Good luck GoldenRivet! I read a thread over on the Ubi forum (some time back) that somebody tried a x1 patrol in a type IX! He was never heard from again! By the way, the boss has just asked if you could come in Tuesday....?:)

msge begins

From: U-843
To: U-202

Yr dep noted per BdU advice. Good hunting.
KL Bert

msge ends

From: U202
To: Bdu

01aug1941
1300 Hours
Bf5114

Daily Report

No Sightings No Contacts :: Have Received Your Message Regarding Status Of La Spezia :: Fourteen Torpedo, Two Hundred Nineteen Rounds Deck Gun Remaining Nine Hundred Eighty Rounds AA Remaining :: Fuel Food And Water Status Good :: Weather As Follows :: Wind Two Two Seven Degrees At Three Knots Sunny Sky Scattered High Cirrus Clouds Visibility Excellent Calm Seas :: Continuing On Course At This Time :: Request That You Forward Any Reports Of Enemy Contact Relevant To Our Area Of Operations :: Expect Next Report Within Twenty Four Hours :: End

From: U202
To: Bdu

01aug1941
1743 Hours
BF4323

UPDATED WEATHER :: SEA VERY ROUGH :: WIND TWO TWO ZERO DEGREES AT TWENTY NINE KNOTS :: SKY CLEAR AND VISIBILITY EXCELLENT :: BARO PRESSURE FALLING RAPIDLY :: NOTHING OTHER TO REPORT :: End

From U 505:

Hmm, I wonder, how will you handle the situation I'm currently in at 1x TC

Bad weather, fog rain, 15m/s wind, the whole shebang, a convoy, about 500km west of Ireland Februari 1942, convoy heading NE, first picked up heading NNW in BE38 and stalked it (at TC) to AM48 where it turned NE, weather still the same for about 48 hours now

have been shadowing fairly close, between 10 and 25km, monitoring hydrophones regularly waiting for weather to clear. counted at least 5 Escorts, that by this time may have radar so needs constant vigilance....

How to deal with 48+ hours of shadowing, employ spare crew that's around? extra coffee?

your thoughts?

the best course of action in that scenario would be to have at least one other person here with me who was as into SH3 as i am... this way we could monitor the game in shifts.

the course of action would be much the same as in real life... stalk the convoy and wait for the weather to break. frequent sound checks to keep an eye on them. and a realization that the weather might not break before the convoy reaches the shallows. at which point if that is the case... plan B: return to course and hope for another encounter.

1x TC is maddening in that regard. right now im about 400KM west of Brest... and i have been at sea now for 22 hours. my last ship contact was the escort from port which turned around and faded into the distance behind us... after that the gulls gave up interest and headed inland... after that the light house outside of brest faded steadily away and at that point it was just U-202 and the sound of the ocean.

this morning i set my alarm for 4:00 am to follow my routine, cook breakfast, check on the progress and crew etc doing a sound check so close to france was pointless so i skipped it.

I was worried about the threat of aircraft but gambled and remained on the surface throughout most of the night last night and thoughout today

i have done three crossword puzzles now, cooked lunch and about to have dinner and my main source of any scenery in SH3 is an endless sprawl of blue waves.

im currently past my 10th save game. with mnay many more to go for sure.

the computer has not missed a beat fortunately. I have dual monitors and through the past 22 hours and 14 minutes of game play i have "task switched" about a thousand times without any problem.

given sea state and wind conditions the use of the deck gun is out of the question right now. its unfortunate that we cant forecast weather on here because as of yet... no matter what target i come across it will have to be hit with torpedoes.

one thing is for sure... whatever ship i encounter is going to the bottom... come hell or high tide!

I can empathize a bit, I'm now going into the thrid night stalking that convoy and it's only about 150km to where it gets shallow, I don't mind that much, I'm well versed in 120m max depth evasion (GWX testing helps :D) the convoy is only going 6 knots and zigzagging a lot so i still have hopes, but I'm in a IXc and supposed to be Paukenschlaging about now... not harassing convoys well inside the western approaches...:hmm:

I have taking up the habit of gnawing my nails in frustration the past 5 hours though, I can't imagine doing that at 1x TC...:doh:

DAY 03

From: U202
To: Bdu

02AUG1941
1145 Hours
BF1883

NO CONACTS NO SIGHTINGS :: WEAPON LOADOUT REMAINS UNCHANGED :: WELL INTO KELTISCHE SEE AND PERFORMING NUMEROUS SOUND CHECKS :: HEAVY SWELLS WIND ONE ZERO NINE DEGREES AT SEVENTEEN KNOTS :: LIGHTNING OBSERVED AND NO RAIN YET :: VISIBILITY FAIR :: END

From: U-111
To: U-202

Good hunting!

Someone can create an on-line program where 2-4 players can work in shifts conrolling the boat. Say some one in Australia, one in the US, and, of course, one in Germany. As long as they make a pact to forsworn all other un-necessary activities such sex, business trips, family gatherings for the next, said, 6 years, while play this game. Of cause, things can always end earlier.:roll:

Hang in there GR! You can do it! :rock: :rock: :rock:

Thanks!

right now im in grid BF18... in what would be grid BF1813 if the grids went according to this http://www.uboat.net/maps/grid.html at high zoom.

Im at 40 meters depth creeping ahead slow with occasional drifting at all stop doing a rather lengthy sound check... the weather above is limiting the visibility to about 8KM or so. i figure the sonar officer will hear a ship long before the watch will see one!

Confidence is high that i will encounter something in the next 10 hours, this has been a hot spot for me in the past, i hope it will be now.

Im a rather impatient person, and doing a 1x patrol requires a great deal of self discipline and patience.

its rather difficult to convinve yourself that it is normal to do a 4 to 6 hour sound check! when under time compression it only takes a matter of minutes to pass such time.

keeping my fingers crossed.

:arrgh!:

Sounds great, good luck and keep us posted.

I have the time to try it but not the guts. Last time I tried I got tied up reading Brags book and ran into a DD. lost my As- but finished the book.

If you wind up in Grid BC... watch out for icebergs. Just spotted a couple there.:ping:

well i dont plan on going that far west. thanks for the heads up though. I have seen a great number of them in the region your talking about though.

:up:

DAY 04

From: U202
To: Bdu

03AUG1941
1257 Hours
BF1442

RECIEVED CONTACT REPORT RELEVANT TO GRID BF15 :: GIVEN SPEED AND DIRECTION INDICATED IN REPORT THE TARGET IS UNREACHABLE :: CONTINUING ON PLOTTED COURSE :: NO CONTACTS :: WEATHER REPORT AS FOLLOWS :: HEAVY RAIN ROUGH SEA VISIBILITY APPOROX ONE KM :: WEATHER IN THIS AREA PREVENTS EFFECTIVE U-BOAT OPERATIONS AT THIS TIME :: END

____________________________

U-202 log book

This morning at around 0900 we received a contact report from a U-boat which was returning to port. The report gave indication of a single unescorted ship heading ENE at medium speed. Given the position, course and speed of the target we would intercept them about the time they arrived in port! the decision was made not to persue the contact. The rain is relentless. No sooner do we enter a rich hunting ground and the weather goes ape ****!

Weather is probably the biggest counter to U-boat operations. If the Allies could find a way to control the precipitation patterns in the atlantic ocean they could effectively render the kriegsmarine useless. The tactical considerations to a U-boat in poor weather are many. The visibility becomes so limited that sighting a ship becomes impossible therfore the boat must rely on hydrophones. This requires the boat to remain submerged which then limits the speed to a snails pace. If a commander takes the risk to charge ahead on the surface he will have a sea sick crew to contend with, and worst of all, a destroyer could come rushing out of the driving rain at any moment with no warning. on top of all that... if hydrophone contact is made with a potential target, intercepting it in such weather is not only a massive risk for collision, but an intercept of the target can be a time consuming if not impossible feat.

Unless the weather improves significantly in the next several hours, all optimism for enemy contact in this area will be completely shot! and our next opportunity to enter heavily traveled shipping lanes will not come for another 1,700 KM.

Frustratedly,
J. Wintergarten

DAY 04

From: U202
To: Bdu

03AUG1941
2127 Hours
BF1446

CONTACT REPORT RECEIVED ON LARGE OUTBOUND CONVOY :: INTERCEPT COURSE PLOTTED :: EXPECT CONTACT WITH ENEMY IN APPROX TEN HOURS :: END

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATEjQ...eature=related

_______________________

U-202 Log Book

Despite the terrible weather, someone out there has made contact with a large outbound enemy convoy in grid square BF4124. We are changing course to intercept in hopes that the weather improves. Expect enemy contact within ten hours.

Allright! It's time to make some space in the bow torpedo room! Sink these Tommies! :arrgh!:

U202 Log Book

Good fortune has passed our way, though the sea is still quite rough, the rain has given way to clear skies!

i hope we have an easy time of locating this convoy!

Hang on !

;)