SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - Running out of fuel and batteries?

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SUBSIM Radio Room Forums (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/index.php)

- Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/forumdisplay.php?f=202)

- - Running out of fuel and batteries? (https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=193891)

dankm85

03-31-12 12:09 AM

Running out of fuel and batteries?

Is there any course of action if this happens?

donna52522

03-31-12 02:07 AM

Surface to recharge batteries (make sure you have the battery recharge button set to recharging)...Refit or port for more fuel.

I'm goin' down

03-31-12 02:44 AM

A new mod just came out allowing refueling at sea. See the mods forum.

dankm85

03-31-12 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donna52522 (Post 1863232)

Surface to recharge batteries (make sure you have the battery recharge button set to recharging)...Refit or port for more fuel.

Batteri recharge button? Where is this button located?

Regards

Torplexed

03-31-12 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dankm85 (Post 1863342)

Batteri recharge button? Where is this button located?

Regards

It's in the command room set. Tenth from the left. It looks likes a battery. However, in order for it to recharge you need to have working diesel engines to deliver that charge. So, if you are out of fuel, you can't recharge anyway.

dankm85

03-31-12 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torplexed (Post 1863354)

So if you run out of fuel and batteries out of reach of a port its game over?

Torplexed

03-31-12 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dankm85 (Post 1863360)

So if you run out of fuel and batteries out of reach of a port its game over?

Basically yes. I suppose in real life if you were in friendly waters, a tug or tender could be dispatched to rescue you. If in unfriendly waters, maybe another sub could possibly come to your aid or take off the crew so you could scuttle. In either case you would probably be relieved of command for failing to keep an eye on the fuel situation. ;)

SH3 had a teleport home button, but the designers didn't include it in this one. The lesson is, always keep a fuel reserve ample to get you home.

dankm85

03-31-12 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torplexed (Post 1863370)

Tug boats or resupply boats whould be awesome. Why whould they not include that in a Submarine Simulator?

Maybe because that whould encourage people to disregard the fuel gauge and just call in a resupply boat. But what if the supply boat only gave you enough to make it to a specific port. Sometimes this options whould not be availible to make players think twice before disregarding the fuel guage. I think this whould have been awesome lulz :)

Torplexed

03-31-12 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dankm85 (Post 1863373)

I'm not sure why the option wasn't included. However, as far as I know no US submarines ever ran out of fuel in the actual war, so maybe that's the reason why. If your life depends on it you keep an eye on that gauge. ;)

There apparently is a mod for at sea refueling, as I'm goin' down mentioned.

Sailor Steve

03-31-12 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dankm85 (Post 1863373)

Tug boats or resupply boats whould be awesome. Why whould they not include that in a Submarine Simulator?

Because the only "resupply ship" they had was a sub tender, and they stayed in their assigned ports. They weren't going to send an important vessel into enemy waters to rescue a skipper that stupid. If you were within a few miles of a port they might send a tug. But as was pointed out it never happened in real life, so putting it into the game would be unhistorical.

Rockin Robbins

03-31-12 12:35 PM

Also keep in mind that fuel range is not a problem in the game. As long as you keep your speed to 9 knots unless pursuing or maneuvering for position (and there is plenty of extra fuel for lots of that), stay on the surface every second you can so as not to deplete your batteries (recharging batteries takes the same amount of fuel per hour as running wide open), you have PLENTY of fuel to complete your missions, plus accept three or four other assignments before you come back in to port to refuel.

Traveller

03-31-12 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dankm85 (Post 1863209)

Is there any course of action if this happens?

Course of action? Pray.

Just kidding. :DL

As I'm goin' down stated, I just released 2 mods to deal with problems like these... such as running out of fuel, and having destroyed diesel engines, rudders, etc. The mods are called Take Me Home, and Rescue Sub. Both can be used together. Please have a look here:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=193901

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=193872

TorpX

04-01-12 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dankm85 (Post 1863209)

Is there any course of action if this happens?

