Fuel leak leaving me stranded

[FreddaH]

I had the mission of delivering an agent to Osaka, so I made my way across the Pacific, getting very close to my target when I was attacked, the diesel engine slightly damaged but soon repaired. During the attack I expended most of my torpedoes and deck gun shots, so I figured that I should return to Midway for repairs and armaments even though I was fairly close to my target. My repair list was clear.

I started steaming home at medium speed (10 kts with a Balao class boat), and soon after leaving Japan behind I noticed my diesel levels where getting lowish. Soon I hit 50%. I started by lowering my speed, but that didn't help. I tried to conserve fuel by diving and running as much on batteries as possible, but despite this I was about 600km from Midway when I ran out of fuel and electric power. I started the trip back with the tank at 75%, so there must have been a big hole in the tank.

I can buy all this, but I'd have thought I would have gotten some sort of mention about this in the damage report. I mean, if there's a hole the size of a football in the diesel tank, it's going to get noticed by the damage control team. I would also expect some sort of help from the US navy once I got within air coverage of Midway. Nothing.

What's the point of implementing a feature such as this if there's no way around it, and not even a Game Over screen when the fuel runs out in the middle of nowhere?

Slightly miffed tbh...

/Fredda

[sqk7744]

Are you using TM and LBO?

Also, running on batteries requires charging the batteries, which burns more fuel.

Best is a 2/3rd speed cruise for long distance.

Having said that, all the rules are out the window when damaged.

* you might be able to save the game, and tinker with your saved game/config files in mydocs/sh4/data/cfg/

[silentscorp1971]

If you get a hole in your fuel tank all you get is an instant message in the message list at top of screen. It scrolls off as soon as another message pops up so its easy to miss. You must have had a minor leak. I was hit with a bomb once and dumped it all in a matter of minutes. :ping:

[FreddaH]

Yep, must have been a minor leak which turned out to be devastating. In order to continue my career, I reloaded from before the attack and avoided it. I don't like doing that normally, because I equate it to cheating, but having to chose between continuing my career, or ending it, not because I died, but because UBI hasn't incorporated some sort of towing vessel, I chose to continue.

/Fredrik

[IrischKapitan]

Did you not notice the big oily streak following you???

[FreddaH]

Hehe nope. I never look behind me. Onwards and upwards is my motto :D

/Fredrik

[silentscorp1971]

Depending on how far you were from Pearl and your proximiy to enemy bases they may not come tow you. You might have had to scuttle and swim. :arrgh!:

[switch.dota]

Actually this is likely to have been caused by damaged BATTERIES. Why? If your batteries get damaged, you maximum charge is dropped from the regular 100% to something less. However the automatic charging doesn't stop at that value and keeps charging. You were basically running at flank speed from your patrol zone back to Midway.

So if you ever get daamged batteries, check your battery capacity a few hours after you re-surface: hover your mouse over the battery indicator and check if it is at full (100/100). If it is not, check back in a while to see if it's full. If not, manually turn off battery charging (1st command bar, the battery button; the confirmation should be soemthing like "Standard propulsion"). Remember that you have to do that every time you surface since it won't turn off on its own (it does only if batteries reach 100 - which they won't due to damage).