pickler said
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I'm seeing very little enemy activity even close to united kingdom
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The clue is in the word
seeing - in SH3, as in RL, you could sail right round the coast and not see a single, solitary vessel. You'd be amazed if there was a mod which would allow you to see, just for an instant, just the targets within, say 100k of your boat. On my last-but-one patrol, I returned to Wilhelmshaven down the East Coast from the Orkneys, dropping down for a sonar sweep every hour - very rarely did I hear nothing at all - plenty of DDs and AMTs around. With good weather, I bagged a couple of C2s, three C3s, a few SMs and CMs, 2 tugboats and several small fry like fishing boats, and all with deck armament. All were found using sonar - there were just two from reported contacts. Visually, I'd have seen perhaps a DD or two, and an AMT.
Oh - and I forgot - I did a scan before changing course to SE when NE of the Orkneys (Scapa to SW). I heard a very fast warship to the NE, far away, and a fishing boat (or so I thought) to the SE. Perhaps the warship was bigger than a DD? I plotted the bearing, and set off, dropping for anther scan after 5km, to check direction, and (hopefully) range. It was fainter, so was moving N. I could still hear the "fishing boat" or SCV, coming S or SSE, but I did what I always do - a full scan through 360º, and could hear another v.fast warship to the SSE. I waited to plot its course (hint - even if your Sonarman doesn't "hear" the HE, you can refresh the map plot by hitting the OK tick on the notepad) and found it was heading more-or-less my way. I was turning the boat to the SW to avoid it (still submerged), when it was picked up by my Sonarman, and I ordered tracking. When it became visible, it turned out to be a Fiji light cruiser, and its plotted track would bring it within 700m or so of the boat. Turned back to 90º to the cruiser's course, and readied the two remaining type Is in tubes 3 and 4. Here I found that I couldn't set a 1,3,4 salvo and also set Fast and Magnetic. Drat and double drat! Hadn't had that problem before. Set individually, opened outer doors, slow ahead to close with the cruiser's course. At 500m, fired a torp, but realised that the second would likely miss, even at that distance, as the Fiji was doing 30 knots, so I held fire, and watched as (presumably) the forward magazine exploded. Incidentally, the sea was very rough, and the boat kept dropping to 15m or so, and it was difficult so see the target and get a good shot at it.
The "fishing boat" turned out, on closer listening, and closer distance, to be a C3 - dispatched with the last torpedo. Without that scan and follow-up, I'd have got neither. I intended to ignore the "fishing boat" as the heavy sea precluded the use of deck armament.
You get a reported contact 75km away, say - do you just plot an intercept course and race to that spot? There may be a juicy target just over the horizon, or just off your intercept route, and you'd miss it if you don't check sonar both before setting off, and during. Not only that, there may be nasty, impolite warships around that might spoil your day, or if you're lucky, be a better target than the one you're racing off to intercept. You can drop to PD, do a scan, surface and be on your way again in 2-3 minutes if you're quick about it. Not only that, the best way to spot enemy aircraft is through the observation scope, if you get my drift, shipmates.
Any time you do a scan, you increase your chances both of finding targets, and surviving the patrol. I try to remember to scan every 2 hours on the open ocean, every hour near coasts or known "hotspots" - at 15 knots the boat's travelled 27km in an hour, and sonar range is 30km+ You're covering both the area ahead, and that which you've just passed over. It might be boring, but it works.