

Look at it this way now. Opponent is 12,000 yards away. You turn away at flank and run. Now, use the 6-minute rules but bear in mind you are running at 40 knots and his torpedoes are closing at 55 knots. Take the difference in speeds and you get an actual closure speed of 15 knots! Now at 15 knots closure the torpedo will catch up to you in how many minutes? Let's see...15 knots x 2 = 30 + 2 zeros gives you 3000 for 3000 yards in 6 minutes. Total distance to close is roughly 12,000 yards. 12,000 yards divided by 3000 yards = 4 and 4 x 6 minute intervals = 24 minutes. So in 24 minutes it will hit you or be very close to hitting you. Now surely no one wants to be running for 24 minutes because that puts you at roughly 16 nautical miles from your starting point (40 x 2 = 80 + 2 zeros = 8000 x 4 = 32,000 yards or 16 nautical miles) and very likely way out of the action. Sure, you survive but you're out of the game for sometime. Unless you're one of those lucky guys that can shoot and run at flank and still manage to wire guide your torpedoes right into someone's baffles, this is not a good result. 

Here is a practical application for those of you that like to use that HFS spin to find incoming torpedoes. Effective range of HFS is 3 nautical miles or 6000 yards. You are running at flank. Once again, torpedo closure is 55 knots or more accurately 15 knots or 3000 yards in 6 minutes. 

You spin and see nothing. Cool! When do you spin next? 6 minutes later? Good answer, because by then any torpedo that had been slightly further out than 6000 yards (HFS Range) will surely be inside that by now having traveled 3000 yards or half the distance. You now will have approximately 1 to 1.5 nautical miles in which to effect a successful evasion. 

If you do a HFS spin every 6 minutes after running off like a chicken without a head at flank speed, there should be no reason why a torpedo should catch you with your pants down.

The morale of all this stuff? Buy a stopwatch people. You'll love what it does for you. :) 

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Layers are not always apparent in a scenario. Look for changes in temperature, as each change is a layer. When you've discerned the more dominant layer(s), work through these at least once every 10 minutes. Staying put above or below the layer may mask a stealthy attack from you until it is much too late to react or retaliate properly to. 

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Preparing for an attack? Always try to fire your shots over the shoulder and more importantly on a lag LOS or an opening course. To be completely honest, I still don't quite understand the lag LOS thing but I know that the OTS shots work on masking the launch and subsequent detection by the target depending on range and SONAR conditions of course. If you want to practice this, play one of those Single Player missions and see if you can pull off an attack without being detected. The log will let you know if you were detected. 

It can be done. I've actually pulled it off in SWF8-009 of all scenarios. Both my opponent and I had no prior detection of each other. I gained a narrowband track on him from about 8 nautical miles out and used that to launch a stealth attack. When he finally detected the torpedoes they were way off my bearing to him and his counter-fire found nothing but empty water. 

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Here is another variation on the Sonar Start Blip. Don't to forget about that lower display in your Broadband Sonar Screen. You'll notice that there are 3 settings, these being Short, Intermediate, and Long. These 3 settings refer to the displayed time frame with Short displaying a 60-second history, Intermediate with a 30-minute history and Long with a 2-hour history. Essentially, all waterfall display data is compressed as you select the longer duration. Therefore, any contact traces however slight or faint will be compressed in the intermediate/long duration setting and therefore become more visible or apparent. 

Brief transients such as the slight cavitation sometimes produced in a high-speed turn or the launching of a torpedo can be detected more readily in the intermediate/long settings. Slow running torpedoes are more readily detected using the intermediate/long settings. 

If you suspect something to be a possible contact transient, switch the lower display to the long setting and check it out. Do it now and then to be on the safe side. The earlier you detect the better for you. 

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Here's a tip from the venerable ADM Blue. Guys these come far and few between and understandably so. ADM Blue is one of the SeaWolves' premier divers and he's gotten there because of experience in the 'field'. 

I still don't understand the mechanics of what he passed on though the 'light' he turned on is getting brighter  

Here's a transcript of the conversation we had. 

ADM Blue: A hint ole buddy. Passives alone in water that shallow are next to useless. They get a lot of bottom reflection and it confuses them easily. An active/passive pair works better. The active gets the bad guy to scoot, and then the passive can hear him. 

RDML Gutsy: Roger. I just don't understand how you got so far north so fast without being heard. I had a track on (CDR) Orca to the south and he was about 8 nm down. You were inside 6 nm and I had nothing.  

ADM Blue: That bottom reflection thing again. I was running shallow and noisy. Had I been deeper, you would have got the bottom bounce and nailed me. 

