Q1.  What  is  difference  between  the TB-16 and the TB-23 towed
array  sonar?  A1. In all probability, a submarine would not have both
of  these  installed,  but  we  chose to give the player a choice. The
TB-23  is  modeled  to  have a larger diameter and thus more sensitive
hydrophones  than  the TB-16. The TB-23 also has more hydrophones a nd
is  therefore longer than the TB-16. Because of its increased diameter
and  more  sensitive  hydrophones,  it is more sensitive to flow noise
when dragged through the water than the thinner TB-16. This causes the
array  to  become  noise saturated above about 12 knots. The TB-16, on
the  other  hand, is usable at a higher speed. The increased length of
the  TB-23  also means it takes longer to deploy and retrieve than the
TB-16.  Most  modern submarines leave the towed array deployed when on
patrol, retrieving it only for high speed transits.

     Q2.  Is  there  any  way  to  estimate  the  depth of a submarine
contact?  A2. Probably the best you will be able to do is determine if
the  submarine  is above or below the layer. You can do this my making
note  of the width of the noise trace on the passive sonar display for
the  submarine  contact. Then change depth across the layer and see if
the  trace  gets  brighter  and wider indicating a stronger signal, or
dimmer and narrower indicating a weaker signal. When you and submarine
are  on  the  same side of the layer the signal will be the strongest.
This will be easier to do when the cross layer attenuation is a larger
number.  When the attenuation is small, there may not be a discernible
difference in signal strength.

     Q3.  What  causes  the  'Can't  allocate memory for SMACKER code'
error  message?  A3.  It means the machine ran out of memory trying to
get  room to load the .smk (smack) file from the CD-ROM. You will need
use  the  boot disk method, or somehow make more memory available. The
amount  of low, or conventional, DOS memory is not important, a s long
as  there  is  some  for  the sound card buffers. Total memory free is
important,  so  removing  memory managers such as QEMM or EMM386, disk
caches  such  as  SMARTDRV, and RAM disks such as RAMDRIVE can free up
memory.  Fast Attack has its own protected mod e interface, so all you
really need is HIMEM.SYS to control the A20 line.

     Q4.  How  do you get the TASM's to work? What's the use of having
them  if  you  have  15  minute  old solutions? A4. We probably made a
mistake  even  loading  the  anti-ship variant of the Tomahawk in Fast
Attack.  In  fact, TASM's haven't been carried by submarines for quite
some  time  because  of the difficulty in getting real time targeting.
The  submarines grew to hate the TASM because they would have to spend
hours at periscope depth communicating with either aircraft or getting
into  a  data link with a battle group in order to get targeting data.
This  means  that  they  have  lost their stealth and might as well be
surfa  ce  ships or aircraft! So, the submarines don't do it, although
they  can.  The  Harpoon  is just as capable a missile at the ranges a
submarine can manage with its onboard sensors and a whole lot cheaper!
You  can  use  the  TASM, however, provided that you get 1) either two
satellite  position reports; OR, 2) a MASTER number on the AO map. The
later means that you have satellite data AND local sensor contact. The
course  and speed from those two observations will be used to generate
an  "estimated  position" (hope fully, the target didn't change course
or  speed)  so  the  TASM  has a better, but not good, chance. We have
actually been able to hit bad guys with TASMs, but it is not worth the
work. I think we'll take them out if we do an upgrade on this game.

