Patrol Strategy

[philios]

Hi all, I'm new to the game and have a couple of questions. But first I'd like to say thanks to all the guys who've made videos and tutorials to help newer players. Without those resources I'd probably have given up very quickly, especially since the game itself gives almost no information on how to do things. Special mention has to go to WernerSobe for his manual targeting videos, because of them I managed to sink a ship using only sonar yesterday. It turned out to only weigh about 1800 tons and I used six torpedoes, but thats not the point. So thanks everyone for your help.

Now I have some questions. First sonar, the tool tip says that the ping machine you use to find the range of targets can be picked up by warships. Is this true? If for instance I used it to ping a carrier a couple of times would it's escorts come straight after me or do you have to be really close/send lots of pings to get detected?

My other question is more of a discussion point. I'm okay at intercepting targets and sinking them. I have trouble finding targets in the first place. Does anyone have any patrol strategies that they use to maximise encounters?

[Quillan]

It's like fishing: if you toss your line in an area where there are no fish, you aren't going to catch anything. You have to go where the enemy ships are in order to hunt, and the exact areas and strategies can be heavily dependant on what mods you are using. The Run Silent Run Deep Campaign mod is great, but it drastically reduces the amount of ships out there, so it'll be a lot harder to find targets if you're running RSRDC than if you're running the stock game. I haven't really tried out the U-Boat campaign so I can't comment on that.

I find the most targets near the coast in certain areas: east side of Japan (especially near the Bungo Suide), the openings into the Sea of Japan (Korea Straight, La Perouse Straight, and the narrows between Honshu and Hokkaido), both sides of Okinawa and Formosa, and sometimes running the sea section in a triangle formed by Formosa, Japan, and Guam. I haven't done much hunting in the South Pacific so someone else will need to let you know what are the high-traffic areas there.

As to how I find them, it's just luck. If you have surface search radar, stay on the surface and use it. If you don't, you need to be submerged and use your hydrophones.

[Major Johnson]

OMG! Look at this guy! His first post and he understands sonar only attack?? Geez!! I can't tell you how I'm struggling with the mechanics of manual targeting! Can we do some sort of mind meld to make me smarter?? :D

As far as your question about finding targets. My suggestion is look at the map. If you know anything about that part of the war, where the major battles were fought, the main Japanese bases etc, you can pretty much see where the best shipping lanes are. Also the contact updates you recieve via radio messages will help you to see where the shipping routes are.

About sonar pings being detected, I did read in another thread that's not incorporated into the game. Supposedly you can ping away and the Jap ASW won't hear it.

Lastly, welcome to the forum!! There is a wealth of information here, and the veteran members are more than happy to help!! :up:

[Sailor Steve]

Yes, philios, WELCOME ABOARD!:sunny:

@ Major Johnson: lucky you--my machine won't run SH4 at all.:cry: Still, SH3 leaves me in the same boat, so to speak; can't sing, can't dance, can't do calculations.

Hilarious post, by the way.

[SuperCavitation]

I've been keeping a notepad handy to log heavy ship encounters. So far I have:

4 N, 128 E -- Passenger liners, medium cargos, no escorts except on liners.
26 N, 131 E -- unescorted liners

Hope that helps. And welcome aboard!

[Rockin Robbins]

Had the USS Barb, beginning his career in March or April of 1944, same time as Kraken, my boat did. At a time when 90% of boats were underachievers, coming home without any kills at all pretty often, Fluckey put togeter eight of the most productive cruises of the war, coming home the most highly decorated boat, crew and captain of the War. The answer to your question is to research the thoughts and strategies of Eugene Fluckey.

Many US captains adopted the strategy of submerging at a crawl all day and popping their heads up at night to see what developed. Too often the answer was "nothing." Fluckey didn't like that answer, so he came up with a strategy that didn't compromise safety but let him be much more successful searching for targets.

