Ressupply Ship Question

[reignofdeath]

Alrighty Kaulens, here goes;
Im in my second patrol and I am now using realistic O2, CO2, Batt. and Fuel, I was ordered to patrol AM41 from Wilhelmshaven and ended up chasing 2 merchants and wasting alot of fuel, now I am within range of Belchen and it is supposed to be in the area (by greenland) at this time date.

So first, are the supply ships EXACTLY on the dot where they should be at? or am I going to have to search for her?? (I hope its close to there because once I reach that spot Im only going to have about 300-400km worth of fuel left :o

Second, I assume docking is the same as a in port??

and third are the number of days spent docked changed or anything??

thanks guys :yeah: Cant really fudge this up or Im stuck in the atlantic with no fuel :(

[frau kaleun]

To make use of a resupply ship, you sail "home" to her just like you would your home base. Basically the same rules apply. The game will consider it the end of your current patrol, and when you leave her it will be the beginning of your next one.

I know that the ships that are docked in neutral ports are very easy to find - they are docked, so they're right where the dot on the map says they are, not sailing around so that you have to search for them. If you sail into the port and go up on the bridge and start using the UZO to "ID" all the ships in the harbor (provided you've not gone to all manual targeting, which I assume removes the ID info from your notepad) you will be able to pick her out that way. Or you can get plenty close by zooming in on the NavMap and just sailing right up to her.

You don't have to manually pull your boat up alongside (but you can if you want), you just have to get within the same distance from her location as you would the "dot" that represents your home base when you're docking there. Once you're that close you do the same thing you would do when returning home - hit Esc, select Exit Patrol, and then "Dock at [name of ship]."

The game will show you as having ended your current patrol there. Then you'll start your next patrol from the same location.

If you are using SH3 Commander, it will automatically start the next patrol 1 day later. I don't know if the game by itself does that or if it follows the same "rules" it uses for time spent in your home base between patrols. I suspect it follows the normal unmodded rules, otherwise Commander wouldn't be set up to compensate for it. Either way, though, the game will automatically add extra time in between patrols for any hull damage you've taken. That can be manually edited out of your career files in between patrols if it's a big deal to you, otherwise, don't worry about it. Unless you're trying to keep ultra-realistic patrol logs when it comes to such things, it's not really a gamebreaker. :DL

The ships that are not docked in some port may be sailing around the general area, or may be at anchor in the designated spot - I really don't know! But I wouldn't think they'd be too hard to find. I expect if you get as close as possible to the dot where they're supposed to be they'd come into visual range (or at least hydrophone range) sooner or later.

Also, be aware that you will not have the same "between patrol" options at a resupply ship that you have at home base. You get food and ammo and hull integrity is restored (and other damage repaired), but you can't upgrade equipment or choose a different torpedo loadout. You'll just have to take what they've got to give you. And obviously you won't be able to dismiss/recruit crewmen, stuff like that.

[reignofdeath]

Wait so you can run out of food and die?? I only ask because you said they give you food ??

And the ammo part re assures me because I had wasted about 6 torps on a 10k ton ship (she had beat me to the punch so I had to chase her at 14 knots while she was going 10 and right when I got in what I thought was enough range, Id fire, 4 torps never made it :P) but it was an interesting kill none the less, the other ship Id sunk I thought it was night but it wasnt so I was surfaced and she saw me and I tried with about 4 torps and nada :nope: so I just chased her with the deck gun for about 100km and a few hours. that was interesting. She would not go down!! But 6 days in patrol and now I have 14k tons in my 2nd :rock: that makes a total of around 34,000GRT for my career not bad for 2 or so months

[desirableroasted]

ended up chasing 2 merchants and wasting alot of fuel,

Put that in your N00b manual: don't go tearing around the ocean at flank speed.

In a VIIB/C you have 32,000 km of range...no reason to run out of gas. Torps, yes. Diesel... that's realllly hard to run out of.

[frau kaleun]

Wait so you can run out of food and die?? I only ask because you said they give you food ??

Okay, ignore that part. :doh:

I forgot I'm using a mod that fills much of the available space inside my boat with graphical renditions of sausages and loaves of bread. :O:

The food gradually disappears while I'm on patrol, and starting a new one fills the boat up again. I've gotten so used to it that I forgot it's just eye candy. So no, you can't run out of food and die, my bad. :oops:


And the ammo part re assures me because I had wasted about 6 torps on a 10k ton ship (she had beat me to the punch so I had to chase her at 14 knots while she was going 10 and right when I got in what I thought was enough range, Id fire, 4 torps never made it :P) but it was an interesting kill none the less, the other ship Id sunk I thought it was night but it wasnt so I was surfaced and she saw me and I tried with about 4 torps and nada :nope: so I just chased her with the deck gun for about 100km and a few hours. that was interesting. She would not go down!! But 6 days in patrol and now I have 14k tons in my 2nd :rock: that makes a total of around 34,000GRT for my career not bad for 2 or so months

The game is actually very generous in this respect - if you dock at a resupply ship, you get another full loadout of eels. It works this way IIRC because the resupply vessels had to be modded in like additional bases, and there was no way to distinguish between them and an actual base in this respect by setting up an alternate loadout scheme just for them. So you get the same full loadoat there that you would at home.

In RL this didn't happen - resupply ships didn't have enough spare eels on hand to fully re-arm every u-boat that came calling. One or two was probably all they could provide.

