Hunting Trouble

[Dr. Gonzo]

Been playing SH3 for about 6 months and I am encountering problems locating targets. I am running the straight up game with very few mods. I am in late 40 or early 41. I have no problems in and around England but I have switched to a type IX and I am on long patrols to freetown etc and I get to the assigned grid and nothing... for days...I hunt leaving the patrol grid and most often sneaking around underwater to listen and surface only to recharge and right back down again. Still nothing... :down: I end up heading back home and expending all torps there but would prefer to hunt in my patrol zone. As i say no issues around England and Gibralter but am I missing something? or are there any suggestions as to tactics that folks find successful.

[jasondef]

I'm still fairly new, only been playing a month. But I researched several threads when I started out on this very topic, and everyone seems to complain about this very same thing, they mostly say do your 24 hours in your assigned patrol zone, then go to the famous "hunting grounds" like around England and Gibraltar. I agree, seems kinda' week! The game should have better patrol zones or more interesting missions. Thank goodness for mods is all I can say about this.

[STEED]

9 times out of 10 you find 0% in the search grid :down:

[Inajira]

9 times out of 10 you find 0% in the search grid

Depends of course on how "hot" your patrol zone is, as far as shipping lanes go. Consult the map and any zones with shipping lanes can be reasonably expected to have contacts. If not then cruise around, wait, check hydrophones, wait, etc. Like the real subcommanders! Try to alternate between hydrophone listening at periscope depth and use of your watch crew while surfaced (the latter are much better than you at seeing contacts at night, by the way).

I often get contacts on or around my patrol zone provided the general area is reasonably busy. There is a particularly fruitful area through some B??? zones from Gibraltar north to Great Britain.

The game goes for a free roaming feel rather than specific event driven stuff, I for one enjoy it most of the time. If you're keen on more event-specific stuff, try some single missions.

[Dowly]

Week without action is nothing compared to the patrols they really did. Patience, my friends. :yep:

[Curval]

In my recent campaign I have had difficulty holding on to at least a couple of torpedos for my patrol zone as I encounter so many contact en-route.

Last night I was heading for a patrol zone and received a report of a large neutral convoy in the vicinity. I ignored it and kept going and then ran smack dab into the middle of it. It eneded up being a large mixed convoy. There were more British ships than neutral though...so, I went for the big boys. I took out 2 T2 tankers and 2 C3 cargos. I let the rest go by (largest enemy ships remaining were C2s) as I have already expended 6 torpedos on other contacts. I'm only off the coast of southern Ireland after leaving Lorient.

[Dowly]

In my recent campaign I have had difficulty holding on to at least a couple of torpedos for my patrol zone as I encounter so many contact en-route.

Last night I was heading for a patrol zone and received a report of a large neutral convoy in the vicinity. I ignored it and kept going and then ran smack dab into the middle of it. It eneded up being a large mixed convoy. There were more British ships than neutral though...so, I went for the big boys. I took out 2 T2 tankers and 2 C3 cargos. I let the rest go by (largest enemy ships remaining were C2s) as I have already expended 6 torpedos on other contacts. I'm only off the coast of southern Ireland after leaving Lorient.

The same happened for me on last WaW patrol. I left Bergen and run to an large convoy just few kilometers north of Scapa Flow. I expended all my torpedoes fighting the convoy and didnt sail to my patrol area (which was AK).

[Quillan]

I don't know if they picked the assigned patrol grids randomly, or they dug into the surviving records of the various flotilla patrol assignments. Whichever it was, there is no guarantee that anything will pass through your assigned patrol sector. The game doesn't really allow you ask for new orders, either. I think it would have been nice if you'd gone to your assigned grid, patrolled it for 24 hours, radioed in, and gotten orders to move to another sector and patrol it for 24 hours. In practice, I almost always head to my assigned grid, do the 24 hour patrol, and then move on to someplace where the hunting is good. Every now and then you'll get assigned a grid on a convoy route, and that's worth staying around for.

[Dr. Gonzo]

I'd rather play the campaign, what i find odd is that the patrol grid i get are often right in the shipping lanes yet nothing. I'd rather stay within the campaign rather than take on individual missions. sometimes though i'm there for weeks with nothing. I'll have to give it another go...

I am reluctant to make modifications but are there any mods that might increase contact frequency or any files i can doctor...

[Sailor Steve]

I play with RUB which includes mods that reduce the number of single ships and make the convoys more accurate. I almost always stay in my assigned grid, and though it takes weeks sometimes to expend my torpedoes, or sometimes I come home with most of them still onboard, I like the feel that gives me.

I play for what I feel is the realism.