Looking for some hunting tips....

[sixcoins]

Was hoping an experienced player might be able to provide a hunting tip or 2. I have gone full stupid, and shut off contact updates.

I finished my first patrol, with no contacts... here is how I did it.

I went to the grid, inside the northeast corner.... roughly 60 Kilometers due southwest. I drew a compass range of 30KM, then listened manually. After that, I waited 30 minutes. (at about 20 meters, by the way.) I asked the sonar operator to have a listen. No contacts.

I surfaced, then moved 60 kilometers to the south. Did the same procedure. Dive to 20 meters, stopped the screws, had a listen, then had my hydro guy listen.

Then I went 60 Kiometers west... and so on and so forth.

I found nothing. However, it was fun covering the whole area in a nice controlled pattern like that.

Incidentally... I have NEVER found a ship in my patrol area. But that's neither here nor there.

So now I intend to go towards the East Coast of GB...

As far as I can imagine, it's a turkey shoot from here on.

Where do I go? How far from the coast? Just keep moving 60 kilometers til I run out of fuel?

I'm at a loss on the 'proper' way to hunt for new quarry, so I'm open to any and all tips.

Thanks in advance.

[sublynx]

A thought or two on this:

1. Somebody once made a statistical test on what is the most efficient search pattern in SH3. If the typical movement of the enemy is east - west, west - east, the grid should be searched with in the same direction. Run from east to west, then head south or north a bit, then run back. The speed should be faster than a single merchant's typical speed. If you go 5 knots you will never catch up on any targets, if you run at 8 knots you might catch those that run at 6 or 7 knots. (However historically the U-boats usually saved fuel and typically moved very slowly in their patrol grids, AFAIK)
2. Regular hydrophone dives help, but depending on the grid there might not be much to find
3. Higher time compression might make you jump right over a contact and not get a report. I usually use 128. However if you are feeling bored you might go to 512 or 1024 - if there is ship near you, there might be a glitch in the running of time, your boat's movement on the navigation map will seem to slow down a bit, the clock seems to slow it's running for awhile. If you take time compression off immediately after a glitch and dive for a hydrophone check you might hear a contact.
4. Higher experience crewmen might spot more targets. I hope someone can confirm this

I no longer think it's a big problem if I don't get contacts. Usually that only means that I'm saving my torpedoes for the best part of SH3 - convoy battles. I usually patrol my grid with a TC of 128 and I feel that I always get a contact report if a convoy gets near me. I think that the game engine almost always gives convoys away with a nice contact report. I think I get at least 90 percent of my convoy contacts from the radio.

[flag4]

...it really is a case of patience.....and a little luck, but patience and what you have described sublynx :up:

[RConch]

Practice. To get really good, it takes time. With the super mods, it is no arcade game.

[Pisces]

Sixcoins, that was a good start. Now, do more of it. ;)

:Kaleun_Yawn:

Yup, in all your boredom, don't neglect watching the map closely for (radio) contact reports. They are the most frequent in open water. Hydrophone detection area is still a speck in the North Sea.

If you want to preserve fuel but still need to go somewhere, set speed to 8 knots. That gets you the furthest. (in a Type7) Creeping along, or fast only burns up fuel more quickly. But you may find in the end of your return home that you have ample of it. So feel free to use it anyhow. Type 2 is another matter in this.

Keep TC in 3 digits, or speeding it up to prevent boredom will be counter-productive.

Since you need room to dive in case of air-attack, do not go near land at all.

(Looks around ... in before Jimbuna: )

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!!!! :arrgh!:

[sixcoins]

Thanks everyone!

[Shkval]

Well I do sound checks every 30 km in a zigzag course, while sailing toward assigned grid, when I'm there I cover the grid with sound checks as often as possible... second favorite tactic is sitting in "narrow" passages between land masses like Gibraltar or passages between Ireland and GB, and listening for contacts...

[Sailor Steve]

I never do sound checks unless the weather is bad and I can't see 20 km on the surface.

