Suicide mission

[CV43]

This is my first post and I am new to the forms but not sub sims.

I started a career and on my second patrol Pacific Command wants me to take pictures of Tokyo Harbor. :damn: It is early in the war and I don’t know if I want to accept this mission and put my crew and sub in jeopardy. I don’t think anyone in command likes me.

Have any of you faced this dilemma?

[AVGWarhawk]

Yes and to say the least....subs did not go into the bay for a photo opportunity...at least not until the war was over. This was a stock mission. It can be accomplished. Good luck. If you want missions that are more historical and shipping lanes in the proper spots, load up Run Silent Run Deep mod. You can kiss that mission of Tokyo Bay goodbye.

[manucapo]

yea theres many times i avoided an assignment because i thought it was to hard for me, but you might as well give it a try and be ready to run back home with your tail between your legs at the sign of the sligthest danger.

[DeepSix]

...This was a stock mission. It can be accomplished. Good luck. If you want missions that are more historical and shipping lanes in the proper spots, load up Run Silent Run Deep mod. You can kiss that mission of Tokyo Bay goodbye.

I always seem to have trouble getting out of Tokyo Bay when I get this mission. Seems like about the time I'm almost home free I hit a spawn point for DDs. This could've changed in a more recent patch; I haven't done a Pearl-based career in a long time and maybe this doesn't happen with 1.3.

Anyway - wanted to add that the unmodded game will often (in my opinion) give you some fairly silly mission objectives. There's no in-game penalty that I'm aware of for failing to complete them, you just don't earn as many renown points. I usually decide to punt a mission objective if I think it's historically implausible. Although there were periscope recon assignments during the war, as AVGWarhawk says no boats penetrated Tokyo Bay proper, so I usually content myself with sinking ships (go figure).

Still... it can be fun to try. :)

[Ducimus]

Much to my chargrin, i moved these missions to other locales in Tmaru as of last version. I could do them, but i have to admit, everytime they came up , my eyes would roll into the back of my head because they're such a time consuming PITA.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Welcome to SUBSIM :up: CV43

I actually don't mind these, although it has been awhile.


RDP

[-Pv-]

These missions would be more do-able if it wasn'for the nearness of the spawn points, Obviously people exect vessles to arrive/depart near major ports. Makes sense to have these only at minor ports and leave Tokyo to the flyboys. Ive been working for a week to crack a shutter at Rabaul.
-Pv-

[mookiemookie]

I really hate these missions as they're pretty unhistoric. I give credit to the developers for including a variety of mission types, but the actual execution of them is a bit silly sometimes. I'm glad our modders are working on improving this stuff!

[Torplexed]

I really hate these missions as they're pretty unhistoric. I give credit to the developers for including a variety of mission types, but the actual execution of them is a bit silly sometimes. I'm glad our modders are working on improving this stuff!
I agree. Just got a mission to photo recon the port of Hiroshima in 1942. Seems very ahistorical. I can only go by what I've read but the Inland Sea was pretty much off-limits to US submarines for most of the war. The waters were shallow, not well mapped and with so many important ports located on it, the Japanese mined and netted the area to the hilt. They were pretty adept at coastal artillery and signalling as well.

But then the occasional assignment to drop off an agent in Japan seems kinda far-fetched too.

[Sockeye]

I can't remember now where I read it (maybe "Silent Running"), but I seem to recall an author saying that since no boats went into Tokyo Bay, that Sagami-Nada was usually meant when refering to Tokyo Bay.

Could be wrong though, but that's what I'll add to the thread :)

[Ducimus]

It was "Silent Running", i specifically remember reading that a few days ago in that book.

[DeepSix]

Some of the skipper autobiographies also mention that Sagami-Nada was referred to as "Tokyo Bay."

As for special ops, there were more than a few but not a ton. Off the top of my head, they mostly were conducted early during the war and in the Philippines - supply drops (to Corregidor, not the northeast coast of Luzon and elsewhere as in the game), evacuations, the famous bullion cargo, etc. Jim Coe and S-39 spent a couple days trying to pick up a downed British air crew. This adventure even included a shore party. There were also a few photo recon missions for boats being sent to or through the Marshalls. Two or three reconn'd Kwajalein very early (around January '42). Only other one I can think of was the landing of 2nd Raider Bn at Tarawa (?) as a diversion for the big landing at Guadalcanal.

[Wilko]

I kinda cheated and got out of this photo mission by saving after I finish my current mission but before I radio it in, then if I get that Tokyo photo mission I just exit and reload the point before I radiod in or completed the mission and get another generated mission.

Worked once so far and by accident as I had got the Tokyo mission and thought "Holy S##t" and had to switch my computer off rapidly without saving at that point due to a bit of a drama and when I reloaded and radiod in I got a different mission that made more sense.

[Gun Slinger]

Hey CV43. It's only a game. We all have our own reasons of what fun is, but in the end it's still a game. Think of your mission going into Tokyo Bay, and getting out again,as a challenge. What I like to do is get into position and save the game, then work out a plan to accomplish the mission. If that plan fails, then reload the game from your last save and try a different strategy until you find a way to succeed. It will also help you learn the game much faster. If someone says that it's cheating, or not realistic, then they're trying to force you into their brand of what fun means to them. I've never been sunk because I don't wait long enough for the hull to be crushed. Obviously I failed, that time, but I allow myself another chance or I wouldn't be having any fun. This is a great game, and the designers had the foresight to allow lots of options on how YOU want to play it. So much for suicide!

[Snuffy]

Make sure your batteries are 100 percent charged before attempting this. I went in submerged from the mouth of the bay to the photo point and back out and used 7/8s of the battery power to do it.

[-Pv-]

Although I agree the photo recon missions are tedious, time-consuming, and difficult, it does add needed challenge to the game as long as they didn't happen too often. Then it would be looked on more positively.

I was promised a carrier to photo at Rabaul. Had to fight myself past the spawn point and four very clever DDs. A narrow-twisted passage where the depth decreases very rapidly. Heavy aircraft patrols and a nasty tugboat which has the ability to detect me and report my location to the DDs. No shore battery that I detected. Despite my best effort, they found me and one worked me over with only minor damage. I managed to slink away and while they were focused on the area where they found me, photographed one carrier and sank it AND the lovely second one parked nearby. Eight torps and 22K tons in a few minutes work. Nice reward for sticking out a mission many would pass up. The scenery there is also very dramatic in low light conditions. Out of close to 20 missions I've been given so far in this career, only one photo and one spy so far. I'm not yet overly bothered by them.
-Pv-