Latest revision as of 18:11, 30 September 2014

Phase I: Defending yourself

Proceed toward Exercise Area A (marked by reference points A1-A4) and activate your air search sensors. In a short period of time you should detect an air contact which will fire missiles. Your ship will defend itself but do observe the behaviors of your ship when this happens and feel free to manually fire missiles and activate ECM systems to learn how they work within the simulation.

Tips:

1. To start moving the ship on a desired course simply press F3 to plot a course, F2 to set a speed and F9 to turn on and off individual or groups of sensors. You can find all manual commands by right clicking any unit you control or within the Unit Orders drop down menu at the top of the display.

2. Keep in mind that emitting with active radars does give away your position to the enemy as they often have modern ESM sets but it is the best way to detect an enemy that is outside your visual range.

3. Command has a great feature that helps players identify unknown targets. If your ESM sensor detects and identifies a sensor that an unknown contact is using, select the unknown unit press the contact report button in the unit status dialog on the right. This will give you a list of possible platforms that are known to carry this sensor. The more precise data you have the more accurate the pick list. If the contact is eventually identified you can press the button under its name in the unit status dialog and the platform database viewer will launch displaying detailed information.

4. If you don’t have an identification of a target but suspect it is hostile you can mark it as so by clicking on it and pressing the h key. The contact will turn red.

5. The white numbers next to targets note the number of SAM missiles allocated to them.

6. If you are struck by a weapon your ship will be damaged. You can evaluate the damage by looking at the damage row in the unit status dialog and clicking on the Damage Ctrl button. The damage row will display the percent damage you have taken and will let you know if your vessel is on fire or flooding. If you click the Damage Ctrl button it will give you more detail information on the status of your sensor and weapons systems. Keep in mind that weapons may not function if their fire control radars are destroyed.

Phase II: Warship and ASW Helicopter vs. Submarine.

Exercise Area A (marked by reference points A1-A4) is currently being patrolled by a Chinese Type 033 Romeo class Submarine. Hunt down and kill this contact using your destroyer and embarked ASW armed helicopter. When complete proceed to Exercise Area B.

Tips:

1. You could choose to assign the USS Stockdale to an ASW mission to accomplish this task. To do so:

· The ASW patrol mission uses reference points to define the area to be patrolled. You will need to deselect the existing reference points and select the area A reference points to be used or define your own area by using the define area function.

· You can deselect all reference points by left click drag selecting a box over all reference points). You'll know they're unselected when they appear to be gray x's.

· You should then define the area you want to patrol by left click drag selecting reference points A1-A4 to activate them. You'll know they are selected when they appear as gold diamonds and you see their names in bold white.

· You could create your own box by pressing the control key while right clicking the mouse. When the drop down appears select define area and left click drag select the area you would like to create a zone which creates four selected reference points.

· Next select add new mission from missions drop down menu at the top of the UI.

· When the New Mission dialog appears give the mission a name, select class (Patrol), Select Type (ASW Patrol) and then click the okay button. When the Mission Editor Dialog appears select the mission to edit by selecting your mission name from mission list on the left. You'll know it is selected when the text is highlighted.

· Select the checkbox next to USS Stockdale from the Unit Unassigned list on the far right and then click the left arrow button moving it into the units assigned to mission column. Your unit is now assigned to the ASW mission you created.

· Click close to complete the process of assigning USS Stockdale to an ASW Patrol Mission.

· When Stockdale has completed its mission you can unassign it by pressing the u key or going into the mission editor and unassigning it there.

2. You could also use the USS Stockdale’s embarked ASW armed helicopter to assist in this task by manually launching or assigning it to an ASW patrol mission or ASW Strike Mission.

· To launch a helicopter manually click the aircraft button in the unit status dialog on the right. When the Air Ops dialog opens you will see an entry for 2 SH-60B Seahawks. There is a small x box next to it that when clicked will expand the drill down list of aircraft. Select the Seahawk with the Mk 46 torpedo load out and click the launch individually button at the bottom. The Seahawk will then proceed through its launch sequence and be available for orders after several minutes.

· You can assign that helicopter to a mission in the same manner you assigned the USS Stockdale to a ASW Mission above.

· The helicopter could be assigned to a ASW strike mission which triggers when a sensor detects the submarine. The helicopter will take off and employ it on board sensors and sonobouys to localize the target and then attack using torpedoes or depth charges.

· The helicopter could be assigned to an ASW patrol mission at which the helicopter will launch and patrol a designated area using its onboard sensors and sonobouys. When a submarine is detected and localized the helicopter will attack.

· To manually drop sonobuoys use the [ and ] keys.

Phase III: Attacking Land Targets

Once you enter Exercise Area B (marked by reference point B1-B4) please conduct gun bombardment of the D-30 122 battery with 5 inch deck gun. Conclude by engaging the Ammo Shelters with Tomahawk Cruise Missiles. When complete proceed to exercise area C.

Tips:

1. Prior to attacking your target it is best to determine what weapon is the most suitable. The best way to do so is to launch the platform display and compare the weapon characteristics vs. the target characteristics. To do this:

· Select USS Stockdale on the map and click on the DDG 103 Truxtun [Arleigh Burke Flight IIA] button next to the type field in the unit status display on the right.

