Nimrod Sonobuoy Launch Altitude

[Midcon113]

Playing the Advanced ASW Exercise Scenario. As you'll see when you launch the .save, the Nimrod is descending out of FL400, and deploys a Type 17053 sonobuoy from approximately 30,000. At first, I thought this was unrealistically high but I did a quick Google search on sonobuoys and I guess this is at least technically possible.

However, the database entry for the the Type 17053 says that the launch altitude is between 180 and 8000 feet. I'm not sure what the bug is - is it the database or is it the Nimrod?

Additionally, a further question is (or was, in this case given the date of this scenario) it normal for fixed-wing ASW planes to drop from high altitudes? Is that SOP? I would think a lower drop would result in longer buoy life in the water - less time in the air descending (at some point you've got to slow the thing down do that it survives splash down!) - as well as a more precise location of the buoy. But that's my uneducated guess. Love to know what's done in real life.

Thanks!

Mark

[mikmykWS]

Hi Mark

No that is probably too high and the likely culprit is the mission profile in the database. Actual game impact other than it looking weird. Small:)

Appreciate the report though. We'll take a look.

Mike

[Midcon113]

Hi Mike,

Agreed - the game impact in this case is small. However, it was similar enough to seeing the A-7s dropping Mk. 82s from 20,000 in my other post on the air tutorial that I thought I'd bring it up - the culprit still seems to be the mission editor.

Thanks!

Mark

[mikmykWS]

You do know you can manually change these right? F2?

Thanks!

Mike

[Midcon113]

Hi Mike,

Yes, I do - but until I get used to having to maneuver the aircraft to the correct release parameters (something I never worried about back in the Harpoon days) I was hoping to just closely observe what the AI does to get a feel for what I should be doing, that's all. Right now I'm continuing the FOST scenario and am enjoying watching the AI prosecute the subs with the airborne assets! No torp drops from high altitude!

Thanks!

Mark

[thewood1]

Whoa...lets not rewrite history. Harpoon had huge issues with release altitudes from release of 3.0 at least through the first several releases from Matrix. That is a span of close to a decade. Command has been out a year. My suggestion is fire up on of those older versions of H3 and tell me what it does.

One of the issues that stands out was the majority of the database was screwed up out of the box.

[Midcon113]

Hi thewood,

I'm going back to Harpoon 1.3 - I have Harpoon 3 but never really played it much. I beta tested Harpoon 1.3 (including being a scenario contributor to the HDS2 BattleSet) through Harpoon 2 until 360 Pacific went under and sold the franchise. That was the version I was talking about, and with Harpoon 1.x and Harpoon 2 I never had to worry much about weapons release parameters - back then, nothing was modeled as accurately as it is in Command (Harpoon Commanders Edition may have gotten better in this respect - I really don't know as again I don't have much experience with it). So all I meant is that Command is raising the bar significantly higher - which is fantastic! I wasn't implying that Harpoon in any version was better in this respect than Command, as I think you understood my comment. I was merely stating that I can't just ignore release parameters as I could back in the days of the original computer Harpoon. Not trying to rewrite history here at all, just trying to feel my way through the detail of Command so I can be a better player.

Thanks!

Mark

[mikmykWS]

Wow Mark. You had our attention and used it to troll us about Harpoon. No soup for you.

Next[:)]

Mike

[Midcon113]

Hi Mike,

LOL I wasn't trolling anyone! Let me clarify just for the record:

1) I played a ton of the original computer Harpoon, then stopped for all intents and purposes, for nearly 20 years.

2) I recently find Command and realize it's the realization of so much I had wanted Harpoon to be but never was.

3) I started playing Command as if it was the original Harpoon that I remembered, and have quickly realized that's not going to work - Command's far more detailed approach to all aspects of the simulation are revealing just how simplistic my ways of playing used to be.

4) As a result I'm now trying to unlearn a lot of bad habits and learn a lot of new ones.

5) In my desire to clarify a point I tried to make a (admittedly poorly-worded) comparison to my original Harpoon experience, meant only to demonstrate the higher fidelity of Command.

That's all - no more, no less. Anyhow, as you say, on to the next! [:)]

Mark

[mikmykWS]

Thanks Mark. As I mentioned before we appreciate you reporting this and we'll take a look.

Mike

[Midcon113]

Thanks Mike!