I think we will see subs in late 2025 or maybe even later
It’s mainly just sound and environment right?
If you sit still your harder to detect within a certain range, and if your below a thermal layer your even more so.
Maybe it’ll be like the 117 where it only makes it harder to attack once guided torp’s come?
Yeah simple stacking modifiers should be enough to get the idea across for basic gameplay. If Gaijin wants to make it more realistic later, that’s fine, but for me, I think the system should work like this:
When underwater, submarines are visible to any surface vessel at an extremely close range (30 meters or so). After that, they are not visible without some kind of underwater detection gear (active or passive sonar).
Active or passive sonar detection of submarines are modified by the following submarine conditions–
Full or flank throttle: Increases detection range
Firing weapons: increases detection range
Undergoing repairs or tube reloads: increases detection range
Emergency ballast blow: increases detection range
Sailing with damage to hull: increases detection range
Submarine use of active sonar: greatly increases detection range
Under Thermal layer: Decreases detection range
Extreme depth: decreases detection range
Close proximity to sea floor: decreases detection range
Silent running: decreases detection range
I’ve posted this before, but as short as I can.
A submarine should be able to hide in the baffles of an enemy vessel. Thermoclines, depth charges, and the submarine moving slowly should make the submarine difficult for passive sensors to pick up. A submarine doing everything correctly should be able to stay hidden.
A vessel hunting a submarine should have the effectiveness of its passive sensors heavily penalised for just staying at top speed.
As for detecting an enemy submarine, I think a crew skill on detection would be the way to go. As a surface vessel MOVING AT A CRAWL, the first things you’d hear from a submarine are things like torpedo launches, the torpedoes actually travelling, and other loud noises. The next thing you’d be able to hear is cavitation, then machinery. The first bits of data you’d get from the sub is its bearing from you, then its depth, then its speed and heading, followed finally by its range. A possible addition to this is your passive sensors operators being able to tell you what class of submarine you are fighting against.
2 Likes
This is all technically accurate to rl right?
1 Like
Yep. A destroyer can’t charge at top speed and listen to the water. The sounds of its engines and the waves breaking would smother the sound of a quiet submarine.
1 Like
Did they ever make a work around or solution to this?
Yes and no.
The solutions were largely to use other methods of detection in that situation.
Active sonar is more reliable than passive sonar at high speed since it uses distinct high-frequency sound.
Scout helicopters can sit still over a submarine’s suspected location and use dipping hydrophones while a destroyer moves at a higher speed, effectively offloading detection duties.
1 Like
I didn’t really like that one, it was both too simple and too powerful.
If we assume minimal change between that event and techtree introduction it might atleast be possible that 2D range information could be moved off the minimap onto a dedicated display element, since the ability to switch between those has been added in the time after the Battle of the Atlantic event, for the displaying that kind of information for air search radars and optical rangefinders.
1 Like
Yes, active sonar although that still isn’t great against thermoclines, sonobuoys although these sit on the surface and so above the thermocline again. Dipping sonars can go below the thermocline but the helicopter has to hover in place to use them.
As for baffles, the ways to detect things in them are again, using a helicopter or using a towed array, however a towed array can be used to listen both above and below the layers, however, you cannot move too quickly because then you start damaging it.
1 Like
Apart from all that, you must stop in the worst case to detect any ship, the more the ship that intends to detect the enemy moves, the less it will be able to hear due to the noise of the engine, the winds and noise of the combat.
Speaking of passive sonar, active sonar must be very careful because it reveals its exact position.
3 Likes
I feel like the meta for subs in WT would be to stay at periscope depth for the ones equipped with snorkels and close in as fast as possible to the main fleet, avoiding destroyers and subchasers
2 Likes
Certainly snorkels will be a massive advantage to the subs equipped with them, as they let you move significantly faster while submerged at the cost of high noise.
I think you’re probably right about the gameplay, that’s more or less how it went in Battle of the Atlantic, except you’ll probably want to dive deep if detected before that point to break contact with a destroyer/escort.
2 Likes
Subs with snorkels can probably outrun subchasers but they will have to play very carefully against destroyers, those things can go like 3x their surfaced top speed
definitly can outfun the first sub chaser in the us tt things sloooooooooowwww
1 Like
Most subchasers only go like 30kph max
it goes 25 mph so I guess its fast for a subchaser but its still slow compared to regular MTB with deptch charges
1 Like
Yeah, submarines could only go like 10mph underwater max so there simply was no need for them to go any faster
Also convoys that they escorted could only reach a similar speed, 10-12 knots (15-18 mph I think?) so…
1 Like
Meanwhile the USS Nautilus going 1kt faster underwater than on the surface while also going 23kt (26.4679) underwater
1 Like
The magic of nuclear power