Very large fleets are exceptionally good at finding subs. I am at a complete loss as to why no one elses gives this advice. Perhaps its too gamey. *shrug* But it works very well.
I'm not sure they are. I get inconsistent results when I use large CTFs with lots of screens to find them. It kills subs dead instantly, but I sometimes find them quick and sometimes I don't.
This goes back to my question about how detection stats work. I get very inconsistent results when I do most things. The only things that consistently work are the following:
1) Increase ASW techs.
2) Put spotters in command
3) If the subs are in groups bigger than 2, they are easier to find.
4) If subs have hull values greater than 1, they are easier to find.
5) Aircraft kill subs dead thanks to naval strike and CAG mechanics.
6) More ships with ASW ratings looking for subs will result in finding them more often (more chances to detect), even if they aren't in the same fleet. But whether being in the same fleet helps or not is an open question.
I still have not figured out if detection ratings are totaled (total all detection in a sea zone and apply it once), work in tandem (every ship fires a detection attempt with its own rating), or whether something else is going on. And I cannot tell if we are detecting subs individually or as a group (do hull ratings stack? Or do you just get more detection attempts with more subs around?).
And I am fairly sure that convoy raiding efficiency only applies to "convoy too well protected" messages and not to detection. (It counters escort efficiency.) So I don't think any doctrine influences this stuff. (Spotting only detects surface ships) And I'm not sure if RADAR on aircraft helps at all despite tooltips. I'm not even sure aircraft ever need to detect a fleet; if ships are present in a sea zone, they get hit by the naval strike regardless. But CAGs don't seem to "launch" unless the screens pick up the subs first. CAG duty doesn't seem to commit the CAGs to actually doing anything until combat is initiated, so having fancy RADAR on CAGs may not be helping at all.
And capital ship RADAR doesn't detect submarines. And capital ships can't attack subs, except CAs which have a sub attack permanently set at 1. And...
What I'm getting at is that it's a big ol' mess that I don't fully understand. And sometimes I can't even formulate tests to determine what is going on. And since loading from a save game takes an oddly long time even on my desktop, running certain tests over an over again becomes and exercise in patience.