     Q5.  Why  does  the crew talk all over each other? One second the
sonar  guy  will  be  telling  me  of a new contact, then the helmsmen
interrupts  him!!! A5. This was done on purpose! The control room of a
submarine  has  many  different communications circuits which are just
like  intercoms  and are called "announcing systems" and given an "MC"
designation.  In  general,  the  lower  numbered  MC overrides, or has
priority over, a bigger numbered MC circuit. The exception is the 4MC,
or  emergency reporting system, which has the highest priority of all.
The 4MC is like the "911" for a submarine crew member. All stations on
a  particular  MC can hear the other station s on the same MC, but not
those  on  another.  Except the control room, which can hear them all!
For example, the Maneuvering room (7MC) has no way of knowing that the
torpedo  room  (21  MC)  or  the sonar supervisor (27MC) is using that
circuit,  so  he  just tal ks. In the control room, the Officer of the
Deck  and  Captain  hear them all! Its the same as trying to listen to
two  or  three  radio channels at the same time. This, in our opinion,
adds  to the authenticity and to the "tension" that builds has you get
clos er to the attack.

     Q6.  Is  it possible to load portions of the game onto the HD for
faster  access?  A6. Yes, See the readme.wri file for details (not the
readme.txt - it doesn't have the same information).

     Q7. Why do all tracks start out at 10,000 yards and 10 knots? A7.
The  default  solution  is ALWAYS 10,000 yards, speed 10 knots, with a
course  that  points directly at you (i.e. reciprocal of the bearing).
This  was  built  into  the  real-world  Fire  Control  to support the
"snapshot"  procedure, a situation where you suddenly gain contact and
want  to  get  a  torpedo in the water like NOW! In the "REAL" mode of
Fast  Attack  we  try  to  emulate  all  the  systems as accurately as
possible.

     Q8. Are there some tips you can give for getting a solution using
the Fire Control System? A8. Yes, here are some that might help. Let's
start  with some basics: If you are playing in EASY mode, the solution
should  already be very close - within 5-10% and you should really not
need to tweak it. In STD mode the error increases to about 25%, and is
enough  to  cause a miss if you don't "polish it" a bit. In REAL mode,
the solution is just the default solution (see Question/Answer #7). It
is  not  likely to be anywhere close to the real answer. Here are some
more tips:

     1) Unless the contact is very WIDE on the sonar screen, it is not
likely  to  be  10,000 yards away. It is probably considerably further
away.  You  will  learn that older ships are noisy and can be heard at
quite a distance, newer or better maintained ships are quieter. If the
ship  is  on  the surface, check to see if you are on the same side of
the  layer. If not, and you still have him, he might be close. Look at
the  cross  layer  attenuation  value.  6.0  db  halves  the  range of
detection. Since you seldom know anything about the contact initially,
move the range out to 20,000 or so. Use the RIGHT mouse button to make
the change faster.

     2)  The  default  10 knots is a good first guess. After you get a
classification,  you  can make a better guess. Merchants, for example,
don't  get  paid  by the hour, so they will be moving faster. Tankers,
and  BIG  merchants can do 18-20 knots. Older ones 12-14. Patrol craft
usually "sprint and drift"; speeding up to 30+ knots to reposition for
another  sonar  search,  than  slowing  to 5-10 knots to listen. While
you're  waiting for sonar to classify the contact, use the COURSE knob
(again  use  the  RIGHT  mouse  button) to get the line as straight as
possible. What we want to do is get as much curvature out as possible,
even if the dots move at an angle from the center.

     3)  After using CSE to get the line straight, adjust RANGE to get
it vertical. You will have to iterate this process. As soon as you get
it reasonably vertical, press ENTER. I'll explain why in a minute. Now
speed  up  and turn across the line of sight. (i.e. If the contact was
on  your  starboard  side,  turn right to get him on the port side; or
vice  versa)  Turn at least 60 degrees. As you get close to the end of
the turn, slow down again. You want to speed up during the turn to get
the  ship  to  turn  faster. You want to slow back down to be sure the
bearing  dots  are  as accurate as possible. If your original solution
was  good,  the  dots  will  continue  to be vertical. But this is not
likely.  The  range  is probably the bad value now. Adjust to get back
vertical.  If  the  dotted  line  shows  a sharp "break" rather than a
curve,  it  is  likely  the  contact has "zigged" (i.e. either changed
course or speed). If you suspect that a zig has occurred, press CLR to
erase  all  the  points  prior to the zig; those are worthless. If you
make  a habit of pressing ENTER frequently, you can easily delete only
the  bad  points.  If you are remiss, you will end up having to delete
several  "good" dots in order to get all the dots straight. It is more
important  to  have  the  LAST  (newest)  10  or  so dots straight and
vertical, than the oldest ones.

