Question on spotting targets

[Poochie]

Why is it that enemy ships spot you the same time you spot them, I thought the sub should have the advantage in that regard? :arrgh!:

Hope this can be modded to be more like it was in SH3 because it's a real game breaker for me personally.

[greekfire]

I never have this problem. Are you doing these things?....

Travel at periscope depth in the daytime when in enemy waters
Only travel on surface in poor visibility situations such as night and storms.
Don't leave your periscope up. Raise it up, look, and take it back down.
Try to put the sun behind you when approaching the enemy
Use 1/3 speed for regular movement so that you are hard to detect by hydrophones. I only use higher speeds for chasing down convoys
Drop below 55ft every so often and do a 360 degree sonar check of your surroundings
Dont approach a convoy directly. Get ahead of its travel path and setup an ambush at 90 degrees submerged with engines off. Dont go to the enemy, make the enemy come to you.

[mookiemookie]

What speed are you travelling when you're spotted? The faster you go, the easier you are to spot.

[Quillan]

Are you in realtime or under time compression? TC takes shortcuts, which include shortcuts in deciding who spots who when. I almost always detect them before they detect me in realtime, often by quite a lot, except with aircraft. Planes move so fast they'll often spot me between my notification by the watch and my finishing giving orders in reaction to the plane.

[Poochie]

Cheers for the help, but seeing your responses makes me think theres something wrong my end. The ships seem to have the advantage in all cases for me, if I'm on the surface.

What ranges are you guys spotting ships at? On a pretty clear and calm day I'm seeing them at about 4nm.

Does that sound about right?

[Quillan]

4 nautical miles = 8000 yards, if I remember correctly, so yes. That's VERY long range, and it's unlikely they could spot you. However, depending on the year, they might have radar...

[WernerSobe]

dont forget the US fleet boats are a lot bigger then the german ones. The german ones were only about 700 tons while US Fleet boats are about 1700. They are over 100 meters long, almost as long as a destroyer. So there is not much about advantage.