Task Forces
 

Has anyone noticed that Carrier & Battleship task forces seem to be more common in the Pacific theatre than in SH3?? I came across a massive Jap battlefleet yesterday with about 2 battleships, and 5 cruisers.....all sailing in a STRAIGHT column instead of scatterd out like a convoy. The carrier group I encountered were also sailing the same way, in a column.

Alas I haven't sunk any battleships or carrier's yet....they're alwys heading in the other direction or i'm just simply in a bad attack position to begin with. Hopefully it shouldn't be too long before I get lucky though :)

Go grab Tater's improved campaign layers mod. Tater has more realistic convoys, ship types and shipping lanes. Vanilla version of the game has something like six Yamato battleships floating around. A bit much, yes.

I'll give it a go, but speaking of task forces, i'm sitting near one just now. Its nearly 15:00hrs game time, and they don't appear to be moving at too great a speed from what I can see, but i'm not exactly an expert. lol. I dove down to 200ft to put myself beneath the thermal layer.

Anyone got any approach tips on how I could get into a firing position on one of these battleships in this task force?

There's medium-to heavyish seas and a light fog. I thought of surfacing and trying to go flank to get into an attack position, but all to often, with convoys I always seems to somehow get seen :S if i'm seen near a task force, I risk those battleship guns tearing me a new one at long range. lol

What I do is get in front of them. Submerged. All stop. Let them come at me. Key is silent running and all stop or 1-2 knots. Attempt to come into the convoy at their 10:00 or 2:00 position. Usually you will find the DD at the front, both sides and the rear. Aim for the fat ships!

What speed do you reckon I could approach them at?? If i'm beneath the thermal layer, could I risk making 5 knots by approaching at ahead standard?? I'm already at 200ft and rigged for silent running.

TFs were more common in the PTO than the ETO. The KM was really incapable of doing more than sneaking a couple warships out, as a result, there was little need for massive naval TFs (never mind that any good size convoy in the Atlantic after the Casablanca formula likely had more warships in it than the whole KM possessed).

tater

Well, it doesn't matter anymore I guess, a destroyer came right over and DC'd me to the depths, 2nd patrol, all hands lost :S only medal I was awarded was the Purple Heart, and some text with the Navy saying the Admiralty scrubbed my record because my service was "abysmal" :S that's not very fair considering it was only the 2nd patrol and I hardly encountered any ships, and those that I did always had me in a bad attack position :(

Start again I guess.

Also, does anyone know where I can grab this Tater's Layer campaign that's been mentioned? That apparently has better convoys and such :)

Cheers guys

They be here http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=116283 and well worth the download. Wouldn't sail without 'em.

Next time you need to find a mod, look at Excalibur Bane's excellent list of 1.3 compatible mods at http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=118945 That and your browser's "find" button will get you just about anything you can think of.

Enjoy:arrgh!: