patrol techniques

[hunter 64]

Just curious as to what others are doing, specifically when it comes to submerging to look for contacts. I'm running Wolves of Steel and typically run at time compression of +64 untill I see a brief stop on my clock. I'll then submerge and locate, then chase the contact. Not a bad method for casual play but I've noticed that you can burn a lot of fuel between contacts.
Are you submerging on a regular schedule to search?
Was there a historical pattern that U-boat captains used or did they simply cruise on the surface until they spotted a contact?

[Captain_AJ]

Check out some techniques that will allow you to use your hydrophone so you cant hunt without wasting fuel .. I recomend Stoiams Tutorilas or the bersters Post on the how toos

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=181538

[Mooncatt]

what happens if u run out of fuel?

[raymond6751]

what happens if u run out of fuel?

You die at sea!

[adrians69]

I tend to do a hydro sweep every 2 hrs on the odd hour (1, 3, 5pm etc.) This is because on the even hours is when your navigator does his fixes and if submerged can only do a DR fix instead of celestial.

Adrian

[BigWalleye]

Just curious as to what others are doing, specifically when it comes to submerging to look for contacts. I'm running Wolves of Steel and typically run at time compression of +64 untill I see a brief stop on my clock. I'll then submerge and locate, then chase the contact. Not a bad method for casual play but I've noticed that you can burn a lot of fuel between contacts.
Are you submerging on a regular schedule to search?
Was there a historical pattern that U-boat captains used or did they simply cruise on the surface until they spotted a contact?

AFAIK, the successful ones made regular dives for hydrophone search. Since hydrophone range is about 20 km, and at cruise (Standard) a Typ VII makes about 18 kph, a dive every 2 hours gives pretty good coverage. With SH5's automation capability, it's easy to set up "standing orders" to do a check dive every 2 hours without having to micromanage everything.

[raymond6751]

The map ruler measures in kilometers while the speed of the sub is in knots. For tracking the enemy and calculating distances, 1 km is approx 1/2 nautical mile.

So if the enemy course track is measured by ruler to be 150 km South of you, it is 75 nautical miles. At a speed of 10 you would be there in 7.5 hours.

[hunter 64]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm submerging every three hours now and the number of contacts has increased a "ton", Unfortunately the last contact had machine guns and shot the h#** out of me so it's an RTB and lesson learned but the next patrol s/b more productive, provided I concentrate on submerged attacks.