ok i understand the fuel numbers now, and i have arrived at my assigned patrol grid now. I am guessing this will be a pretty lame duck patrol, since it is still mid august 1939, and we arent at war yet. I will spend a couple weeks in the general area and then head back. By then it should be around the first few days of September, and i bet they will turn me loose to attack on the trip home. So far i have had two contacts the whole trip out, im blaming the weather for that, since it has been horrible. Ive used the opportunity of contacts to practice getting close and in good positions to fire.

Don't forget the time spent in port! If I remember correctly it is 28 days so you should do a short first patrol to make sure you can be back out and ready when the balloon goes up :salute:

Thats true, but since im already out here, and about 3 weeks from the start of the war, i might as well stay out here for awhile since in my virtual world, we are not sure exactly when the war will start, and the trip home will be weapons free. Then ill get back to port and from then on it will be ON.:D

Ah, true enough kaleun :salute:

I took U-46 out for a brief tour of the Baltic but returned to port after hearing the radio messages telling us to relocate...obviously tensions were coming to a head and we wanted out of the confined waters of the Ostsee before the shooting started


But then I am early 1941 and speaking to you via magic radio :haha:

Have fun on that first patrol!

Actually, if your running GWX, you should take a quick spin out in the harbor, and then dock again. This will then allow you to modify your boat, as changing things prior to your first patrol have been known to cause problems.


I also have edit the renown reward for hitting my patrol zone, and so, using SHC, I edit my first PZ for somewhere either in the baltic or North Sea so I can take a spin, do some test dives, then return to port.

good advice...ill have to try that with a career after this one. I just returned to port and it is august 20, 1939. I figure about 3 weeks or so in port (hope the SHC randomiser is good to me) then i can get back out there and start blowing things up

I know this is true for nygm but not sure if gwx models this, but if in a large storm don't u burn more fuel going at 8 knots? Ie burning more fuel going against those huge waves. I always thought that was a cool little feature to add more realism to the uboot game



Edit. O and for the OP can you post your mod loadout when u are done?:up:

the storm does slow you down in gwx but youre still turning for 8 knots, storm or not, and yes it is a realistic feature:03:

as for my mod loadout, it is probably shorter than most

GWX 3.0 Gold
GWX Captain America's Officer Icons
GWX Enhanced Damage Effects
GWX VIIC41 Player Sub
GWX No Medals On Crew
GWX Main Movie Das Boot
GWX Alternative Loadscreen Full Circle
GWX 16km Atmosphere
GWX Merged Campaign
Merchant Fleet Mod 3.2
MFM Skin Pack 1
MFM Skin Pack 2
Radio Deutschland (i love the music in this mod)
Thomsens Sound Pack 3.2
WB's Decks Awash/Fuel Economy
TDW's Water Disturbance 4.0

and of course SH3 Commander with its various tweaks

and thats it, i think that all that pretty much makes this sim perfect.:up:

Well, if you're comparing making 8 knots in flat water and in a storm, then yes I believe it's modeled in the game. I believe it runs off of RPM's, not speed. So the energy to maintain 8 knots when your looking up at the water about to knock you off the bridge is greater than fishing weather.

Here's how you do it the realistic way. Make that first patrol on August 1. Cruise around the harbor (or not - I like to is all) and dock. Go to Commander and change the Days In Base to 18. Give all your POs qualifications, as they have them in real life. That's what a petty officer is. Upgrade whatever you want to, and start your second patrol. You will be one of the 14 u-boats that was actually sent out on August 19. Go to your assigned grid and wait for the war to start. After your first "real" patrol is over, reset the Days In Base to Random, and you're good to go.

I also do this with careers I start later in the war. That way you don't always start the first patrol on the 1st of whatever month it is.

I read Blair, but I'm a little fuzzy on this. Did BDU know that war was that imminent and they hurried them into position, or were they planned deployments to synchronize with the start of war, or was BDu just aware that war was imminent and they were getting boats into place jus in case?

From what I've read, they (meaning the KM higher-ups) knew that an incursion into Poland was imminent, and IIRC by mid-August they had been informed of the date it was expected to begin. Nobody knew for sure how England and France would react, but of course they knew that both countries were bound by treaty to come to Poland's aid in the event of aggression by Germany.

Given what Hitler had already gotten away with over the previous few years, it was no doubt hoped (and maybe to some degree expected) that the rest of Europe would look the other way or perhaps send a strongly worded letter to Berlin and that would be it.

Nevertheless, the possibility of war with England (and France) was always a potential result of aggression against Poland, so as many boats as could be made ready were sent out in order to have them on station should that possibility become reality. I think I even read somewhere about various people being called back early from leave when their superiors got word of what was coming, they were really scrambling to be as prepared as possible for the potential fallout.

For the KM, war with England was a "worst case scenario" they knew they might have to deal with and at a great disadvantage given the current state of the KM vs. the Royal Navy. So, yeah, they were very much trying to get as much of a jump on things as they could.

well it is all moot in this case, i deployed, got to my assigned patrol area, did some practice attack runs, and made it home.

which leads me to another question, on the next patrol will my nav map show the location of minefields. GWX's manual has quite a few pages showing you where they are but i was wondering if this was true in the game also.

The map doesn't, but there is a pull-down harbor chart in GWX that will show you the location of anti-sub defenses in Axis harbors.

When it comes to mines laid by the Allies, you're on your own. I can tell you that the area around Helgoland is mined very shortly after the start of the war. With British harbors and coastal areas it should go without saying that you need to proceed with caution.

I've also heard that the area between the Faroes and Britain were mined, but I've passed through there many times (mostly on the surface) without incident. I stay in the deepest part of the passage, the mines are (I assume) more likely to be found nearer the coastlines on either side.

Good idea, still meaning to give this a try...

Cheers for spelling 'er out Steve! :salute: