How close before being detected?
 

First let me say that I'm playing with the Grey Wolves mod. I encountered a convoy during the night and got 6 hits out of 6 fish. Howevver; I was only able to do this because of the map updates. I can't see anything in the pitch black until I'm just a few hundred meters away. Once the convoy had passed I popped up and engaged a dead in the water cargo ship with my deck gun. Again, I could barely see him until I was 400m away. Once I started shooting he turned on his spotlight and made it much easier to see. :) Unfortunately, it also made it easier for someone to see and shoot at me (not sure if it was the cargo or some other ship, but the nearest warship was over 3k away). So, if I can barely see these ships at those ranges, how close can I expect to get when surfaced before they see me?

In the blue darkness before comlplete darkness y ou can get to under a Kilometre but you can't get inside the convoy until its totally dark. Later on visual detection is your last concern. But in the first few years in the night you can get pretty close.

Using TGW1.1a I've run a couple of tests and depending on the light conditions I can get to within 300m on the surface before getting seen by a merchant. It's not so easy againsta a destoyer and the best I could do was 800m in total darkness.

I think it also depends a lot on the crew rating of the target. If they are elite you'll be lucky to get within 3km!

Hello

In the begining of the war you can get really close with impunity. As years pass though you have to be really careful. Usually I try to get if possible within 1000m of my target. The visibility depends on the weather conditions as well. If there is heavy fog you can't see almost anything after about 250-300m. Also if you find it difficult to see in the night try to alter your monitor settings. If this doesn't work then try to insatall the light version of the visibility mod in GW.

Good Luck and Good Shooting

Yes, are you having trouble see or was this just a question on detection? In all reality, pitch black, the U-boat could be within the convoy motoring about without being detected. Usually detection was made by radar or the tanker that has just exploded. My set up and monitor allows me to see ships about 4000m off. My watch is like Eagle Eye GI Joe, they can see them 15000m off. I guess they eat their carrots!

:D :D

I guess Cue-Ball had a problem seeing the ships on the monitor as he said in the original post that he was using the map updates. To use the map updates you have to have visual contact. Unfortunatelly my watch crew don't like carrots so they see the enemy at the norla distances of 4500-400m (depending on the weather). I think I'll change their diet ;) ;)

Attempt to brigthen the monitor. There are some other threads in the mods forum on this issue. Check them out for a possible answer.

Am I the only one who uses a dark shirt as a monitor "hood" in low light conditions? My girlfriend laughs, tells my I look like an old time photographer. It makes a real difference, no glare and after a minute or two your eyes begin to adjust.

This is correct. My crew can see the ships several thousand meters out but I can't see anything but black unless I happen to catch them when they're somehow backlit. It seems more realistic that I can't see anything in the middle of the Atlantic with nothing but stars for light. But, it's also damn near unplayable. If I didn't have map updates on I'd sail right past convoys 2000m away without even knowing it.

I'll see about lightening the screen, but it's a projector so I'm not sure how much I can do that without washing out the colors. It would be nice if there were some way to calibrate the black levels for the game.

I think this must be true. I am usually at night able to come up even to a destroyer at around 1KM, send off two torpedoes, and slip away without him ever knowing (until the package is delivered of course). Last night I was at periscope depth, in the middle of the night, with my attack periscope up lowered to just barely over the waterline. A tugboat detected me from about 3.5km away and immediately began taking evasive action. Total bummer as I was hoping to pop up on him at about 1.5km and give him a deck gun salute!

I do keep the lights low to see. Mid-day play is very hard for me with the sun. This does help, low back light. Just hard to see the keyboard. One simmer here uses a red light on his desk. So hey, why not lower the lights :hmm:

I don't have the lights on, and not everybody has a dedicated dark room for this game.

lol never had a problem with this, the chap with the darkshirt takes it though!:up:

I bought myself a Saitek keyboard that backlights the keys so I can play in pitch darkness and still see the keys with just a slight blue glow :up:

I have a red globe in the desk lamp for night ops! Give the room that erie red glow so I can see my keyboard and still see in the dark of the screen.

I must say it hurts a bit when I get up to make a cuppa though. Bright lights in the Kitchen. (mutters to self, must get red globes for kitchen).