Wasting Torpedoes
 

There have been threads in the past in which playing styles were discussed, and two of the responses have been "I don't waste torpedoes on anything under 1000/2000/5000 tons" and "the deck guns aren't powerful enough".

I've just found yet another example of real-life kaleuns going against both of those statements. When Hans-Werner Kraus, captain of U-83, attacked the very old Egyptian steamer Said, which displaced a whopping 231 tons, he fired two torpedoes, both of which missed, and then spent 50 rounds from his deck gun sinking the little ship. Of course it doesn't say how many of those rounds missed, but still...
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/1755.html

Aye RL Uboats didnt come across targets as often as we do in SH3
Target was a target whatever the tonnage

U 19 - 1 warship sunk for a total of 441 tons
U 24 - 5 warships sunk for a total of 571 tons
U 653 - 1 warship sunk for a total of 840 tons

On the other hand...

Here's a u-boat sinking four wooden sailing ships - all by ramming!:rotfl:
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/3181.html

Exactly!:yep:

I cannot say for GWX, since my computer won't run it, but I see way too many targets.(most of the time!)

I still use the auto-TDC, which is WAY too reliable, so I usually fire off 2-3 torps into the sea at the beginning of a patrol to count as 'misses/malfunctions'. I also fire two torpedoes at anything more than 3000 tons. I know I can sink them with one, but I assume a real Kaleun would not know that. Therefore a good patrol is maybe 20,000 to 30,000 tons=4-7 ships.

GWX cuts way down on the contacts, but still more than real life. I stay in my assigned grid for the whole patrol, which makes a big difference in that respec.

I use manual targetting, but still use Weapons Officer Assistance, and I do several sightings for each shot just as if I was making the calculations. It's surprising how many times I still miss. I too consider 20,000 tons a great patrol.

Oh, I don't know.
To me GWX is most authentic! Sometimes I get so sink a big cargo with just one Torpedo and other times it has to be more or too many!

As for the contacts...well i just spent 33 days in a VIIB and the majority of it was just cruising around and burning fuel on uncle Karls bill!:hmm:

I wasn't saying it's not. I agree with you. I was just saying that it still gives more contacts than real life, and I don't think that can be fixed.

You could probably reduce them but tis a trade of with gameplay and realism
Nobody would want to go out patrol after patrol and sink one or two ships
Or
None at all

In one of the first patrols of my curent career, still on Type II, I hit 2000t Small Merchant with one torpedo. She stoped, listed to port but didn't sink. I fired a coup de grace, but she was still afloat. :o
Reluctant to fire my last torpedo, I surfaced and used my flak gun :arrgh!:. I spent all the ammo (some 800 rounds), but didn't sink her.
Finaly I fired my last torpedo, sank her and return home with some 5000 t. :D

you can have it more realistic: try to shot manually and estimate the height of the targets mast for range input. also estimate the AOB, like real Kaleuns did. if time is short, estimate targets speed only by watching the bow wave. this estimations real kaleuns must do sometimes (when there was not enough time to do long observations because of the targets high speed). if you shot this way, you will have lots of eel wasting, thats for sure. by the way, the manual should be less acurate in mast heights etc, this would force the player to estimate. this would be more authentic. also tonnage should be estimated...

greetz, Jaeger

I agree. I do wonder though if it would just be a matter of adding 'Realistic' contacts to the options menu???

I find that I always seem to find a ship or convoy when it is most inconvient(real world issue)! Hours of drifting around and then just as the wife calls out, "We need to go to the store!" I get the SHIP SIGHTED! message...!:damn:

If anything its singles
No real data on those especially from neutral countries whom we know sailed as needed goods etc
Convoys are pretty well documented but can only be used in the Rnd as a repeating instance of the same convoy with timed spacings that can get as close as RL
Of course singles handled the same way

I think from SH3s POV its that sensors will always be better than they were and of course positioning is always spot on

Even with reduced map contacts the ones that are left are always accurately plotted whereas radio position reports from other uboats would have only been as good as their actual plotting and positioning was to start with
Then factor in your own position keeping to get to that position was no wonder many boats never found contacts they had info on

Thats where SH3 has the edge over RL
You always know where in the sea you and the contact is
Your sensors always work as were intended

I try not to let these issues worry me. I enjoy SH3 immensely, regardless of the accuracy of history.

If you follow SOP, as laid down in the U-Boat Commander's Handbook, the target in your sights is worth more than the huge merchant you have yet to find. Kaleuns that held off from engaging a target because it was too small to be considered a worthy addition to their tonnage score usually would find themselves in a world of trouble from BdU.

Donitz wanted his commanders to be like aggressive attack dogs. :gulp:

Sink 'em all! :arrgh!:

I just want to say i discovered a new function to sh3contacts program, if you set x% of the single ships or convoy, to an spawn probality of -100 (the program will substract 100% to the prob. of that ship / convoy to appear. the problem is that gwx adds to the scripted campaign a lot of single ships (the tool only modifies the random campaign) but anyways it should empty the sea a lot.
if you want to try:
Single ships: 90%
% more spawn probability: -100
probability of report: must write somethig
minutes: must type something.
Check 'Write new values' single ships: YES checked.