Full realism Campaign Series using the GWX OneAlex Edition

[Tonci87]

Episode 65
U 55 finally encounters a convoy, but things don´t go according to the captains plan

[Hooston]

"Goddam torpedo malfunctions"
No, not that one

"I have the feeling that I am getting rusty"
Getting closer...

Normally you are super cool in a crisis, but this time you seemed to spend a lot of time dithering instead of firing torpedoes. You then got red/green colour blindness on the AOB gauge. I love the way you get it wrong twice, once for the bow tubes then again in reverse for the stern tube shot. Then you accidentally sank the biggest ship in the convoy instead of the "meh" C3 cargo you aimed at!
I noticed the weather report changed to "excellent visibility" for a short time just after you first dived. Was there a temporary change in visibility? I didn't think that was a thing in SH3, but I've not played OneAlex.
Exciting stuff nonetheless. I actually prefer ranting at your videos to playing the game myself. More practice needed, which means posting more often

[Tonci87]

Yeah, I realized the AOB mistake after all the comments came flooding in
I think the weather report always changes to excellent visibility when I´m deep...
Anyway, here is the next part of the attack, and maybe an explanation for why I have been detected when approaching the convoy.

Episode 66

[Hooston]

You have to stop making excuses for your useless weapons officer on the TDC. i suggest you reassign him when you get back to port. You might also want to discipline the watch crew for admiring each other through their binoculars instead of looking out for aircraft.

As some have pointed out the oiler you sank first was a new US fleet oiler, seemingly operating under a Royal Navy flag https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimarr...s_oiler_(1939). So much for US neutrality. History does not remember this ship and the brave men who died on her, or the experimental rotating VHF radar she carried.

The Irish Government allowed RAF aircraft operating from Northern Ireland to overfly their territory using the "Donegal corridor" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donegal_Corridor starting in early 1941. The Germans were not told about this.

[Tonci87]

Episode 67
This is a close one


Episode 68
We end the patrol, but the way to Lorient is dangerous

[Tonci87]

Episode 69
The beginning of a new patrol, and the discovery of a serious issue

[Hooston]

Lockheed Hudsons. Very common early war ASW aircraft, easy to confuse with the less capable Avro Anson. I think you knew that

ASV mk2 radar was operational in large numbers in early 1941. The Bismarck was detected that way in the first Swordfish strike from HMS Victorious. As you say, radar was not likely to be used off Africa at that time, but the game equips all units of a given type the same way at a given date.
The radar was not very good initially and had a high minimum range, so was not very useful at night until the Leigh light was introduced in mid 1942. The initial tactics would be to drop a flare somewhere near the target on the first pass, then try to attack on the second pass using the light from the flare. By accident or design in game aircraft with a high expertise never drop bombs or depth charges on the first pass. So crash dive immediately!
Too frequent air attacks was a problem with the vanilla game, cleared up in GWX. Unfortunately I think OneAlex likes his aeroplanes... As you say it's not so much the frequency of encounters as the near certainty that they will overfly you (and the way they guess your depth). I'm afraid that's not something the modders can tackle.
Don't be tempted to mess with the game config files unless you are really sure you know what you are doing. I tried this in my first career and it ended when I was attacked by 12 Sunderlands at the same time!
The best solution is to surface only during the day and rely on your watch crew to allow you to crash dive. AND DON'T USE TIME COMPRESSION >256! I've found this works every time in all weathers against slower aircraft with big bombs. To be honest when in your patrol grid you can spend most of the time submerged, which is not really historically correct for this time period and location.
The other problem is with radars on warships when the visibility is bad. The warships see you before you see them, which is realistic, but unfortunately when using time compression they can sink you before you can react. So in the radar era stay below the surface as much as possible in zero visibility.

When Metox arrives you will have a brief period of freedom until centimetric radar appears!

[Tonci87]

Episode 70
I am assured that the best pilots of the British empire are stationed in Africa

[Tonci87]

Episode 71
Our newly assigned patrol area is as calm as it gets

[Tonci87]

Episode 72
An encounter in the dark turns into an unexpected firefight

[Hooston]

I think the kaleun is getting tired and making errors of judgement. The old confidence is draining away. Most of the early war aces met their fate in 1941.


Hard to see anything wrong with the attack, but you did have a fairly large gyro angle when you fired and were asking for quite a lot of turning from the torpedoes at only 600m range. You also did not leave long for the torpedoes to actually leave the tubes before moving to the next target - I'm not sure exactly when the gyros are set in game.



Those midships guns on the large cargo ships have caught me out as well. Of course you had plenty of time to surface, go around and try again with more torpedoes but calm logic does not always prevail when you are frustrated with the damn game.

[areo16]

Just found this. Started episode 1! Looking forward to the journey!

[Tonci87]

Episode 73
For I think the very first time, I saw a ship capsize, just completely roll over, in SH3

[Tonci87]

Episode 74
We have a very close call, which shows why a periscope check is very important

[Tonci87]

Episode 75
We are finishing the current patrol in challenging weather conditions.