I was watching a documentary about the 'USS-Bowfin' on the History Channel yesterday and I was surprised by the tonnage numbers. The Bowfin did 9 patrols and scored ~100K. Great numbers for real life, but in SH4 I can pull off the same numbers in 4 patrols at 100% easily.

I think the easy targets should be removed. I shouldn't be seeing a lone Japanese large freighter less than 300KM off the coast of Jawa with its US sub base active. At first I decided to ignore the target, but when I found out it was a large freighter, I went for it. Easiest kill I made and 7K in the bag.
At one point I even saw a Japanese coastal vessel sailing straight for Jawa harbor.. :o

I think large freighters should only very rarely travel alone. Maybe its because I am still in 1941 and things change later on though..

Oh, and Beery.. I don't know if you checked out the realistic torpedoes mod, but it's definitely worth it.

Yeah, I'm very worried about that too. It needs a lot more testing before I'll be completely content over this issue.

By the way, just an aside, but I visited USS Lionfish (a Balao class boat) at Battleship Cove yesterday. Very informative and I finally got to go through those hatches that we can't go through in SH4 - checked out the torpedo rooms, the radio room, the sleeping quarters for officers, the kitchen, the mess room, the ORs sleeping quarters and the engine room. The boat even had a shower! If only SH4 had modelled all the rooms in detail (sigh).

Anyway, I found that the game is very attentive to detail - I recognised most of the stuff from the game in the command room and the conning tower. The only thing the game really doesn't get across is the lack of space.

So true! But guess that's a bit unavoidable:-? The only time I have felt that lack of space has been in the conning tower at battlestations, when there is a position (Can't remember now if it's sonar, radar or what) where you have the back of a guy on your left, covering nearly half the screen, and the wall to the right, and you really really feel oppressed:yep:

I visited Lionfish two years ago, the ice cream machine impressed me! Going to see U 505 in July.

I dont agree with cutting out all the elites, although their number should be reduced.

I also found a RL example of elite destroyers, from Silent Victory. On feb. 29, 1944, Trout attacked a troop convoy bringing reinforcements to Saipan, sinking one ship and damaging another. It turns out the convoy was being escorted by the three best destroyers in the IJN, they counterattacked and Trout was never heard from again.