Beginner Tactics?

[IonicRipper]

Hey everyone

I just got SH4 and been having a lot of fun just messing around in the game.
I would like to start playing more seriously but first i think i need help.
I was wondering if you guys had any good beginner tactics i could try?

For example, when i tried to hit a carrier in the Midway quick mission, all of my 3 torpedoes missed the target, (im using the automatic targeting.)
I think they spotted the torpedoes and accelerated to avoid them.

P.S. Sorry if this was asked before...

[Gerald]

:salute: here is some links for SH4,

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=146795

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/forumdisplay.php?f=219

[Elektroniikka-Asentaja]

How far you launch torpedos when they miss? You need to be close enough and aim at the ship that is moving in one direction, in Midway mission all ships are scrambling around, turning, slowing down, accelerating and so on so it may not be the easiest possible mission for beginners, even if it's fun because when there is that amount of steel in the sea you almost always hit something :D

Also, if you are afraid about detection, when first torpedo hits there is no coming back after last ship sinks so take the truth that they know where you are easily, even if they know your position they can't always get there. And if they can dodge your torpedos, you can dodge their huge ships ;)

Good luck and happy hunting! :salute:

(and yea, you aren't only one who couldn't hit a wall with torpedos at the beginning :o )

[Dogfish40]

Welcome aboard!
Yeah, get in to at least 4000 yrds or less if possible. The auto targeting arrow will go yellow for a "fair" angle shot, you can still easily miss with a yellow arrow.
When the arrow goes green, that's when you're angle and probability is the best for a hit. Press 'Q' to open your selected torpedo tube and then fire. Select your next tube and press 'Q' again to open that tube and repeat. For a carrier, put 4 fish in that bad boy and watch the fireworks. Oh, by the way, then watch out for the Destroyers bearing down.
Good Hunting!!!:salute:
D40

[commandosolo2009]

naturally they would. When you calculate speed, add 4 more knots to the current speed, and note that if youre detected, the speed you've calculated is variable.. He can reverse, specially with destroyers.. A good tactic is 5 left/right salve for tubes 1 and 4, 2 and 3 respectively.:salute:

[WernherVonTrapp]

Welcome abroad IonicRipper. Sorry I missed this one. I played that particular single mission many times in the stock version. My only guess-to-answer extrapolation (:D) would be that you're firing your torps too soon. What I mean is, in that mission you're basically thrust into the action immediately (if I remember correctly). Just about the time you're in range to fire (which is almost immediately in the game), the TF changes course. Simply wait for them to make their turn (a mere minute or two) and then fire a spread.
Hope this helps.

[IonicRipper]

:salute: here is some links for SH4,

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=146795

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/forumdisplay.php?f=219

Thanks for the links, im sure they will be very useful in the near future :salute:

And thanks to everyone else for the tips

[Gerald]

Thanks for the links, im sure they will be very useful in the near future :salute:

And thanks to everyone else for the tips You are welcome, :up: Good hunting!

[IonicRipper]

Any tips against planes? I keep shooting them down with the AA gun but those pesky mosquitoes are annoying :haha:

I had this idea that maybe if i stayed at periscope depth duing daytime and only surface at night they might not spot me... Could this work?

How do you guys deal with the planes?

[Armistead]

If you're playing stock planes are terrible, lots of them and spawn where they shouldn't. You're best bet is to dive during the day and surface at night or you'll go nuts diving and surfacing...There is a small mod for stock that reduces air traffic.

The supermods also deal with planes, lots of them in some places, but most stay within the limits of their airbase. Playing TMORSRD I can pretty much stay away from them, except areas of large battles...planes always in area of carriers.

Also, if planes spot you, more planes will come a looking....don't fight em.

[razark]

Any tips against planes? I keep shooting them down with the AA gun but those pesky mosquitoes are annoying
Find a mod or edit the file to reduce them.

I had this idea that maybe if i stayed at periscope depth duing daytime and only surface at night they might not spot me... Could this work?
Could it work? It should. It was pretty standard practice during the war.

