Suggestion: improved spotting system

[ElJammos]

From my own experience playing the game, it's very hard to position yourself in between lines if convoys without getting spotted (and by that I mean that the merchant ships pick up on the periscope, even when raised for a very short amount of time). Now, most times I play in daytime, so that might contribute to that as well. I don't think wider spacing is the issue there - as it's also quite fun to position there - but mostly the visibility threshold of the merchant ships.
Do the escorts, for their search box, also take into account on which side the torpedo impacted?
At any rate, very sensible stuff indeed. I'm looking forward to that update indeed!

[blackswan40]

Hi Eljammos When I play Wolfpack Setting up a Night Mission date 25th December 1941 Time 22:50 as the Mission starts i go on the Bridge search with the Uzo I see a Corvet on my 190º-210º so i turn toward them from my base course of 300º i increase my speed to flank.
Then as i get closer and the rest of the convoy comes into view if theres a large enough gap between the lead side escort and the very front lead escort.
I point my bow between them when a get to 4500-5500 away from the Convoy i dive to periscope depth lower my speed to slow as i and the Convoy close on each other i set my speed to dead slow or may even stop if they are now heading traight for me or approaching at a 45º angle i get the speed of the Convoy from one of the ships ive identified then when they are at 2200-3500 meters away i fire all four bow tubes at different ships if i am inside the convoy even better i can fire my stern tube as well sometimes i will cross the wake of a nearby merchant to throw the escorts off.
Also i fire at the furthest ship first then then next furthest away ship and nearest one last so i might have a 2-3 minuet gap between eels so they all hit within 6-15 seconds confusing the escorts making them think theres more than one Uboat attacking the Convoy.


I use Gutted's Solution Solver Great piece of Kit Link Below

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/dow...o=file&id=5118

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by ElJammos

Do the escorts, for their search box, also take into account on which side the torpedo impacted?
At any rate, very sensible stuff indeed. I'm looking forward to that update indeed!

Very good question, I don't know for sure but I would guess, no. In 1941, one would suppose that any attack would most likely becoming from outside the convoy. Sure, the escort could search inside the convoy but there are a lot of limitations imposed by surrounding ships and their screw sounds, and not running into them. Plus, you would figure the odds are much greater that a U-boat would find it easier to get into position 1500m outside the convoy perimeter than holding fire until working into the convoy.

Of course, we know some U-boat aces did manage to get inside the convoys, and that seemed to be a celebrated achievement, not a simple (or safe) task.

One other thing; currently when the ships fire flares it basically extends their visible detection range. Ideally, there should be less certainty that a flare will make a sub visible.

Imo, the trick for a good game is to have a variety of factors: day/night, weather, moon/no moon, alerted/not alerted, sea state, and a random experience/crew quality factor for each ship. Combine these and the gameplay is realistic and improved. It will keep the players on their toes in honest fashion.

Thanks, Andy, for posting that excerpt!

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Very good question, I don't know for sure but I would guess, no. In 1941, one would suppose that any attack would most likely becoming from outside the convoy. Sure, the escort could search inside the convoy but there are a lot of limitations imposed by surrounding ships and their screw sounds, and not running into them. Plus, you would figure the odds are much greater that a U-boat would find it easier to get into position 1500m outside the convoy perimeter than holding fire until working into the convoy.

Of course, we know some U-boat aces did manage to get inside the convoys, and that seemed to be a celebrated achievement, not a simple (or safe) task.

One other thing; currently when the ships fire flares it basically extends their visible detection range. Ideally, there should be less certainty that a flare will make a sub visible.

Imo, the trick for a good game is to have a variety of factors: day/night, weather, moon/no moon, alerted/not alerted, sea state, and a random experience/crew quality factor for each ship. Combine these and the gameplay is realistic and improved. It will keep the players on their toes in honest fashion.

Thanks, Andy, for posting that excerpt!

I'm not so sure all those different factors are a good thing. SH3 has, or tries, to have most of them and it seems to cause more problems than solve with one factor seeming to clash with another at times.

Case of "to many cooks in the kitchen" type of thing.