Schnorkel

[con20or]

Hi All, this is my first post here, i post alot on the UBI forums, I have asked this question before and I have never gotten a proper answer. I have tested this myself, and it doesnt seem to work,, maybe all of you can help me.


If I am sailing submerged with the periscope/periscopes up, and say im at the chart screen, does the ai crew keep watch for you? I dont mean the hydrophone, I mean will you get a ship sighted, or aircraft sighted report?


Has anyone got an answer for this? Ive received some fairly sketchy replies in the past :doh:

[Torplexed]

That's a good question. I've noticed my hydrophone operator picks up propeller noises well before ships come into visual view. Which should be historically impossible since the racket from the diesels would render the hydrophones deaf.

[kenijaru]

i really dont think so.... as a matter of fact, the enemy ships will spot the periscope but unless you are looking at the horizon with the scopes you can only spect to "find" them before they find you using the hydrophone.

[con20or]

Thanks for the quick reply.


So if your crew cannot use the periscopes for you, then that effecitvly renders the schnorkel useless at high TC? Because obviously you cannot use the scopes yourself at high TC.


This really seems a big thing to me, and I have never heard anyone else say anything about, which suggests that there is a way around it!! :damn:

[Torplexed]

Actually I've read that using a time compression of higher than x256 blots out most air contacts. You might be safer at high TC. ;)

[con20or]

I heard it made air attacks "erratic", i didnt know it got rid of them!!

[kenijaru]

actually, cruising at ahead slow with the scopes down and the schnorkel also down would make it hard for the scout planes to find you unless... they have a magnetic anomaly detector. if the plane is equiped with one the story might be very diferent.

[Torplexed]

In either case a periscope at wave top level is a very poor observation platform. Even if a Watch Officer were manning it continously doing careful 360 degree sweeps the odds that he would spot an approaching aircraft before it was too late would be very poor indeed.

[con20or]

actually, cruising at ahead slow with the scopes down and the schnorkel also down would make it hard for the scout planes to find you unless... they have a magnetic anomaly detector. if the plane is equiped with one the story might be very diferent.


But what would the point of that be? The only reason to be near the surface is to use the scope or schnorkel.

[VonHelsching]

Hi All, this is my first post here

...

If I am sailing submerged with the periscope/periscopes up, and say im at the chart screen, does the ai crew keep watch for you? I dont mean the hydrophone, I mean will you get a ship sighted, or aircraft sighted report?


Welcome Herr Kaleun!

Your crew will never say "ship / airplane spotted" while submerged.
Using the stock settings (because mods may change them), once you are in visual range of a ship you will fall to TC X32. If you happened to travel at hugh TC, then you will evantually be spotted sooner than you will spot them and your TC will automatically fall to X8 (called "hunted" state).

It is not recommended to travel with more than x256, esp. in rough waters. If you travel with more than X256 you will notice less planes, but you might also get rammed by a DD :huh:

[DMarkwick]

My experience has always been that with the periscope up, the AI will report any ships on the map, unless you're playing no map updates.

I've never been informed of planes though.

[con20or]

Yeh, i play with no map updates.


So youre crew will not keep watch for you, thats a bummer.i guess il just stay with 256 TC so.

[con20or]

I've been notified of planes when having the observation scope up with time compr. Don't know how it works with the attack scope though.

See what I mean? Conflicting reports on whether it works. The one time i tried it, i took my sonar reporter off duty, and sailed towards a ship i knew was there from external cam. i got to within 100m of him in perfect weather and he still wasnt reported.


Thanks for the info xrvjorn.

[Heffalump]

I've done several patrols in 44 with a Snorkel. At night I run with the snorkel and observation scopes up, in the day I run submerged. I typically run at x128 TC.

Upon spotting both ships and planes the game has dropped me back to a lower TC, probably x8. You will have to take that as your message. You won't hear anything from your officers.

In my experience it's a fairly safe way of getting around. I've never been spotted using this method. However I must stress that I do it only at night. Running around in the daylight with the snorkel up is not a good idea...

[mike_espo]

in non career mode, I made my own scenario may 1944.....I snorted with an IXC during daylight, night, at 128x.....had depth set at 14m, this has just a little of the head above water.... I get no warning at all when attacked.....but mostly, its minor damage.

For the most part, nothing happens at all and I can get around OK. :hmm:

[MarshalLaw]

If you running a stock game. If you go to snorkel depth , you are picked up like you are on the surface. Bug in game, there are fixes for it. I believe in Rub 1.45 . However if your in stock, set your depth to 14 meters have both periscopes up facing 0 and 180 degrees at the same height as your snorkel. Run at slow speed and keep your time comprssion at 64. That way you have time to react. Planes will be spotted by the scopes.

One other thing the above instructions are for calm seas. If you are in heavy seas you will be seen quicker, because more of your snorkel is exposed in the valleys of the swells.

Snorkels are a bit of a pain but it's the only way to survive after 1943.

[crazyhorse]

Running with a snorkel up in '44 has been a sure invitatioin to a B-24 festival in my experience, day or night. Sitting at 0 knots, periscope depth, at night, at a low TC setting is how I do it.

TC at high settings in '44 under most all circumstances is "Mission Over", back to the Canoe Fleet.

Good hunting!

[VonHelsching]

My experience has always been that with the periscope up, the AI will report any ships on the map, unless you're playing no map updates.

I've never been informed of planes though.

Yes, I'm talking about no maps update.

[Tonnage_Ace]

If your having trouble ramming into DDs at 1024x TC, then I suggest you pay attention to when the game starts to lag, thats usually when I put down TC and head over to the hydrophone, always get a contact(it's definately cheating but I'm not about to cross the Atlantic @ 256xTC). But also remember that the higher your engine rpm, the shorter the range your sonar operator will be able to hear, especially when using diesels) thus I never rely on him for updates, but do it manually. When travelling underwater using the snorkel always keep the snork about half a meter above surface, to limit the airplanes bombing you into oblivion. And keep your persicopes down, I'm pretty sure they don't help at all.

[kiwi_2005]

Actually I've read that using a time compression of higher than x256 blots out most air contacts. You might be safer at high TC

From my experience this is not true. :damn:

[Cdre Gibs]

Ok, with Stock game. Snorkel up + ANY scope up and your at high TC (anything over 32), and an enemy unit comes into your normal visual range (a bit less than what you would have at surfaced state with watch crew), and the game will drop you back to a Lower TC rate. This is the only warning you will get. The crew do NOT give you a message/warning. If your in the Nav map view, you should see both Ships and /or Aircraft that caused the game to lower the TC value.

[con20or]

Yeh, i have it set at that.but thats only when you have sighted
the airplane surely? Which leads us back to the whole argument again. I think ive gotten some pretty definite answers though, so im satisfied.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

[Sailor Steve]

I heard it made air attacks "erratic", i didnt know it got rid of them!!
I've been attacked at x2048. It's rare, though. It also means they're dropping bombs before you can react. Luckily I was using the Airpower Mod, and they weren't accurate.