Brygun the 'Rocket-man' on using anti-ship missiles in Cold Waters.

I've something of a reputation as a missile man. When I got Cold Waters one of things I wanted to test was the missile performance. Ran battles and chatted on the forums. The staff did tell us that as well as missile technical limits the ranges for battle start is partly a game play decision. So lets talk a bit about how to use missiles in the game. This may differ from real life though the game does cover a lot of details.

As with any system there are pros and cons. The biggest pros are their range and ability to quickly search a comparatively large area of ocean. For a sub a huge con (downside) is the it revealed yourself. There is also the question of defense systems combined with the limited volume of fire. You also have the arming distance.

I'll then talk briefly on the VLS (vertical launch system) and the 2-1-1 loadout.

We'll go into these in more detail below.

Let us all repeat the rocket-man's mantra:

Never fire missiles without an exit plan.
Never fire missiles without an exit plan.
Never fire missiles without an exit plan.

Rocket-man's Exit Plan

This is for firing against a large group rather than sniping the last surviving transport ships.

Normally the sub you command is kept quiet. Well you just made giant plumes with thundering rockets blasting the missiles out of the water. For the next short time forgot your normal sub routines.

Post launch...

Run like its Jurassic Park. Lower masts if you even used them. Flank speed.*

Dive like a sinking Kanin. Max negative planes, max negative bouyancy.

Option: Drop a noisemaker.**

Reload with a MOSS. You may need the decoy very soon. Maybe load two of them.

Cross the layer if there is one.

Once you are deep enough to no longer cativate...

Hard rudder. You want a sixty to ninety degree course away from your initial course but never straight toward the ships launching helicopters.***

Level off deep. Don't go to crush depth.

Once you have gone several thousand yards (say 3,000 to 5,000) resume slow-medium and quiet.

Watch as where you were going is filled the joyous gift of swirling missile deployed torpedoes. Watch as like ballerina they swirl with the reaper's scythe of death far away. They have sensor ranges under 1,000 yards so you really needed that fast sprint to get clear.

Next coming for you is the helicopters.

If you did things right you are 3,000 – 5,000 yds from their target area. This puts you out of airborne MAD detection range (modded or unmodded) 4*. However, you might get unlucky and one might fly over you.

If the helicopters do drop their torps on you at least you are already deep. Go into fast evasion. Launch the MOSS you loaded. Probably you should launch a noisemaker as well. Evade as you normally do. Hopefully you sunk the helicopters ship so its can't go back for more ammunition.


* : Cativation! Pfffttt. Compared to deckhands pointing at missile plumes don't worry about it.

** : The noisemaker does two things. As of v1.04 we don't have map markers. One is it marks for you the 'hell hole' where your position was made out. This helps you estimate how far you gotten from the launch point. Second is that it may confuse the first rapid reply missile born torps. However, if you have distance for time you don't need the noisemaker.

*** : Given the battles I've had I appears the multiple launches does give them your initial direction of travel.

4* : I'm not 100% sure but I believe your depth is also a factor in MAD detection. So being deep pulls down how close the helicopter needs to get.

If it helps you to think in terms of first person shooters consider this is an rocket propelled launcher firing a smokey missile and you run “inspired” a few buildings down as the launch position is sprayed with bullets and grenades.

Pro: Range

The harpoons we have in Cold Waters were listed as 75 nm which is 150,000 yds. That is huge.

If you plan ahead to use a large quantity of missiles the best range you will get is to select the maximum 'start at' range. For Cold Waters version 1.04 that is 25,000 kyds. A small fraction of the overall range.

Still, at this range the passive sonar and your skill is able to identify ships on the signature panel. So it turns out debates on whether to use or ESM/Radar for targeting was a moot point. In a test battle the closest escort was identified at 29,000 yds and amphibious ships out farther than that.

That range though. Yeah. You'll want it. If you fire multiple missiles they will really be giving you a reply. That range gives the time to implement your exit plan. If you fired from say 10,000 yds the escort's reply missiles may very well be landing in water close enough to lock on.

Pro: Search ability

A feature shared by torpedoes and missiles is their ability to steer onto target. A missile though the moves so much faster that it sweep a large area of sea. The speed to the target area also reduces the chance of the target having moved off.

If neutral/allied ships were a thing (which they aren't yet) that search ability means they might lock onto undesired targets. So either you need a higher knowledge of either the target being clear or being able to set the activation point such that only the hostiles are in the search area.

Some community members have pointed out that 50-80% target knowledge is needed before launch. In terms of the game you can get successes with 30%. You do want some improvements on the range to target. For a surface group usually by the time you have done the signature analysis on all of them you have 'good enough' conditions for launch.

For the closest escort you can activate the missiles fairly early. (Unless there is or you are role playing non-target vessels in the area).