[reignofdeath]

Uhh why does it say my VIIB has 6,500 km max range in game then?? and I know it was a no no but I planned on hitting the supply ship on the way and he was heading in that direction so I figured why not chase her. I was a bit more. lenient since I was going to get re supplied anyways

[reignofdeath]

Okay, ignore that part. :doh:

I forgot I'm using a mod that fills much of the available space inside my boat with graphical renditions of sausages and loaves of bread. :O:

The food gradually disappears while I'm on patrol, and starting a new one fills the boat up again. I've gotten so used to it that I forgot it's just eye candy. So no, you can't run out of food and die, my bad. :oops:




The game is actually very generous in this respect - if you dock at a resupply ship, you get another full loadout of eels. It works this way IIRC because the resupply vessels had to be modded in like additional bases, and there was no way to distinguish between them and an actual base in this respect by setting up an alternate loadout scheme just for them. So you get the same full loadoat there that you would at home.

In RL this didn't happen - resupply ships didn't have enough spare eels on hand to fully re-arm every u-boat that came calling. One or two was probably all they could provide.


haha GWX does that too for me lol :P and understandable but I plan on heading back to port after the resupply ship because I might try and be realistic (and use only two eels) and Id like some juuust incase I get in a hairy encounter and need them. Or I may just use what the game allows and try and drop 10 ships to Davy Jones :up: Im not sure yet.

[frau kaleun]

Put that in your N00b manual: don't go tearing around the ocean at flank speed.

In a VIIB/C you have 32,000 km of range...no reason to run out of gas. Torps, yes. Diesel... that's realllly hard to run out of.

It's also not the best thing for your engines. I don't know if the game or GWX models the extra risk you run of engine damage when going ahead flank for extended periods of time, but in RL I understand this was a big no-no. Only to be used in emergencies and/or for short periods of time.

FWIW, Casey, the most fuel efficient speed for a Type VII seems to be right around 8 knots. You can order this speed by setting the engine telegraph at the second lowest setting (one third ahead? can't remember what it reads in German offhand) and then clicking the dot below it to switch it to the knot-meter, and selecting 8 knots.

You can also get a good idea of how running at different speeds affects your fuel efficiency by selecting a speed and, when the engines have responded accordingly, asking the navigator for your range at current speed. You will find that the numbers vary widely and you'll also see very quickly which speed will get you the most distance for your available fuel. (Going slower than the "optimum" speed is no better than going faster in this respect.)

[frau kaleun]

Uhh why does it say my VIIB has 6,500 km max range in game then?? and I know it was a no no but I planned on hitting the supply ship on the way and he was heading in that direction so I figured why not chase her. I was a bit more. lenient since I was going to get re supplied anyways

As noted above, you need to run at the optimum speed for fuel efficiency to get the most range for your available fuel.

When you ask the navigator for your maximum range, he is giving you the maximum range at your current speed. If you are not running at 7-8 knots, the number will be smaller and smaller depending on how much slower or faster than that you are going at the moment.

Try the thing I mentioned about running at different speeds and asking for maximum range at all of them. You will see that running at the optimum speed for most of your patrol will give you way more range than setting your speed for ahead standard or above and just leaving it there (or just plodding along at ahead slow, for that matter). Yes you can go faster if necessary for evasive maneuvers or to catch up with or outflank a target and get in good position - but you do that only when you need to, and only for targets that you have a decent shot at without endangering your fuel reserves.

[Sailor Steve]

If you are using SH3 Commander, it will automatically start the next patrol 1 day later. I don't know if the game by itself does that or if it follows the same "rules" it uses for time spent in your home base between patrols. I suspect it follows the normal unmodded rules, otherwise Commander wouldn't be set up to compensate for it.
The stock game doesn't have any resupply ships at all. Docking at any base will, as you thought, automatically default to 28 days (or whatever you have it set for if you changed it in the files). Commander does go to 1 day, which is cool, but too bad they couldn't make it not repair damage at a supply ship at all.

[reignofdeath]

Danke Frau Kaleun :yeah: and Sailor Steve.

[frau kaleun]

haha GWX does that too for me lol :P and understandable but I plan on heading back to port after the resupply ship because I might try and be realistic (and use only two eels) and Id like some juuust incase I get in a hairy encounter and need them. Or I may just use what the game allows and try and drop 10 ships to Davy Jones :up: Im not sure yet.

I've done it both ways. Once I was having great luck with the convoys out of West Africa, and after resupplying, I said what the heck and headed back there and just pretended that by some miracle the Corrientes had managed to replenish my ammo in full.

The next time I was down that way I hit another convoy and got caught out by an escort after catching up with them again and trying to get a submerged kill shot in broad daylight (and calm seas) on the one ship I'd hit that had managed to stay afloat and keep up with the pack. We survived but lost both 'scopes, the radio and hydrophones, and ended up with one dead battery and around 60% hull integrity. We limped into Vigo to refuel, which we did need to do - but of course all our damage was magically repaired and our tubes filled with eels again during our one day stay.

It just wouldn't have felt right to go back out for another extended hunt after all the damage we'd taken, as though we were good as new. So I set a course for home and pretended we had one eel to get us there. We took out one target of opportunity on the way, but only because it was sailing directly across our path and we intercepted at night in bad enough weather that it never saw us coming. I was even pretending that we didn't dare dive except as a last, desperate evasive maneuver if all else failed. So we steered well clear of any potential hot spots. All I wanted to do was get home!

[frau kaleun]

The stock game doesn't have any resupply ships at all. Docking at any base will, as you thought, automatically default to 28 days (or whatever you have it set for if you changed it in the files). Commander does go to 1 day, which is cool, but too bad they couldn't make it not repair damage at a supply ship at all.

Yep, that's kinda what I figured. Just another reason to love Commander. The game still adds the extra days for hull damage, but as noted above this can be edited out if it's bothersome to have a long stay at a resupply ship in the logs.