Yes, there is a course of action. Start the game and select the "START NEW CAREER" option. :har:

Seriously, if you are reasonable prudent, it shouldn't happen (barring battle damage, of course).

dankm85

04-01-12 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TorpX (Post 1863628)

Yes, there is a course of action. Start the game and select the "START NEW CAREER" option. :har:

Seriously, if you are reasonable prudent, it shouldn't happen (barring battle damage, of course).

It actually happend to me since im a Semi noob in the Silent Hunter games :P i still have not gotten a hang of manual aiming yet lol my torpedoes tend to bypass their targets quite often :D

I had been on a patrol of the coast of Japan and later was on my way back to Pearl Harbor. Along the way i encountered a lot of lonely Japanese merchant ships that i was constantly chasing down with my Epic Deck gun.

I did notice that the fuel was running low but i reconed i got batteries anyways so its kewl"DERP" I was pretty close to my destination when i ran out of fuel and batteries.

I did not know at the time that i needed fuel to be able to recharge the batteries . I thought i could run out of fuel and still recharge them so thats how i ended up stranded and led me to start this thread.

TorpX

04-01-12 11:33 PM

Once I start getting close to the 50% mark, I check and recheck my fuel (almost obsesively you might say). With RFB, your navigator can give you the range at current speed, which is very helpful. On one patrol I had trouble finding targets and stayed out a long time. When I finally got back to Brisbane, I only had about 3% of my fuel left. That is really cutting it too close, but I had done my math carefully; otherwise I wouldn't have risked it.

The game is pretty generous in many ways, but in case you don't know this already, don't use real-life distances from outside sources for your in-game plans. They won't match up. The in-game charts are based on a "flat-earth" model and are distorted (i.e. stretched).

themrwho

04-02-12 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve (Post 1863377)

CASE A
If a U-boat captain miscalculates fuel consumption and finds himself being in position unable to reach a friendly port, it makes perfect sense that BdU would not be sending any help [supply ship] to the fool.

CASE B
However, if the U-boat is damaged due to enemy action, I find it reasonable that BdU would send help. What is the other option, simply removing it from naval register and marking them in "eternal patrol (due to zero fuel)"?

What do you guys think about case B?

Dread Knot

04-02-12 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by themrwho (Post 1864225)

What do you guys think about case B?

I believe in case B they would send a U-Boat (if possible) to take off the crew and scuttle the boat. I seem to recall reading about one such effort which result in a standing room only journey home for the evacuated crew. However, if you're far behind enemy lines with no realistic options you just have to surrender to local sea or air forces and then scuttle the ship, which a few heavily damaged U-Boats did. The damaged US sub Grenadier was also forced to exercise this option.

Rockin Robbins

04-03-12 12:48 PM

When one US sub was grounded, Pearl sent another sub to take the crew off and shell the other boat to death. That's about the best that could be expected.

This return to base option and rescue sub is just hokey:nope:. Why not just equip the boat with semi-nuclear 40mm AA guns..... Wait! I've done that!:D:D:D

Bilge_Rat

04-03-12 01:21 PM

Actually I did read in Blair's book about a few U-Boats which found themselves mid-Atlantic with not enough fuel to return to base, usually when the Kaleun cut things a bit too close and something unforeseen happened, like the boat being blown off course by a storm. Typical response from BDU was to send another U-Boat to rendezvous and transfer fuel.

I have not read about anything similar in the Pacific, but then Fleet Boats had lots of fuel, average range 15,000 miles vs 6,500 nm for a VIIb/c.

As a skipper, I check fuel daily when out on patrol and am always recalculating the point at which I have to go back (usually when I have 30-40% fuel left).

Checking how much gas you have left is your most important job as skipper.

themrwho

04-03-12 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat (Post 1864855)

That's what I thought. I am still looking for VIIB prices but must be at least USD 10M, too expensive to simply abandon due to fuel, or minor damage to engines.

Not only expensive in terms of financial worth but also too costly to abandon a U-boat since they never had enough for the 'tonnage war' they will try and hold on to each and every boat, even if it is semi-done.

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