Oh, those bastard waves.

[partyboy]

It's so frustrating to lose a target you were in a good position to take out because it's night and very choppy and you can't get more than 1-2 seconds of visual contact every 10-15 seconds. This time it was a rear escort playing catch up so it was moving fast and I didn't have much time.

Of course, it's situations like that that make the successful attacks all the more sweeter. But it doesn't half make you feel useless.

[AVGWarhawk]

Small trick and was used.....raise your depth. No reason you can not get the conning tower up over the waves thus extending your periscope more! Once done the wash over the scope is much much less. I usually set depth at 40 feet and this allows the scope to be over the wave. :up:

[partyboy]

Yeah, by the time I decided to do that it was too late. Live and learn. :damn:

[tomoose]

LOL, I've cursed the screen a few times for the same reason until I too was advised to simply raise the sub a wee bit! I catch on so fast, D'oh!;)

[manucapo]

i have a QUESTION regarding all this of raising depth
how does the enemy see
you do they actulaly have to see you

or is it that once your above a certain depth and range your automatically seen
so for example if i let my whole sail out of the water
will they automaticly see me
or will they actually have to see the ship
thus having only the sail up should keep me better hidden?

[Snuffy]

Pop yer top too far outta the water and if an enemy has a gun to bear ... yer gonna get targeted.

It's a calculated risk. But one that works.

[-Pv-]

Questions like this are some of the most common. Everyone would like a NUMBER (be it depth, height, speed, angle, profile, damage level, crew level, game year, weather condition, distance to target, ad infinitum) that guarantees success every time.

There are enough factors in the game and most of them salted with skill and random elements that it's impossible to remove all risk from your decisions. One day in an attack a tactic works and a few days later in another similar attack the tactic doesn't work. This is part of the suspense of the game. Every moment you are forced to judge risk based on the value of the target, your personal experience, and the conditions listed above. What a game.

The short answer:
It's great to be able to raise your profile to overcome weather and sighting conditions. How much should you do it? What can you get away with? As in all things, you have to moment-by-moment weigh losing sight on the target 40,50,60% of the time against being seen. On top of that, being seen isn't always a bad thing if you are close enough to get fish off that cannot miss.

-Pv-

[manucapo]

just to clarify
i wasnt asking for a magic number
just wanted out of curiosity to know that
if raising only your sail, was the same for the AI as raising your whole sub,
so if there is a "LINE" and one side is up and the other down, and no in betweens
of course this "LINE"'s location will depend upon some random factors
but my question is only if such a "LINE" exists

that was my questions just out of curiosity
im not triyng to offend you, thanks for the answer ,
but just seeing if i can get the answer i need from somone

[-Pv-]

Does the game track how much sail you have exposed and behaves differently? Yes. It also cares how MUCH scope you have exposed, how MUCH deck you have exposed and what is the ANGLE of exposure. How fast you are going. What are the weather conditions.

There are three levels of visibility exposure and all three vary by the amount of exposure:
1) Surfaced (it's possible to be surfaced enough to engage the diesels, but you are not fully surfaced or exposed.)

2) Partially submerged (you are deep enough to force battery power, but not deep enough to hide the sail completely.)

3) Periscope depth (Sail is submerged enough you cannot use the bridge view and have to rely on the scope which has varying height.)

Obviously anything lower and you cannot see out the scope nor can any part of your sub be seen by surface ships (although if a plane flies directly over you and the surface is mostly calm, you can still be seen.)

There are several varitions on all three conditions above:
You can have various amounts of sail and and/or scope exposed in combination.
You can be in calm or rough weather, fog etc.
Your speed.
Quality of the enemy crews (which vary widely.)
The aspect angle of your boat to the nearest or most aggressive enemy.
Time of day and lighting.
The type of sub.

The game cares about all this stuff and not in an on-off type of way and after working all these things into the visibility equation, modifies it with random factors.

With so many factors involved, the amount of sail you expose in one circumstance will not produce the same result every time you are in potential view of the enemy.

The point I'm trying to make is if in your own testing you discover a sail exposure that lets you get with 1000 yards of a target and you try that again on another attack, it might fail. So, you might let us know that at wave height x, and speed y, at aspect z to escort whatsit year 1942 with sail exposure 2 feet traveling 4 knots at battle stations, you got within so many yards of the enemy. What good will all this do when in your next attack you are not able to duplicate all these factors?

How close you get at what exposure will be largely determined by your caution, skill, experience and gut feeling while closely observing the enemy.

-Pv-