Strange fuel consuption issue

[fidget]

I've encountered a strange fuel consuption issue under heavy TC. I'm heading back to Freemantle after a successful spy insertion mission in Sumatra. I used only 1/3 of my fuel getting there at 2/3 speed. I've plotted an identical course back to base, but I can't seem to make it back with 2/3 fuel left, no matter what I do. I fortunately saved the game after the successful mission completion and tried cutting back my speed to 1/3 (about 3 knots), but no dice. I run out about 500 nm short of Freemantle in both cases. I also had to submerge and go onto batteries numerous times b/c of aircraft. I would think this would help even more, but it doesn't seem to have an impact. I'm running under a TC of 4096 because I want to get home in a reasonable amount of time and start a new mission. Anybody else see this and does anybody have a workaround? Thanks in advance.

P.S. I don't have the patience or time to see if this happens under a TC of 1, so I haven't tested to see if that makes a difference.

[SteamWake]

Has Bernard been drinking the diesel again ?

[fidget]

Now that you mention it, I did notice he had one of those 'Got Diesel?' mustaches on his upper lip. But I brushed it off at the time...you know that Bernard....

[ReallyDedPoet]

:hmm::hmm:Never had that.

[SteamWake]

Sorry :oops:

Back on topic please

[CCIP]

I have some suspicions about this as well. Though I can't confirm this for you, I did note a few times that my range on return trips was less than it should have been.

Maybe it has to do with damage?

[SteamWake]

Is it at all possible that your bucking a headwind / current ?

oh... never mind.

[Strikor]

Sometimes your engines will get stuck in recharge mode which guzzles fuel like a tank. This seems to happen most if you've been out at sea for a long time so keep a close eye on it.

[fidget]

Good point Strikor. I'll try turning off re-charge as soon as I'm clear of the A/C and see if that helps.

[Meridian]

I noticed this last night too, could be adverse weather conditions though.

[GakunGak]

Try running on batteries, when they're out, surface to recharge and dive again and repeat the process until you get back home...
IF you get back home...:arrgh!:

[John Channing]

Increased fuel consumption due to adverse weather conditions is indeed modeled.

JCC

[perisher]

Sometimes your engines will get stuck in recharge mode which guzzles fuel like a tank. This seems to happen most if you've been out at sea for a long time so keep a close eye on it.

I have found this to be true. Be sure you are not running in recharge mode all the time.

[fidget]

Thanks for the input. The storms could well be having an impact since under TC, I don't notice the weather for several days. Turning off the battery charging could make up for that. Great community here, BTW!

[panthercules]

Try running on batteries, when they're out, surface to recharge and dive again and repeat the process until you get back home...
IF you get back home...:arrgh!:

I sure hope this doesn't work this way in SH4 - that can't be right, as it would surely take more fuel and cover less "ground" to use the diesels to recharge the batteries than just to push the boat (note also the comments in some of the other posts about making sure you're not stuck in recharge mode). I heard people talking about this as a bug in SH3, and I was hoping the devs wouldn't repeat the error in SH4. Seems to me the only time a variant on this theme would make sense is if you were in very heavy weather, so that you were getting such poor mpg fighting the heavy seas when surfaced that it would make sense to submerge and ride out the storm for a while, but that should work only while the storms were raging and not all the way home.

[ElAurens]

Well, seeing as SH4 is really just SH3 with improved graphics and ship models, and a different aera of operations why are you suprised this bug has resurfaced?

Take a look at the files in the game directory. LOTS of SH3 references in there.

[NEON DEON]

I am not sure what is happening with fuel consumption because I am getting different results.

Taking recharge out of the equation, I ran a Gato 7,400 NM using half a tank of fuel. I set the the speed manually at 10 knots.

The boat fluctuated from 10 to 7 knots during the voyage due to the weather but the reveloutions were set to 10.

The Gato specs claim 11,000 NM at 10 knots.

It would appear that SHIV is modeling the speed of the boat for consumption purposes and not the actual strain on the engine.

[Kant Schwimm]

Dont know if this helps but I noticed on a mission the other day after getting DC'd really heavy and took loads of damage, my sub lost all of its fuel before I reached crush depth - for the record I had 3/4's of a tank before taking the plunge - it took aout 30 sec's to drain completely. :hmm:

[fidget]

Well, just to let you know what I think happened. Strikor was right. It looks like the battery recharge switch was stuck on recharge all the time. After I turned it off while on the surface, it started automatically turning off after the battery was recharged. It wasn't doing this initially, but after that, the fuel consumption problem went away. So, it looks like you have to keep an eye on the battery recharge switch to make sure it isn't activated after the battery is finished recharging. I never touched that switch before, so it looks like a glitch where it sometimes get's stuck. Thanks again for the feedback.