     4)  Watch  for target zigs. If the target changes course, all old
dots are worthless. The CLEAR button allows you to delete all the dots
collected  above  the horizontal time line which moves to the last dot
when  the  ENTER  key is pressed. This is why it is important to press
ENTER  each  time  you  get  a dot stack that is straight. Then if you
leave  the screen and return and the dots are streaming to the left or
right, you can press CLEAR and start the whole process again.

     5) The key to getting a solution "good enough" to shoot on really
depends on getting the range. You *CAN'T* get the range unless you are
either  very  lucky  or  you  change  course about every ten to twelve
minutes.

     6)  Keep  Own ship speed under 15 knots except when turning. High
ship speeds cause the bearings to be less accurate. When it comes time
to change course, go to the helm, increase speed to STANDARD, click in
the new course. Go back and resume stacking. When the helmsmen reports
STEADY,  go  back  to  the helm and SLOW DOWN to 5-7 knots. (The speed
boost  gets  the ship turned quickly; you can use FULL for even better
response,  but  you  better  get the speed off or you may cavitate and
give away your presence.)

     7)  You can use the periscope without using the ACTIVE BSY screen
by "guesstimating" the range. Assume the ship is 100 feet tall. Then 1
division  in  6x  yields a guesstimate of 8000 yds. If the target is a
small  escort,  he might be only 60 feet, so the same 1 division is .6
(60/100)  times  the 8000 or 4800 yards. Return to the BSY Passive and
adjust the range to the guesstimate.

     8)  After  a  while,  you can use the width of the sonar trace to
guess  the range. The width of the display is directly proportional to
the SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) of the contact.

     9)  Don't  use  active  sonar.  Don't  go  fast.  Or, you'll find
yourself under attack!

     10) Time acceleration works against you when you're learning. The
dots  show  up  faster,  but you don't have enough time to think about
what  to do. Try to picture the target. The dot offset from the center
line  is  the ERROR between truth and what you think he's doing. So if
the  dots  are  moving left, then your solution must change the motion
across the line of sight.

     Q9.  Why  can  we  only  save  the game between missions? A9. The
decision to not allow saving and restoring the game at any instant was
made  solely  on technical reasons. The shear complexity of saving the
state  of  all  the screens, sub-systems, and engines was daunting and
would  have  required major design chang es. In retrospect, because of
all  the comments received, this might seem to be a poor decision, but
the  decision  process for all features in this game was always biased
toward  realism,  accuracy,  and  authenticity.  This means we made it
behave  as  close  to  the  way  it  really  works rather than the way
Hollywood  or  fictional  novels  have  depicted it. Making the player
stand  by  his decision on a mission and play it through to completion
and evaluation seemed like the more accurate way.

     Q10. Why can't I clear a contact from a Tracker in Passive Sonar?
A10.  This  situation only occurs in EASY mode. Targets with a primary
or  secondary "sink" objective are automatically assigned to available
ATF  trackers.  These should be the first targets to be fired upon. As
these targets are sunk and removed from the ga me, ATF trackers become
available  and  are  then  automatically  refilled  with other targets
having  a  primary  or secondary "sink" objective. So as long as there
are  more  "sink"  objectives  than  trackers, you will not be able to
clear  a tracker. This also prov ides a nice hint to the player: Sonar
contacts  that are NOT auto-assigned when there is a tracker available
are therefore not an objective, and need not be attacked (and probably
should NOT be attacked).

