SHV show stopper Destroyers

[koyan]

What happened with the AI intelligence? It's been a while since i played SH IV, a few years i think. I found the Destroyers acted very convincing in that version. Continously attacking, using Sonar and dropping charges. It wasn't perfect but a great, frightening experience. In SHV none of this, in fact it's very stupid AI once you know their act. Is the Sonar system broken? Because they never use it once i dive below 20 meters. Silent Rig isn't necessary either, full power engines and they still don't know where the boat is. I hope a patch that fixes this will soon arrive from UBI, because this is a big show stopper for me. A few weeks after purchase, unacceptable

[oscar19681]

The AI is the worst i,ve ever seen in the SH series. Its even worse then when i played joint operations. Horrible!! However there are mods that do give the AI a believeble factor. But still i dont feel scared if u go under 100 meters. They use there asdic but the charges are way off 9 out of 10 times. However the royal air force doest perform better either and they act as if thow there on a pleaseure flight and pass over me ignoring me all together. They do give you position to the destoyers but again its a epic fail. I hope this is adressed in the upcomming patch but i stick with the mods to get some sort of realistic behavure.

[Furia]

Until we get human manned destroyers and escorts, there would not be realistic and balanced surface opposition on this game.
Either we end up having terminator Destroyers or dumb ones.

[ddrgn]

I have seen some tactful DD's in SH5, although not in campaign mode.

I guess that the campiagn has really weak AI probably set to novice in the editor. Your best bet for better AI in the campaign are to use some of the AI mods out and the ones in the works, or wait for a super mod that overhauls the campaign completely.

I am more a mp type guy so I just make my own maps and beef up the attributes and skill levels of the destroyers and merchants, that with the AI mods and they are not so bad at all. They track me well and drop charges pretty accurately. I would love to see the charges damage radius increased though.

[Faamecanic]

Originally Posted by koyan

What happened with the AI intelligence? It's been a while since i played SH IV, a few years i think. I found the Destroyers acted very convincing in that version. Continously attacking, using Sonar and dropping charges. It wasn't perfect but a great, frightening experience. In SHV none of this, in fact it's very stupid AI once you know their act. Is the Sonar system broken? Because they never use it once i dive below 20 meters. Silent Rig isn't necessary either, full power engines and they still don't know where the boat is. I hope a patch that fixes this will soon arrive from UBI, because this is a big show stopper for me. A few weeks after purchase, unacceptable

If your playing in 1939 and making judgement on Destroyer AI there.... it could be that the Devs were simulating the lack of experience the DD crews had then. My question would be...does it amp up in 1942?

[kylania]

Originally Posted by Faamecanic

If your playing in 1939 and making judgement on Destroyer AI there.... it could be that the Devs were simulating the lack of experience the DD crews had then. My question would be...does it amp up in 1942?

It certainly does, but everyone judges the AI on your first few hours with Total Germany campaign where they are of course sucky. *shrug* There are already mods out that make AI unbeatable for those who want to die every encounter. heh

[ddrgn]

Originally Posted by kylania

It certainly does, but everyone judges the AI on your first few hours with Total Germany campaign where they are of course sucky. *shrug* There are already mods out that make AI unbeatable for those who want to die every encounter. heh

hehe, which mod does that exactly?

[SteamWake]

Heh... I attacked a convoy last night after launching my last torpedo and only getting 2 1/2 kills I noticed the escorts were on the outside of the convoy and I was in the center.

I decided to surface in the middle of the freakin convoy and start ripping ships with the deck gun. I had two down and working on a third when an armed merchant came along and started tearing me a few new port holes.

In my panic to dive I somehow glanced at the map and sure enough the escorts will still on the outside of the convoy.

Long story short... before I remembered "Oh yea I cant dive because I'm on the bridge" the merchant got a few good shots in and it was over.

Fear the merchants ! The escorts are just guide dogs evidently.

[Catfish]

Until 1943, most destroyers did not have a good radar, if at all. And there were mostly not even destroyers, but corvettes, hastily armed trawlers and whatnot, to fill the gap.
U-boats going into a convoy surfaced and at night, were almost invisible without radar. And the ASDIC (later sonar) was useless against surfaced boats.
Even later the radar did not work under 1000 meters/3000 feet, so if the boat zigzagged it was not there anymore, when the one radar-equipped escort of the convoy arrived at the dot it saw some minutes ago. If it was a corvette or something worse, the boat would simply outrun it at full speed, corvettes were seldomly faster than 15-16 knots.
A Boat within a convoy, running at the same speed and direction at night, would not be identified as a U-boat on an allied radar screen. As Doenitz had told his men, at least until 1943 "attack, close, sink, they will not see you!"
Going parallel at same speed and using the deck gun was indeed done.

Despite the armament of merchants there were only two boats hit by merchants at all, in the whole war. A boat in the later war would certainly dive, and not expose itself to the guns of merchants, however the risk was mostly "worth it".
There are reports of destroyers going through the wake of the U-boat without ever seeing it at a hundred meters distance, as well Diesel fumes hid the boat sometimes, which would turn sharply and hide in its own spray, and fumes. Those were "Schnellboot" or torpedo-boat tactics, and the Royal Navy had not expected U-boats to do this.

Only radar aboard several ships at different positions, with well-trained crews and a lot of radio discipline, were able to really chase a U-boat, but not until 1943, and it did not work always as well.

Greetings,
Catfish

[mcarlsonus]

I'm in early '41 and, no, the escorts don't get any smarter. They're still simple to evade, that is, IF they even come after you at all! Further, they're easy to sink as, apparently, no one's watching out for torp wakes (and I ONLY use steam torps. Those electrics are just TOO slow to be useful!) As, "SteamWake" mentioned before, though, WORD! Those merchant/oiler gunners are INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS and should cause one to think twice before surfacing! Further, there appears to be another AI problem in that earlier in the "war," machine gun rounds simply ricocheted off the hull or gun armor. Now, I've been sunk once by a tanker with what COULD be a rapid-fire cannon, but, judging from the tracers, it looked like a machine gun to me.