RDML Gutsy: LOL. Not sure I understand. Being near the surface reduces bottom bounce?  

ADM Blue: Sure does. The further from the bottom, the less likely the sound will hit it and bounce. 

RDML Gutsy: Ah, okay. I was thinking that the bottom sucked up the sound a bit and reduced the range it would be heard at. 

ADM Blue: It does if it's a mud bottom. If it's a rock bottom, it reflects like a mirror. Unless you know the bottom, best to assume its rock.

RDML Gutsy: Roger that Sir. Will do that from now on. Anyway, thanks for the enlightenment. It was neat to see that in the replay. I couldn't figure it out.

Would you mind if I posted that little tip on the page I got made? 

ADM Blue: ::grins:: Sure. Though if I keep giving up all my little diving secrets it will play hell with my combat score. 

RDML Gutsy): LOL! That's the idea Sir. More fun with a challenging dive though I know what you mean with the score side. People are getting harder to sink. Still, it's fun trying to get sneaky with someone. 

ADM Blue: Forming another dive if you got the time. 

(End Chat) 

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Study the Terrain around you if in littoral waters. By littoral waters, I mean waters in which your sub can reach the bottom. I'm not sure of it but the true meaning may refer to an even shallower environment. 

Anyhow, study these surroundings. Check out all the rises and dips of the ocean floor. An underwater rise makes for a good sound-blocking obstacle. Of course, it also blocks the sound of the target sub coming to you. Dips or holes make great places to hide in and ground out torpedoes. Once again, You're hiding and the other guy is hidden. Another disadvantage to hiding in a hole is that if and when you decide to attack or counter-fire, you'll have to worry about your torpedo running into the bottom as it encounters the rising ocean floor. 

Small islands or underwater mounds can be used for misdirection; send a torpedo round one way and you come out the other way listening. If you get incoming, run over an underwater mound and then try to stick close to the bottom as it drops off deeper after going over the top. If you're lucky the incoming will follow you and try to match depth, smacking its' silly self into the bottom. 

When searching or transiting, always keep an eye and part of your mind on these things as you'll never know when incoming or counter-fire will come. 

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Here is another one of those game quirks that I think everyone should know about. 688(I) 'amplifies' sound in order to simulate the explosion or detonation of a torpedo. In doing so, it amplifies all other sound too along with the sound output of the target sub. 

If SONAR reports a detonation on one of your torpedoes, take a few seconds to look at broadband display and see if the tracker you had on the target is still moving around. If it is then the target is still alive and kicking. This doesn't last very long so you have to be quick.  

Also, I've been told that a destroyed sub emits a particular set of Narrowband frequencies, inherent only to a destroyed sub. Sounds like it's time for some testing. 

To expand on this, if you set off a couple of SLMM's the resulting explosion will briefly amplify the sound output of all contacts within an undetermined distance of you. It won't last long but can be used to get a bearing on someone. If you were too busy, study your sonar history. Spherical would be my suggestion as it is the least cluttered.

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When setting up your torpedoes for attack, consider how you will be using them. Most players launch in pairs, some opting to send a single torpedo to their two closest contacts in a close game. I too tend to fire a pair for my opening gambit but they are almost always going to the same contact/target. 

One thing one should always do is to have one torpedo running 5 knots slower.  You can lead with the passive or with the active, your choice but if your firing both right then and there make sure one is running a bit slower. This will prevent the loss of both torpedoes on a single set of countermeasures should they acquire countermeasures. I tend to use a 55/50-knot pair or if a longer-range attack, 45/40-knot pair. 

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Pay attention to where it is that your target is in reference to the layer. Most tend to go deep and when you head below the layer you are able to track them. Should your target counter-fire from below the layer, head above the layer and do a quick sprint to get out of the incoming torpedo acquisition cone. Depending on the ranges involved, your target (attacker) might possibly not even here this high speed transit and will waste a bit of time working the torpedoes in the area you were at. 

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A few words on transients. As all of us know, the most important screen in the game of 688(i) is not the main control room or weapons control room, but the SONAR room.  If there were one thing I'd like to have changed in the game, it would be to have the game start me out in the SONAR room.

Transients are the markers of critical events, which take place in any and all dives. The detection of these markers is, by my thinking that which may make or break your game.

Transients are simply brief events, which create or cause enough noise that will register on your opponent's broadband waterfall display. They can be caused by a sudden change in direction at speed, a change in aspect in relation to the listening platform, or a weapons launch.

 I've played many a game in which I've gotten a tracker on a sub clearing datum simply by paying attention to the broadband screen at weapons free time and clicking on those transients that will sometimes appear after the attacking sub has launched the attack and attempts to clear datum. I've also gotten transients as a 'silent' sub attempts to 'quietly' dodge or drive out of the way of a 'fishing torpedo'.