     Q11. How can I change ordered course, speed, or depth faster than
one  increment  at a time? A11. By using the RIGHT mouse button on the
arrows  in  the  helm  screen  or WLR9 screen, depth and course can be
changed by 10 feet/degrees, and speed by 5 knots.

     Q12. How can I use the information of the WLR9 Acoustic Intercept
Receiver  to  advantage?  A12.  Active  sonar  normally  searches on a
selected  range  scale  of typically 4000 yards, 10000 yards, or 20000
yards.  This  means  the sonar will send out another sound pulse after
sufficient  time  has  elapsed for the previous pulse to go out to the
end  of  th  e search range and return. The speed of sound in water is
about 4800 feet/sec (1600 yards/sec). Therefore it takes 2 seconds for
the sound to go out to 1600 yards AND return. So for every second that
elapses  between  the outgoing pulse and hearing the ret urn echo, the
range  is  800  yards. When the sonar operator hears a return echo, he
probably  would  do  two  things: shift to the shortest possible range
scale  to  allow  him  to  get  more frequent range information on the
target,  and switch his sonar to the "ran ge gate" mode. In the "range
gate"  mode, the sonar automatically send out another pulse as soon as
the echo is heard. These characteristics can be useful. If the contact
stays  in  a  long  range  scale,  it  is likely that he does not have
contact  on  you.  On  t he other hand, if the contact should start to
range gate, you can be 95% sure he has contact and is moving in for an
attack.  The  WLR9 interval can tell you the range ONLY IF THE CONTACT
IS  RANGE  GATING. Multiply the displayed interval by 800 to get the r
ange  in  yards.  You  can  then enter that range into Fire Control to
initiate a preemptive attack.

     Q13.  What  is the difference between the satellite broadcast and
the satellite recon? Aren't they both from the same satellite? A13. In
the  game,  a  new  submarine  broadcast  begins  at 5, 20, 35, and 50
minutes  past  every hour. On VLF, the broadcast repeats over and over
for  the  entire  15  minutes. So if your floating wire is exposed for
long enough during a broadcast period, you will be able to receive any
traffic  for  your  sub. The periscope has a built in antenna that can
receive the broadcast via UHF sate llite. This broadcast emanates from
a communications satellite in geo-synchronous orbit about 22,000 miles
in  space. This broadcast method is NOT repeated: it is sent only once
EXACTLY  at  the  time  specified. If your antenna is not exposed, you
will  miss  it. The reconnaissance satellite is a "spy" satellite that
will  pa ss over your area of operations at the times specified in the
mission orders. This satellite is in a low polar orbit about 150 miles
in  space. This satellite will photograph all vessels that it can see.
Cloud  cover  or  smoke may prevent a vessel from bein g seen, and, of
course,  submarines  and submerged or very small objects will also not
be   detected.  This  imagery  will  be  radioed  to  an  intelligence
processing  center  as  soon  as  the satellite is within range of the
station.  Analysts  will interpret the data and prepare a message with
identification  and  estimates  of course and speed. In the game, this
processing  takes  fifteen  minutes  to complete before the message is
available  for  placing  on  the  next  submarine broadcast. EXAMPLES:
Satellite  photos  are taken at 7:05. The processing takes until 7:20,
and since a broadcast starts at 20 after it will just make it onto the
7:20  broadcast.  This  is  the  quickest  this  series of steps could
execute.  A  picture  taken  at  7:25 wouldn't finish processing until
7:40, and w ould not be transmitted until the next broadcast at 7:50.

