HIRO kun: (...) Right now I am mainly playing
Cold Waters, which is a modern submarine game, it's a rather complicated game but I played all tutorials and read the manual, and finally begin to play a few scenarios. (...)
Hello HIRO kun!
I am not an expert on the game "Cold Waters", but what helped me a lot in my playthroughs was paying attention to the sonar signal strength and detection thresholds as well as some hardcoded parameters!
- Detection thresholds:
The Signal tab on the right-handed interface console (the one where you also cycle through the frequency profiles to identify the contacts) displays in the SNS COMP(uter) the signal to noise figures both of your currently selected (targeted) CONTACT and of your OWNSHIP with respect to that contact. The quality of this information depends on a correct vessel identification.
And here is the deal, both the player's and enemy's threshold for initial detection is a figure of =/> +10 on any single sensor (for an active sensor it represents only a detection potential, the contact still have to use the active mode repeatedly)!
As soon as the player's or enemy's figures on all available sensors drop to =/< 0 again, they loose track of the corresponding contact!
While all sensor's signal strength figures of your currently selected contact are negative or below +10, you remain invisible for him. And if you see large negative values (typically around -50) it means you are effectively in the contact's "baffles" (roughly 60 degrees from stern, where engine noise and ship wake prevents any detection) so that you can increase significantly your speed and even can launch weapons undetectable for that enemy until they are too close to him. Beware, other nearby vessels or contacts with expanded "Towed Array" sensors can still detect you!
Combine entering their "baffle" zones and launching wired torpedos on 'boot legs' (sending them off in one direction and later turning in the direction of your target) and clearing 'datum' (place and time from where you have been at torpedo launch or detection) to increase your chance of survival.
- Next the hardcoded parameters:
"Cold Waters" incentifies torpedo evasion by letting the enemy vessel automatically detect the player in a certain proximity range (distance) which strangely enough is still being modiefied by the distance scaling option in the settings!
Hence, choosing a distance scale of 1:1 (instead of the 1:2 default) allows you to approach them further before passing this hardcoded threshold! (I do not know, whether mods as DOTMOD change this kind of behaviour.)
You realize that you entered an enemy's automatic detection range when he spontaneously starts to ping you constantly on active and soon launches weapons against you.
The other parameters are a little softer (include a range of variation) but have a huge impact on enemies' initial awareness of your presence in an combat area - which is your sub's movement speed during engagement on the global map!
There are three types of movement speed during encounter on the map: fast, slow and full stop!
Your ship moves FAST when clicking or holding the LEFT mouse button. You can move SLOW by using the RIGHT mouse button, but ideally you are not moving at all (FULL STOP)--instead waiting for the target group to intercept you!
An encounter during FAST movement results in an engagement with 20 kts as your own speed, usually at closer ranges and at depths around 600 feet. => In that case you have already been detected by enemy vessels at the very beginning of the encounter! (They know you are there and where!)
An encounter during SLOW movement enhances your chances of not being detected already (the enemy does not know where you are!), but the enemy could still be alerted to your presence. You start the engagement with a speed of 10 kts at medium ranges with respect to one of the targets and usually at shallow depths.
The best benefits come from a FULL STOP before the encounter! The player remains undetected, starts at longer ranges, but can CLOSE TO the target with less risk of being detected initially at all, and your own initial speed is a quiet 5 kts at shallow depths!
Keeping those characteristics of "Cold Waters" in mind and frequently making course changes of 60 to 90 degrees to enhance your own firing solution building and hindering the enemy to do so made my playing sessions much more pleasant.
And lastly, regarding mission objectives, target vessels in your primary mission objective count to the more than 50% success requirement. When your primary mission objective is to sink a tender, merchants, tankers or landing ships those vessels have much higher priority than accompanying escort vessels! (Sinking the majority or all of the escorting warships but failing to sink the target vessel(s) still causes you to miss the mission objective!)
Enjoy your ride in "Cold Waters", and maybe you get interested in trying out some other submarine simulations, as well.
Kind regards,
foxgog