Help completing my "patrol" mission

[jasondef]

OK, I got this problem getting to my patrol area and having enough fuel to complete my mission and get back to base. I'm in Pearl Harbor, its my 3rd patrol, in a Gar class sub, which has the most range it seems of all the subs available to me at the start of my career. I found that I can add some range if I top off my fuel in Midway on my way to Asia. So from Midway, with full tanks, I go at a economical 2/3 (I first tried it at "standard", that was worse), and run on batteries as much as possible, surfacing only long enough to recharge them, then back down again right away. I do all this (takes forever holy cow) and I get to my patrol area, the E. China Sea, and I've already used up more than half my fuel. Logic tells me that even if I turned back right away, I wouldn't have enough fuel to make it back to Midway. And Japan has at this point taken over everything closer than Midway. All that's left is the Southern Australia ports and they look like they're even farther than midway, so that's no good.

So what to do? I don't see how I could conserve fuel more than I already am. Any thoughts would help! Thanks.

[Fincuan]

Run on the surface at 9 to 9.5 knots(the most efficient speed for the Gar is around there). It's much more efficient to run purely on the surface vs. running submerged and only recharging batteries on the surface. The above two tips should get you to East China Sea with about 75% of fuel remaining. Topping off at Midway is also something you should do both on the way in and out if you want the maximum range :up:

[jasondef]

I am in the habit of using midway as much as possible, effectively my fuel range is thusly not from Pearl and back, but from Midway and back. But I remember in SH3, switching back and forth from submerged to surface running was a good way to extend ur u-boat's range. So this is not the case in SH4 it seems? If so, that would explain a lot, and make it a heck of a lot faster getting to your destination! I'm gonna try it... Thanks for the tip!

Dang, too bad its past my bed time. I'll have to wait til after work tomorrow to try this new-fangled technique, I'm excited! Imagine, running on the surface the whole way there. Who would've thunk it?

[Joe Armstrong]

(Speed) N MPH Fuel Distance Duration Submerged N MPH Duration Charge Dist.
1/3 8 4000 14,173 74 days 40 NM 4 10 25
2/3 12 4000 9,539 33 days 32 5 6.4 36
STD 16 4000 5,263 14 days 22 7 3 170
Full 19 4000 3,909 9 days 20 8 2.5 196
Flank 20 4000 3,463 7 days 20 9 2 210

This is the information on the GATO

[Taurolas]

As Finucan mentioned the easiest way to maximise your range is to stay surfaced and stay at around 9 knots..

if you recharge your batteries (i'm assuming you dive alot between midway and destination) you will consume more fuel... best not dive and run on batteries at all unless absolutely neccessary.

remember batteries need charging and to charge em you need to run the diesels which in turn need alot more fuel when in charge mode.