     Q14.  My  game  will occasionally "lock up": The mouse will move,
but  I  can't  click  on  any  icons or buttons to perform any action.
What's  wrong? A14. In our experience, this is almost always caused by
a  sound  card  not being set up quite right. When running soundset to
configure the sound card for Fast Attack, do not bypass the tests. The
digital device test consists of the diving alarm, which is two "AooGa"
sounds  played  in succession. If you only hear one, or if either gets
clipped, then your sound card is not set correctly. The auto detection
actually looks at the environment variable BLASTER that most cards set
to  be "Soundblaster compatible" , so if this is wrong or not present,
then  the  detection may not work correctly. Probably the biggest draw
back of autodetection under WIN95 is that the parameters that WIN95 is
using, are not accessible to the soundset program. Another factor that
may h elp alleviate the problem is the amount of time the sound system
gets  to  play  and  refill  its  buffers.  The  command  line  switch
/SOSINTRATExxx  can  be used to adjust this value. The default is 125,
but ProAudioSpectrum boards will operate with this value as low as 50,
while the AWE32 may require a value as large as 250 or more.

     Q15.  What  is  the purpose of the blue line that extends outward
from the torpedo on the BSY screen in the Torpedo Mode? A15. There are
two  lines  drawn  from  the  torpedo's  position  dot.  The blue line
represents  the  best  course  for  the  torpedo based on the c urrent
solution.  The  yellow  line  is  the steer cursor. If the target zigs
(changes  course  or  speed  radically),  you  may have to update your
solution  using  either the Plot screen of the BSY Passive Mode. After
updating the solution, return to the Torpedo Mo de and notice the blue
line  has probably moved away from the yellow steer cursor. This means
the  torpedo's course should be adjusted. Using the center knob, click
either right or left as appropriate to move the yellow steer cursor on
top of the blue idea l course line and then press the SEND button. The
torpedo will turn to the new course.

     Q16.  After  I  launch  a  torpedo, the yellow search cone passes
right  by the target without acquiring. What's wrong? A16. The problem
is  that your solution was not perfectly accurate. But don't worry; it
doesn't  have to be perfect to get a hit. The Mark48 is a fairly smart
weapon  with good detection capabilities and will overcome often large
errors in your solution. Ab out the only error it can't overcome is in
the  case  where your solution is too long in range. In this case, the
torpedo will not enable (start searching) until it is past the target,
and  thus  miss.  It is always better to under estimate the range. You
sho  uld  also  pay attention to the range to the torpedo when it does
acquire  the  target since this can be used to update your solution in
case  you  need  to shoot another weapon. As long as the wire is good,
the  upper  left  display  of  the Torpedo Mode display wi ll show the
range  from  ownship  to  the torpedo. Note this value when the weapon
acquires  and  update  the  range  using  the Passive Mode to this new
value. Correct the course of the other torpedo if necessary.

     Q17.  Why do some torpedoes appear to shutdown within 1 minute of
launch?  A17.  The  Mark48  torpedo  uses a fuel that contains its own
oxidizer  so  it  can burn underwater. This fuel is hard to ignite and
needs  a  high  heat  source  to  get it started. So, in order for the
torpedo  to  get  up to speed, it has a small solid fuel booster t hat
burns  for  about 60 seconds which is usually enough to get the liquid
fuel  burning. However, sometimes it is not enough, and the solid fuel
runs  out without achieving "crossover" and the torpedo will shutdown.
This  happens about 5% of the time and is done to add realism. This is
why you should always have a backup weapon ready to go.

     Q18. Sometimes I notice that the Mission Log reports a Harpoon or
Tomahawk  missile as having shutdown. What happened? A18. Missiles are
not  100% perfect in real life, nor are they in the game. All missiles
are  given  a  88%  chance  of  overall  success.  This means they may
shutdown  on  a fuel system failure, or maybe the homer won't work 12%
of  the  time. And remember, just because the odds of a heads or tails
is 50%, doesn't mean you can't flip heads 5 times in a row.