[Shkval]

I never do sound checks unless the weather is bad and I can't see 20 km on the surface.
Well I do... it proved to be a good method as early warning against incoming destroyers and my watch crew aren't the most reliable guys in the world... (few times they "noticed" 10 000 tons tanker at 2.5 km in clear weather :nope:) I do have 20 km atmosphere mod and with hydrophone it's 13 km+ for detection and intercepting... :03:... just trying to convert hydrophone into radar :D

[desertstriker]

depends sometimes i just sit in the middle of my grid engines off listening to my hydros myself unless my crew is super experienced. if you have unlimited fuel or batteries just keep patrolling untill you get something.

it just depends on patience sometimes

[sublynx]

One more thing needs to reminded of. The grid is the most important thing. If you stay parked in Bristol Channel I guarantee you will be out of ammunition in a few days. Tour the Arctic sea and you probably won't see much action.

I tend to stay in my assigned grid for two reasons:

1. I like history and to me some of the fun of playing SH3 comes from trying to get some feeling of what sort of things the commander of submarine would have thought of. A Kaleun changing his patrol grid without an order or an order giving him free movement would probably have been an ex-Kaleun when returning to port.
2. At least once I would like to make it to the end of the war. Every quiet day is one day out of danger, one day closer to peace, one day closer to better decoys and one day closer to snorkel which I have never yet had.

[desertstriker]

One more thing needs to reminded of. The grid is the most important thing. If you stay parked in Bristol Channel I guarantee you will be out of ammunition in a few days. Tour the Arctic sea and you probably won't see much action.

I tend to stay in my assigned grid for two reasons:

1. I like history and to me some of the fun of playing SH3 comes from trying to get some feeling of what sort of things the commander of submarine would have thought of. A Kaleun changing his patrol grid without an order or an order giving him free movement would probably have been an ex-Kaleun when returning to port.
2. At least once I would like to make it to the end of the war. Every quiet day is one day out of danger, one day closer to peace, one day closer to better decoys and one day closer to snorkel which I have never yet had.
good point i do a manual RTB though so if i divert and spend 24 hours in a grid i know brings good hunting it is still accuerate. you also forget 1 thing that the captains had some free reign sometimes they would patrol somewhere else and if they brought in a good ammount of tonnage the kaleun would be rewarded. also in GWX you may get the message if you havent sunk anything to continue patrols in suspected areas of shipping or something along that line that (i cant remember i just report in for the accuracy of it don't even look at the responses anymore) so that could be interperted as do as you wish just return alive.

sorry just my thoughts

[sublynx]

good point i do a manual RTB though so if i divert and spend 24 hours in a grid i know brings good hunting it is still accuerate. you also forget 1 thing that the captains had some free reign sometimes they would patrol somewhere else and if they brought in a good ammount of tonnage the kaleun would be rewarded. also in GWX you may get the message if you havent sunk anything to continue patrols in suspected areas of shipping or something along that line that (i cant remember i just report in for the accuracy of it don't even look at the responses anymore) so that could be interperted as do as you wish just return alive.

sorry just my thoughts

You're right on the freedom to act. BdU wanted ships to be sunk and at times gave orders that made it possible to move about freely. However at other times the boat was a part of a search line of U-boats and then leaving one's grid would left holes in the line. That's why I sometimes take freedoms on my movement and sometimes not, even when the grid is boring.

[Sailor Steve]

1. I like history and to me some of the fun of playing SH3 comes from trying to get some feeling of what sort of things the commander of submarine would have thought of. A Kaleun changing his patrol grid without an order or an order giving him free movement would probably have been an ex-Kaleun when returning to port.
:yep:

I once posted a patrol report in which I complained about the lack of traffic in my area, getting reports of lots of sinkings but none for me. Another member replied telling me where his favorite areas were in the game. He didn't get it.

2. At least once I would like to make it to the end of the war. Every quiet day is one day out of danger, one day closer to peace, one day closer to better decoys and one day closer to snorkel which I have never yet had.
I never will. I use Commander's 'Realistic Career Length', so my captains get retired fairly regularly. I then start a new career at the same date.

You're right on the freedom to act. BdU wanted ships to be sunk and at times gave orders that made it possible to move about freely. However at other times the boat was a part of a search line of U-boats and then leaving one's grid would left holes in the line. That's why I sometimes take freedoms on my movement and sometimes not, even when the grid is boring.
I always keep a six-sided die handy. After a week of no contacts I imagine asking BdU for instructions. If I roll a 1 I move to an adjacent grid, selected with the die. After two weeks I'll move on a roll of 1 or 2, and so on. Sometimes I'll sit in the same grid for the entire patrol and sometimes I move around fairly regularly.