Hydrophone upgrade

[Gaz360GT]

Hi guys,

I have been playing silent hunter 3 for a couple of weeks now, the date is March 3rd 1940 and I have completed 6 patrols with 9 enemy ships sunk.
I started my career in a Type II-A which I swapped for a VII-B after my third patrol. I currently have the engine upgrade on the boat, I have been thinking of upgrading my hydrophone but have been reluctant to as the description states that it is quite prone to damage. What exactly does this upgrade do to the hydrophone? louder, longer range? and is it worth upgrading?
Thanks

[Jimbuna]

A bit of everything really....but no more important than having a qualified operator onboard.

[Weiss Pinguin]

As it only costs 300 renown, I'd say go ahead and get it, unless you're saving up for something big. I can't say that I've noticed a really big difference between the standard and upgraded hydrophones, but I figure that every little bit helps.

[Gaz360GT]

Thank guys, I think that I will buy it then.
I have just completed my 7th patrol and ran out of torpedoes (my hit % is quite low!!) I have external torps but my crew never seem to load them. Do they need an order to use them? I have tried many different things but the crew never want to load them. If I could have used the two external torps I could have carried on with the patrol, I had to head home as the sea was to rough to use the deck gun!

[Dissaray]

To get the external reserves to load you have to be on the surfus and drag and drop them from your ammo status screen, hit the I key to open that I think. Drag them to your internal reserve slots and the crew will start loading them into that section and from there to the tubes. It takes some time to get it all done so make sure you are in a place where you can stay up top for an extended period without alied mulestation.

[Pisces]

The value of the Kristalldrehbasisgerät (KDB) over the Gruppenhörchgerät (GHG) is that the KDB does not have a deaf-zone at the front. The GHG (the basic type of hydrophone) was basically a set of microphones build into outer-hull of the boat. It had little to no sensitivity to the front and rear( which also has the prop and engine noise there). The KDB just had the conningtower obstructing the sounds and ofcourse the engine and prop-noises to deal with. But it had free 'view' to the front. And was easier and more accurately to direct it's sensitivity compared to the electronic way of directing sensitivity with the GHG. Is it worth the renown? I don't know. The crew doesn't drop the signal as much as it did with the GHG.

[Gaz360GT]

Thanks for the help guys, thats two more torps I have to play with. I'm upgrading the hydrophone also as it gets very annoying when the sonar man loses a target! Thanks for the info.