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CableRouter · 05-05-16, 01:45 AM

Not exactly the newest post, but I just saw it. On top of that I just got the game today. It's a lot of fun, reminds me of the good old days playing Avalon Hill's B-17 Queen of the Skies, but with a bit more control over your fate since you're not locked in a formation box hoping you don't die from a golden BB.

Just finished my 3rd patrol in my career and let me tell you, things really suck in 1942. The worst thing is that your torpedoes have a 2/3 dud rate. So yeah, you get in close in a night surface attack, fire off all your tubes and watch your six torps score 5 hits which turn into 5 duds. Then you get the dubious honor of getting your boat beat all to heck by depth charges.

Ok, getting depth charged isn't all that bad, the Japanese weren't very good at it and subs are surprisingly resistant to outright sinking. When attacked you'll roll on a chart to see how many hits you take (this chart does have Sunk result but it's normally pretty unlikely) and you'll rarely take hull hits from the damage table (3 results of 1x Hull, 1 result of 2x Hull out of 36 results) and a sub takes from 7-9 hull hits to sink. More likely you'll progressively take more and more damaged systems, many of which increase the die roll for how many hits you take or are sunk outright. Once you escape you can make repairs, with about a 50/50 chance to fix each system, then you can try to reacquire your targets or find a damaged straggler, hopefully abandoned by escorts.

Torpedo damage is pretty variable, usually on the lower side, so early attacks on large capital ships can be frustrating as you score a hit or two in a cloud of duds and it sails off faster than you can hope to catch it. Low damage is much less a factor against merchant shipping, since most of the Japanese merchant fleet consists of really small ships and you can automatically catch back up to a damaged merchant. The sad thing is that by 1945, you've got pretty reliable torpedoes but nearly all the big merchant ships have already been sunk.

Once your patrol ends, you see if you've gotten any medals, refit your sub with more damage meaning more time away from the action. Too long of a refit and you can end up with a newer boat. Of course too many failed patrols and they'll swap you out for someone more aggressive!

05-05-16, 01:45 AM	#2
CableRouter Swabbie Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 5 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Not exactly the newest post, but I just saw it. On top of that I just got the game today. It's a lot of fun, reminds me of the good old days playing Avalon Hill's B-17 Queen of the Skies, but with a bit more control over your fate since you're not locked in a formation box hoping you don't die from a golden BB. Just finished my 3rd patrol in my career and let me tell you, things really suck in 1942. The worst thing is that your torpedoes have a 2/3 dud rate. So yeah, you get in close in a night surface attack, fire off all your tubes and watch your six torps score 5 hits which turn into 5 duds. Then you get the dubious honor of getting your boat beat all to heck by depth charges. Ok, getting depth charged isn't all that bad, the Japanese weren't very good at it and subs are surprisingly resistant to outright sinking. When attacked you'll roll on a chart to see how many hits you take (this chart does have Sunk result but it's normally pretty unlikely) and you'll rarely take hull hits from the damage table (3 results of 1x Hull, 1 result of 2x Hull out of 36 results) and a sub takes from 7-9 hull hits to sink. More likely you'll progressively take more and more damaged systems, many of which increase the die roll for how many hits you take or are sunk outright. Once you escape you can make repairs, with about a 50/50 chance to fix each system, then you can try to reacquire your targets or find a damaged straggler, hopefully abandoned by escorts. Torpedo damage is pretty variable, usually on the lower side, so early attacks on large capital ships can be frustrating as you score a hit or two in a cloud of duds and it sails off faster than you can hope to catch it. Low damage is much less a factor against merchant shipping, since most of the Japanese merchant fleet consists of really small ships and you can automatically catch back up to a damaged merchant. The sad thing is that by 1945, you've got pretty reliable torpedoes but nearly all the big merchant ships have already been sunk. Once your patrol ends, you see if you've gotten any medals, refit your sub with more damage meaning more time away from the action. Too long of a refit and you can end up with a newer boat. Of course too many failed patrols and they'll swap you out for someone more aggressive!