I'm playing RFB+RSRD at 83% and have received the MoH 3 times. I attribute this to 60 years of historical information laid at our feet. If we knew only what the CO knew and operated with historical procedures in mind, I'd be lucky to come home to get a COM (Commendation Medal)!

Case in point. Knowing that the Mk 14 magnetic detonator was useless, I set all my shots up to be contact only, closed to within 1000 yds, and used slow speed. After a patrol or two I decided to have a go at the way they did it by the book back then. The immediate result, a substantial drop in tonnage sunk. And when I came home from that patrol I received no medals.

So if you can operate like they did, you wouldn't have over 600k tons to your name and would probably end up as a nobody in "history."

Don't worry. Later in the war the increased convoys (HEAVILY guarded convoys) will have you eating your words and remembering this "defect" fondly!:haha:

Have patience grasshopper, a large habenero pepper :oops: is best eaten in small portions at several separate meals!:up:

Ooh, hotshot plays at 83%...

I play *full switch* man. I weathered the mk 14 nightmare fully, and yes, I have 600k tons with a mark 14 malfunction rate of somewhere between 60 and 80 percent. Still can't make it to the designated patrol zone 90% of the time now that they torpedoes have matured and actually work most of the time.

BTW, slow speed doesn't effect torpedo duds in tmo (it may or may not in FRB dunno), I did cheat a little and look at the file. TBH, I wasn't using slow settings anyways.

Personally, I like turning those into a salsa. Grind them up, add onion, and a very tiny amount of tomato for color and flavor, and whatever else you want and it's delicious. Texans tend to not skimp on their peppers though ;).

Anyways, I'm done with RSRD. I gave it till late 43 to make it interesting for me, but it didn't deliver.

What the water is doing affect duds rate in TMO. I play 100% and do not bag that much. Maybe 3-4 ships per patrol. Sometimes none at all. I go for days without seeing ships specifically when using RSRD. I think RSRD is very good. Do you use the deck gun a lot? I never use it or use it very little. The reason is the deck gun was not the primary weapon and the subs did not bob around acting like battleships. But as ETR says, I play magnetic only until I hit the date it was offically switched to contact. That plays a part as well.

Yeah, waveheight effects premature chance. Calm sea is 40% and rough sea is 75% IIRC.

RE the lack of contacts, you out of pear or the asiatic fleet? I find that just sailing up the java see is good for at least 4 single merchants.

Sure I use the deck gun. I do use it intelligently though. If I see that a ship is a threat to me on the surface, well then, I don't surface. I *don't* put my boat at an unnecessary level of risk ever. I think it's the large modern composite that has 2 large caliber deck guns and several 20-30mm cannons, so I don't go near those. However, I do not hesitate to attack a ship with light armament with my deck gun. I just stay out of the range of their 20/30mm cannons and machine guns (which is a rather optimistic 3,000 yards or so) and rip them up.

In other words I almost never take fire from a surface engagement. The one time I got chewed up in that career was a bad surface engagement though. I kinda zoned and forgot that he had deck guns when I made that decision...

Asiatic
 

I don't know whether it makes a difference, but I never play out of Pearl, I don't like that extended slog into the patrol area. So, Asiatic fleet for me...

It does seem that after the second or third patrol, when you get up past Darwin and into the enemy waters, there are an over-abundance of targets running about. That choke point at the top of Celebs is like a revolving door for Jap merchants, as is the area around Cam Ranh Bay and Saigon.

http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/x...g?t=1257544603

So, maybe it's those starting closer to enemy held areas that are experiencing such a target-rich environment.

I don't use the noob cannons either and still manage to rack up a lot of tonnage... :arrgh!:

God yes. There's more choke points around that are the same too. Just because of the way the terrain is down in that area, you're going to have to pass through at least one of them to get to the patrol zone. Good luck with still having ammo by the time you're through there...

