Unlimited fuel and batteries that won't recharge?

[That's not my dog]

So, I loaded RFB 2.0, started a american career and headed for the coast of Japan. While on the long cruise there, my fuel gauge never moved. I do not have 100% realism but darn close. So, I made a mental note of that.
Next, I get close to the coast and prepare to do some harbor raiding. I go to periscope depth and sneak around. As expected, my battery level drops after a bit. After some cruising around, I surface and head out to sea to recharge my batteries. They recharged to 28/100 and then stopped recharging. I only ran at 1/3 speed and ordered the batteries to be recharged. The order was confirmed on the status box on the screen. So, I cranked up the time compression to 5000+ and my batteries would recharge. Due to me being a complete noob-bafoon and wanting to get killing I did not spend enough time in port to figure this out, clearly. So, what am I doing wrong?

Stuck off the enemy coast and out of beer......:down:

[kptn_kaiserhof]

check your settings

[Armistead]

I assume you know, but in campaign mode you must set you options in the office using the radio for them to take effect...radio on the left. My guess is you are using unlimited fuel.

As for batteries, I assume you had no damage? Maybe you got the icons confused and activated the one that stops the charging of batteries so all engines go online. It will remain that way until you change it. I think you just had charging cut off and all engines on. I say that because you said you ordered batteries to recharge. Batteries will recharge on their own with no orders once you surface., the only order you can give is to cut the battery charging off. If you click it again, you can bring charging back on, so play with that command until you see it charging.

[That's not my dog]

I am at work :wah: and unable to try your suggestions, ugh. I will try them first tomorrow. I was unaware of the settings in the office, I think. I will check on it.
As for the batteries, I remember clicking the button to recharge and waiting and nothing happened. I clicked it again and it went into standard mode, which is not what I want. I will try it again Sunday and hope for the best.
Thank you guys for the insight and advice.

[Armistead]

I'm not at the game, but I think standard mode is all engines on, meaning the batteries will not charge. I think the battery icon is the issue and you just need to try it. Try diving and coming back to the surface and leaving everything alone, just sit there and see if they charge.

The only other possibility is if your batteries got damaged, but you mentioned nothing about damage, so I assume that's not the problem.

Some info from the SHIV guide.


(http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6421019045/m/4351073726?r=4351073726#4351073726)
FUEL and BATTERIES

(Info contributed by dgrayson)

FUEL
There is nothing worse than running out of fuel before you reach your home port. Your career is in effect finished if you run out of diesel while out at sea. There are no tugs, you can't radio for help, there is no way to get home, period. US Fleet boats do not have oars or sails.

There are many factors affect fuel range. Each class of submarine has it's own set of built in range factors with the S Class having the shortest range. The following conditions affect the range of all classes. Some MODs make changes to the stock values, but the factors listed below are true for stock and most MODs.

1. Speed
a. The best fuel economy is found between 8 and 11 knots. In the stock game the ideal speed for maximum range is 10.95 knots. Mods alter this slightly so experiment a bit. Speeds above or below this speed increase fuel consumption.
b. Flank speed will result in the highest fuel consumption, so use it sparingly.
c. Slow speeds, below 8 knots, will also decrease your range. If you are low on fuel, heading home at 5 knots will use more fuel than 8 to 11 knots.
d. It is easier to set your speed with the knotmeter rather than the 1/3, 2/3 etc. Engine Telegraph. Click on the stem of the Engine Telegraph and it will change to the Knotmeter. See Picture below:

http://i26.tinypic.com/o0ylw9.jpg http://i25.tinypic.com/6fnw4l.jpg


2. Battery Charging
a. When you are charging your batteries, you are running one of your engines at Flank speed to charge them. (You do not really have four engines in the game, you only have two.) During this time your fuel economy drops dramatically. To conserve fuel do not travel using batteries unless you have to. Just submerge and sit there until it is safe to travel on the surface.
b. Battery charging is automatic and unless you manually turn off battery charging, every time you surface ( see picture below) the crew will run the charger until the batteries are charged to 100%.


http://i31.tinypic.com/148jh52.jpg


c. Damaged batteries will decrease your range by 2/3. See section 3. b.

3. Damage
a. Leaks. If your fuel tanks are damaged, head for home. Even if the crew "repairs"� the damage you will still lose some fuel and only a return to base will completely repair your boat. A refit will NOT fix a leaky fuel tank.
b. Battery Damage. Your crew can not completely repair damage to your batteries and they will stop accepting a charge at something less than 100%. If this happens and your batteries will not charge to 100%, but your crew will not turn off the battery charger without your intervention. Battery charging is automatic and unless you manually turn it off, every time you surface, it will continue to use diesel at a very fast rate. Do this if your batteries are not charging to 100% or you will never get back to your home port.

BATTERIES

As with diesel fuel, you range with your batteries is affected by speed. Use the knotmeter to set your underwater speed rather than the Engine Telegraph. Different boat classes have different underwater ranges and different lengths of time to recharge, but in general the following rules apply to all classes. The slower you go, the longer your batteries will last.
At 1 knot or less you will probably run out of air before your batteries completely discharge.
At 2 knots you will easily make it from sunrise to sunset and in some classes 24 hours.
At 3 knots, generally less than 12 hours.
At 4 knots 6 to 8 hours depending on your boat class.
Above 4 knots the batteries discharge fairly quickly.

[That's not my dog]

Will do, thanks again.

[KlassenT]

I've been familiar with that fuel guide for some time now, and it's helped me limp back to home port many a time, but one question has always remained unanswered for me... Do batteries have a constant 'maximum distance' regardless of which speed you travel at, essentially meaning you're always going to go the same distance and it's just a matter of how quickly or slowly you're going to get there? Or, instead, is it similar to running on diesels where the most economical distance relies on the speed at which you are travelling?

[magic452]

I've never checked it out but I assume that batteries would be very much like diesels, faster speed means more drag, etc. less range. Can't believe they didn't model this into the game.

Magic

[That's not my dog]

Greetings Armistead,

So I clicked on the radio in the briefing room and to my suprise, the unlimited fuel was in full force, what a dope I am! I got that fixed and I am sailing to the east coast of Japan as I type this. I followed that guide link as well, SUPER helpful. Thank you. I will post again with more questions, I am sure.....:D