Why does this happen you ask? Well, sometimes the attacking sub will turn 120 degrees away from the bearing of its' target and attempt to open a little distance. This changes the aspect of his propeller to me now having it roughly facing my direction or me. Chances of me gaining a transient are greatly increased. Another possibility is that the attacking sub makes a sudden change in direction/course/depth, UNDER SPEED in an effort to clear the area. Once again, the chances of me picking up a transient are greatly increased.

Think of it like this. Pretend you are moving your hands through the water in an arc around you. You get more of a disturbance and a pressure wave formation the faster you attempt to move your hand through the water. Remember that it's more than just sound under water. You have to consider the dynamics of pressure and density. Quick sudden movements create strong pressure waves that may be brief but carry their energy further.

You can reduce the possibility of creating a transient that your opponent can use by making course/depth changes at reduced speed. I tend to order all stop before initiating a course/depth change just to get the sub to slow down while the course/depth change is occurring, especially if moving at over 7 knots. Once on the desired course/depth, I resume speed.

If you bear in mind that everything you do creates a disturbance in the water and consider this fact each and every time you attempt to alter your current course/depth, You should greatly reduce the possibility of creating a transient. If you'd like to discuss this even more, drop me a line. I'm always willing to talk shop. 

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Been having a rough time sinking someone? I know the feeling and I don't think it will get any easier with the way we are training our people.

Here is something you could try though.

Using an active torpedo, try to elicit a response from your target in the form of countermeasures being dropped. Then turn it off and steer it away for a couple minutes or have it circle the area. When the first bunches of countermeasures are spent, turn it back at the target and try it again.

It's a tricky procedure and can be dangerous if the target knows your approximate location but it can pay off. I'd suggest trying it only if you're attacking anonymously and are relatively safe from attack from other directions. I'd also recommend using slow running torpedoes to extend run time or at the least be inside 15000 yards of the target. 

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I've always thought of the game of 688(I) as the art of misleading and deception. Not only does this apply to your opponent but also to his/her torpedoes. 

So how do we mislead torpedoes? Easy, we use countermeasures. 

Well, so what's new? We all use countermeasures combined with course/depth changes to evade torpedoes. Some will even use the E-Blow to get out of harms way. Fine and dandy if it works and it does work. 

Anyhow, here is another something you might try. 

Consider how the torpedo works. You set a RTE (Run To Enable) range, a Depth preset which controls the depth to which the torpedo will ascend or descend once enabled, starting its' search for your target, and also your search logic setting, active or passive search (ping or listen). 

Consider this, your contact and yourself are both below the layer. Come +4 minutes your target is about 5 nautical miles distant; too far for a Hollywood charge yet close enough to make evasion a tight squeeze. Don't forget your torpedoes now, or more accurately his torpedoes. 

Remember that he's below the layer just like you so when he launches his torpedoes, they will be below the layer too. Sure, when they enable and start searching they'll look to climb to their depth preset but they'll be looking first. 

So weapons free come along and here's what you do. You hear the launch of your antagonists' weapons.  Drop a pair of cm's set for deep setting, one decoy and one jammer. Then head above the layer and make a 3-minute sprint 90 degrees off the incoming torpedoes' bearing. Not too long now, 3 minutes should work nicely. Just be sure to make it flank. Then make course 60 degrees off incoming and slow about 10-12 knots. About this time your enemy's weapons should enable and start searching. Whether it be active or passive.

Both weapons will have your countermeasures as their first look and the chances of them locking onto these cm's are much greater than they locking onto you. The layer helps with this, monitor the torpedoes using TMA and continue to open distance on them. be sure not to cavitate or the passive may start running to you. 

   If one of the incoming locks onto its' respective cm and detonates, it's very likely that you'll have your opponent working the remaining torpedo, if there is one, in that area and not your area. Let him launch his second pair into the mix and continue to clear the area. When you confirm that his 2nd pair is heading away, attempt to regain contact and prosecute at will. 

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Playing a stealthy game of hide and seek?

So you've detected your opponent and after a bit of TMA development you discover that your target is under 7 nautical miles distant. Ram fire can be heard and detected at a range of 15,000 yards or approximately 7 nautical miles. 

What do you do? 

Well, consider this... Over a period time you can open distance from your target and launch a stealthy attack using slow-speed torpedoes. The increased distance will further reduce the chances of your torpedo/torpedoes being detected when you launch them. Just be sure to cross the layer and face away from target when attacking..

With a little patience and intentional misdirection, you can easily sink your opponent and cruise along while his torpedoes head off to somewhere else.