The terrain is actually what I like about playing the asiatic fleet tbh. It's much more varied than just the big open ocean you deal with coming out of pearl. There's islands all over the place you have to worry about, shallow areas (the java sea for example), lots of enemy airbases, and choke points you have to clear to go anywhere. Depending on where you are, there can be some pretty significant tactical ramifications of the terrain. Something I would really like to see is a couple of destroyers stationed at some of those narrow passages to attempt to stop me from getting through. Would be great fun.

Same here, I don't like that vast expanse from Pearl to Luzon, there's just too much goodness around Java and Celebs, you're right. I seem to catch minelayers and assorted cruisers lurking around southern Celebs area sometimes too...

That one choke point is crazy though, that's my 'go to' area if I'm having a slow patrol. I was watching a merchant through the scope once, when WAY off on the horizon I saw another one taking the same track...

I think six is the most I've got in that area in a short amount of time... :doh:

And yea, it's not uncommon to be almost or half out out of torpedoes before even reaching the patrol area.

Find how many vessels were sunk by deck gun by these submarines. Remove Sampans from that list or other small fishing boats. Over all, the cannon was a defense weapon and not an offensive weapon. Later on it became offensive. I think this were you are getting tonnage were tonnage is not due. :03: In my pixel world opinion. :D

Problem is...if there were traffic very close to the real thing you would tire of it quickly. There is an attempt to make the traffic realistic but also to a point were you do not spend weeks seeing nothing. You would have to agree that would really suck after a while. Just for craps and giggles...remember the traffic jam in stock. Compare it to what you have now? Less traffic but enough to keep it fun.

Exactly, it's a tough act to balance. Not enough traffic and folks say 'nothing to shoot', too much and it's 'too easy'. :yep:

To be honest Sevrin, I did use RSRD and did not find traffic. I then just used TMO that had some reworked traffic. I find more ships. Being my time is limited and I do get to sit and play, finding a vessel to sink in that short hour is at a premium. If I had a lot of time to play I would use RSRD all the time. RSRD is a top mod in my book and I enjoyed watching Lurker build it and I enjoyed using it more. :yeah:

Looks like in the newest version of the TMO beta he's done some re-working with the traffic layer, think I'll give that a shot and see what's up. :up:

Since I'm only engaging lightly armed (ie small) ships with the deck gun, or using it to finish crippled ships off (which is correct), take say 20% of my tonnage off the top if you feel badly about it. I personally don't. Most of my kills are with the torpedoes anyways. Still leaves my score far higher than was ever possible, again, without ever seeing an enemy warship outside of a harbor.

Anyways, the deckgun was always meant to be an offensive weapon, even clear back to WWI. True, it fell out of favor with the US fleet for a time, but that does not mean it's there as an ornament. Submarines where just too damn small for that, not to mention the drag penalty underwater.

I don't agree at all. To me, this is a sim and I would rather have realistic traffic. Time compression takes care of not having very many contacts anyways. The trouble with what you're saying is that it basically amounts to this:

The historically accurate large convoys in rsrd are great, but I want something to shoot at. This results in having the convoys where and when they're supposed to be but sea is swarming with solo ships. In other words, the ratio of contact types is totally screwed. Sorry, but the individual merchant spam is not fun, it's tedious target practice.

I don't think there's really less traffic at all. Just less multiship contacts.

And I'm sure that's *exactly* why the stock campaign throws so many contacts down your throat. I'm willing to bet that *proportionally* the stock contacts are just simply more realistic. What I mean by that is in stock you might encounter something like this (these numbers are just rough estimates based solely on my experiences):

5% Task force
20% Larger convoy
40% small convoy
10% hunter killer
25% single ship

(not counting sampans and aircraft and such)

In rsrd, the proportions ballance out to something like this:
1% Task forces
1% Larger convoy
1% small convoy
97% single ship

Those RSRD numbers might come out different if I could even make it to the patrol zone with ammo left consistantly, but not happening in the asiatic fleet anways.

I play SH4 at 83%, I played real life at 100%.:lurk:

I'd say try a patrol out of PH and don't attack anything until you get to your patrol zone. That's the way I play it. I won't attack any ships I see on the way to my patrol zone unless it's a huge value target, like a CV Task Force. Keeps them guessing as to the whereabouts of my boat.:up: