A Few Questions

[-=Spy=-]

I've been playing Silent Hunter 3 for year or two and picked up WotP a few months ago, have done about 10 or so patrols and am really enjoying the nice selection of rear tubes (much better than those U-Boats) and other benifits of a Fleet Sub. But I did have some questions.


1)Can Destroyers run out of Depth Charges?

2)Can Destroyers use Active Sonar to pinpoint my location to Depth Charge me?

3)How far can planes fly to intercept me? I've been 400km from land and was getting harrassed by Betties 3-4 times a day.

4)Are Harbor ships random? If I go to a port one day and come back two patrols and 3 months later will it have the same ships in the same spots or will it randomize?

5)Is it realistic for a surfaced Gato to survive a Circle Running torpedo to the Aft?

6)How damaging are Sub Nets? Because I was sneaking into Manila to do Photo Recon on the Carrier Force, put myself into the Observation Periscope, and as I was raising it, saw a net right infront of me. Slammed on the back emergency and stopped mere feet from it. Had I raised the 'Scope 3 seconds later I would have hit it. Scared the hell out of me. (First one I had seen)

7)If I hit a ship with a torpedo, and the fuel bunkers blow up or it splits in half at once, does it alert Destroyers about the angle the torpedo came from or does it need time to?

8)For most Merchant Shipping, where is the optimal spot to hit? Directly behind the SmokeStack? The rear quarter?



That'll do it for now, thanks to everyone here.

[RedMenace]

2.) Yes, definitely. And they will. ALL THE TIME.

7.) Probably won't alert them to your location THAT way. But just the fact that their ship blew up alerts them to your presence, so prepare to be actively sonar pinged, and they'll tend to find you pretty damned fast.

8.) Generally, for most merchant shipping, it's the engine room directly below the smokestack. Some merchant ships have BETTER places to hit, but if you aren't aware of what those are, aiming for the smokestack is a pretty good bet.

Those are the only ones I know the answer too, hope I helped. :salute:

[-=Spy=-]

Number two is the one I was really looking for, so thanks. With 2 answered, it explains how the DD manage to come right at me after a torpedo a merchant of a convoy, which made me think that they were reporting where my torp had come from.

[DigitalAura]

Welcome aboard!



1)Can Destroyers run out of Depth Charges?

Probably, but even in real life a destroyer can likely carry many hundred of the dang things!

2)Can Destroyers use Active Sonar to pinpoint my location to Depth Charge me?Yes, there are many good posts about this too regarding hot spots and dead zones and how to react. Check out this thread I started on the subject: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=155764&highlight=depth+charges+strategies

3)How far can planes fly to intercept me? I've been 400km from land and was getting harrassed by Betties 3-4 times a day.You can't escape them! ;) There is no distance they can't reach you; don't forget, many of them operate from carriers!

4)Are Harbor ships random? If I go to a port one day and come back two patrols and 3 months later will it have the same ships in the same spots or will it randomize?I think this depends on if you are running stock (out of the box) or modded versions... I know mods can use known historic ship patterns and convoys. Really don't know though.

5)Is it realistic for a surfaced Gato to survive a Circle Running torpedo to the Aft?You mean your own torpedo? this did actually happen to the Tang ... that is to say the captain and crew lived to tell about it. Therefore, it IS realistic to a degree! :03:

6)How damaging are Sub Nets? Because I was sneaking into Manila to do Photo Recon on the Carrier Force, put myself into the Observation Periscope, and as I was raising it, saw a net right infront of me. Slammed on the back emergency and stopped mere feet from it. Had I raised the 'Scope 3 seconds later I would have hit it. Scared the hell out of me. (First one I had seen)Hit my first one last night too. In Dalian Harbour, Japan. If you hit it going slow enough it won't do anything but cause minor problems... but if you persist and don't back out or if you hit 'em too fast it's Davy Jones' for you.

7)If I hit a ship with a torpedo, and the fuel bunkers blow up or it splits in half at once, does it alert Destroyers about the angle the torpedo came from or does it need time to?Let me just say that if a ship has time it will report you. Even those darned FISHING BOATS will rat on you!

8)For most Merchant Shipping, where is the optimal spot to hit? Directly behind the SmokeStack? The rear quarter?yes. Both spots are good. The boiler room usually will end it's life. If a merchant has ammunition stores on deck, hit him at those! Makes for a nice flameball.

[Sledgehammer427]

Japanese DD captains usually followed the torpedo tracks, which is usually why you want to get in as close as possible before you fire.

1.) I believe they can
3.) it depends on the plane, and your location. Close to japan, you will see a lot more air traffic IIRC
4.) depends on the harbor methinks, since American sub commanders would prefer not to risk themselves by bottoming out in a shallow harbor, they would hang out outside them, using the slow torpedo setting. but that's not the point:haha: to answer your question, I think large naval bases have a change in traffic, but typically I think it remains a constant for some of the smaller harbors
5.) no, definitely not, one such torpedo destroyed Dick O'Kane's Tang, and she went straight for bottom.
6.) another why American sub skippers stayed out of harbors. your best bet is to hang behind it and see if you can snap your shots from there, and If you can't, there is probably an entrance somewhere

[Armistead]

If you're playing stock planes tend to show up about anywhere.

If you have a mod likd TMO or RFB, plane traffic is more realistic. TMO gives you a map and shows where air bases are and a circle range of how far they can go..depending on the year.

In real life one torp would usually sink a sub. No one knows what happened to Wahoo, but some evidence shows it could have got hit by a circle runner and was sunk trying to make it home. There are other reports of subs hit by circle runners and making it home...but only two that I know of.

In the game, due to damage zones you usually can live if a torp hits. I've been hit by several and don't recall dying, but damage is so heavy you're headed home.

Different escorts carry certain numbers of charges, but you can easily outlast them. You can also shoot and blow the charge racks up with AA fire. I was forced to surface due to damage and a DD was near. I shot his rack off, dived again...least he couldn't drop charges on me....

With mods like TMO, RSRD, you can run into some mean DD's. Some have 6 Y guns and double roll offs. They can dump 20 charges per run in a wide spread.....so ID and learn what ships are mean and stay away if you can.

Sub nets don't do a lot of damage unless you try to force yourself over one. You can get stuck and takes forever to get off and start taking severe damage.