I see that some of you think that it was only onec. I would like to point out that this happens constantly. I just picked the most outstanding one.

I have been a GW player for a long time and would hate to leave them but its this one aspect is realy turning me off. :cry:

What was the weather like? Visibility moderate? Unlimited? how fast were you going? Were you pointing towards the convoy or parallel? You know you gotta approach at a slow speed, preferably decks awash...with the bow towards the enemy if possible.

I never have a problem approaching early war convoys...just beware of experienced crews.

Check my post above.

Med fog. parrel @ 8 kts


But what Im trying to get across here is that by the time I have spotted the convoy the escorts have allready found me and turned to engage.

When I make contact with a convoy my SOP is to run out to around 10-12km abreast of the outside escort and go to fast speed to overhaul them by about the same distance I then cut back into the path of the convoy at ahead slow decks awash and I can usually make a surface attack with no problem. If I go much faster than 3-4kt I find I get spotted more easily. You cannot go charging at them at 8kt and not expect them to either hear your diesels or spot your bowwave or wake! Don't forget AI sensors even early war include sound as well as vision and even a smattering of radar.

Slow down take your time and use a stealthy approach and you will find more success.

Agreed.

Everybody is a bloody expert.

"Too much of this.... too much of that.... my porridge is cold."

:shifty:

Frag the critics.

Hey guys...chill out...it's just a game...Sometimes it will all go your way & sometimes it won't.
It's funny how I can get all bent outta shape on some minor issue today & tomorrow I won't even give it a thought...

Damned games are a total waste of time anyway...(according to my wife anyway)

Hi!

Which missions, in particular? :)

Pablo

I agree that if you are steaming in at 8 kts then you are going to get detected. I am new to SH3 and GWX and am in the first year of the war and have no problems attacking convoys, as has been mentioned above, stealthy approach fire off the torps and get the hell out again (but slow and deep). Have to say that if I approached convoys at 8kts would expect to be sunk before getting anywhere near them.

I've found that it's 50/50 for me.

Just 2 hours ago (literally) I was approx. 750 km due west of Gibraltar. Convoy contact was given on the map. Luck of the draw! It was headed my way, as I was headed there way! yay!

Okay, weather was: C R A P! foggy, rain, 15 meter/sec wind. Okay, they won't see me, and I'll have a heck of a time seeing them.

So I dived. I put myself at 150 meters down. Any further and I start to get damage (I'm not using the crush depth mod). Shut the engines down, rig for silent running and just sit there, hoping that the convoy doesn't shift or that we run out of air! :huh:

Again, I'm in luck. Here they come, sailing along as though nothing..........ah crap.
The lead escort suddenly starts turning his screws like he's doing a power run! (Which, by the way is cool as hell, all three of the ships I was on, when we'd do a power run, we'd kick it up between 36 to 38 knots! Deck is vibrating and to see that rooster tail shooting 25 feet up into the air is just, awesome! :up: ).

So here he comes, right to where I'm sitting. Okay, what did I do wrong? I'd had no contact with anyone in 3 days. No ship sighting in three days. I've kept radio silence since the patrol began. I dove down to my present depth of 150 meters when the convoy was still over 50 km off. Sea state is at least a 6 or 7 up there. Okay, maybe his sonar man has ears of gold on that DD and he heard me sipping my coffee from 15 km away at 150 meters. As Darth Vadar would have said: "Impressive."

Here come the depth charges. Hold our breath and don't move. Again, I'm in luck. No damage and after a while, the DD seems to give up. Here comes the convoy over me, and now I can try to get at least 1 or two ships before they try and get me.....

Okay, so what gave me away to that lead DD? Here's the thing. It happens every single time!
I don't boldly sail in at 18, 12, 8 or even 5 knots. I'm not that stupid. I used to talk to the sonar guys on my ships. Duh. And yes, this is 1939 and 1940. I'd swear that these guys some how have the same tech as we have now, and have an Adams class DD or Spruence class with a helo using a drop sonar!

