Patrol contacts?

[nutworld]

Greetings fellow captains.

Having gotten back in to SH3 over the past few months, I am in progress of my first war patrol in 1939.

We have been to sea for 16 days and have sunk one ship and have only had 3 other contacts thus far during our patrol.

I understand that this simulation isn't designed to be like "shooting fish in a barrel" , but having never had a war patrol before one. Is this (for lack of a better term) "normal" ??

Every 40 KM or so I been submerging my boat to try and acquire contacts using my hydrophones. In my radio room are my radioman qualified Matrosengefreiter and radio qualified Stabsbootsmann. I during my submerged periods I usually pull a "crazy ivan" and do a full circle with my boat to try and detect contacts that might have crept into my hydrophone range.

For those of you that are experienced and have completed many more war patrols than I have, is this a good tactic to follow or really a waste of time?

Thanks in advance and good hunting to you all.

[Von Due]

Coming back to SH3 myself after too many years and not knowing if you have the shipping lane map ingame or nearby. Could very well be you are off any high traffic area. In 1939, IIRC, due west of the south western tip of Ireland (SE corner of grid AL), is an intersection area of both single merchants inbound from the US and convoys coming up from the south. Off the entire western coast of Ireland is also a high density area.

Good hunting!

[nutworld]

Coming back to SH3 myself after too many years and not knowing if you have the shipping lane map ingame or nearby. Could very well be you are off any high traffic area. In 1939, IIRC, due west of the south western tip of Ireland (SE corner of grid AL), is an intersection area of both single merchants inbound from the US and convoys coming up from the south. Off the entire western coast of Ireland is also a high density area.

Good hunting!

Von Due, yes I have that map and I purposly chose to patrol the NW sections of the "BF's" area because it looked like there would be the potential for more contacts there.

During a previous patol I spotted lots of contacts in the Irish Sea so on my way back to Wilhelmshaven my patrol course was going to take me thru that particular area in hopes of adding to any tonnage I was able to sink in my patrol grid.

I was just concerned that my "qualified" sonar crew were missing contacts that were in BF 16, that I wasn't hearing. I know that the hydrophone range is more than double the visual contact range, but I have to admit to being a tad discouraged because of this "lack" of contacts.

[marioh99]

I usually stay submerged during the day, surface at night and stay surfaced until my batteries are 100%, then submerge until a couple hours before sunrise at which point I surface to get batteries to 100%, then submerge for my daytime submerged hunt. I usually plot a zig-zag course through the heavy traffic areas, and in the time of the war that you're at, it usually involves the eastern area off England (until the area is mined, which occurs in the GWX3 mod) then going thru the passage north of scapa flow, then back down thru the heavy shipping areas to the west of England/Ireland. There will be times where you won't run into any contacts for a few days, that's fairly normal.

[sublynx]

My last patrol in January 1940 was in grid AL38. I didn't sink one ship in that grid and I patrolled it for something like 20 - 25 days. However in the grid south of my patrol grid, I sunk four ships. I think you're just patrolling a quiet grid.

[nutworld]

I think you're just patrolling a quiet grid.

You are probably correct sublynx. These things happen. I'm gonna patrol around for a few more days, and see what happens.

Then it's the return course through the Irish Sea, to see what I can stumble across.

I just finished my confrontation with the warship patrolling in my grid area. 200+ Km out to sea was an ASW Trawler all on his own. That far out, alone? Seriously??

2 fish expended trying to get him. One bounced off the hull, the other missed. We parted ways as amicably as possible.

His "ears" must not be all that good, but my crew did a great job under silent running to ease my escape.

[nutworld]

I usually stay submerged during the day, surface at night and stay surfaced until my batteries are 100%, then submerge until a couple hours before sunrise at which point I surface to get batteries to 100%, then submerge for my daytime submerged hunt. I usually plot a zig-zag course through the heavy traffic areas, and in the time of the war that you're at, it usually involves the eastern area off England (until the area is mined, which occurs in the GWX3 mod) then going thru the passage north of scapa flow, then back down thru the heavy shipping areas to the west of England/Ireland. There will be times where you won't run into any contacts for a few days, that's fairly normal.

thanks for the tips marioh!

