When does a patrol end?

[jerm138]

Okay,
I'm still working on my first patrol, which is sort-of a training patrol for me to gain experience. In that, I mean I'm saving the game before attacks to learn from my mistakes and re-do them if I screw up, allowing myself to use outside cam to check my suspicions, etc. I've learned an enormous amount. I think I'm ready to do a full "real" patrol now.

I've sunk merchants in 3 different objective areas so far over the course of about a month. I'm down to only 4 aft torpedoes and no fwd ones. My deck gun is getting light too. Every time I complete an objective, I send a status report on the radio and I'm given another objective.

If I just don't send a report, then head home and dock, will that complete a patrol, or do I have to keep sending reports and wait until they tell me to return?

[VonHesse]

In a nutshell; your patrol is over whenever you want it to be. Stop sending status reports and head home.

Technically, you could do just one patrol for the entire war. The only time you will get orderd to return to base is when you drop below 10% of your fuel or torpedo load.

I personally like to patrol without refitting. Patrols for me generally last 30 to 40 days, accomplishing 2 or 3 objectives.

[ETR3(SS)]

What VonHesse said. Unlike what you and I may be used to, the CO can say when it's over and head for home. I generally don't use my deck gun at all. So when I run out of torpedoes I head home.

[HMCS]

I stay out until one (or all three) conditions are met:



Fuel enough to get me home with a couple of hundred miles range left in reserve.
No torpedoes left.
Two months at sea. While this isn't reflected in the game, I do it for role play/immersion because that was the realistic amount of time the men could handle before they started going squirrely and efficiency drops like a rock. I often make refuelling stops, but I cap it at 2 months.

[Col. Caldwell]

I personally like to patrol without refitting. Patrols for me generally last 30 to 40 days, accomplishing 2 or 3 objectives.

About the same amount of time I stay out on patrol. Though I usually refit about twice.

[Wilcke]

Right now I am shooting for about 65 days as I wring out RFB 2.0 and try to break it. We came out of Pearl and just stopped at Midway to top of the tanks. Toured Japan, down to Surabaya for more fuel and on back the way we came via Japan, Midway and Pearl.

[Armistead]

People would probably complain, but they should allow only one refit at most. Course when I first started playing stock I would refit over and over.

Probably be easy to mod, one refit, any refits after that fuel only.