· Look under Mounts/Stores/Weapons for the weapon you might want to use. Notice the range characteristics, target type and damage point values.

· Search for your target’s information by selecting it on the map and pressing the named button next to type in the unit status display on the right.

· Please note armor, damage points and target category under General Data.

· Pay special attention to target types as certain weapons cannot be used against certain types of targets. A good example would be most Tomahawk cruise missiles cannot be used against mobile targets.

· You should evaluate target category as well and try and pair armored shells against armored targets or frags/HE against open or unprotected. It matters.

2. Once you’ve made decisions about what you are going to fire Command gives you several options to do so.

· You should evaluate target category as well and try and pair armored shells against armored targets or frags/HE against open or unprotected. It matters.

· You could use Command’s auto attack feature by selecting USS Stockdale and pressing the F1 button (or right clicking Stockdale and selecting Engage Target(s) auto from the Attack Options menu) and then selecting your target or targets on the map. The advantage is efficiency but the drawback is you’re leaving the weapon choices to an optimistic AI which will fire many weapons from longest ranged to shortest.

· If you like fine grain control your best option is to use the manual firing option. You can use this by selecting the Stockdale and pressing the Shift+F1 keys (or you can right click the vessel and select Engage Target(s) manual from the attack options drop down) and selecting your targets. This will call the weapons allocation dialog which allows you to assign weapons to targets round by round.

· If you need to drop a target or stop firing you can do so by right clicking the Stockdale and selecting drop target or disengage from the attack options menu.

· You could also assign the warship to a Land strike mission or a ASuW Patrol (Ground) or ASuW Patrol (Mixed) mission in the mission editor. To create a land strike mission select the targets you would like to destroy, create a mission in the mission editor and assign the Stockdale to the mission. To create a ASuW (Ground) mission place some reference points on the map around the targets, great the mission in the mission editor and assign the Stockdale. Ground missions engage land targets only and mixed mission will engage both land and sea targets. The firing logic will be similar to the auto attack feature. When complete you can unassign the USS Stockdale from the mission by selecting it and pressing the u key.

3. A ship’s a fool to fight a fort. If you are engaging known shore batteries and have a range advantage it is best to utilize the maintain standoff ROE. This keeps your ship within its gun range but out of range of the enemy’s based on what is known about the target. You can set this by right clicking Stockdale, selecting Doctorine + ROE from the drop down and setting the maintain standoff value to yes.

Phase IV: Warships vs. Warship.

Exercise Area C is currently being patrolled by a Nanuchka class missile corvette. If it detects your warship first it will attack using its weapon systems. Destroy this target using your embarked Hellfire armed helicopter, SAM Missiles in surface mode or naval gunfire with no loss to your forces.

Tips:

1. You may choose to create an ASuW Patrol (Naval) mission in the Mission Editor to accomplish this task. To do so:

· The ASuW patrol (naval) mission uses reference points to define the area to be patrolled.

· Deselect all previous reference points. You'll know they're deselected when they appear to be dull gray x's.

· You should then define the area you want to patrol by left click drag selecting reference points C1-C4 to activate them. You'll know they are selected when you see their names in bold white.

· You could create your own box by control+right clicking, select define area and left click drag selecting the area you would like which creates four reference points.

· Next select add new mission from missions drop down menu at the top of the UI.

· When the New Mission dialog appears give the mission a name, select class (Patrol), Select Type (ASuW Patrol (Naval)) and then click the okay button.

· If you assigned the sub to a previous mission you'll first need to unassign it from the previous mission and then assign it to the mission you just created.

To unassign a unit from a mission:

Select the old mission name from the mission column on the left. You will now see the unit in the assigned to a mission slot in the center. Tick off the check box to select the unit and then click the right arrow button to move it to the unassigned slot on the right side of the mission editor dialog.

To assign the vessel to your new ASuW mission:

Select the mission name from the left mission name slot. Tick off the check box next to USS Stockdale in the unassigned column on your right. Click the left arrow to move it into the assigned column in the center of the mission editor dialog.

The USS Stockdale is now assigned to your new mission.

2. Your Seahawk is a valuable asset in conducting this task.

· It is most valuable because it is able to put a sensor at a high altitude allowing you to detect and engage targets outside your surface vessel’s visual and surface radar horizons. This can allow you to deactivate your surface vessels radars eliminating the chance of ESM detection by the corvette allowing you to engage first and remain undetected until you are within its sensor horizons. This is a distinct advantage.

· If you choose to use the Seahawk with Hellfire load out you can manually launch the Seahawk using the instructions from Tip 2 in Phase 2 or you could assign the helicopter to an ASuW Patrol (naval) or ASuW Strike mission.

3. Gun fights in the modern age are very destructive even to the victor as modern fire control makes gunfire very accurate and ships are less armored than they once were and have very exposed sensors. If you must engage and you have a range advantage consider using the maintain standoff ROE which will prevent your vessel from moving into an enemy’s gun range while staying within yours.