A very noob question on destroyer evasion

[liljack]

Hey guys, bought this game recently and aren't very good at it, particularly evading destroyers once spotted. So I've spent the last few days reading here and trying out some tactics. It seems I'm slowly getting better but there's one thing I don't understand: in many of the threads people talk about changing course depending on which way the destroyer turns for another DC/detection run. But how do you know what the destroyer is doing when you're submerged?

[richardphat]

how? If you are playing in realism mod, i dont have any ideas. However if you play from easy to hard you can press , and . to watch the ennemy. Or you can still use your 3d camera if possible. You will use to it !!!
PSSS WELCOME ABOARD!

[liljack]

Well the only way I know is by using the free view, but that seems like cheating really. I thought there must have been a way since so many people mention it.

[richardphat]

You can tell your sonar man to follow nearest target and he will inform you if dd is moving away, closing.............

[1480]

richardphat has a great suggestion. But pay attention to which bearing your SO informs you that the kriegs shiff is coming from. If they are coming in fast, knuckle in the direction that will quickly get you out of harms way. There is no perfect or exact tactic that will save your boot! IME distance is the best, something that comes close to it is #2. It's not real life and you can always learn from your mistakes, whatever works for you, do it, until you implode.....

[rifleman13]

In evading destoyers or any ASW ship...

Just dive deep and shut up, wait for a few hours and then get the hell of of there!:arrgh!:
Works for me!:up:

[liljack]

It's not real life and you can always learn from your mistakes, whatever works for you, do it, until you implode.....:) I've used my 9 lives up doing that. Since I'm new to sub sims I actually just spent some time using the free view to learn what the destroyers do. I attempted playing the cat for a while just to see what happens. It's interesting how often they'll DC and you're not even in range to get damage.

As for the going deep and shutting up, the problem is they seem to detect me anyway. I usually try to crawl away but 9/10 times they find me again. And if I come to the surface to check what's going on it seems they know where I am and are in close vicinity - maybe that's what several people mention as being "harder than real life". But I guess I'm too impatient as well. I'd hate to be like some of you who have a wife - the guy whose other half moved the pc into the lounge so they could still be in the same room - now that's understanding :)

Anyway, thank for the help guys.

[Bosje]

welcome, Kaleun :)

in stock, going to 'silent running' is not enough
take a look at your rpm, if it is above 100 (or even 50) one of those boys who is sitting still above you can hear you, then they might go pinging for a while to nail you down

in gwx, rpm drops to 99 or so at silent running. 50 or even 0 is still better

manually set to 50 by ordering a speed of .9 knots, or simply cut the engines

you can check the rpm best from the view in the conning tower. if you didn't get that, please say so i'll try to explain more clearly :)

[liljack]

Yes please Bosje. I read about reading the rpm from the command room I think but I click on things and sometimes I get a closer view and other times nothing seems to work. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. So I usually just set a speed of 1kn via the speed dial. So how do you read the rpm properly and set it?

[Bosje]

right click on the chief engineer (left most officer panel) to get a good look at the rpm. or go into the conning tower (up through the hatch from the control room, the little cupboard where the attack periscope is) for an even better look at the rpm.

you can 'set' the rpm by simply ordering a certain speed, that is done from the speed dial in the bottom right of your screen. 1 knot or slightly below one knot will ensure 50 rpm. the chief will say something like 'yes sir, new speed 0 knots) but if you look closely he will actually make the speed 0.9 knots or something. thats enough to creep along while remaining quite silent.
to be the most silent you could possibly be, you will need:
-silent running
-engines completely off (all stop)
-decent depth (depending on your boat and the year of the war, i'd say anything below 160 or 180 is not bad)

that way, they can't really hear you. they can still ping you though, and they probably WILL because they want to find you, of course :D

so in addition to all of that, it helps to keep the boat pointed directly towards or directly away from the destroyer which is pinging (not easy, will come with experience)

many people will use many different ways to escape the escorts. my personal style:
as they come in for a depthcharge run (if you are convinced they actually have you nailed down precisely), take a run when the charges drop, the DD is above you and can't hear you anymore. run and turn away, just for a couple seconds, cut engines again and try to end up with your nose or tail towards the DD. now they have to find you all over again :)

this can go on for hours. if you use time compression they will have more success finding you, best way to escape is sit through it in real time

phew that was long, now i'm sure the other kaleuns have more to add to this :)

[liljack]

right click on the chief engineer (left most officer panel) to get a good look at the rpm. Sorry everyone but I must be missing something here. When I right click the engineer I get the port/starboard telegraphs, rudder, compass and current speed. There is no rpm dial. Is this included in a mod or something? I can see it in the conning tower however.

I don't think I understand how the interface works. If I click on the "radio and sonar" button it takes me to the radio room. Sometimes I can click on the radio man and it gives me a closer look. Other times it takes me to the bed. Sometimes it doesn't work at all. Hmmm, I've got no clue with this game really. :)

[Sailor Steve]

When you right-click on an officer you take his place. You can still turn in that position and look at everything around you, just like from your original position. This gives you a very good look at the RPM dials.

[Monica Lewinsky]

But how do you know what the destroyer is doing when you're submerged?
Pick a course out of your butt, go deep, go silent.

I try to MATCH the destroyers couse while going deep. Works 90% of the time for evading. Confuses the sonar operator.

