Uncle Mark's Tutorials - 4 - Boston Guards the Denmark Strait, 1985 -- new beta for testing

[Mgellis]

Another new tutorial scenario beta. In this one, you're in command of the Boston, and World War III has broken out. Can you stop a Soviet convoy from getting into the North Atlantic?

As always, please let me know what you can think. All comments and suggestions are welcome. How well does it play? How do the orders sound? Do all the Events work properly? Is it fun? Is it challenging? Will it help new players understand and enjoy Command?

Thanks in advance!

[hellfish6]

I always like your scenarios.

[GBS]

When I try to start this scenario, i get the message that I am trying to load a DB that doesn't exist and that I should install the latest update to assure I have the DB. I am playing version 108 678.10. What do you suggest?
BTW, where can I find the other Tutorial scenarios you have made?

[GBS]

Found the 17 update so I'm good there. Still looking for your Tutorials.

[GBS]

Never mind[;)] found them all. Thanks for these.

[Mgellis]

Any other comments or suggestions? Or is this one ready for the Community Scenario Pack? Thanks.

[Gunner98]

Missed this one when it first came up.  Nice one as usual,  somewhat frustrating as all Sub warfare can be. Got average with 2 tankers sunk and a Merchi damaged 
 
 
Spoilers#####################
 
 
 
The SSN escaped me and I said to myself - 'Myself! - I bet he was clearing ahead of the convoy! Now I can get them..."  I was apparently quite wrong as when the message came in giving the location I was well out of position.  Did some quick calcs and moving at Flank speed managed to get some stragglers with TSAMs, hit one with Harpoon but didn't do much.  Must have been a Brit lurking as a Tigerfish got an SSN.
 
Comments:
 
-Am not 100% sure but I suspect CO Boston would be aware of the Brit in the area and would be given a patrol box (RPs would work), or be told to stay eg: West of Long XXXX, or something to de-conflict from the Brit in an effort to conserve resources and prevent fratricide (Similar to Procedural Control with Aircraft)
-The message when a whale got smoked seemed to indicate that the player had done it.  Perhaps a comment something like ' if you didn't do it... who did...?'
-I think the Convoy would be better at about 15Knts.  I opened it up in the editor after and the main body was quite a bit ahead of the laggards that I got, I think the tankers are maxed out at 17Knts and they were left way behind making them easy pickings.
-Nice job on the Biologics, however, they seemed to be focused on the start area and by the time I got a whiff of the convoy they were well to the rear.
 
Very nice little game.  Thanks
 
B
 
I think its ready to go

[Mgellis]

ORIGINAL: Gunner98

Comments:

-Am not 100% sure but I suspect CO Boston would be aware of the Brit in the area and would be given a patrol box (RPs would work), or be told to stay eg: West of Long XXXX, or something to de-conflict from the Brit in an effort to conserve resources and prevent fratricide (Similar to Procedural Control with Aircraft)
-The message when a whale got smoked seemed to indicate that the player had done it.  Perhaps a comment something like ' if you didn't do it... who did...?'
-I think the Convoy would be better at about 15Knts.  I opened it up in the editor after and the main body was quite a bit ahead of the laggards that I got, I think the tankers are maxed out at 17Knts and they were left way behind making them easy pickings.
-Nice job on the Biologics, however, they seemed to be focused on the start area and by the time I got a whiff of the convoy they were well to the rear.

Very nice little game.  Thanks

B

I think its ready to go

Tweaked a few things like the orders file (Boston CO is now aware of British SSN from the start and her likely patrol area...modified British patrol area so it probably won't be involved in a blue-on-blue kill), etc. For some reason, when I tried to modify the speed of the convoy, it really slowed down a lot. I could not get it to just be 15 knots--it was either 18 or 8! I wonder if it has something to do with the sprint-and-drift settings but I'm not sure. So I ended up just leaving them at "cruise." I guess the tankers will have to take care of themselves. Of course, the Soviet subs are in the area, so they're not totally on their own.

Anyone else have any comments or suggestions? Thanks.

[chrisol]

Weapon: Depth Charge [5kT Nuclear] missed Biologic Orcas by 435ft

This might be deliberate... but it looks like someone is trying to nuke the whales !

That is sooooooo bad !

best wishes
Chris

[Mgellis]

ORIGINAL: chrisol

Weapon: Depth Charge [5kT Nuclear] missed Biologic Orcas by 435ft

This might be deliberate... but it looks like someone is trying to nuke the whales !

That is sooooooo bad !

best wishes
Chris

It's not deliberate. They are trying to nuke enemy subs...the poor whales just got in the way.

[Patmanaut]

As usual with your scenarios, I got whacked the first and second times until I got it right the 3rd.
Rarely I got a triumph at the first try (the St Laurent gulf scenario was a case.)
Off course, this doesn´t diminish the fun and the challenge.
Keep up the good work!

Saludos

P.