Maybe it is the game engine. Maybe it is the Mod. If it's not, and something that we're doing wrong, lets here what it is. I'd gladly take the advice.
If the answer is: "That's just the way it is." then so be it. I'll keep doing what I'm doing and hold my breath (now THAT is realistic! :smug: ).

But if I'm doing something wrong, I'd like to know what it is, so I can learn from it too.

@Kpt. Lehmann

I think that GWX is the most wonderful mod that I've ever encountered. You and your team did an outstanding job! And there was a lot of hard work, sweat and even tears put into it. You have a great forward in your Manual.
Thank you for this gift.

However, no. Not everyone is an expert.
Some of us have had real life experience in the Navy. But I don't think there are too many people here that can claim to be ex-U-boat commanders, or have actually fought in WWII.

While not everyone is an expert; no mod is perfect either. You and your team have done a hell of a job with this one, and you and your team are giving us teasers that the next update (and the last) will make it even more outstanding, and many of us are waiting for it with bated breath.

I'm sorry if people here upset you with complaining about something. Hell, I'M sorry if I upset you. That was not my intention. Only that something seemed wrong to me is what called out for me to speak up (shoot, for all I know what is wrong is ME for goodness sakes).
However, we had a system in the USN. It's called "Lessons Learned" ranging from mishaps with equipment, to things that got sailors killed. It was the USN's attitude to learn from any mistake, so it would never happen again. There is another system that the USN has: Feedback. Everyone, from Seaman Recruit Jones to 5 star Admiral Blowhard can use it, to show if they think is something is wrong, not right, or needs to be corrected or added to it. I know, I submitted plenty on my radar system during the 10 years I was in. And they are taken very seriously. Sometimes things would change. Sometimes not, if it was something that couldn't be changed for one reason or another.
Point is: nobody should be afraid to offer critisim. As long as they either try to offer a solution, or do so in a professional manner.

So please don't take this the wrong way. Like I said, for all I know, it's ME that's doing something wrong, not your mod.

Now excuise me, I've got to get back to my sub, as I'm out of torps, low on fuel, and I've got 2 more days before the resupply ship shows up! 2 more days of banging on the door, yelling at Benard to get out of the Head!

Its not that Im being reckless its just the fact by the time I make my descion I have shells riping through the air around me!

In Sh4 i've certainly found what schultz claims to be true, but in GWX, i haven't.

I pay attention to the following factors

sea state
moonlight
my bow wave (ie speed)
Decks awash in calmer sea states.

And then i try to time my approach so that i don't get too close to an escort

If its pitch black i can get very close, certailny within 2 kms. Man I even once rammed an escort by accident with neither of us seeing the other (yes i was on the surface!)

If you don't like the way it plays, switch to a different one. There are several others out there to try out, WAC, NYGM for a couple. Coming on here and whining about how you don't like this or that about a well established and respected one like GWX is not going to change anything.

I've encountered the same thing as the OP only a very few times during all my GWX 1.03 as early as '39, which I put down to bad luck.

Up until '41ish with the radars appearing, I can usually attack surfaced at night, getting as close as 800 - 1000m to escorts without getting detected in moonless nights with some choppy seas, managing my angle and speed to maintain a low profile. Once into the merchant stream I can usually manouver as close as 300-400m to merchants without getting spotted, if the night is dark.

Hell, I've even launched surfaced attacks on convoys from 1000m literally a minute or so before sunrise in relatively calm waters and still got away without getting detected. Escorts in my experience tend not to open fire on you until they are relatively close, even when they do detect you - which allows for plenty of very interesting surface evasions during night/twilight time.

The once in a blue moon incidents where escorts fire at me from long ranges with extreme accuracy, or spot me at impossible (in my mind) instances are so few and far between I'm very content explaining them away as Acts of the Patron Saint of Tommies :)

This is with 16km sighting mod btw, so it certainly is not an issue for me at least. As for the OP - it seems SH3 behaves slightly different on different systems, even with identical mods installed. Gremlins no doubt - you can't trust them....

How The Hell Do You People Get So Close!!!!