I must admit I'm hopeless at surface attacks, i never really try them only use the dg on lone ships, always submerge and attack convoys with fish. If I can come home with about 10k + thats a good result imho as its more likely what kaleuns got in RL.

Thing with surface attacks is that they ARE better than submerged attacks. For a number of reasons.

1) On the surface in the dark a U-boat is practically invisible. Early war that is.
2) Speed and agility.
3) Hydrophones and Asdic cannot find you.

Underwater you are extremely compromised when it goes to getting the attack going. When attacking underwater, its a case of hit what I can. If the better targets have gone by already... tough.

Also while it is possible to sneak into the lanes, I really do advise against that, it makes a withdrawl rather difficult, not only that, you don't know what is inside that convoy waiting for you, a cruiser perhaps?

In short surface attacks offer better opportunities to do some damage. It also offers an option for escape. I have found you can withdraw, and then return half hour later when your bow tubes are reloaded and attack again! Can't do that submerged!

They are worth mastering. The day I fully mastered surface attacks was the day I put my daring surface attack thread up. :D

Usually what happens to me is, I attack need to go to ahead flank briefly to get my other two tubes fired, end up crash diving as my torpedoes hit. Sometimes I attack and get away scott free... but there is one question I want to ask... Who here, gets nervous about attacking a convoy?

I'm always nervous attacking a convoy. I stay away from surface attacks. I find that they will start zig zagging which makes it a lot more difficult. Early war I may attack on the surface, but it is now Nov 41, and I want to get my boat home in one piece.

I nominate Penelope_Grey to make a video on surface attack expertise :know:

My attempts at them usually end in disaster.
I have however become good at what I call spider attacks from submerged positions.

Btw: so friggin what if certain things in the game are scripted. What do you want for 20$ and free?

Be careful of doing the ol' decks awash thing at night and in a storm. I do that too, but once my boat dipped down deep enough for the escourt to hear my engines and then they were on to me. I was travelling at about Ahead Standard.
As for SH3 being scripted? I dont think that's true. The box says a fully dynamic campaign.

Nicely put, GoldenRivet. What makes SH3/GWX stand apart from other "games" (for me) is that it approaches reality while still remaining playable. Things do go wrong and no amount of careful planning or skillful execution of those plans can neutralise their effects. The task is to then recover from the situation and get back into position for another try - even if it again results in failure. Frustrating at times, yes. But immensely satisfying when you get the reward for your efforts! Does anybody remember Total Annihilation by Cavedog from 1995? That game went on for years past it's expected demise (based on it's programming level) because it had similar qualities. SH3/GWX will be the same - immersion, re-playability and graphics that still amaze will see it through for many years yet! IMHO anyway, lol.

Only time I get that feeling in my stomach is at periscope depth when the front ships of three columms are approaching, getting larger and larger and just as you start figuring out who the heavy guys are, that gut wrenching 'ping' kicks off from the leading Escort.

:yep::yep::yep:

I dream about the asdic sound, and then I wake up from it feeling realy alarmed, seriously.
I'm always nervous when attacking a convoy! :o

Well, if it says so on the box, then it MUST be true!!

Ha ha ha.

But seriously folks, I have downloaded GWX and loving it. I always get more responses to a highly critical topic line than a less critical one. Some very good tips presented, many thanks.

Whaddya gonna do? It's the Coyote in me (trickster).

Stay tuned for "this game ruined my marriage", or "this *******ING game gave me PTSD".
I think that MSNBC or Fox News might pick up on that as well.

Yes it is true. They can't put "Dynamic Campaign" on the box if it is not true, that is basically misleading the customer and is a crime.

Whadda we gonna do? I have a few good ideas kicking about in my head. :hulk:

Least you said thanks though.:up:

Yes okay i do agree but you forget what kind of cargo a tanker had.
Did you ever hold a burning match to a drum of benzin?

I can remember in my youthtime when i saw wwII documentary on tv that a wolfpack attacked a convoy and that tankers were burning and / or exploding very well.

I have never read about it on this forum that people know about
very dangerous cargo a tanker can/could consist. Everybody thinks that
a tanker in the game transports milk or so.

Only how difficult it is to sink a tanker in the game by compartments.

Man oh man what is this for kind of speaking.

For example, the Jave (photo hereunder) sunk within 15 minutes by one japanese torpedo.
How? It had just loaded his seamines under deck.

Tanker cargo could include any of the following and more:

Fuel Oil
Aviation Fuel
Jet Fuel
Crude Oil
Diesel
Gasoline
Sea Water ballast
Fresh Water Ballast
Machine or Lubricating oil (not explosively combustible)

Remember Fuel vapor is what really burns - i have seen a lit match submerged into a jar of gasoline - which extinguished the match just as if it were submerged into water. but when you begin to place a cap over the jar with a small hole and repeat the process you get a jet shooting out the hole.

If you slam a ww2 era torpedo into the side of a tanker the oil contents are not likely to just explode with catastrophic force sinking the whole ship in seconds. The compartment will flood to an extent, oil will spill out to an extent. Naval Architects design ships with this sort of event in mind.

if you REALLY want to kill a tanker catch him under the following conditions

1. Moving slowly
2. Calm or no wind
3. Calm sea
4. Torpedo the ship once to cause a breach
5. Torpedo the ship a second time to detonate the contents

here is why this works:

A slow moving tanker in calm wind and calm sea's has a hard time getting rid of exposed fuel and oil vapor. If you torpedo him, massive amounts of vapor will leave the ship rapidly enveloping the ship in a cloud of explosive gasses. All it takes is one tiny spark to take her out... thats where the second torpedo comes in :)

set one torpedo to magnetic detonation under the keel in a spot just forward of the wheel house. send a second torpedo with impact detonation at about 4 meters running depth. This will guarantee you a sinking and will almost always result in the tanker splitting in half.

And we all forget the SS Ohio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ohio

There was a tanker that didnt sink despite being torpedoed\bombed and having a Ge aircraft crash onto the deck
Was a bit of a mess but no grand explosion

Sometimes tankers explode sometimes not

The mission editor has 3 cargo loadouts for tankers
Only 1 is fuel
So there is a chance the ship wont be carrying anything volatile
Torpedo that and you wont ever get a fireball

Mind you one of the other loadouts is ammo so thats about as explosive as you can get

My favorite is the San Demetrio: the tanker that not only didn't sink, she came back to rescue her own crew!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_San_Demetrio