For escorts on the outer edges of the group you want to set the waypoint to avoid seeking on the main group of ships. This is done by considering the flight path from you to the waypoint, the width of the missile seek pattern (which you can set to narrow) and the distance the waypoint is. The trick is you want enough distance the missile to the outer escort your missile will see it, not overfly the escort and not lock on the central ships. This is where a little bit longer on building a target can help. The outer escorts are often patrolling so they leave a gap between them and the group. If this is happening its easier to snipe them.

Con: It gives your location away.

Repeat the mantra three times:
Never fire missiles without an exit plan.

I've discussed the full on exit plan above.

If you are sniping the last fleeing transports with no risk of return missiles well there isn't anything to worry about.

If there are escorts who don't have the anti-sub missiles then they have to get in range with their rocket barrage units. Those have ranges of typically 6,000 or 1,000 yards. RBU-#### means the #### is the range. If you were missile firing at long range and done your fast exit maneuvers you can usually send a wire guided torpedo to greet the oncoming escort.

Just bear in mind that escort might reload helicopters or launch another helicopter.

Con: Defenses vs ammo supply

As of Cold Waters v1.04 the vanilla ammo supply is maxed at four torpedo tubes.

In vanilla game you will have 4 tubes probably set as a missile strike set of 3 - 4 Harpoon with the optional space being for a MOSS decoy. If escorts are there, which is probably why you are firing them, they may shoot some down. That means 3-4 missiles will be 0, 1 or 2 hits.

This could snipe out escorts. 1-2 escorts knocked out could make the follow up easier.

A 'normal' stealth approach will usually have them within torpedo range. Usually on the campaign map you got ahead of them. So they are coming at you, in torp range and you are stealthy. In this situation you can knock out the same 1-2 escorts with torpedoes.

Lets instead assume on the campaign map you didn't get ahead of them. They are close to their war destination. So you are moving fast chasing them from behind. Here the shorter range of torpedoes might. In this “rushed engagement” you might use the missiles to knock out the cargo vessels then flee the escorts. Another approach might be to missile kill 1-2 escorts. The other escort(s) will then be coming to kill you thus closing the range for follow up torpedo shots. With the escort destroyed in this combined missile led attack you can now go high speed unchallenged to catch the transport ships. Other than the helicopters.

Con: Arming distance

As of v1.03 the missiles have an 8,000 yard arming distance. This means they won't activate until they fly that time.

Tom Clancy's books do mention an 'over the shoulder' method and on using multiple waypoints. (pg 124 of Tom Clancy. Submarine. Berkley. 1993. ISBN 0-425-13873-9) In later game versions maybe we will see these implemented.

Just like needing range to evade counter attacks we need the range just to get them working.

It also means the missiles (currently) don't work well in the “Oh my god it's here” of an escort now firing its RBU-6,000 at you from 6,000 yards. You can't use the missiles as a last ditch defense from surface ships once they get to 8,000 yards.

Topic: VLS or Vertical Launch System

The VLS appears on the latter Los Angeles class submarines. This adds twelve (12) vertical tubes near the bow. They were designed for carrying the Tomahawk missiles. The Cold Waters game gives us the TLAM is the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile and the TASM is the Tomahawk Anti-ship Missile.

There is a mod at Subsim to give you the VLS fitted subs. It worked for v1.03 but as of this writing is having issues from the v1.04 update.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=5233

The mod allowed the loading of Harpoon missiles into the VLS. Tom Clancy didn't mention that and he's pretty good at those details. A brief internet search puts some doubt on whether the VLS could fire the Harpoons. If someone has more solid references I am interested in seeing it.

That aside the VLS means you can carry more missiles. With 12 tubes you might carry 12 TLAM. I preferred a 4 TASM-8 TLAM or a 6-6 load out. You could go as 12 TASM. Whatever the load out (4 - 12 TASM or Harpoon) the main point is you get more missiles each in its own launch tube.

Everything is pretty much the same. The 2-3 missiles per ship kill means now you are possibly looking at 3-5 defended ships sunk. Now we are talking possibly all the escorts of a convoy. The launch time for up to sixteen (16) missiles (12 VLS and 4 Harpoon from Tube) is quite a bit longer. You will want to have figured out where to put the missiles before you launch the first one. Plus the time to launch delays the start of your exit plan. You really do want more range before doing a large (more than 4) missile barrage.

Topic: 2-1-1 loadout

Some subsim Captains suggest the standard tube load out being 2 torpedoes, 1 Harpoon missile and 1 MOSS decoy.

As it is you have a fair bit of flexibility. The 2 torpedoes vs anit-sub missile carrying escorts with the Harpoon as a backup. The MOSS for defense if the helicopter happens to find you.

The single harpoon might be used to snipe a fleeing transport.

At the start of a battle you can change over one tube pretty quickly. For a fleeing transport you have lots of time to reload before it will be out of missile range.

If you are in the preferred ahead of them going slow encounter position I found there was generally time to switch up the torpedo tubes as needed.

Topic: Anti missile defenses

Based on a comment by Wraith_Magus thought it be good to add this section.

