It might also help to deactivate your Damage Control Team prior to Silent Running or else they keep at it, banging, clanging, and making all kinds of racket. I noticed a few times, early on, that when I deactivated them, the DDs would no longer be closing in on me. They won't deactivate during silent running though, you have to do it before rigging for silent running.:03:

You know, I noticed that repairs kept getting done while in silent running mode, but at a much slower pace, or so it seemed. Anyway the tactic of going deep right away, switching to silent running and changing directions, does keep the destroyers at a distance. In fact, they never even dropped any depth charges. But for some reason even when I get out of visual range and I surface, and turn off my radar, they somehow know where I'm at and eventually find me again. This is getting old. So for right now, my situation really hasn't changed.

I told you they were dedicated. :-?
I stay as far away from those little groups as possible.
Your best bet is to get some distance and stay down till they are really GONE.
Use a little TC but not over 8x.

Magic

Just remember MJ, once you're zeroed, it's a long, arduous, time consuming process to get safely away and, you should keep it in real time. No TCing. It's rarely a quick getaway. The only exception that I've ever noticed is sometimes with a fast moving TF. In those cases, the TFs seem to be in a hurry to get someplace and have little time to waste hunting down a pesky sub.
Those little hunter/killer TFs are there, usually for a reason and, in many cases it's because you've been spotted by something (sampan, fishing boat, too close to land, etc.) while in high TC. Also, while you're on the surface trying to get away at flank speed, they can still detect you with passive sonar. Believe it or not, I usually try to stay at standard or full speed when surfaced at a distance to make my screws harder to detect. In clear weather, I don't surface unless I'm about 10nm away. Though in light fog conditions, I've surfaced while just over 7nm away.
Those little hunter/killer groups have no other assignments to worry about except hunting you, to their heart's content. Just be ready for some long, real-time, evasive maneuvers. God Speed.:salute:

Thanks for all the responses and tips. Your insight is appreciated! I wish there was some way of desptroying these pesky buggers! In the original SH I would do down the throat shots quite successfully, but I'm afraid in SH4 they've made that a lot harder, and the destroyers seem so much more lethal in SH4, I'm afraid I wouldn't get away with it just yet.

The down the throat shots are much more dangerous now. The trick is to force them to commit to a head to head course by letting them see your periscope and manuevering your boat and then holding fire until they are less than 700 yards away. It cuts it close because the fish usually don't arm until they run about 500 yards and the risk of a premature or dud could end up killing your boat and crew so i try to only use that as a last resort.

I have my AI set better than stock, but not as good as TMO and they still get me sometimes so the best advice is to just try to avoid or evade them as much as possible.

Also create a training mission so you don't mess up your campaign and train,train and train some more. Start with 1 competent skilled Destroyer and work on giving your position away and evading it and as you get comfortable with that add more and better skilled DDs until you can evade several of them. None of us are 100% comfortable when the hunters come looking for us, but the idea is to change the gut feeling from "Oh S&^% here comes the Escorts" to "Ok, Here they come, time to lose em".

Good Luck! :salute:

Well, for anyone who was curious, I did finally shake those two sub killer destroyers, or at least I think I did. I just stayed underwater in silent running for the whole day, and didn't surface until after sunset. I was able to get my batteries back to full charge, running at 2/3's and was surpised to find another Destroyer on my stern and a little to starboard, heading in the same direction I was although not directly at me, and going at about 19 kts. My first move was to go to flank and out run him, also I wanted to see if he increased speed, which he didn't. When I saw that I decided that he didn't know I was there and I went to periscope depth and went to silent running, and got a perpendicular angle an just let him come to me, still cruising along at 19 kts. I let loose one Mark 10 from about 2800 yds. He spotted my scope and fired one round, but it was too late for him, he never saw the torp and it got him just aft of amidships! I beautiful sight to behold indeed. And this little endevour saved my incomplete status for engaging a task force! Even though it wasn't the same task force, it was a task force nonetheless! But I'm smack dab in the middle of all kinds of traffic!! I have another destroyer closing, but I'm going to save that one for tomorrow! It's been a long day as is!! :arrgh!:

Good job MJ.

Did you ever get sonar working?

Thanks, but I'm not home yet! :) But being a fan of the original game, it feels good to get immersed in SH4.

To answer your question about the sonar though, it's the hydrophones that won't work for me in the Tambor or Gato classes. I posted it in the GFO thread and even sent a pm to Webster. As of yet, no reply.

If/when I finish this patrol successfully, and get back to PH, I'm gonna unload GFO and give FOTRS a try. I've been reading up on that mod and the historically accurate ships is really appealing to me. That way I can see if the hydrophones work then.