Sonar range vs visual range

[Seefer]

When in patrol areas do most of you stay on the surface hoping for contacts or do you submerge to the appropriate depth for hydrophones to work?

I have the KBD 360 hydrophone upgrade installed and I believe it's range is 20 km for merchants and 100 km for larger convoys. How far can your watch crew see visually when running on the surface?

[kylania]

Render range is 40km, you'll never see/hear anything beyond that. Ships will pop into or out of existence when they pass that range.

Hydrophone range is generally around 30-35km for initial contact from what I've seen.

The starter hydrophone works on the surface and this means you'll have approximately 1000% more fun since you'll catch a lot more contacts. Once you upgrade your hydrophones, or use a mod like UHS which correctly stops surface hydrophone contacts, you'll be lucky to find a ship, ever. You'll have to spend the time ducking under the surface every 2 hours, hoping you're close enough to something to hear it. At first it's "realistic" and "fun", then it's "tedious" and "stupid". :O:

I usually end up meeting enough targets or a convoy on the way to a patrol zone so that I sometimes don't make it there at all. Otherwise I just poke around known shipping routes for targets.

[Seefer]

Render range is 40km, you'll never see/hear anything beyond that. Ships will pop into or out of existence when they pass that range.

Hydrophone range is generally around 30-35km for initial contact from what I've seen.

The starter hydrophone works on the surface and this means you'll have approximately 1000% more fun since you'll catch a lot more contacts. Once you upgrade your hydrophones, or use a mod like UHS which correctly stops surface hydrophone contacts, you'll be lucky to find a ship, ever. You'll have to spend the time ducking under the surface every 2 hours, hoping you're close enough to something to hear it. At first it's "realistic" and "fun", then it's "tedious" and "stupid". :O:

I usually end up meeting enough targets or a convoy on the way to a patrol zone so that I sometimes don't make it there at all. Otherwise I just poke around known shipping routes for targets.


I've just finished the British Coastal Waters and now on Blockade of Germany. Am I going to have a really horrible time with this damn KBD hydrophone then :)

I thought you had to be in range of a patrol point for a certain period for it to be completed. Are you saying that on the way, if you encounter some ships and sink them, they count towards patrol completion even if you're not near the patrol point?

[kylania]

I thought you had to be in range of a patrol point for a certain period for it to be completed. Are you saying that on the way, if you encounter some ships and sink them, they count towards patrol completion even if you're not near the patrol point?

In the campaign files patrol objectives are represented by a Map Zone. The ones early on near the east coast of England are around 70km in diameter and later in the Atlantic around 200-250km in diameter. There are triggers for these patrol objectives saying "If a ship is sunk in this map zone it counts".

So if you're in that map zone it'll count. :)

[Seefer]

In the campaign files patrol objectives are represented by a Map Zone. The ones early on near the east coast of England are around 70km in diameter and later in the Atlantic around 200-250km in diameter. There are triggers for these patrol objectives saying "If a ship is sunk in this map zone it counts".

So if you're in that map zone it'll count. :)

I got got message to relocate to another patrol point off the coast of Iceland after finding nothing either visually or via hydrophone at the first point. I have a horrible feeling I'm in for a depressingly tedious time with this KBD hydrophone :)

I'm also playing at 50% realism with unlimited fuel but limited Co2 and Batteries. Anyone out there playing with limited fuel? I get the impression limited fuel would be a real pain in the arse.

[kylania]

You usually have enough fuel to reach your patrol point, spend a good amount of time there and make it back to base OK. You'll want to have modded keys or buttons to Max Range at Current Speed and Range to Course End, so you can easily check if you have enough gas to get back home.

All of that is assuming that you're cruising at standard speed and not flank or full. You can also burn up a lot more fuel being decks awash a lot or by using high speeds during intercepts.

[robbo180265]

You usually have enough fuel to reach your patrol point, spend a good amount of time there and make it back to base OK. You'll want to have modded keys or buttons to Max Range at Current Speed and Range to Course End, so you can easily check if you have enough gas to get back home.

All of that is assuming that you're cruising at standard speed and not flank or full. You can also burn up a lot more fuel being decks awash a lot or by using high speeds during intercepts.

As I've said in a few other threads I've not played for a while. I was wondering, is decks awash doable now? As I recall there were issuse with the hatch - has that been sorted?

I'm gonna get the game going again tomorrow - can't resist it any longer lol

[Seefer]

Hmmm, sank a Merchant on my way to the 2nd patrol point and notice it doesn't count towards mission. Looking at the description I have to sink 5 AMC ships. Thanks to the obviously retarded policy to documentation, could someone tell me what the F AMC ships are :)

[Seefer]

As I've said in a few other threads I've not played for a while. I was wondering, is decks awash doable now? As I recall there were issuse with the hatch - has that been sorted?

I'm gonna get the game going again tomorrow - can't resist it any longer lol

What is decks awash? I'm keen to learn all tricks in the absence of decent manuals to make sure I don't get frustrated and bin this game like I did SH4 around patch 2 also ;)

[kylania]

The ships you need spawn in Loch Ewe, and travel north from there.

Decks awash is when you're at 6-7m depth, so your decks are underwater. You're slower, but you also are harder to see. The hatch closes at 7m, so.. either try really hard to stay at 6, or if you need to dive rise up quickly, climb down, then crash dive.

[robbo180265]

What is decks awash? I'm keen to learn all tricks in the absence of decent manuals to make sure I don't get frustrated and bin this game like I did SH4 around patch 2 also ;)

Decks awash is when a sub runs with it's decks underwater. This leaves only the conning tower above the sea line and obviously makes it harder to see.

In Sh3 my weapon of choice is the Mk IX B Uboat which has a slow diving time - I tend to run decks awash if I'm in an area where I might be attacked by aircraft, as I'm half underwater anyway it alows me to dive quicker. It's also useful if sneaking into harbours.

[Seefer]

Render range is 40km, you'll never see/hear anything beyond that. Ships will pop into or out of existence when they pass that range.

Hydrophone range is generally around 30-35km for initial contact from what I've seen.

The starter hydrophone works on the surface and this means you'll have approximately 1000% more fun since you'll catch a lot more contacts. Once you upgrade your hydrophones, or use a mod like UHS which correctly stops surface hydrophone contacts, you'll be lucky to find a ship, ever. You'll have to spend the time ducking under the surface every 2 hours, hoping you're close enough to something to hear it. At first it's "realistic" and "fun", then it's "tedious" and "stupid". :O:

I usually end up meeting enough targets or a convoy on the way to a patrol zone so that I sometimes don't make it there at all. Otherwise I just poke around known shipping routes for targets.

I just noticed your stipulation that I may have to duck under the water every 2 hours to make use of the hydrophone. 2 hours is a specific figure to quote and is likely a subtelty of the mechanics of a submarine that I'm not aware of, why the 2 hour figure and how do you come to that figure?

[Seefer]

Decks awash is when a sub runs with it's decks underwater. This leaves only the conning tower above the sea line and obviously makes it harder to see.

In Sh3 my weapon of choice is the Mk IX B Uboat which has a slow diving time - I tend to run decks awash if I'm in an area where I might be attacked by aircraft, as I'm half underwater anyway it alows me to dive quicker. It's also useful if sneaking into harbours.

Hmmm, how deep do I need to be for my KBD hydrophone to be functioning?

I really should also try and get a hold of SH3 to see what I missed out on during that era :)

[robbo180265]

I just noticed your stipulation that I may have to duck under the water every 2 hours to make use of the hydrophone. 2 hours is a specific figure to quote and is likely a subtelty of the mechanics of a submarine that I'm not aware of, why the 2 hour figure and how do you come to that figure?

There's no real rule to this , it's up to the captain to decide when to check. I normally do it around the 2 hour mark too, but there's nothing to stop you doing it whenever you want.

[Seefer]

I'm confused about these patrol point missions in Blockage of Germany. I've been sent to one patrol point after not finding anything at the first and after not finding anything at the second I've now got a message to go back to the first area.

All I'm seeing in these areas are Merchant radio contacts. I've already sunk a Merchant and it apparently doesn't count towards anything. What the hell are AMC ships and do I need to sink AMC ships in these patrol areas to complete the patrol before moving on to the other mission area to find and sink a carrier?

[kylania]

Yeah, 2 hours is just totally random really. It's enough time make some progress but not too long to feel like I missed something.

Btw, I always disliked the IX boats. TOO BIG! :) Give me the sleek and sexy VIIs any day.

[gumbie]

I What the hell are AMC ships and do I need to sink AMC ships in these patrol areas to complete the patrol before moving on to the other mission area to find and sink a carrier?

Armed Merchant Cruiser, I found one earlier, but it wasn't easy.

Couldn't find any aircraft carriers either so i went to Plymouth and sunk one there, it didn't count :)

[robbo180265]

Btw, I always disliked the IX boats. TOO BIG! :) Give me the sleek and sexy VIIs any day.

I hear ya - the VII's are much more manoeuvrable - the IX's carry so much more fuel and ammo though:03:

[robbo180265]

I'm confused about these patrol point missions in Blockage of Germany. I've been sent to one patrol point after not finding anything at the first and after not finding anything at the second I've now got a message to go back to the first area.

All I'm seeing in these areas are Merchant radio contacts. I've already sunk a Merchant and it apparently doesn't count towards anything. What the hell are AMC ships and do I need to sink AMC ships in these patrol areas to complete the patrol before moving on to the other mission area to find and sink a carrier?

The AMC's show up as warships on the hydrophone , but look like passenger liners when you eyeball them.

I believe they spawn around the Loch Ewe area and head up to Iceland.