How do you guys deal with the planes?
If I get a radar contact, I draw a 6nm circle around my position. I then draw two lines, starting at the location of the aircraft, and tangent to the circle. This forms a cone/triangle shaped area. I watch the contact, and if it is entering the defined area, he will pass within 6nm of my boat, and I pull the plug. If he doesn't enter that area, he's too far away to see me, and I sail on, and wait for him to return.

[TorpX]

Does anyone know how far away they can see you at PS depth? I had thought that they were unlikely to see you unless the seas were calm but that seems not to be the case. I've lost two careers this way. :dead:

[Armistead]

Depends on weather, day or night, fog and crew ratings. Also depends on what mods you run as each may have different visual settings.

It's important to get a good course and setup before you move in close. I like to get targeting figured out at about 2000 yards, then I will wait for my final look which will be to shoot around 1000 yards. That way if they see it, I can shoot and evade before escorts come.

Also, don't leave it up longer than you must.

[troopie]

G'day IonicRipper,

I'm up to november 1943 in stock 1.4 and as yet planes very rarely patrol at night so you've definately got the right idea. There's couple of things to consider though: at periscope depth planes can see you through the water if they happen to fly right over the top of ya, so if you're going to cruise underwater all day try sittin a little deeper like 25 meters or so.

Also, planes seem to fly along predefined routes so I'll tend to keep steamin along on the surface in the mournin untill I come across my first plane then dive an stay down the rest of the day. they'll keep patrolin' till it gets pretty dark so it's best to stay under untill about an hour after your night lite comes on in the navigation screen.

As the game goes on your guys will (eventually) get better at spottin/reportin contacts and better at shootin 'em down on their own, and of course you'll get better flack guns and radars and eventually you stand half a chance. They really don't bother me now, infact, planes are just easy way to rack up a bit more renown.

If I'm comin' to the end of a patrol and I havent used up my flack ammo I'll actually go lookin' for a few.

[Rockin Robbins]

It all depends on what your goals are. If your goal is to survive, then yes, staying submerged all day will get the job done. It will also get you removed from command when you return to port.

You see, your job is not to survive. Your job is to sink the enemy. I believe it was Grider who made a deal with his crew on the transit from the Panama canal that he wouldn't initiate any attack where they had less than a 50% chance of survival. They felt much better. That means taking the necessary risks to have your boat in fighting condition and searching the maximum number of square miles of ocean each day to develop the most targets. You can't search squat at periscope depth and 2 knots. If you do luck out and find a target, your batteries are half flat and you'll die in the evasion process. If you survive, your lack of production will have you removed from command and you'll be pounding sand on a beach somewhere it's really dangerous and you're not in charge of the risks.

Fight your boat! That means keeping on the surface every second you can so your batteries are at 100%. It means that when you sight a plane you dive.

NEVER FIGHT A PLANE. What are you going to do? Use your expensive, hard to replace submarine and crew of 60 to kill a cheap, easily replaced plane with a crew of one? There's almost no gain there at all. Or, as is more likely, will your expensive, difficult to replace sub and crew be killed by that cheap, easily replaced airplane at huge advantage to the enemy? Heads they win, tails you lose. Bad bet. Get down quickly and don't be spotted or he'll call his cheap expendable friends by the dozen.

ONLY STAY SUBMERGED for the absolute minimum necessary amount of time. When you're forced down by a plane start your stopwatch as you pass periscope depth. Descend to 90 feet and wait for the five minute mark. Surface immediately, don't pause at periscope depth to sight see, just pop to the surface. In five minutes there is no way another plane could have gotten close enough to hurt you without you having time to submerge again. You can detect them much better on the surface than at periscope depth. We're maintaining battery charge levels here and maximizing range.

When you're evading, every second you need to the thinking, "Why can't I surface NOW to get away." Every second you're submerged is minutes of recharge time and excess fuel consumption. I don't mean surface beside a DD. I mean surface when you have them astern by 3000 yards and can run away on the surface.

A submarine is a surface torpedo boat that has the unique ability to submerge when absolutely necessary for short periods of time. Fought that way, the diesel-electric sub is a devastating weapon. Fought like an ostrich it is an expensive impediment to the war effort.:salute:

I guess that means I have no opinion.http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa293/RockinRobbins13/smileys/banana2.gif

[ReallyDedPoet]

It all depends on what your goals are. If your goal is to survive, then yes, staying submerged all day will get the job done. It will also get you removed from command when you return to port.

