Just look for whether your equipment works - the boat's, that is...
- Do all of the radar stations seem to function as intended, sonar, periscope, bridge etc.?? - but the biggest thing is: Do you get proper mission assignments? You could get an of the ones below in any order. The game does them randomly. You might get repeats, you might not. These are the Balao assignments, and you might progress like this:
;************ M F7 Balao Boat 5 ************
[Flotilla 7.UserPlayerUnitType 5.Objective 1]
ID= PH5Obj1
NameDisplayable= East China Sea - several Luzon Strait to Okinawa
AvailabilityInterval=1943-03-01, NULL
ObjectiveCode= East China Sea
[Flotilla 7.UserPlayerUnitType 5.Objective 2]
ID= PH5Obj2
NameDisplayable= Marshalls patrols - several anywhere between Truk and the East side of
AvailabilityInterval=1943-03-01, 1944-04-01
ObjectiveCode= Marshall Islands
[Flotilla 7.UserPlayerUnitType 5.Objective 3]
ID= PH5Obj3
NameDisplayable= Empire Waters
AvailabilityInterval=1943-03-01, NULL
ObjectiveCode= Honshu - six missions off Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu
[Flotilla 7.UserPlayerUnitType 5.Objective 4]
ID= PH5Obj4
NameDisplayable= Empire Waters
AvailabilityInterval=1943-03-01, NULL
ObjectiveCode= Hokkaido - a couple Tsugaru Strait and North of
[Flotilla 7.UserPlayerUnitType 5.Objective 5]
ID= PH5Obj5
NameDisplayable= Caroline Islands - East of Truk toward Palau
AvailabilityInterval=1943-03-01, NULL
ObjectiveCode= Caroline Islands
[Flotilla 7.UserPlayerUnitType 5.Objective 6]
ID= PH5Obj6
NameDisplayable= Mariana Islands
AvailabilityInterval=1943-03-01, 1944-04-01
ObjectiveCode= Mariana Islands - around Guam & Saipan
[Flotilla 7.UserPlayerUnitType 5.Objective 7]
ID= PH5Obj7
NameDisplayable= Palau Island
AvailabilityInterval=1943-03-01, 1944-04-01
ObjectiveCode= Palau Island - around Palau & Philippine Sea
[Flotilla 7.UserPlayerUnitType 5.Objective 8]
ID= PH5Obj8
NameDisplayable= Luzon Strait
AvailabilityInterval=1944-01-01, NULL
ObjectiveCode= Luzon Strait
[Flotilla 7.UserPlayerUnitType 5.Objective 9]
ID= PH5Obj9
NameDisplayable= Patrols in the Sea Of Japan
AvailabilityInterval=1944-11-01, NULL
ObjectiveCode= Sea of Japan
;********************************************
Once you get to 1943-03-01, everything should be fine. Any of those missions dated prior might be accessible to the Balao, since only the Flotilla file controls the boat assignments. Mission dates and PatrolObjectives are "open" so that all boats can use the same missions. As a later try, we might make specific missions for the Balao, and give that a whirl, and see if the game still assigns them early. If the game sends you out on one patrol and then retires you for "no just-cause" (no points earned is "just"), then that would be the old early retirement issue. That is the main reason to keep your old boat's files...