My plan for my next patrol was to head off the east coast of jolly ole' England in the area's of BF 52 and 55. Do you have any suggestions other than the above, since that area is much shallower water, if I remember correctly? I did a pre-war patrol in that vicinity.

[marioh99]

thanks for the tips marioh!

My plan for my next patrol was to head off the east coast of jolly ole' England in the area's of BF 52 and 55. Do you have any suggestions other than the above, since that area is much shallower water, if I remember correctly? I did a pre-war patrol in that vicinity.


The AN area is indeed shallow water.
The AM area is much deeper water, particularly more away from the coast.

I usually don't just patrol 1 or 2 grid areas. I plot my course, similar to the following:
https://public.sn2.livefilestore.com/y1pfi6OPNrAGvPR3_qcSyznPu_-6zlDHTRMmhGQhVgfx1uoDFxTrie1KWduNJfeI31uylRbKLjLQE qLlySXAhqCFg/sh3_map.jpg?psid=1

The early part of the war, the vast majority of my kills are in the AN and AM grid areas.

If I make it to the end of my plotted course and still have eels left, I plot using the same basic method, except in reverse. Early war, most of my patrols last around a month, some as quick as 2-3 weeks, others as long as a couple of months. I usually don't even bother going to my patrol area assigned by the game.

[TwoGamers]

If you only submerge when your turning that helps but around this time of war theres a lot of traffic coming in near island so hang around thier a bit.

[Platapus]

Unfortunately, not seeing nutton is part of the submarine simulation experience.

It does stynk at times.

[Wreford-Brown]

Don't forget that hydrophone range is affected by the quality of the crewman you have manning the hydrophones. The first qualification I give is to the sonarmen to increase their detection range. If this is your first war patrol then you may miss things due to your 'inexperienced' crew.

[Pisces]

Make a circle on the map with radius 34km (max hydro range) and compare that to the KM grids. It's still a needle in the haystack that you can perceive. It's better than just relying on visual detection, but don't expect things to get much more busy than normal. The seas are still a boring place.

Personally I rely much more on contact report icons placed on the map. Convoys are reported in radiomessages, and the crew-message panel. But single units or small groups only appear silently on the map. So you'll have to keep an eye on it.

I also increased the range in which they are reported to me: SH3_gamefolder\data\cfg\contacts.cfg
Display Range To Opportunity Radio Contacts=750 ;[>0] kilometers
Display Range To Important Radio Contacts=750 ;[>0] kilometers Normally GWX has it on 250 km iirc. But I suspect the radio would be able to receive much further than that. And I want to make the decision of whether I am in range to intercept them, not BDU.

Aside from that, high time compression can make nearby units skip-jump over your 3d-bubble. Or jump really deep inside of it, with catastrophic results. (if it is a DD) Don't go full TC. Using it to prevent boredom might actually be counterproductive in this instance.

[RConch]

I accept crappy patrols because that is part of the realism. I run at 90% realism. If you research how many boats actually sank a ship on patrol, you will find it to be a very low percentage of the number of boats built and sent off. It is even less for those that sank more than 5 ships in their entire career.
Most boats were destroyed without even confronting a convoy or a single merchant by aircraft.

[nutworld]

Make a circle on the map with radius 34km (max hydro range) and compare that to the KM grids. It's still a needle in the haystack that you can perceive. It's better than just relying on visual detection, but don't expect things to get much more busy than normal. The seas are still a boring place.

Personally I rely much more on contact report icons placed on the map. Convoys are reported in radiomessages, and the crew-message panel. But single units or small groups only appear silently on the map. So you'll have to keep an eye on it.

I also increased the range in which they are reported to me: SH3_gamefolder\data\cfg\contacts.cfg
Display Range To Opportunity Radio Contacts=750 ;[>0] kilometers
Display Range To Important Radio Contacts=750 ;[>0] kilometers Normally GWX has it on 250 km iirc. But I suspect the radio would be able to receive much further than that. And I want to make the decision of whether I am in range to intercept them, not BDU.