[gdir]

I'really enjoyed this scenario. At some point I had spent all of the conventional weapons, but some convoy ships were left. I finally realized that the nuclear SUBROC were BOL capable and could be misused against the surface targets. That was a real Oprah moment: You get a nuke! And you get a nuke! Everybody gets a nuke! [;)]

[KungPao]

Guess I am the only one here made a stupid mistake. I thought Denmark Strait is somewhere between Denmark and Norway. As soon as the scenario start, I plot the course of my sub to Denmark at full speed. after one day in the game, I began to wonder why the scenario only last 2 days while it will take me more than 2 days to reach Denmark. then I googled, now I know where the Denmark Strait is.

[jfmoyen]

Hi there,

As a new C:MANO player, I'm looking at the tutorial. Mark's tutorial #4 is good fun, however there seems to be a couple of typos in the messages (unless it is deliberate mis-information, in the name of fog of war ?) :

(1) the briefing indicates a Brit submarine patrolling East of 31W. However, in the editor, its patrol zone is clearly bounded by 32 W.

(2) At 13.00 the second day, a message indicates that the convoy is at 34W 64N. It is, actually, at 34W and 65N at that time.

Thanks

Jeff

[Mgellis]

It may just be typos. I'll take a look when I get a chance.

[ganlhi]

Hey commanders!

I started CMANO two weeks ago, and did a bunch of tutorial scenarios. I'm currently doing yours, Mark, and they are pretty good!
This one in particular is driving me crazy: I am destroyed every time, most often without even knowing where the attack came from...
I tried a bunch of approches but nothing works. I suppose there is another sub than the one I blew up at the beginning, but I never had a contact.

Would someone have some advice for me? [&o]

[Maddoc1971]

Hi everybody,

I'm very new to Command (1 week now) but was an active Pooner in the Nineties. I did the submarine tutorials 1.1-1.4, 2.1.-2.4 and the "Basic Training Submarine Operations, 2014". I managed to gain a triumph after playing 2-3 times which I'm quite proud of as a noob.

But with this scenario I really have my problems. The convoy seems to have stealth capabilities, I sometimes just can't find it at all -> no contact. I tried almost everything.
The NATO message at 1300 that the convoy was spotted at 64°N 34° West seems to be wrong, which may be the intention of the author as wrong or foggy messages will often occurr in reality. But on the other hand speed and course were given exactly by NATO HQ so that won't make sense. If NATO were unsure they won't have speed or course...

The few times I got an initial contact, course and speed were confirmed by my passive sonar but then the convoy had already passed my patrol area (unseen by me) although I was directly in its way. In that phase I could not catch it up in time....??? I would have expected to "hear" it beforehand, because it's travelling with 18 knots. A merchant vessel which is cruising with this speed is quite noisy, I think.

I then tried to put my patrol area around 64°N and 34°W and wait for the NATO message and as it popped up, there was simply nothing at all, not even a single contact.

I went to bed after this frustrating experience.

Anybody any help? Thanks in advance!

[Ancalagon451]

What speed did you use when patrolling?

More than 5 knots degrades your pasive detection in a perceptible way. More than 10 and you can crash against those merchants before you hear them.

Also passive detection is very imprecise and often the target is is not inside the uncertainty box at all. Confirm targets visually via periscope and, in absence of visual contact, assume they are not there and keep searching.

Sub warfare can be very frustrating but also very rewarding. Keep trying you will see results.

Ancalagon

[Maddoc1971]

Thx Ancalagon,

I tried various approaches
- Only Creep
- Only Sprint / Drift (with max. of 13 knots) + always avoiding cavitation
- ASuW-Patrol mission in the respective area
- and everything of the above mixed during a scenario & travelling between periscope depth and just above the layer.

I got contacts of a killed whale, sunk Victor sub and downed airplanes and of course the civil merchant ships / trawlers at the very beginning. But what irritate me the most is, that the convoy must have crossed my path more or less directly as it suddenly appeared far in the West of my position – unreachable in the given time limit. I don’t know how it managed to get there unseen with 18 kn speed.

As I already mentioned I may be new to Command but not to submarine warfare in general (Harpoon) and I think I did a good job in sinking Knox & Udaloy, the last one even with the first try without any hints from the community.

However, I won’t give up and will try harder…thanks once again for the quick response! The forum is very alive!

Best,
Marc

[Ancalagon451]

Gave it a try, to see if there was any issue. First time didn't see the convoy and checked with the editor, thing was I went too far east and never intersected.

At second try I put north route, keeping west side of meridian 31º (tip was on the briefing, british boat is east of that line and it's not supposed to cross it unless in hot pursuit, so it stands to reason that you are supposed to do the same in your side). And catched the convoy with 22 hours remaining.

I went north straight, creep speed, shallow depth. Nothing weird nor gamey, so it can very much be done.

Still you have a point in that when the "spotted at 64N 34W" event triggers, the convoy it's at 65N 34W. Errata, or fog of war, only Mister Gellis knows.

Ancalagon