Air attacks I despise thee

Greystone · 08-03-18, 11:12 PM

How do you guys do it? I picked the game up when released and played 4 or 5 times from beginning of the war until late 41, start of '42, or thereabouts, losing interest from seemingly endless roaming without contact; ie: I got bored.
When I picked it up this time I wanted to make it to war's end, and was kind of getting into it by ignoring crash-dives when approaching planes were sighted & defending with a flak gunner instead. Those were the early days when Hurricanes were the only ones that showed up, and they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. When I installed a 2nd flak, I left port thinking 'now I'll really let'm have it..
Well, that was sometime mid to late '42 & my first air contact wasn't a few Hurricanes, but 6-8 Sunderlands! Forget flak defense; it's crash-dive or game over.
It's now mid '43 and I'm lucky if I can stay on the surface long enough to get the batteries charged. I switched from the B type to the C for the extra second or two saved on dive time and even then, going ahead full, I've barely enough time to slip away from their attacks, which puts diesel consumption through the roof. The uboat's primary mission of sinking merchant shipping has become a borderline forgotten aim now. Getting through the Bay of Biscay shallows is a bloody nightmare. All of you who've made it through the late war already know all this, which brings me back to "How do you guys do it?" I've found that playing in real time makes the frequency of air attacks seem more plausible, if one doesn't mind spending a couple weeks at the computer to get through a patrol.

08-03-18, 11:12 PM	#1
Greystone Sparky Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: San Francisco area Posts: 155 Downloads: 135 Uploads: 0	Air attacks I despise thee How do you guys do it? I picked the game up when released and played 4 or 5 times from beginning of the war until late 41, start of '42, or thereabouts, losing interest from seemingly endless roaming without contact; ie: I got bored. When I picked it up this time I wanted to make it to war's end, and was kind of getting into it by ignoring crash-dives when approaching planes were sighted & defending with a flak gunner instead. Those were the early days when Hurricanes were the only ones that showed up, and they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. When I installed a 2nd flak, I left port thinking 'now I'll really let'm have it.. Well, that was sometime mid to late '42 & my first air contact wasn't a few Hurricanes, but 6-8 Sunderlands! Forget flak defense; it's crash-dive or game over. It's now mid '43 and I'm lucky if I can stay on the surface long enough to get the batteries charged. I switched from the B type to the C for the extra second or two saved on dive time and even then, going ahead full, I've barely enough time to slip away from their attacks, which puts diesel consumption through the roof. The uboat's primary mission of sinking merchant shipping has become a borderline forgotten aim now. Getting through the Bay of Biscay shallows is a bloody nightmare. All of you who've made it through the late war already know all this, which brings me back to "How do you guys do it?" I've found that playing in real time makes the frequency of air attacks seem more plausible, if one doesn't mind spending a couple weeks at the computer to get through a patrol.