Worse thing to do is pick a course 90 degrees of the s.o.b's course and his/her sonar has you as DEAD meat.

Seek out Thermal layers.

[Sensekhmet]

this can go on for hours. if you use time compression they will have more success finding you, best way to escape is sit through it in real time


Dear God :down:

[Brag]

Welcome aboard Kaleun Liljack. :D

When a destroyer drops DC on you and you can her it overhead (or look through your observation scope and the escort is overhead) go to flank speed for about 30 seconds to avoid DCs. Eventually the escort will lose you.

For more details go to my Kielman webbie. :up:

[liljack]

Really should change the thread title to "Total noob totally suks" :)

Here's an example of how the interface confuses me. The manual says for the hydrophone station:

• Direction handler: Left-click on the handler to change the listening direction.
• Hydrophone volume: Set the volume of sound received with the hydrophone.
• Send ping (only available for sonar): Left-click to send a ping in the current sonar

Now, the only thing I can seem to do is rotate the direction handler. How do you set the volume? It seems I did at one point but I was just clicking, sliding, pressing buttons etc to see if I could work it out and don't know what did it.

Also, when I switch to observation scope the view is totally black. Pressing the up/down buttons makes a noise but the view stays black and the "height pointer" doesn't move. Honestly, I'm spending 99% of the time trying to click things rather than attacking convoys. Very frustrating without a decent manual.

[difool2]

You can tell your sonar man to follow nearest target and he will inform you if dd is moving away, closing.............

Or inform you of the activity of another escort on the other side of the convoy, while completely ignoring the one 800 yards away and bearing down on your tail at 20 knots.

[Nyarlathotep]

When a destroyer drops DC on you and you can her it overhead (or look through your observation scope and the escort is overhead) go to flank speed for about 30 seconds to avoid DCs. Eventually the escort will lose you.

For more details go to my Kielman webbie. :up:

Less effective when there's more than 1 enemy with sonar. Early in the war they seem to just circle. Later I think their tactics improve, at least in GWX? They will start to take turns listening from a slight distance while another makes their DC run. Go to flank, and as far as I can tell the slow-moving DD on passive sonar is very likely to get a fix on you no matter how much noise their friends are making.

At this point, I have a hard time getting away. I've got one or more enemies listening for me, moving slow or even stopped. Meanwhile they're directing one or more guys pinging for me and dropping strings of well-placed wabos. Move to evade, and the listener gets a fresh target. Stay put and I get sunk.

What's worked for me so far:

* Watch for bearing changes to each attacker. Figure out who's actively searching and who's listening. The attackers will be moving at high speed in a predictable pattern, they are easier to evade.

* The guy listening is the real problem. He's harder to get a fix on, because he's creeping along or even stopped. I want to increase my range to him, or if he's close, maybe even run right at him and get in his blind spot. Either way I need to break contact with this guy and force him to search.

* Try to keep tabs on all of the hunters. Bearing and speed changes will usually tell me when they've got me pickled. When I'm sure, I gun it and turn to get out of the way of the DC run. Changing depth can also be a good idea. I turn so that the next time they circle around pinging, I will be presenting the smallest target possible. Ideally I want to be headed directly away.

* It's important to try and give the listeners the wrong impression as to where I'm headed. I'll kill the engines, come out of my turn & coast for a bit, then put on 10 degrees of rudder in the opposite direction. Set speed to under 1kt & continue turning. If someone is at all close on passive sonar, and I'm not absolutely sure I'm being pinged, I will stop completely.

* If there aren't depth charges being dropped right on top of me, I only move when I'm in a blind spot, at the furthest distance in the search pattern, or the enemy is at long range or moving fast. I know I've got them foxed if they stop pinging, at this point if I'm patient and only move when it's safe, eventually I will get away.

[1480]

Really should change the thread title to "Total noob totally suks" :)

Here's an example of how the interface confuses me. The manual says for the hydrophone station:

• Direction handler: Left-click on the handler to change the listening direction.
• Hydrophone volume: Set the volume of sound received with the hydrophone.
• Send ping (only available for sonar): Left-click to send a ping in the current sonar

Now, the only thing I can seem to do is rotate the direction handler. How do you set the volume? It seems I did at one point but I was just clicking, sliding, pressing buttons etc to see if I could work it out and don't know what did it.

Also, when I switch to observation scope the view is totally black. Pressing the up/down buttons makes a noise but the view stays black and the "height pointer" doesn't move. Honestly, I'm spending 99% of the time trying to click things rather than attacking convoys. Very frustrating without a decent manual.

Question #1 Lt click the interface of the hydrophone station so you get the "free view" where your perspective changes when you move the mouse. Move the perspective a bit upwards and a twinge to the left. You will see a circular dial on the bottom right of the bearing (compass) dial. Left click again to get the pointer icon. When you scroll over it a tool tip will say "ambient volume". Thats your volume control. Turn up the volume on your pc speakers a bit till you can hear the faint gurgling noises. Lt click that "knob" once, and start roatating the bearing needle. If you can't hear any mechanical noises hit it again. Trial and error. The good news is: once you set the viewing perspective of the hydrophone station, it remains that way through your entire game session. So no need to futz around with it again.

Question #2 . Obs periscope is controlled by the INSERT & DELETE buttons. The attack scope is the Pg up & Pg down buttons.

Good luck and welcome.