[jwilliams]

I found my hydrophone can pick up single merchants at 40 km.... ( i have to use it myself as my hydrophone operator is useless and says "No contacts". But i can hear a very faint noise).
I found the the visual range (depending on weather and if its day or night) is at best 7 - 10 km.

The way i play the game:-

Set engine speed to ahead slow, until out of sub pen.
Set speed to ahead standard and use rudder to steer.
Steer boat out to sea. until i cant see any other ships. i keep time compression at x1 for this.

Set speed to Ahead full and then I go to map and set coarse to my mission objective, set time compression to x256. And ocasionaly i'll set time compression to x1, then dive to 20 meters to make a hydrophone sweep. I do this where i think i might find ships (eg. Polish ships in the Baltic Sea (Ost see)). Then surface and advance time compression to x256 again.

When i get to my mission objective I'll set up a search pattern and use time compression max of x64. and every 1hrs ill set TC to x1 and dive to 20 meters to listen with hydrophone.

Once i find a target with hydropnones, ill then use time compression no higher than x32 and take reading every 15mins to plot its corse and speed etc.

When im in possion to fire torps, ill keep time compression at x1, until im away from any ASW ships

I play at 100% realism and found this to be the best method (I like playing this way).

Good Hunting :salute:

[commandosolo2009]

In the campaign files patrol objectives are represented by a Map Zone. The ones early on near the east coast of England are around 70km in diameter and later in the Atlantic around 200-250km in diameter. There are triggers for these patrol objectives saying "If a ship is sunk in this map zone it counts".

So if you're in that map zone it'll count. :)
provided that shes merchant ship. DD/DE dont count..:nope:

[gumbie]

Set speed to Ahead full and then I go to map and set coarse to my mission objective, set time compression to x256.
I play at 100% realism and found this to be the best method (I like playing this way).


Don't you run out of fuel?

[kylania]

provided that shes merchant ship. DD/DE dont count..:nope:

You're in a u-boat. You're not supposed to sink warships, you're supposed to evade them. :DL

[Seefer]

Armed Merchant Cruiser, I found one earlier, but it wasn't easy.

Couldn't find any aircraft carriers either so i went to Plymouth and sunk one there, it didn't count :)

Ah I see. That explains all that tracer fire I saw from a large merchant ship when I surfaced to finish it off with my deck gun. In the end I decided to manoeuvre myself aft of the ship to finish her off, that seemed to lessen the enemy fire coming at me.

Luckily, no one on my boat was injured :)

My Sonarman appears to be a waste of space. Despite having upgraded his passive abilities that improve detection almost to max, I very rarely get a contact reported by him. Can I not just get rid of him and turn his cubicle into a multimedia room with a 30-inch plasma TV, Playstation and Xbox360? That should keep the crew morale high all the time ;)

[Bleh]

provided that shes merchant ship. DD/DE dont count..:nope:

Yeah i found that out the hard way, although i really should have read my orders properly. It DID say to sink "Merchant" shipping :D

[jwilliams]

Don't you run out of fuel?

I'm only up to 11 september 1939, and my mission is British Coastal Waters, so fuel isnt an issue (fuel down to 80% when i reached my patrol zone). When i start patroling the atlantic, then fuel may become an issue, so a lower speed may be needed to conserve fuel.

[Der SchattenJager]

I'm concerned about my own watch crew's visual detection capabilities.

It seems like when I'm in time compression, ships aren't sighted until they're literally on top of me, usually somewhere around 7-8km. It's a pain in the butt because I don't have the time to get into a perfect firing position ahead of time and always seem to have to chase them down.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this normal? Is it because of time compression?

[Seefer]

I'm concerned about my own watch crew's visual detection capabilities.

It seems like when I'm in time compression, ships aren't sighted until they're literally on top of me, usually somewhere around 7-8km. It's a pain in the butt because I don't have the time to get into a perfect firing position ahead of time and always seem to have to chase them down.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this normal? Is it because of time compression?

I may be wrong but could this be due to the game not switching down to time compression 1 immediately upon visual contact? I suspect there's a slight delay that results in the contact being far closer than you'd want it to be once you've dropped out of TC.

[Der SchattenJager]

I may be wrong but could this be due to the game not switching down to time compression 1 immediately upon visual contact? I suspect there's a slight delay that results in the contact being far closer than you'd want it to be once you've dropped out of TC.

That's what I'm wondering. If that's the case, it kinda sucks because I'm not going to traverse the entire Atlantic at 32x. I don't have that kind of time. :DL

[kylania]

By default if you get a hydrophone contact you'll drop to 32x, if you visually spot something you'll drop to 8x or 1x.

The main thing with time compression is to not go above 1024x if you can help it. Anything faster and you will miss things since by the time you've detected something it's well past you.

[robbo180265]

I never hunt at anything over 128 , sometimes lower.

It's also worth bearing in mind that if you are travelling at high TC and visibility becomes bad (I.E. fog comes down) then the first thing you may know about it is when you die to a destroyer.