     Q19.  Are  there  any  "cheats"  in the game? A19. Yes, there are
three  cheats  that  can  be  enabled  separately  with  command  line
switches.  Command  line  switches can be entered in several ways. You
can  edit fast.bat to make them permanent, or, if you are running from
WIN95,  you  can  add  them  to  the COMMAND LINE field of the PIF. Of
course,  in  DOS  you  can  just add t hem to the "fast" line when you
start the game (i.e. type FAST /Switch). The first cheat allows
you  to  get  a perfect solution on a track in the Plot screen. Here's
how  it  works:  First  enable  the  cheat with /PLOTSOLN command line
switch.  Then,  when  you  are  in the PLOT screen, select a track and
press  ALT-F5. T he exact solution will be displayed. To use it, press
SEND. The second cheat allows you to look at the "big picture" and see
all  the  ships,  aircraft,  mines, weapons, etc. and their motion. To
enable  this  you  use  the /TEDISPLAY switch. Then, while playing any
scenario, press ALT-~ (Alt key and tilde key) to activate the display.
Use the ICON bar buttons to exit the display. It is not a good idea to
have  time  accelerated  when  in this screen, as this will cause some
missiles to miss. The third cheat isn't all that useful, but it allows
you to play a sequence of missions without being penalized for failure
to complete primary objectives. This switch allowed testing the medals
and  promotions  aspects  of  the  game without having to plod through
every  single  mi  ssion.  To  use  this,  simply enter /SWSGOD as the
switch.  At  the  end  of a mission, you will still be rebuked for not
accomplishing  the primary objectives, but as soon as the next mission
begins,  all  will be forgiven. It will then proceed as though you had
been perfect.

     Q20.  Why  do  missions  have  time limits? A20. Each mission was
given  a  time  limit  as part of the overall scoring plan, and to add
impetus and excitement. This is part of modeling life in the military.
You  just  aren't allowed to take forever to get that report done, or,
in this case, sink the ba d guys or find the mines. In reality, if you
took  too long to find the mines, as an a example, ships could be sunk
because of the delay.

     Q21.  During  Battle Sets, when are the replenishments scheduled?
A21.  Replenishment occurs PRIOR to the start of the indicated mission
in the following table:
Campaign --- Missions
Persian Gulf --- 4, 7
Sea of Japan --- 4, 7, 10, 14, 18
Adriatic --- 4
Mediterranean --- 4, 6, 9, 11, 14
GIUK ---- 5, 7, 9

     Q22.  What  has  to  be  done  in  order  to complete a Secondary
objective  of  "plotting"  a target? A22. In order to successfully get
credit  for  a PLOT objective, the following must be done: 1) Classify
the  target on sonar. To do this you must of course have sonar contact
and  then  press CLASSIFY and wait until the target is classified. How
long this takes is a function of signal strength and time (i.e. strong
signals  classify  quickly, weak signals take longer); AND 2) Obtain a
solution that is within 20% in range, course, and speed.

     Q23.  When attempting to launch Tomahawk missiles, I get stuck in
the VLS screen with "1 Away" displaying over and over at the bottom of
the  screen.  What's  going on here? A23. Unfortunately, this is a bug
that  got by our QA testing. This only occurs when you have SPEECH set
to  OFF  in  the  PREFERENCES screen, so the work around is to be sure
that SPEECH is set to ON when launching Tomahawks.

     Q24.  Why  can't  I get more information from Sonar, such as Turn
Count,  Blade  Rate,  and speed or aspect changes on targets? A24. The
modern  sonar is designed using advanced signal processing that allows
detection  of  ships at very long ranges. Detections di splay visually
as  a  brightening on the CRT display. This allows the display of many
contacts.  While  there  is  ONE  audio  channel available to actually
listen  to  a  contact,  turn counts, blade rates and such are usually
measured  using  a  frequency  domain  disp  lay which, because of its
complexity, was not included in the game.

     Q25. Why can't we control the settings on the Mark48 Torpedoes to
take  advantage  of the thermal layers, and such? A25. We decided that
allowing  the  player  to chose settings for his torpedoes did not add
much  to the game. For any given situation, there is an optimum choice
for  running depth, etc. that the player would have to learn, and once
learned,  would  be  used  co  nsistently.  So  what  we  did,  was to
automatically  make the optimum selections: the Mark48 always transits
to  the  enable  point  on  the  opposite  side  of the layer from the
contact, and goes to the best search depth for the type of target.

