suggestions how to increase chance of survival???

[Arno]

Hi shipmates,

when playing H3 I often feel a little helpless during surface engagements... the only thing I seem to be able to do is fire my missiles and wait if the other guys hit me... what else can I do???

How do you increase your chances to survive such engagements???

any suggestions would be much appreciated!

cheers
Arno

[Herman Hum]

I think that one of the best strategies in both real life and in Harpoon 3 is to 'clear the Flaming datum point' created when you fired. :D

Right after you fire your missiles, it is often safe to presume that the AI has noticed your attack and is probably firing back at you. The AI may or may not have you localized, but it will probably respond if it can.

After firing, I order my ships to flank speed and run from the 'Flaming Datum' I have just provided to the enemy. I often select a course perpendicular to the angle of attack to try and escape any possible search pattern. Hopefully, my sprint at 35kts will be sufficient for me to clear the area and get out of the seeker range of his missiles when they arrive. This doesn't always work, but I have had some success with it.

Very glad to hear that you are enjoying your learning experience with Harpoon! :)

[Sunburn]

There is no "one size fits all" recipe for that. In general, you must understand what your strengths are, what your adversary's advantages are, and try to minimise them while you exploit your own.

If you are referring to the typical NATO vs WP scens, as NATO you will usually have good helos (excellent spotters), good-quality weapons and very good sensors and countermeasures. If you have air support (carrier or land-based) it is going to be a big help. As WP you typically have a few long-range SSMs that you have to reserve for "just the right" moment, relatively mediocre sensors but pretty good ECM.

A while back in the HHQ forums (http://www.harpoonhq.com/phpBB2/) we had a similar question:

Back playing Harpoon after a long absence, but it seems my old problem still remains. The other side's weapons seem to be much more effective than mine.

Example...the basic Cold War - Air Lane Raiders scenario, a US surface group consisting of a cople of cruisers, couple of destroyers and couple of figates, approaching a USSR carrier group consisting of a Kiev, couple of Krivaks a Udaloy I think and maybe one or two other boats.

My gripe is... when we get within range and I've ID'd the targets etc, I fire a barrage of Tomahawk's, Harpoons, and Block's into the enemy formation with at least 20 missiles tracking to each target, and some more tracking to the Kiev (please note I have also tried this while concentrating fire on the Kiev alone). By watching carefully, I can pick up that I get about 10 hits on each vessel, the others either miss or are picked up by the point defenses. A damage estimate show's each ship is damaged either lightly or heavily.

In the meantime, I have my own problems to face with the return volley of sunburn missiles. But these it seems are super-missiles because it takes on one or two hits before I get reports that ships are sinking.

Doesn't make it a very balanced affair does it. 10 hits = damaged, 2 hits = sinking.

What am I doing wrong? Is this what this game(sim) is all about? Just seems impossible to win a scenario when the odds are slanted so far in your opponents favour.

One of the answers was:

The essence of any strategy is to minimise your enemy's strengths (compared to you) and maximise your own.

The Russians, as you noted, have more powerful and hard-hitting SSMs. That's a fact of life that you can't get around. As the US side, you have advantages in SSM quantity, overall better quality (better Pk) of both SSMs and SAMs, better countermeasures and a much superior helicopter complement (Hint: the helicopters make excellent scouts). Try to capitalise on these strengths and avoid offering the Russians a clear shot. If you can locate them and hit them first before they get the chance to nail you then you'll have the upper hand.

To get a good feel of the Russians' pros and cons, try playing their side in other scenarios such as "A Fight to the Death" (Global Conflicts 1 battleset IIRC).

Hopefully this will provide you with some ideas.

[Arno]

thanks guys, that helps a lot... I always assumed that running away from missiles is futile, so I never tried that :mad:

@sunburn: thanks for the quote, seems the guy has the same problem as me :D
do you have a link for the whole thread by any chance??? sounds like an interesting read...

thanks for the help mates!
Arno

[Sunburn]

Specific thread: http://www.harpoonhq.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3443

Tactics forum at Harpooner's Point: http://www.harpoonhq.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=14

It's not so much a "running away" trick.....rather, in the words of the late Pat Morita "if you no want be hit, you no be there". The ultimate expression of that is to never be detected (or delay detection until it doesn't matter) before you deliver the decisive blow.