Amassing tonnage and realism
 

I certainly don't want to have 100,000+ tons by the end of 1942. Just don't seem realistic to me. So what I've done is change tactics. If I come across a TF or Convoy I use the hit and run tactic and try to sink a big target or small. That way I keep my tally within reasonable levels. I know many would love all those juicy targets and I don't blame you. But for me personally that's my take on going through the career.

I feel the same way, hence the question. I just didn't know if the tonnage reported by the other skippers in my career had been muted/dumbed down because I had it set on easy mode, and if I upped the difficulty if their tonnage would increase substantially making it harder for me to compete for top "ace" spot.

Based on their figures, making the assumption that they also completed 7 missions, then they are pulling in around 7000 tonnage every mission. This seems a little low, of course there is now way to tell how many missions that they have run.

Also, if you never exceed 15000 on a patrol will that limit the medals you can be awarded?

Keep in mind too that many a real WWII sub patrol resulted in zero tonnage sunk.

I guess the real problem I have with this is when you get assigned one of the sink enemy merchant patrol missions four/five times in a row, and only seems to complete when you have sunk 10000 tonnage. In such cases you have no choice but to sink that amount or loose renown (not sure why they made the system this way)

This is a big problem I see with the game, as someone said many times a patrol would end with no tonnage.. Is it possible to mod those missions to be more about the time spent on patrol and less about tonnage totals??

And there is the crux of the issue.

How many of "us" as players would plop down the money to play this game if we got missions where we scored a big fat zero?

No "game/sim" will ever replicate real life to that degree. So until that happens, some of us are going to look like we are playing in an arcade.

Fortunately several mods try to address the issue, but I don't think there is ever a mission that I've been on where I haven't had at least 1 shot at a target.

Agreed. We have people already who are complaining "where is the Japanese Navy?" when playing with the mods. Given the amount of time that major Japanese units spent in port refitting or preparing for operations it was the rare American skipper that got a shot at a capital ship, but there seems to be this mentality that Japan's carriers, battleships and cruisers are supposed to glorified patrol ships wandering aimlessly across the Pacific, burning Japan's limited stocks of oil so a sub can cross their path and attack them.

I had one where all I bagged was a 500-ton subchaser during a 27 day patrol. I still had a blast. And snagged all sorts of renown and a new boat because I completed all assigned missions.

What I don't get is players who run RSRD and then whine about the lack of shipping or task forces. To say nothing of players who whine about this in stock!

Ah, some are missing the point as usual.:nope: What I'm saying here is not the availability or not of traffic is when I do meet one I do not sink all of them and come home with the whole IJN fleet. What I decided to do is select either the biggest, slowest one or any other one that is easiest then get the hell outta dodge.

I have yet to really be faced with the dilemma of only shooting one target. Most of the time I only come across one target. If I do come across a convoy, I only shoot at one and dive to avoid detection just to make life easier for me. :)

Different situation
 

Here I am finally surfaced after being hounded by 4 escorts guarding this convoy. I only expected two, sank one and then found three good ones above me. Went to 515 feet and danced like my life depended on it. Now I'm on the surface, with radar on, able to take inventory for the first time. This convoy originally: 1 merchie, 4 escorts. Now: 1 merchie 3 escorts:arrgh!:.

Well, you're never gonna stack up tonnage with that but man, the escorts are fun!

So here I am, September, 1944, plenty of targets, but no longer unescorted. As a matter of fact in my last six convoys escorts have outnumbered merchies 2 to 1. TM+RSRD+NSM.

It's almost daybreak. The DDs kept me down almost all night. I radioed in a report and headed for the merchie. The escorts will get there first. Unless my orders say otherwise I'll conduct a daylight attack. If detected, my plan is to bag another escort. 3-1 odds against: they got me right where I want 'em!:arrgh!:

Do you load up on Mk 27s in the aft torpedo room? I always bring 2 27's and 6 18's for pesky DDs. If I don't see any near the end of the patrol, I use the 18's on merchies and bring the 27's home for another day - unless I accidentally fire the wrong aft tube. I blew the propeller and rudder clean off of an old european freighter with a 27 by mistake. She went down stern first.

That's my next cruise.
 

I'm going to load up with a 50/50 mix of Mk 18s and Mk 27s both front and back to test out the Mk 27's on the merchies. Actually against the DDs so far nothing beats a nice fast Mk 23. But the Mk 18s are nearly as good if you wait until 350 yards to shoot. The problem with DDs in NSM is that their bows are heavily armored and they usually complete their run before sinking or not sinking (goes about 50/50). It seems to make the others more timid and buy your escape though, and you'll never get rich on tonnage off escorts anyway.

The cutie remote control trick is fun with multiple DDs above you too!

I've been on my first patrol since December 7th...It's now Jan 28th and I've just re-supplied in Java...........25,000 tons so far.........

How many times can you "refit" before you have to go back to home base and end a Patrol?

Good question. I actually didn't know what the difference was between refit and patrol end, to be honest. I ended my first patrol (failed for some reason to patrol that sea off Borneo despite being a long while before setting off and sinking a couple merchants). Now I'm running supplies to Formosa but keep running into passenger liners on the run north... two down so far and one more in my sites. I'm currently playing Stingray, too.

On Easy still, but once I lose this campaign, I'll probably alter settings slightly.

Best hunt so far was picking off an 18k ton liner in the middle of four escorts in the middle of the night. I was sitting silent 300 yards away from the liner, the lead escort having gone overhead none the wiser, when I put three fish into its aft section. I then went silent running at 90 degree angle and slipped under three hardcore depth-charging destroyers. Never saw the fourth, which I assume was further south doing the same thing.