GWX2, mines and TC
 

So here I am: It's 22 march 1940. I've just left Wilhemshaven and set course with my IXB due north, passing Helgoland on the eastern side. I set speed at 8 kts, put enough men on the bridge for lookout and set TC at 1024x.

Just pas Helgoland, BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!. TC drops back to 1x. My men scream, dead and wounded are strewn through the ship, the engines stopped. I go to external view, expecting to have been ambushed by an unseen aircraft or destroyer. This is, after all, the time of the Norwegian invasion, so English activity in German and Norwegian waters is above normal. But nothing can be seen. I go to my crewscreen and see that my ship is heavily damaged and leaking in multiple compartments. I also count 3 dead and 2 wounded. I set repaircrews at work and 4 hours later most damage is repaired. My hull is at 45% and both diesels are wrecks. Since I saw nothing, I can only expect a mine.

I scan around the ship using external view to maybe spot more of them, but nothing. I have to quit, but am still in range of Helgoland, so dock there.

I think I hit a mine, but is that even possible when TC is set as high as 1024x? Does a visible mine set off an alarm and TC back to 1x like finding a ship?

It startled the sh*t out of me anyway :D

Try the 'When critically damaged' setting http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...ies/pirate.gif

Is on 1x. I guess that's why it went back to 1x in the first place, but ofcourse after the minestrike.

you can hit the mine at any time compression IIRC... i remember wondering why i would get the sudden death screen and every time i entered a specific area around scapa flow but then it dawned on me.... MINES!

so yeah... you might be on the lookout for mines in shallow waters... and generally while cruising on the surface you probably wont get struck but thats still a risk.

Correctumondo http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...s/thumbsup.gif

You DID hit a mine. I got a message in early 1940 that the British were dropping mines all around Heligoland..especially to the west of it. After January 1940, give Heligoland a wide berth.

Teehee! :arrgh!:

Well then, although I was easterly of Helgoland, I can't have been anything else.
Glad that Lehmann got a good laugh, time for some wide coursesetting then!

Can mines be seen floating in the water, and can I take shots at them with my gun(s) to destroy them?

depends on the depth of the water... i have seen a mine or two break the surface in rough weather... but most mines are set to strik a submarine while at periscope depth so they will be 10 - 15 meters below the surface.

I have not personally encountered mines in water deeper than about 40 meters depth

*DINK !*
Um.. what was that ?
*BOOM !!!*

Precisely :p

I hit one off the Scottish coast. Some are quite shallow.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...621#post745621

This is why I completely try to stay off the continental shelves, especially around enemy countries. I'm not happy unless I'm in a nice deep area.

I remember this story about a u-boat in the Bay of Biscay. They were travelling submereged, and all of a sudden could hear a scraping sound. The skipper concluded pretty quickly that it must be a mine, or the chain more precisely, and fearing that it could snag onto something and pull the mine to their boat he ordered a turn(don't remember which way). The scraping sound moved towards the rear as tension increased, until at some point.... BOOOOM!

I don't remember the boat, when it happened or where I read this, but try to find out. If it's true then there obviously must have been survivors.

edit: Well, it looks like there are several possible boats. For example U-526 and U-171