Advice on Taskforce hunting?
 

So, as I said in a previous thread, I've yet to see anything larger then a DD. I'm going to be setting out on Patrol 6 shortly. I've just gotten the option for some surface radar and improved SD (Which actually works, I hope?:-? ) so I'm setting out with the singular goal of finding at least a Cruiser sized vessel, the larger the better.

Anyone have any good advice to help me find one or just general advice on where to locate one?

Must...sink...good...warship....:lol:

Oh, and I have the reduced contact report mod as well.

Due to testing Taters improved campaign layers I've started several patrols out of Manilla dec 41. When moving north at about 6-8 kts some 20 - 30 Nm west of the coast line, you'll encounter several landing forces. There's also a TF going south there with 2-3 BB's in it. Ofcourse they're all easy to miss, but hunting on audio by yourself (your sonarman is the worst sonar operator I've ever seen) you can find them.

Good luck

Reg
Bando

Formosa Straits - There in June 42. Got a battleship and heavy cursier. It took a lot of fish and pissed off a bunch of DDs who did a good job of keeping me on my toes, and watch out for the bottom. Good Hunting.

Haha, if I were u, I would first take a glimse of the DD running patterns and so, but if the TF is quick, you must do swift decisions or you miss the golden chance

First, approach with caution. Know how many maneuvering room is avaliable by sending a ping to the sea bottom (you don't want to do this in front of the destroyers, do you?)

Second, approach, keep your periscope down if UNNECESSARY. Find your target (BB? CV? CA?, invasion force?) and figure out its depth (you wanna use magnetic exploders when hunting down these huge foes, don't you) Open torpedo tubes, and set the torpedos so that they're ready to fire. If possible, say, that's a CA and you've aim a salvo of 6 fish on it, you may wish to put a stern torpedo can disable a DD for u so that less trouble later (hunt down them when they are still unaware of your presence before they hunt down you - a sniper game here)

Try to get all fishes explode in the same time, if possible (u may use different speed for different targets)

Once hit and confirmed a kill, (the game is sooooooo silly that it won't give you credit if you don't witness the kill via periscope, which is silly) dive deep, deploy decoy (if avaliable) and sneak away silents

Good luck!

some TFs you eventually come across are nothing more that a few DDs and merchants:-?

That would be a convoy :p

Unless a few of the scripted TFs (the handfull of big battles) have fast TFs, all of them are limited to 11 knots in the stock game because they include organic fleet oilers, and they used the GENERIC tanker option.

They should have used the large modern tanker, and the tanker needs the speed modded up to the 19 knots it could really make.

Try some modded campaign layers so you can have a challenge. Zig-zagging TFs making 18 knots, some dashing without a zig-zag at 24 knots or more...

Many TFs are spotted and all you can do is watch them run away.

Unusual, I've had comfirmed kills not looking at it. As long as you remain within locality that's the ticket.

ummm...yeah. click on the box it shows task force:roll: :-? . i doubt it'll change on 1.3, tho

Same, though I have a had a few ships I sunk (sometimes at great expense) and didn't get credit for. Possibly due to the "respawning ship bug". But generally, I get notified by one of my crew the moment the ship starts going under, as if they have some kind of ESP. It's not too unreasonable if you're at least in the vicinity, as sinking ships tend to be fairly noisy.

As for it being silly that you don't get credit for kills you don't witness: I thought it was realistic. You get credit based on making (credible) reports of your actions. How could command possibly know what you actually sunk? It's not like they have satellite coverage of every square mile of the ocean.

Maybe it's penalising you for using decoys, which the US boats didn't have. :lol:

Not until maybe November/December, 1944, anyway (decoys).

Regarding kill credit, I wish that we'd only get credit for a sinking if the target was observed to sink, or heard to sink (breaking up noises). In RL, even a radar pip disappearing wasn't good enough.

It;s a failing of all games/sims, particularly aircraft sims. I'd love to see games with "kills" counted actually have rules to establish a kill count.

Imagine if SH4 had no "instant success" telling you the taregt was destroyed.

Then you complete the patrol, and get a debriefing screen. You answer some questions regarding ships claimed damaged, sunk, and so forth. Certain log data would be included (breaking up noises, of if the "ship destroyed" state happened while the scope was up, or you were on surface withing visual range). The game would compared the claim vs some rules for the daa it has, and "endorse" your patrol with sinkings and damages. A certain % of kills that you don't witness might get credited (a random %) due to ULTRA information. That would be cool.

Ack. I forgot this thread. Yeah, I did run into a huge ass taskforce at night around Tokyo bay. A Kongo, a Yamato, about 6 CAs, Tankers and a few CLs. I expended my entire forward tubes as soon as I got in range. The DD escorts didn't seem to notice that the Yamato was burning and three CAs had been sunk. I quickly booted it to flank and dove under the taskforce. I emerged on the other side, and unloaded another 5 or 6 torpedos from the stern tubes. DD escorts on that side seemed to notice me but didn't do anything. They just stopped dead in the water at about 1500 meters and I still had my periscope up to observe my torpedoes.

Little difficulty in getting away. I sank both BBs, 4 CAs and 1 CL. Light damage to the modern large tanker. It was still going at top speed, so I left it go. Too risky to bother with another attack just to get that tanker.

Very nice, all and all. Is there a standalone mod to keep the tubes open? I had alot of my torpedos missing because I was in a hurry to get the fish out and get deep before the escorts picked me up, so I flooded them best I could but some didn't open, others were half open. :(

I ran upon a TF in my first patrol that included 4 aircraft carriers. I sank two and a couple of DDs. The carrier a/c will hunt you down, as will the escorts, until you are dead or they are out of depthcharges. Whichever comes first. :rotfl:

My advice is to go for the merchant convoys and single ships. ;) You'll get no help from friendly subs what so ever. There are no subpacks in SH4. :damn: itall.

Oh, the pain of it all! I was just at the end of Patrol 8, when I came across two passenger liners, one of them a "Huge European Liner". I've never seen one of those. Very nice. Being out of torpedoes, I had to surface and pray my deck gun had enough rounds in it to finish them both off. Naturally, it didn't. :shifty: I nailed the smaller liner, but I didn't even faze the huge one with 30 odd shots below the waterline. Frustrated, I poured on the speed and pulled up right beside him and proceeded to empty my entire stock of 20mm AP AA ammo into him. It didn't do much of course, but it made me feel better.

That didn't last long though as a Zero came out of nowhere (or at least my idiot watchmen didn't bother to report it) and dropped a nice little bomb smack dab on my conning tower, blowing into a thousand pieces along with my AA gun and deckgun and killing everyone on deck. :dead:

I'm now limping back to port with what remains of my poor Gato.