Type VIIB - WTH is wrong???

[msalama]

OK guys, I'm completely stumped.

This is the 2nd time I'm trying the VIIB out during my career, and it seems to be a real pig. The specs - those that I've seen at any rate - say the boat should do 17-18kts surfaced and 8kts submerged, yet all I'm seeing here is 14kts / 4kts(!!!!!) tops. WTH is wrong?

And the engine telegraph / speed dial seems to be broken too. When I ask for, say, 10kts forward the boat accelerates to 5-6kts and stays there. Again, WTH?

And it can't be the weather either, BTW. I had dead calm seas both times.

Any ideas guys? Or have I grossly misunderstood something here? Am I really doomed to end my career in a IIA - as much as I do love that little boat - or perhaps earn more renown and upgrade to something else altogether later?

:damn:

Thanks for any ideas and insights guys. Please help a fellow Kaleun out if you can :up:

[Graf Paper]

The VIIB will not make speeds of 18kts surfaced and 8kts submerged until you have bought the GWK diesel upgrade and the MAK-80 "quick charge" batteries upgrade.

As for your troubles with your u-boat, I have no idea why. My own VIIB works great and I will surely miss it when I'm faced with having to upgrade to a different sub to survive the later war years.

Could be your CE officer has gotten the diesel engines "stuck" in recharge mode, which will reduce your speed by 3-4kts because you're only running on one engine while the other is recharging your batteries.

Check to see if that is the case. I've seen this happen sometimes and it means you'll have to keep an eye on that and manually order standard propulsion when the batteries are fully recharged.

[msalama]

DUH!!! :damn: :lol:

Yep, never checked the engine config of course :up: Thanks m8, will do that forthwith. S!

[P_Funk]

Also as a note on this, make sure that your engine compartment is at or near maximum efficiency or else you'll lose some speed. Usually not 4 or 5 knots though.

[msalama]

Dear Graf, thanks to you the problem is now solved :up:

The engines were indeed recharging even though the CE menu didn't show it, and simply asking for standard propulsion fixed the thing immediately. The boat is moving like a wolf that got it's tail stepped on now :rock:

Yeah, I'm glad things are finally rolling again - we're a happy bunch now, every station fully manned with alert men, 50 hands all counted and everyone itching to sink some more Engländer shipping of course!

:sunny:

[Sailor Steve]

The VIIB will not make speeds of 18kts surfaced and 8kts submerged until you have bought the GWK diesel upgrade...
And for the bad news: the 'engine upgrades' are total malarky. The Type VIIA had no superchargers and made 17 knots surfaced. The Type VIIB came standard with superchargers and made 17.6 knots. The non-upgraded speeds are the speeds they all actually made with superchargers.

I don't know anything about the battery upgrades, but everything else mentioned (i.e. the 'recharging slowdowns') is definitely true.

[Penelope_Grey]

Battery upgrades do not affect your submerged speed. The better batteries you have the longer your electric engines keep turning.:up:

[Brag]

Glad to see your problem fixed :D

[Graf Paper]

Battery upgrades do not affect your submerged speed. The better batteries you have the longer your electric engines keep turning.
Based on that information, I'd have to assume the GWK diesel upgrade must also affect the electric motors, except for the fact my max submerged speed did not increase from 6kts to 8kts until I upgraded my batteries.

Perhaps the MAK 80 batteries, aside from quicker recharge rates, also crank out more amps which supplies more power to the electric motors, allowing for greater speed while submerged? :hmm:

Sailor Steve, the engine upgrades do seem to be questionable in regards to history but the game devs had to give us something on which to spend our Renown (it's not legal tender at the local u-bootsmen's hangouts). A wise choice from the standpoint of game theory. It gives yet one more way for a player to feel invested into the game.

mslama, glad I could be of help. :up: I somtimes had this trouble with my CE, but it mysteriously fixed itself. I'm thinking the engine and battery upgrades may have had something to do with it as the "getting stuck in recharge mode" bug disappeared around that time.

Good hunting! :arrgh!:

[Tessa]

Battery upgrades do not affect your submerged speed. The better batteries you have the longer your electric engines keep turning.
Based on that information, I'd have to assume the GWK diesel upgrade must also affect the electric motors, except for the fact my max submerged speed did not increase from 6kts to 8kts until I upgraded my batteries.

Perhaps the MAK 80 batteries, aside from quicker recharge rates, also crank out more amps which supplies more power to the electric motors, allowing for greater speed while submerged? :hmm:

Sailor Steve, the engine upgrades do seem to be questionable in regards to history but the game devs had to give us something on which to spend our Renown (it's not legal tender at the local u-bootsmen's hangouts). A wise choice from the standpoint of game theory. It gives yet one more way for a player to feel invested into the game.

mslama, glad I could be of help. :up: I somtimes had this trouble with my CE, but it mysteriously fixed itself. I'm thinking the engine and battery upgrades may have had something to do with it as the "getting stuck in recharge mode" bug disappeared around that time.

Good hunting! :arrgh!:

Historically the U-Boats didn't use any superchargers on the engines. The Luftwaffe on the other hand made use of them frequently on their fighter planes. Since the nature of the supercharger is to force more air into the intake manifold it would only have an effect when using the diesel engines, it wouldn't do anything to increase the power of the electric engines. To get more power out of the electric engines its simple EE, increase the voltage or amperage in order to get more torque to the propeller shafts.

[Sailor Steve]

Sailor Steve, the engine upgrades do seem to be questionable in regards to history but the game devs had to give us something on which to spend our Renown (it's not legal tender at the local u-bootsmen's hangouts). A wise choice from the standpoint of game theory. It gives yet one more way for a player to feel invested into the game.
In that case the Type VIIs should only make 17 knots until you buy the upgrade, then 17.9 for the B and 17.6 for the C. If they're going to cheat they should at least cheat right!:rotfl:

[msalama]

...from 6kts to 8kts until I upgraded my batteries.

That's strange, because mine does 8kts submerged now that we got the bugger sorted. And it's a plain vanilla VIIB so the batteries are stock...

[Sailor Steve]

...vanilla...
<ducks and runs>

[msalama]

<ducks and runs>

Ahem... well in stock configuration if you prefer ;)