Things that I have learned pt1.

UKönig · 04-28-14, 11:48 AM

I have been playing subsim games pretty much from 1985 with 'nintendo's' silent service. Several sub games followed, culminating with the silent hunter series in the mid-late 90s.
I must say the 'silent hunter' series is probably my favorite of the genre.
I started with SH3 back around 2007, so about 2 years after it was first released by ubisoft.
I bought an online copy and downloaded directly from ubisoft.com, for about 10 CAD, back in March of 2012. A steal really, as I would have paid 50$.
Over the last 2 years it has taken over as my favorite pass-time on PC.
I have learned a great deal about the historical events during this confusing time (1939-1945) and how they relate to the sub game, and I have to say, ubisoft has their stuff together.
Things that I have learned
In the early war, 1939-1941, the Escorts and Destroyers have varying levels of skill. If you are facing early british DDs/DEs, they are reasonably good at their anti-submarine jobs. Early american, not so much. Early canadian, also not so much. Reason, early american is not experienced and early canadian has crap equipment.
However, by 1942, all forces have improved their ASW duties, and introduce HK or hunter-killer patrols, whose sole job is to destroy you. Dedicated teams of ships who will wait until you are dead, out of O2, or low on battery power. They will only leave the area if you have been destroyed, or their convoy gets too far away. That gives you your chance. To make the HKs lose interest in you, be as quiet as possible. Dive as deep as you dare. With 100% hull, even a type 7 can handle 220m or more. There are thermal layers. You can dive under these, keep the noise down and hopefully the noise caused by the jet stream (of water) will block the enemy Hydrophone Effect. Staying quiet will not help you against ASDIC. It works by detecting the mass of the sub in water, not the noise it makes. If you are being actively "pinged", you might as well just "floor it" and hope you can make some distance. I have also discovered that if you eliminate most or all of the convoy escorts, the ships in the fleet will scatter. Good luck picking a target out of the resulting mess...
More in part 2...

04-28-14, 11:48 AM	#1
UKönig Captain Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Posts: 495 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	Things that I have learned pt1. I have been playing subsim games pretty much from 1985 with 'nintendo's' silent service. Several sub games followed, culminating with the silent hunter series in the mid-late 90s. I must say the 'silent hunter' series is probably my favorite of the genre. I started with SH3 back around 2007, so about 2 years after it was first released by ubisoft. I bought an online copy and downloaded directly from ubisoft.com, for about 10 CAD, back in March of 2012. A steal really, as I would have paid 50$. Over the last 2 years it has taken over as my favorite pass-time on PC. I have learned a great deal about the historical events during this confusing time (1939-1945) and how they relate to the sub game, and I have to say, ubisoft has their stuff together. Things that I have learned In the early war, 1939-1941, the Escorts and Destroyers have varying levels of skill. If you are facing early british DDs/DEs, they are reasonably good at their anti-submarine jobs. Early american, not so much. Early canadian, also not so much. Reason, early american is not experienced and early canadian has crap equipment. However, by 1942, all forces have improved their ASW duties, and introduce HK or hunter-killer patrols, whose sole job is to destroy you. Dedicated teams of ships who will wait until you are dead, out of O2, or low on battery power. They will only leave the area if you have been destroyed, or their convoy gets too far away. That gives you your chance. To make the HKs lose interest in you, be as quiet as possible. Dive as deep as you dare. With 100% hull, even a type 7 can handle 220m or more. There are thermal layers. You can dive under these, keep the noise down and hopefully the noise caused by the jet stream (of water) will block the enemy Hydrophone Effect. Staying quiet will not help you against ASDIC. It works by detecting the mass of the sub in water, not the noise it makes. If you are being actively "pinged", you might as well just "floor it" and hope you can make some distance. I have also discovered that if you eliminate most or all of the convoy escorts, the ships in the fleet will scatter. Good luck picking a target out of the resulting mess... More in part 2...