Deck gun or head for port?

[Raven Morpheus]

Hello

I'm in need of some tactical advice.

I'm on the "Happy Times" campaign and every merchant ship I come across appears to be armed, and their crew all seem to be dead eye shots.

On my latest patrol I've encountered a convoy of =>40 ships (Yay! Jackpot!).

It's dark, I'm out of torpedoes and there are about 4 escort destroyers hovering around the place.

I've tried using the deck gun on merchants before in this situation, when the merchants have been armed, and even at ranges of 2km I get my ass handed to me and end up in Davy Jones locker, and ordering the deck gun crew to aim at the weapons doesn't seem to help.

So, with previous experience in mind I'm wondering if it's worth me continuing to attack?

Should I just head straight for port to refit (thus losing this huge convoy), or is there some way I can get within deck gun range but not get shot to pieces (until the destroyers get alerted and get within range of course)?

Thanks.

[dottore]

If you're out of torpedoes don't think about a deck gun fight. At the first shot all destroyers will engage you and come to your position. From a safe distance give a contact report then go back to refit. Maybe an another sub close range will react.

[Trevally.]

If you're out of torpedoes don't think about a deck gun fight. At the first shot all destroyers will engage you and come to your position. From a safe distance give a contact report then go back to refit. Maybe an another sub close range will react.

:agree:


When TDW gives us his next mega patch - you may be able to report this convoy and BdU may them send more boats to attack (% chance).
If you then stick with the convoy until this happens - you can get campaign credit from AI u-boat kills.

:woot:

[dottore]

That will be nice. Looking forward to the next TDW patch. :salute:

[GT182]

As Dottore said... don't try a deck gun attack if there are escorts present. You'll be toast in no time.

If you encounter single armed merchants you can attack from a distance with the deck gun. But only do so head on... no boradside attack. They'll fire at you but from what I've encountered they aren't all that accurate. Aim for their guns and take them out, then you can press on and sink em. I've done this quite a few times with success. I've taken hits but repairs were made and no crew injured or killed.

[Raven Morpheus]

Thanks guys. I tried it yesterday after posting, managed to get 3 merchant ships ablaze before being sent down to Davy Jones so I think I'll do as said and head for port for a refit.

Real shame really because 40 ships would be just about my 200k ton quota for the mission and I've only sunk 8 of them. Guess I probably should have sent out a contact report first thing and waited for assistance.

Is there currently anyway of finding out if any U-boats are in the vicinity?

[oscar19681]

As Dottore said... don't try a deck gun attack if there are escorts present. You'll be toast in no time.

If you encounter single armed merchants you can attack from a distance with the deck gun. But only do so head on... no boradside attack. They'll fire at you but from what I've encountered they aren't all that accurate. Aim for their guns and take them out, then you can press on and sink em. I've done this quite a few times with success. I've taken hits but repairs were made and no crew injured or killed.

Crew members cannot be killed in sh-5

[GT182]

Crew members cannot be killed in sh-5

No as I see that now, but they can be injured. Once injured they're no good to you as you cannot give them orders. My Watchman on the conn is injured and I cannot man the deckgun. It seems the only way he can heal is by going back to your home port and docking. A Refit does nothing to heal him, and there's no medical officer that I can see or find on the boat to give him medical attention.

[TheDarkWraith]

No as I see that now, but they can be injured. Once injured they're no good to you as you cannot give them orders. My Watchman on the conn is injured and I cannot man the deckgun. It seems the only way he can heal is by going back to your home port and docking. A Refit does nothing to heal him, and there's no medical officer that I can see or find on the boat to give him medical attention.

They heal over time :yep: