Having problems with "Blockade of Germany?"

sideways · 03-08-10, 09:12 PM

After reading some stuff in this thread I cruised over to plymouth last night to have a look around, and lo and behold - HMS Ark Royal.

I creep into the port (not quite all the way, it gets FAR too shallow about 4km off the dock) and had a look to see what i could see. No aircraft carrier in port.

so I slowly turn around and go to leave, when suddenly - lo and behold - thar she blows. big as all getout, jinking back and forth like she knows i'm there already, steaming along at top speed.

i kill the e-motors, and just watch for a while, dipping my periscope whenever any of the ~10 DDs get too close for comfort. There's no room to dive more than another 10 meters below periscope depth so I REALLY don't want to get caught before I at least take a shot at her.

After about 20 minutes I realise she's not coming in to port to stop, she's just banging about the harbour. after marking a few waypoints over the next half hour I realise she's not really following any kind of patrol pattern, or if she is, it's a long and convoluted one.

I get as close as I can to a point i've seen her cross over 3-4 times in the hope she'll be back there, and wait. soon enough (by which I mean I've been waiting for a few realtime hours now, very much time compressed) I see her heading directly for my position. I hit back slow and start setting up a firing solution.

I decide I'm going to fire off a salvo of two on magnetic triggers and another two on impact, to allow for the fact that I've only ever had one mag-pistol shot work in SHV.

Tubes 1 and 2 go straight under her keel, and do absolutely nothing.

tube 3 scoots straight across her bow, missing by about 3 meters. DAMN.

Tube 4 just barely clips the bow, but in this strange damage model, it's enough. One small boom, immediately followed by the mother of all explosions as the whole ship just goes pop.

The bow sinks rapidly, and soon the stern is sticking up out of the water. I hear that massive metallic 'BOOM' as the bow hits the bottom, and the map registers the kill.

I cheer a little (5 years of silent hunting and this is my first AC kill ever) but it feels a little... flat. I did the whole thing manually, (and badly too, given how only 1 eel of a salvo of 4 hit) but honestly... a single impact triggered torp on the bow of an aircraft carrier should barely have left a SCRATCH.

In SH3 I would've had to sit on the bottom reloading for another few hours, and then tried again, while ashcans rained around me. Instead I blew the HMS Ark Royal out of the water with one badly aimed shot, and slid on out of the harbour without the DD escort even putting up a fight.

NOT A SINGLE DEPTH CHARGE was dropped in the whole business.

I'm glad I got away with it and completed the mission. I'm glad I got my first AC kill. But I really wish they'd made it harder for me. even if they'd just fired up the search lights and pinged around the place a bit I would've felt like I'd achieved something more significant...

Anyone else have similar experiences?

03-08-10, 09:12 PM	#9
sideways Watch Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 27 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	After reading some stuff in this thread I cruised over to plymouth last night to have a look around, and lo and behold - HMS Ark Royal. I creep into the port (not quite all the way, it gets FAR too shallow about 4km off the dock) and had a look to see what i could see. No aircraft carrier in port. so I slowly turn around and go to leave, when suddenly - lo and behold - thar she blows. big as all getout, jinking back and forth like she knows i'm there already, steaming along at top speed. i kill the e-motors, and just watch for a while, dipping my periscope whenever any of the ~10 DDs get too close for comfort. There's no room to dive more than another 10 meters below periscope depth so I REALLY don't want to get caught before I at least take a shot at her. After about 20 minutes I realise she's not coming in to port to stop, she's just banging about the harbour. after marking a few waypoints over the next half hour I realise she's not really following any kind of patrol pattern, or if she is, it's a long and convoluted one. I get as close as I can to a point i've seen her cross over 3-4 times in the hope she'll be back there, and wait. soon enough (by which I mean I've been waiting for a few realtime hours now, very much time compressed) I see her heading directly for my position. I hit back slow and start setting up a firing solution. I decide I'm going to fire off a salvo of two on magnetic triggers and another two on impact, to allow for the fact that I've only ever had one mag-pistol shot work in SHV. Tubes 1 and 2 go straight under her keel, and do absolutely nothing. tube 3 scoots straight across her bow, missing by about 3 meters. DAMN. Tube 4 just barely clips the bow, but in this strange damage model, it's enough. One small boom, immediately followed by the mother of all explosions as the whole ship just goes pop. The bow sinks rapidly, and soon the stern is sticking up out of the water. I hear that massive metallic 'BOOM' as the bow hits the bottom, and the map registers the kill. I cheer a little (5 years of silent hunting and this is my first AC kill ever) but it feels a little... flat. I did the whole thing manually, (and badly too, given how only 1 eel of a salvo of 4 hit) but honestly... a single impact triggered torp on the bow of an aircraft carrier should barely have left a SCRATCH. In SH3 I would've had to sit on the bottom reloading for another few hours, and then tried again, while ashcans rained around me. Instead I blew the HMS Ark Royal out of the water with one badly aimed shot, and slid on out of the harbour without the DD escort even putting up a fight. NOT A SINGLE DEPTH CHARGE was dropped in the whole business. I'm glad I got away with it and completed the mission. I'm glad I got my first AC kill. But I really wish they'd made it harder for me. even if they'd just fired up the search lights and pinged around the place a bit I would've felt like I'd achieved something more significant... Anyone else have similar experiences?