Just remember: it makes any sense ONLY when the weather is bad enough. Heavy storm or night is the only good time.
Reason ? Slighlty better visibility and more maneuvrability - you can run across the columns, attacking few targets in short period of time and get out before the escort reacts apropriately. If you know how to handle your boat, you don`t get spotted or you get spotted just by the merchants you attack, seconds before the torpedos hit the target...

Besides, ASDIC is of little help if you remain surfaced - if escorts has no radar and the visibility is bad enough, you can get out quickly, with just short time under water.


Of course, such risky actions are good until, say, mid 1941, perhaps 1942 but not later. And the adrenaline gain is worth mentioning :)
I`ve made quite a few such actions using NYGM, in 1939-mid 1941 with VIIB and IXB and results were nice. I managed to escape easily in any case - usually I was making a run across the convoy, attacking the ships I could see at front of my boat, then change of course and escape at flank speed - so that the escorts were entering the area of attack when my boat was already off the convoy.

so the vibe im gettin here is that nygm handles this issue in a more realistic manner than gwx.

a uboat should be the one that detects the dd not the other way around, unless the watch are asleep. my 3 attacks show that either the dd's had radar in oct 41 or they can see through storms. certainly made for a very frustating patrol and all for the wrong reasons

Is sailing into a defended convoy on the surface (in any weather) realistic?

I'm asking, not being a smarty pants.


If so, no wonder the Germans lost the war. Kind of defeats the purpose of building a boat that can submerge if you ask me.

yep night surface attacks was the way the uboats had most of their short lived success. it wasnt until most dd's had radar that night surface attacks stopped. and the reason for radar was that uboats were very hard to see with the eye, hence the reason for my post

Be careful in heavy fog in convoy attacks. Ships have a tendency to ram your boat. Also, when you're attacking, do not underestimate radar from '41 onwards. Stay submerged in your attacks for the most part, and carefully position yourself to sneak past the escorts. If you're using GWX, it just won't work to lie in wait anymore. You have to take the initiative.

I won't attack in heavy fog period after I know the DD's have radar. Pure suicide.

can someone from gwx please give some feedback on this

Reference to 'environmentals' is made on page 279 of the manual:
http://mysite.orange.co.uk/manual/GW...NUAL_EN_PF.pdf

For a more detailed search re: equipment look in the relevent programme files :arrgh!:

i wouldnt know which files to look in. and anyway i dont want to know the specific dates that dd's have radar as this would make things predictable.
on uboat.net it says that the first radar set on a corvette was march 41, the first sinking with radar was nov 41 and by may 1942 236 escorts had radar installed.

im assuming the problems i had above are to with radar and not wacky AI. my patrol was oct 41 so maybe i was just REALLY unlucky

so my question is how is this handled in gwx? are different radar types on escorts modelled, and are dates randomized to a certain degree when they become available or what? is there a gradual increase in dd's equipped with radar?

not havin a pop at u guys as i think gwx is a work of art but this issue is troubling me as i was under the impression that it wasnt until at least mid 42 before surface attacks become more dangerous, albeit that there are always exceptions

thanks in advance

To the best of my knowledge there is a gradual increase in the number of ships so equipped and as time passes also there experience levels ie: veteran, elite etc :arrgh!:

after readin the gwx/twilight thread on this page where the guy was spotted by dd's in heavy fog in 1940 its begining to sound more like wacky AI than radar.

i know gwx took months of hard work but is there some game engine limitation that has dd's see through fog?

That's for sure. I was chasing down a convoy in foul weather at night once and had just found one of the merchants and the next thing you know a destroyer was cutting my sub in half with his bow! Never saw him until the crew started yelling "We're taking damage, Sir!"

Steve