You see, your job is not to survive. Your job is to sink the enemy. I believe it was Grider who made a deal with his crew on the transit from the Panama canal that he wouldn't initiate any attack where they had less than a 50% chance of survival. They felt much better. That means taking the necessary risks to have your boat in fighting condition and searching the maximum number of square miles of ocean each day to develop the most targets. You can't search squat at periscope depth and 2 knots. If you do luck out and find a target, your batteries are half flat and you'll die in the evasion process. If you survive, your lack of production will have you removed from command and you'll be pounding sand on a beach somewhere it's really dangerous and you're not in charge of the risks.

Fight your boat! That means keeping on the surface every second you can so your batteries are at 100%. It means that when you sight a plane you dive.

NEVER FIGHT A PLANE. What are you going to do? Use your expensive, hard to replace submarine and crew of 60 to kill a cheap, easily replaced plane with a crew of one? There's almost no gain there at all. Or, as is more likely, will your expensive, difficult to replace sub and crew be killed by that cheap, easily replaced airplane at huge advantage to the enemy? Heads they win, tails you lose. Bad bet. Get down quickly and don't be spotted or he'll call his cheap expendable friends by the dozen.

ONLY STAY SUBMERGED for the absolute minimum necessary amount of time. When you're forced down by a plane start your stopwatch as you pass periscope depth. Descend to 90 feet and wait for the five minute mark. Surface immediately, don't pause at periscope depth to sight see, just pop to the surface. In five minutes there is no way another plane could have gotten close enough to hurt you without you having time to submerge again. You can detect them much better on the surface than at periscope depth. We're maintaining battery charge levels here and maximizing range.

When you're evading, every second you need to the thinking, "Why can't I surface NOW to get away." Every second you're submerged is minutes of recharge time and excess fuel consumption. I don't mean surface beside a DD. I mean surface when you have them astern by 3000 yards and can run away on the surface.

A submarine is a surface torpedo boat that has the unique ability to submerge when absolutely necessary for short periods of time. Fought that way, the diesel-electric sub is a devastating weapon. Fought like an ostrich it is an expensive impediment to the war effort.:salute:

Nicely said RR :yep::up:

[Rockin Robbins]

I just put on my General Patton mask and let loose there.:D Eugene Fluckey has a really eloquent chapter on exactly this subject in Thunder Below. He praises Admiral Lockwood for being ruthless in eliminating ostriches, sending them to the beachheads where they belonged.

OK U-Boat guys, come to my aid here. Was it Kretchmer who gave orders that upon sighting an airplane no one was to submerge the boat until he personally gave the order, including if he was taking a nap? An officer of the watch disobeyed and took her down prematurely, resulting in the loss of the U-Boat and all the crew but Kretchmer himself. Please correct me if I have the wrong U-Boat.

[IonicRipper]

Thanks for the *long* reply Robbins :salute:
Will definitely keep that in mind next time

Im having another issue, this time its with fog
Any tips for fighting in the fog or should i just forget about it and wait till it clears out?

[magic452]

To attack in heavy fog you need to learn one of the constant bearing methods and than shoot by sonar only. Takes some practice but you will soon get the hang of it. See this thread

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=146795

Magic

[CptChacal]

I suggest reading up. "Thunder below" was mentioned, also O'Kane's book "Clear the bridge!" provides very good clues as to how submarines were handled in combat.

[IonicRipper]

Is it normal it takes 3 torpedoes + sometimes a few dozen rounds of deck gun to sink a large tanker?

I thought i spread my torpedoes pretty well but those suckers still wont go down :haha:

P.S. thanks Chacal, will do

[I'm goin' down]

Make sure that the torpedoes are not set to run to shallow. Note, that in the early war, the torpedoes ran too deep due to a manufacturing defect, so in the early war if you set them to run deep, they will pass under the bow of the target.

[Rockin Robbins]

Nothing worse to bring down than an empty tanker. Those things have double hulls and a ton of compartments and are nasty durable. They make up for it when they're full of av gas...:D