Refueling
 

Hi guy's,

On my current mission i left from Surabaya, patrolled the Celebes and the South Chinese sea.
While on patrol Surabaya has been invaded by Japan.
So i got orders to return to Fremantle, Australia.
Although my speed during my mission was never over 8 knots my fuel reserve isn't enough to get back to base in Fremantle, even not to Darwin.
I know Darwin is not a base but maybe it's possible to refuel there?

And how about other ports, is it possible to refuel there?
I mean ports like Singapore, Saigon or other asian ports?

Last question: why are friendly and enemy bases the same colour?
In SH3 you could easily see which ports where axis or allied-side.

Thanks and best regards,
fvd

Sorry mate, but you can only refuel at ports that either have a solid blue or stripped anchor. The only thing left to do for you: Dive beyond crush depth so that the Japanese don't get your sub in their little hands.

I think it's important for all new players to understand the forward bases in the southern command WILL get over-run and to plan your fuel accordingly (even if it means you cut a mission short.) Use your time to best advantage to sink as much tonnage as possible before heading back to Australia. Keep an extra 500 miles in reserve.
-Pv-

The Commanders back then didn't know the future in that there bases would be overran nor should a new player.

This is a small but important thing that should be fixed.

I know from experience that by the time you get the radio message your past the point of no return.

Yup... another call for the RTB button.

Re
 

I agree with Firewall!

I can't imagine that in the "real" war back then, all boat's were left without help or assistance when there home bases were captured by Japanese forces.
I assume that refueling ships have been sent out to help these boats, no?
If i am right, why isn't this possibility included in the game?

Best regards,
fvd

Well, that's the difference between the real war and a sim. In the real war skippers kept abreast of developments on land by listening to a constant stream of civilian radio and reports from headquarters and even scuttlebut. You could plan your fuel radius accordingly. As has been noted all you get in the game is a report after the fact. As for fuel, it could probably have been scrounged up almost anywhere from the thousands of small seaports, ferry landings and villages you don't see located on your SH4 map. There was a great deal of small intercoastal traffic in Indonesia even back then.

Row, row, row yer boat . . . :rotfl:

Start a new career, or reload your game if you did so early enough. If you're starting from Cavite, you may have just enough time to refuel before the Japs close the base if you hurry back when you get the message. The anchorage will remain blue for a little while (but not for long). If you miss the timing, break off your patrol and go directly to Surabaya. There may be some traffic through the Celebes Sea and Makasar Strait to rack up some tonnage on the way back.

Good hunting

Torplexed explained how they could avoid being caught out when a forward base fell to the enemy, but no, they wouldn't send a tender into enemy-controlled waters, and they didn't have the resources to escort a mission like that, or the area wouldn't have fallen.

In real life they could also tell which way the fight was going and plan accordingly. Any sub setting out in that period should have enough fuel to make it to a friendly port.

We have a radio .

We do, but the majority (me included) never listens to it. It distracts me and if I want to listen to it I have to crank the volume up because I can hardly hear what the guy is telling me. And there's another thing that annoys me: When I enter my base after weeks of patrolling I still listen to the same show I tuned in when I was leaving my base- that's hardly realistic.:p
Ok, forget my last point, I was just trying to be funny.:88)

I was thinking it have been cool to have a graphic device in the game like a fuel radius circle that you could toggle to show how far you can go on what's left in the tanks. As it is, you kinda have to go on instinct. "I spent this percentage of fuel getting here....I need at least that much to get back."

In all my reading I don't know of one instance where a US sub ran outta gas. Must have had someone on board doing the math all the time. ;)

If you were to run short near a US base I could see a tanker or tender being dispatched to your rescue. But like Sailor Steve said, not deep in Empire waters without air cover.

Somebody like the LI in Das Boot.

"Um, sir, we really should be thinking about heading for home..."
"Not now! Another six hours at flank and we'll catch that convoy!"
"But sir..."

Dive, dive.......
 

I don't know how much fuel you have. A solution is to dive and surface to recharge batteries + O2. You can make the return trip to your base. Some time ago, I had only 15% fuel and I made back from Honshu to Pearl. I dive deep and surfaced for short time to recharge batteries and clear the environment. Since that time I run my fish about 10 nm per hour (except in some peculiar situations). Your fuel will go for almost 13,000 nm. Good luck and good fishing.:arrgh!:

There is a small edit you can make to the commands.cfg file with Notepad which provides a very good estimation of how much fuel you will use at a particular engine setting. Use it while fully surfaced and the batteries fully charged. Add the following code and press shift-G:

[Cmd257]
Name=Report_time_to_turn
Ctxt=1
MnID=0x3F250002
Key0=0x47,s,"Shift+G"

-Pv-