He called it yo-yoing. He reasoned that a submarine is not designed to operate beneath the surface, it was a surface ship which could occasionally submerge. How much you find is a numbers game. The only secret to finding more targets is to search more area. That means staying on the surface at 10 knots every second you can, not submerged at 1 or 2 knots. It means you need to see as far as you can. And that means leaving the radar on, in spite of the risk of attracting party crashers. It means when you dive, you're right back on the surface in as few minutes as possible. With radar you can see approaching planes several minutes before you are in any danger. When you are submerged you have no combat awareness at all. But they can see you down even below periscope depth. Even if you were below their vision, they have a many minute window to send you to your Maker while you are surfacing.

Therefore the SH4 Eugene Fluckey search and evasion tactic. Normally you are on the surface making 10 knots with the radar on. I'm normally at 2048x TC. A plane appears on your radar, reducing TC to 1x. Draw a 5 mile circle around your boat, stab the "plus" key and kick it back up to 16x and watch your airplane. If his path is going to enter the circle just click the 120' mark on your depth gauge and dive normally in time for you to be at or below periscope depth when your visitor crosses the 5 mile line.

Now, pop up the stopwatch, increase the TC to 64x and watch 5 minutes unwind in several seconds. Go back to 16x and press ";" to go to radar depth. The second you can see it's all clear (your visitor should still be in the radar, heading away) surface and go back to 2048x.

Rinse and repeat as necessary!:up:

Benefits:
*You are making maximum average speed, searching maximum possible square miles.
*Planes never see you so they don't call their buddies.
*You retain combat awareness almost 100% of the time, ensuring the initiative in any situation. You participate only in the parties you choose.
*You get to and from objectives in the least amount of time using the least amount of fuel. You never change speed from 10 knots on the surface and whatever that throttle setting yields underwater.
*When you encounter targets your batteries are fully charged and your boat is undamaged.
*You are very productive and Admiral Lockwood lets you keep your command.

Disadvantages:
*None

What's not to like?:up: Captain Fluckey was a genius!

[philios]

Thanks everyone for your tips, I'll be trying your suggestions tonight. It's nice to find such a friendly community on a forum who don't mind helping out beginners. Major Johnson, I assure you my one succesful sonar attack was mostly fluke. I just missed a sitter, less than 1000 yards doing five knots and a 90 degree angle, three torpedos past the bow! Still I can see this game eating large chunks of my life over the coming months. Thanks again everyone, I'm off on patrol.

[Berinhardt]

My approach is:

I know where the major sea bases in Japan are.
I know where the major destinations in the south are.So I start with the major ports (like Tokyo) and sit outside the main harbor (in the deep water, not the shallows) and watch the traffic patterns. I'll sink a convoy, move a little south or in the direction the convoy was heading and wait. usually I can catch 2 convoys a day out of a busy port. If I'm lucky, I'll find an area where merchants are unescorted. The jackpot is finding where two major routes converge. Had a great day when two 14 ship convoys intersected at the same time. I left eight very angry escorts wondering where their frieghters went to.
:arrgh!:

[Captain Vlad]

I actually do the opposite of what Rockin' Robbin suggests. Daylight, I am submerged unless I'm transitting or in hot pursuit. Actually, in some cases I'm submerged AND just sitting there. Your hydrophones are very useful detection tools, and with the engines off, they give all-round coverage that cannot be detected by the enemy.

Now, that said...Quillian is quite correct. If you fish a dead pond, you won't catch anything. I tend to run in the South Pacific, and I've found that the Indochina coast is an excellent hunting ground. I've just started using the RSRD mod, so I don't know many more good places with that running, but stock, the Makassar Straight between Borneo and the Celebes is excellent, as is the area south of Rabaul.

[Patboot]

One method i use is: On the way to your patrol station, keep an ear on the radioed reports of convoys, TF's, single ships close to that station; Use your map marker tool to plot their course for oh, say 50 miles each. After a few days a pattern will plot out, and from those you can get a "Corridor' or shipping lane. It might be a bitt out from your actual zone of patrol (Lucky you if it is) but just get your grey star, and then go get lunch.


Hope that made sense.