What is the point of status reports?
 

What function, if any, are they supposed to serve? I run vanilla sh3, and all they seem to do is say "be more aggressive" or "well done" or "rtb". They never seem to draw in air units, or other subs or anything else - what's the point of them?

I believe it had somthing to do with an never implanted function in wich BDU would send you new orders if you where ready with your original orders.

But i can be wrong...


Grtz Tijn

@Tijn probably true.

When all your torpedos are expended and you send a report BDU will tell you to go to port. Reporting contacts alerts the Luftwaffen and other uboats in the vicinity that could help (GWX). Other than that, not much else happens with it.

I'm not certain, but I think I read where the allies can possibly here your sent messages depending on where you are and what time of year.

Because of that I _always_ change my course and speed immediately after sending any radio message. But I keep sending them, even if it's no use, as I would do in real u-boot as a real kaleun — realism has high priority here. :)

I do the same Mumit. After I sink one I send a message and haul butt out of there just in case someone other than BDU is listening!

Sending radio messages does indeed have a chance of drawing Allied units to your position (simulating huff duff). On more than one occasion I've had DD's come steaming directly towards me after sending a radio message. Sending contact reports has a chance of prompting an Axis air strike, if you're within range of an Axis air base.

Sending patrol reports doesn't really do anything. I send them anyways to role play position and status reports being sent to BdU, and I pretend not to know about HF/DF just like the real Kaleuns didn't.

Radio reports
 

BDU required the boats to send in periodic reports (?daily), in spite of the fact that the Gestapo used the triangulation technique to locate clandestine radio of the resistance. BDU apparently didn't think this worked at sea, but it did.

I send patrol reports for two reasons: one is to simulate reality, the other is when I'm out of fish and haven't reached my patrol area (or haven't been there the entire 24 hours yet) and so can be officially told I can return to port.

As for contact reports, I send them out of realism, too, although I've noticed with GWX that I'll actually see real responses to contact reports other than having the Luftwaffe show up. My last patrol I'd shadowed a convoy after expending all my torpedoes, and send a contact report every 12 hours. After my second one, after a few hours I actually saw appear on my nav map the convoy I was shadowing, with the actual course, speed and location where it was!

I would have loved to see if other U-boats had shown up after a while, but unfortunately I lost contact later that night and couldn't re-establish contact with it. :(

*edit: I do wish we got more understanding responses to our patrol reports, especially when I've been hammered to heck, my boat is falling apart and I'm still told to be 'more aggressive'!

I send patrol reports for the immersion factor.

I send status reports so that I don't need to add up my tonnage :lol:

:lol:

I did send status reports in AoD to get ordered to the next milkcow when I was out of torpedoes, I shadowed convoys and reported their position until a big enough wolfpack was waiting and I got orders to attack, but in SH3 it's not of much use, vanilla that is. Haven't tried so far in GWX, but from various reports I've read, there'll also be wolfpacks coming. I wonder if I wouldn't have enough fuel to get back to Kiel, but enough to get to Cadiz if I would get orders to sail to the Thalia supply vessel?

I sent one a day at 2100 (German Submarine Time...not local time) so the Lion can get the big picture of his wolves.

Realism baby.:up:

This is a result of my sending in a contact report:

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...8-1-2007_1.jpg

Half a day later the convoy I was shadowing, and had sent the report in for, appeared. Yay!

I hardly ever send a report unless Im out or torpedos,Now saying that if a uboat in RL didn't send a report in how long would it be before she was listed as missing or overdue?