Surface ships do have missile defenses. The cargo and amphibious ships are weaker, or missing, in this regard. For the frigates and destroyers you might get through with one missile but probably will need two. For the cruisers expect to need more due to in some cases them having double CIWS per side.
CIWS stands for Close In Weapon System. A CIWS is a very rapid firing gun with radar fire control. Short range spray. You can even watch them shooting in Cold Waters.
Chaff will also be fired though when I've been 3d watching the missile they rarely disrupt the missile strike.
As to surface ships having surface to air missiles (SAM) capable of intercepting missiles I'm not sure if they are modeled in Cold Waters. It could be I just didn't see it in the 3d views. There is also big technological changes from the 1960s, 1980s, 1990s to the 2010s of today. A typical early mean is to fire a small SAM that is beam riding the reflection of one of the ship's radar aimed at the incoming missile.
Based on what I've seen in 3d Cold Waters I believe its possible for ships to provide mutual anti-missile defense. That is if your missile is flying near an escort on a way to the merchant the escort can shoot it down. As of 1.04 CW you can't set multiple way points for missiles so the straight path is your only path.
Whatever the defenses there are a tactics to use in Cold Waters. First off is to launch two or more missiles at the same time. Flooding the air defense gives them less time to deal with each missile. In many cases one hit will sink a ship so that's all you need. Also you can set the missile to “pop up” mode. The pop up button is one of the buttons on the tube interface. The pop up tells the missile on final approach, near the CIWS range, to climb up then dive down which is harder on the CIWS. Some players also like to fire a mix of flat and pop up missiles. Whatever you do with multiple missiles at a target they need to be quickly launched or the gaps between the missiles give time for the CIWS to switch targets.

Views of a missile as the ship's CIWS attempt to shoot it down.


If you are wondering about the tube status I was far enough away that one tube fired in this sniping had just completed reloading.

Never fire missiles without an escape plan - Missile man's mantra

Study this screen shot for how it came to look like this.



















When I fired off the missile volley, 4 harpoons, I knew there would be a counter attack. By turn hard, deep and fast I was no longer in their primary kill zone. The first reload, tube #1 upper left, was a MOSS then fired westward that distracted some of them.

To the east of the picture you see me escaping from two of their air/misisle torps that had tracked me. Only two out of about six were ever close to my sub. That's why you turn hard, deep and fast to a new zone.

The two that were chasing me were evaded for several passes. A combination of horiztontal turns, knuckles, noise makers and rapid climbs/dives last a while. Just before this screenshot a deadly situation developed. By coincidence the two torps missed going perfectly opposited directions. When they would reacquire me there be no way I could turn my aft to both. One would see my bow and be very likely to strike. This was a time to fire a second MOSS.

Thus in the east you see me now sailing happily free of the last of the threats. By tracking the straight sailing MOSS back to my own sub's track you can get a sense of how far I had dodged before the perfect kill split happened.

I hope this helps you understand how to run an escape plan.

>>>

To discuss this engagement in general also gives some idea of when to multiple missile launches.

This is a 1980s campaign. I was in the Barent's sea hunting an resupply group. The Russian planes flew overhead. ASW (anti submarine) groups dove in on me. First I fought off a cluster 3 SSN using 5 torpedoes. Then I engaged the target supply group using one torpedo to sink the single supply ship then ignored its escorts. Upon getting the mission complete the next mission assigned is to sink subs attempting to cross into the North Atlantic. Before I could move on the campaign map this surface ASW group attacked.

My on board load is ~5 torpedoes, 6 Harpoons and 3 MOSS. My sub is in the Barents Sea. The current mission is to go to the GIUK gap by the Atlantic. No way I can stop in port to rearm. I will need as many torpedoes as possible to deal with the ASW group. Possibly I could have attempted to fully invade.

The choice was made to use a large scale Harpoon strike. The ship's were identified as a Kanin low quality vessel and a Kresta 2 high quality vessel. Four harpoons were prepared. The firing plan is two at each with a mix of level or pop up. All harpoons on narrow arc to avoid them swarming just one target. The Kanin, low quality, was struck by both its assigned missiles while the Kresta shot both down.

I believe the response you see on the screenshot is four (4) ship launched missiles plus two (2) helicopter torp drops.

Another two harpoon at the Kresta 2 were both shot down. One torpedo was then commited to sinking it.

The helicopter would be out of ammunition and no place to resupply (not sure if that is modelled yet). So it was just a matter of time and deep driving to eventual escape the battle. From there it is race for the Atlantic.

In this case the Harpoons were six fired for one kill. Perhaps #5 and #6 should not have been fired. Normally the six harpoons are there for a mix of utility and sniping escaping ships. In this case they were an ammunition supply available hoping to minimize the amount of multi-purpose torpedoes used. Missiles do have their uses but always remember the missile man's mantra:

Never fire missiles without an escape plan.

With talk of the upcoming Russian campaign we will see even more missiles in Cold Waters as they had subs specifically built for launching cruise missiles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile_submarine

Sincerely,

Brygun the Rocket-man