S-18 question

[kylesplanet]

Sugar boats are kinda new to me as I have almost always used fleetboats out of Pearl. When I played stock, I had some success with them (s boats) but after RSRDC obviously things are a bit tougher. I tried an S class out of Manilla but after two patrols and embarassing tonnage totals, I was uncerimoniously shown the door and was told I should have "been more aggressive" and "at least my crew survived.":stare: I missed a nice freighter because the boat was to slow to get my crew into position then missed a mine sweeper because of a dud but that was about all I seen.

One of my problems I think is I'm not covering enough area for fear of running out of fuel so my question is this: What speed do you travel on the surface when charging batteries and when the batteries are fully charged? :-?

BTW, I was running standard and full at times and I limped into Darwin at 3% fuel. I think I just varied to much.:88)

[Powerthighs]

Running an S-Boat at 6.5 knots will get you maximum miles-per-gallon.

Early in the war there is not a lot of traffic. If you stay close to shorelines around the north of the Phillipines or Formosa, you can find coastal shipping. If you get desperate you can visit one of the larger ports.

[kylesplanet]

Running an S-Boat at 6.5 knots will get you maximum miles-per-gallon.

Early in the war there is not a lot of traffic. If you stay close to shorelines around the north of the Phillipines or Formosa, you can find coastal shipping. If you get desperate you can visit one of the larger ports.

I ran about 6 knots for awhile and figured I was just not covering enough ground. I have went back to six knots but I've been deployed to patrol at the choke point in the Banda Sea. I think I will hang close to some of the coast and try to locate some.

[kylesplanet]

Here is another. When I run upon a convoy of fishing boats in RSRDC, they appear green on the map. Can I sink those? I have done so and they do show up on the caps log but will I be penalized for it?

[bookworm_020]

Green are neutral, you will be given a big rap over the knuckles if you start sinking them!:arrgh!:

[Gunner]

Green are Neutral ships, so yep! you will be penalized. :arrgh!:

[kylesplanet]

I saved right before I did that so its an easy fix. I just can't find anything to shoot at.:nope:

EDIT: Any help on finding some targets is appreciated. Back to this stinky, hot, slow little beast.

[Gunner]

Started a patrol leaving Maila heading North to Lunzo Staright, hug the coastline a little inlet halfway up the coast, found a stationary Large Tanker and Freighter with 2 smaller merchants with 3 escorts all stationary, sunk Tanker and Freighter for around 17000 tons and cost 3 torps. I use RSRD as well :arrgh!:

[kylesplanet]

Started a patrol leaving Maila heading North to Lunzo Staright, hug the coastline a little inlet halfway up the coast, found a stationary Large Tanker and Freighter with 2 smaller merchants with 3 escorts all stationary, sunk Tanker and Freighter for around 17000 tons and cost 3 torps. I use RSRD as well :arrgh!:

Nice find! I been sent to the Molucca Passage and then to the Celbes sea. I finally found a small TF but again, I was to slow to get into position. I did attract a couple destroyers and bagged one of them. Played cat and mouse for a while with the other and got an 800 yard shot off and of course, dang dud.:damn: There were two cruisers but I couldn't catch them in "ole Grand ma".:p Get this: I surfaced and did my best to provoke the other DD but the sucker ran away! I even fired my deck gun at him but he kept chugging. I'm pretty sure he ran out of DC's. Well I have orders to stick around in the Celebes sea while the provisions hold out. So so far, I have a pitiful 1680 tons:down: Maybe something is coming my way.

[Gunner]

!941 is slim pickings it seems, but there are ships to be sunk, 42 action picks up. :arrgh!:

[Powerthighs]

If you really want to know where stuff is you can open the SH4MissionEditor and look at all the files. You will be able to get a feel for where traffiic is at various points in time. Just make sure to close the files without saving so you don't overwrite anything.

[Travis Reed]

I remember trying the S boats once... They move like molases in January (or any other suitably cold, winter month). I was only able to get it up to 8 knots at flank (standard propulsion, glassy sea, no wind, etc) on the surface and 3 knots submerged. When I could actually get in position on a target, all the torps would do one of 3 things... preemie, run deep, or dud. Rather frustrating...but then again, this happens with all my torps, regardless of boat/torp type...I've started loading large rocks into the tubes to fire shotgun style at point blank...:damn:

[kylesplanet]

I'm running out of Java, it is now Feb 42, maybe business will pick up. Had to report back to base with that sorry 1680 tons. Hopefully my next mission will take me up by Manilla. It's gonna be a long night because I cannot end on a performance like that.:nope: My pride is a little to big for that. It's a good thing I'm self employed because I just can't take this. If I'm still playing when the sun comes up, I'll just think of ole Leovampire and smile!:sunny: Somebody flying a Jap flag IS going down tonight or I will be on the bottom.:arrgh!:

[Captain Vlad]

Man, I need to try RSRD.