     Q26.  Why  does the animation show the 688 with fairwater planes,
when the 688I class doesn't have them? A26. Seven 688 class submarines
were  built  that had the vertical launch system and fairwater planes,
so there is no inaccuracy here. The latest 688 class, however, do have
the planes moved to the bow for better under ice capability.

     Q27.  Are  there  helicopters or other aircraft in the scenarios?
What  is there capability? A27. Yes, several missions have helicopters
or  aircraft.  In  some  cases,  these  are  hostile,  while  in other
situations,  they  are  friendly.  Regardless  of  their alliance, the
aircraft  are usually equipped with active and passive sonobuoys and a
very  effectiv  e  search radar that is optimized to spot a periscope.
The  patrol  aircraft  (BEAR,  P-3C,  etc.)  will  carry  air  dropped
torpedoes,  and  harpoon missiles, while the helicopters will carry no
more than two torpedoes.

     Q28. After I've been sunk, the mission log says that I was hit by
an SS-N-14 SSM. If I'm submerged, how can a surface-to-surface missile
hit  me?  A28.  The  SSM  (surface-to-surface  missile) designation is
generic to any missile launched from a ship at or under the surface at
another  ship  at  or  under  the  surface. An SS-N-14 is a long range
Anti-Submarine   Weapon  carried  by  some  Destroyers,  Cruisers  and
Frigates.

     Q29. Why is the range to a contact that is displayed in the sonar
screen  always  so  far  off?  Can't  the  sonar  operators get better
information?  A29.  The  range  to  a  contact,  no matter where it is
displayed,  is  always the current Fire Control solution's range. This
means  that  depending  on the Difficulty Level (see Q/A #7), it is no
better  than  what  you,  the player, have entered. If you haven't cha
nged  it  using  either the PLOT or the BSY PASSIVE, then it will just
"generate" from the initial solution. One of the basic principles that
must  be  learned  early  in  the life of both a submarine officer and
sonarman,  is  that  you  cannot  get  a  range  with  any accuracy by
listening.  A  guess would be just that: a guess. About the only thing
you  can say is that a contact with a high bearing rate is "near", and
the  concept  of  "near"  depends on what maximum speed capability you
want to give it. On board the subma rines, a sonarman's guess of range
will  only erroneously bias and slowdown the plotting team's effort to
get an analytical solution.

     Q30.  Why  can't  I  always  get  an  active range from sonar? My
solution  looks  good and the range is under 20,000 yards, but I can't
get  a  return  on active sonar. A30. There are several possibilities.
First,  your  solution  may  not  be  as accurate as you think. If you
haven't  confirmed  your solution with radical course changes (see Q/A
#8),  this is probably the most likely reason. Second, the contact may
be  "cross-la  yer"  and the combined cross layer loss to the outbound
ping  and  then  to  the return echo might be reducing the sound level
below   what  can  be  heard.  Third,  the  contact  may  have  a  low
reflectivity,  either  because  of its aspect (bow or stern gives less
surfa  ce  area  than  broad  on  the beam), or because of an anachoic
coating  which absorbs the sound rather than reflecting it. Of course,
you could have a combination of these reasons.

     Q31. Immediately after starting the game, I get a report that the
ship is cavitating and that I'm about to run aground. What's going on?
A31. We can't say for sure, but we were able to duplicate this symptom
on  a  computer  that  did  not  have a math coprocessor. Fast Attack!
requires  the  math  coprocessor  that  is part of all Intel 486DX and
Pentium  chips. Some "486" chips do not have the copr ocessor, such as
the  Intel  486SX  series, and some from AMD or Cyrix. The MSD utility
that  is  part  of  DOS  can  tell  you if you have a Math Coprocessor
installed.