Submarine Stats and a Torpedo Q
 

Is there a place either in the game or elsewhere where I can review stats of the submarines? I find it rather difficult to compare them without some more detailed reference material. For example, test depths, descent and ascent rates, etc are all very nice to know. In SH3 I learned early on that I did not like the slow descent rates of the Type IX, and usually stuck with a VII instead for the faster crash dive. SH4 doesn't seem to present that sort of technical data, and anyway that sort of thing was highly subjective in real life.

I've looked at the historical submarine classes in the Navy archives, but I'm not sure just how close they are modeled, and there is very little detail on the upgrades, not to mention when new subs and upgrades would become available. For example, what is the point of the different radars? Is there any reason not to use the biggest and baddest guns you can lay your hands on? How do I know when various torpedo types are available, what their capabilities are, and if any are better than others?

Maybe I'm just dense, but the programmers seem to assume a lot of detailed knowledge is already present in our minds from previous SH games, and I'm just not keeping up here.

Finally, I find the torpedo loadout screen in base to be very annoying. Is there a mod or a way to make it simply count how many of each class are available like in SH3? Dragging and dropping 30 or more torps into my submarine arsenal one bloody fish at a time is extremely tedious.

Otherwise, I'm back in love with this game after taking a long break waiting for 1.3 to come out. :)

Bump

it depends
 

If you're playing a campaign and are going for realism etc then you wouldn't normally have a choice in what type of sub or it's armament you get (neither did most U-boat skippers).
I actually find that to be an interesting part of the game as a skipper, getting offered a new command (and learning what it can/cannot do) or to stay with my trusty boat (go with what you know).

:up:

SH4 patch 1.4 models WWII torpedos very closely. Here is some information on them:
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/1592/ustorp3.htm
-Pv-

Quick explanation on US subs.

Their design was born from a doctrine of use. They were orginally seen primarly as scouts for the main fleet. (IE, battleship navy) As such, they had to have certain specifications to meet this goal. Suffice to say, US submarines types that saw action, were an evolution in design. Only, the older subs were still in service when we got in the war. In this regard, you saw a wide range of sub types, but all were just different phases of evolution of the end design.

So if we were to take a Darwin styled evolution of sub view of this from the earliest most primative sub to the latest most evolved submarine:

S-class ( 4 tubes forward)
Porpoise class (4 forward /2 aft)
Salmon Class (4 forward/ 4 aft)
Sargo Class (4 forward / 4 aft) - differences from salmon i think varied in fuel and engines.
Tambor Class (6 foward / 4 aft) - recognized as the first fleet submarine that fit the bill of what the navy was looking for

Gar class ( 6 forward / 4 aft) - bit more fuel then the tambor, otherwise identical

Gato class ( 6 forward / 4 aft), deeper diving then tambor and gar class, otherwise not much difference.

Balao class (6 forward / 4 aft) - also known as "thick skinned boats", these were deeper diving then the gato class. (The balao is to the gato what the type 7c/41 is to the type 7c)



The above is what you'll find in Sh4. The biggest difference is that the us didnt do mid range patrol boats. The pacific was a much larger theater, and all patrols were long range. So the boat had to be bigger to have operational capabilities in this theater.

Thanks for the info Ducimus, it will come in handy when changing subs.