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

Here's a little tip, Amigo. If you find you're not getting any ships on patrols then all you have to do is sneak into one of the ports the Japanese have and sink to your heart's delight (or when you run out of torps). Be careful. Best under darkness and avoid patroling ships and serachlights. I snuck in my S-boat into Saigon Harbor and sank 1 Tanker and 2 Large ships. Even got a bloody medal for it. I have no shame.:rotfl:

[kylesplanet]

Here's a little tip, Amigo. If you find you're not getting any ships on patrols then all you have to do is sneak into one of the ports the Japanese have and sink to your heart's delight (or when you run out of torps). Be careful. Best under darkness and avoid patroling ships and serachlights. I snuck in my S-boat into Saigon Harbor and sank 1 Tanker and 2 Large ships. Even got a bloody medal for it. I have no shame.:rotfl:

Oh it crossed my mind but where I was initially sent to patrol, there was just no major harbors. I myself have no shame at all in that!:rotfl:

Business has definatley picked up now. I'm in Darwin fueling up and I've got 25k tons. ( I played until 5am) I'm gonna take her to my new homebase at Freemantle where maybe my new commanding officer will like me better and give me a fleetboat. The S class sure has a diving speed advantage but the surface speed is half of what the fleetboats were and that changes strategy considerably.

RSRDC certainly makes this a challange. I've got 25K and I have only missed 2 torp shots and one of them was a dud, plus, I deck gunned an old aft engine. :arrgh!:

BTW, I don't know if I've been lucky or if it is by design but the Mark 10 torps might not be as strong but 2/3rds of them are not duds. I may switch to them early war if I get my fleetboat.;)

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

The Mk. 10s have a shorter range, which means you have to get up real close and personal to targets. The S-18 is pretty useless against fast moving warships. They really do have great dive speeds but oftentimes large cargo vessels travel faster than the sub. So, I use the advantage of this sub- small and fast diving to sneak into harbours and wallop the stuffing out of sleeping ships. It's the only way to get targets using the realism Mods in which ships detect torp wakes easily.

[kylesplanet]

The Mk. 10s have a shorter range, which means you have to get up real close and personal to targets. The S-18 is pretty useless against fast moving warships. They really do have great dive speeds but oftentimes large cargo vessels travel faster than the sub. So, I use the advantage of this sub- small and fast diving to sneak into harbours and wallop the stuffing out of sleeping ships. It's the only way to get targets using the realism Mods in which ships detect torp wakes easily.

I noticed the shorter range. (I had actually read about ranges on here some time ago) If you are out of position, the quicker ships are definetly out of the equation. I was also thinking, does the game model the lower profile of the S class (as in DD's not being able to spot you as easy), it seems you can get closer on DD's without being detected. Heck, one of them ran away from me after I sent his twin to the bottom. I surfaced and fired my gun at him and he kept going!:o It's like he knew I couldn't catch him and just smirked has he went back to his convoy. Bastard.:arrgh!:

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

The only time I could get close to a DD is during night time and foggy conditions. But that's rare since they go at 18 knots and over. Too fast for this bathtub. Surfacing to attack a destroyer is something I don't do. On this realism mod the deck gun don't do as much damage in real time as the stock version. A couple of well aimed shots from DD guns will seriously damage my sub and I need all the points I could get.

[kylesplanet]

The only time I could get close to a DD is during night time and foggy conditions. But that's rare since they go at 18 knots and over. Too fast for this bathtub. Surfacing to attack a destroyer is something I don't do. On this realism mod the deck gun don't do as much damage in real time as the stock version. A couple of well aimed shots from DD guns will seriously damage my sub and I need all the points I could get.

I never surface to attack the DD's either but he was leaving and I couldn't catch up and I really needed the tonnage. Hell I was just trying to get his attention.

[Travis Reed]

I've had a DD run from me in terror even in a fleet boat...deck gun firing and hitting in sensitive spots as well...

Apparrently he thought I was undead Swiss cheese... (he and his buddy shot me up rather badly after forcing me to surface with damage, his buddy got the deep six, he ran)

[Gunner]

Last night came upon a convoy Luzon area, Was submerged at 230 feet, Knew roughly where this DD was, so blew ballast and hit surface with Deck Gun Blazing. He was positioned 400 feet off my bow. first 2 rounds set him ablaze, third round split him in two, then proceded at flank speed, sailing between the two split burning hulls without putting so much as dent in my hull. What a rush lol :arrgh!:

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z93/dhuget/DDBattle.jpg

[kylesplanet]

That is a cool feeling when you can do something like that but if we did that in real life, it would be curtains.:dead: About the time they trained the main guns on us, it would be all over. Now if you do this to Ducimus's hot rod DD's, it will get ugly quick. Not only will they not run from you, you better be slick at getting away and in all likelyhood, your headed to the bottom.:dead:

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

You split a DD in two with a deck gun? Get outta here!:rotfl:

You didn't do damage. What really happened was one of those IJN guys desperately wanted to preserve ship rivets, so he carefully removed them, hence the split in the hull. Some guys just want all the credit.:lol:

With me now I had to almost empty all of my deck gun ammo just to sink a blazing DD. Some guys have all the luck!

[DrBeast]

Some guys have all the luck!

Either that, or they're not using NSM ;)

[Gunner]

You split a DD in two with a deck gun? Get outta here!:rotfl:

You didn't do damage. What really happened was one of those IJN guys desperately wanted to preserve ship rivets, so he carefully removed them, hence the split in the hull. Some guys just want all the credit.:lol:

With me now I had to almost empty all of my deck gun ammo just to sink a blazing DD. Some guys have all the luck!

It helps if you have a 5" Deck Gun Mounted on my SBoat and skilled Gun Crew:D