Aside from that, high time compression can make nearby units skip-jump over your 3d-bubble. Or jump really deep inside of it, with catastrophic results. (if it is a DD) Don't go full TC. Using it to prevent boredom might actually be counterproductive in this instance.


I have never edited my cfg files, I have located them but don't know what program to use to edit....

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Wreford-Brown]

Make a circle on the map with radius 34km (max hydro range)...

This is great advice:up:

At the beginning of every patrol I run a hydrophone check by listening to one of the German ships around port and marking when I lose contact with it. This tells me what the maximum detection range of my hydrophones are with my current crew and allows me to draw a circle with x radius inside which I know I'll detect ships.

If I'm having a bad patrol I'll draw the circle, drop the eastern end of it on the Straits of Gibraltar and sit on the dot in the middle to wait for a convoy.

I have never edited my cfg files, I have located them but don't know what program to use to edit....

Thanks for the suggestion.

Try Notepad.

[nutworld]

Thanks eveyrone for the words of encouragement and helping to set my mind at ease that I'm not a complete moron for not finding the whole britsh fleet on this patrol.

As I stated earlier in this thread, I don't expect that it would be like shooting fish in a barrel, but using the SH III Convoy map and my two previous pre-war patrols where I did some pleasure sailing around the waters of England looking for where I might find targets on later patrols, I suspected BF 16 might be a decent place to start.

@ Rconch- Being a bit of a historian I suspected what you were saying was true and there were many subs who didn't have any success at all in sinking a lot of tonnage due to various things like time and the success of the allies by late in the war with new technology.

@ Wreford-Brown- Yes thanks to the advise of you and many others, I too give my first qualification to my radio room crew to increase their range. I have a Stabsbootsman with his qualification badge and 152 exp on my hydrophones and a qualified Matrosengefreiter with 2 exp on my radio in my radio room, just to increase the odds that I find a contact in these vast seas. Both crewmen have been with me on my previous 2 pre-war patrols, so hopefully this (now 23 days and counting ) patrol will aid them.

[Sailor Steve]

I too give my first qualification to my radio room crew to increase their range.
With SH3 Commander you can hand out all the quals you want in one move, as well as medals and badges. Before you start to think this might be unhistorical, I'll tell you (as a former radioman myself) that there is no such thing as an unqualified petty officer. Newly minted sailors may be randomly assigned (in the U.S. Navy we were trained and assigned to our future departments from the start), I'm not sure how the Kriegsmarine did it. By the time you were a third-class PO you were known by your qualification. All petty officers by nature are trained in their skill. The bottom line is that every PO on your boat should have that badge and the skills that go with it. SH3C lets you do that. :sunny:

[nutworld]

Before you start to think this might be unhistorical, I'll tell you (as a former radioman myself) that there is no such thing as an unqualified petty officer. Newly minted sailors may be randomly assigned (in the U.S. Navy we were trained and assigned to our future departments from the start), I'm not sure how the Kriegsmarine did it. By the time you were a third-class PO you were known by your qualification. All petty officers by nature are trained in their skill.

I use Commander to do any promotions/ Quals Steve. It's a great program.

And yes you are very true, once you became a PO in the Navy you'd BETTER know your stuff. If you didn't you weren't going very far, except in distance ON the boat, not up the ranks.

SH3 Ship's Serviceman, USS D. D. Eisehnower CVN-69; 1990-1994

[Sailor Steve]

SH3 Ship's Serviceman, USS D. D. Eisehnower CVN-69; 1990-1994
Cool. Radioman, USS Brinkley Bass (DD-887), 1969-1970.

[nutworld]

Cool. Radioman, USS Brinkley Bass (DD-887), 1969-1970.

Congrats shipmate! Kudos to you for your service. :rock:

[nutworld]

Ive seen too manyy "horror" stories when people start using TC, so being honest, the max TC I have used on this entire patrol is 64. Usually I have it on 16 or 32. It will take me longer to complete my patrol but I think being able to survive and not fall prey to a random act of stupidity, because I went "too far" using TC just makes sense to me.