Supply ship question
 

Can someone tell me why it takes a month to refuel and rearm from a supply ship? Is there a fix for this?

And I remember reading something about it taking only 1 day with Commander or something,but I use Commander..

It's supposed to be automatic with Commander, but if you're having a problem just set the Days-In-Base to 1 manually, before starting again. Don't forget to change it back later, though.

I had the same deal two patrols ago. I use Commander(though a older version) and I also thought that it factored in when you stop at a supply ship rather than base. I have my time at BASE set for 30 days. I stopped at a supply ship expecting a 24hr stop and was stuck there 30 days. I just reloaded a previous save and didn't need the supply ship after all. I would like to know for future stops though.

Maybe the days in port fix doesn't work if 'Days in port:' is turned on? :hmmm:

:hmmm:

Would the "Randomize Days in Port" option cause it too?

Commander should automatically detect where you've docked and set the time to one day :hmmm:

Hmm,Strange. I'm not sure I'm using the latest version of cmndr though,could that be the problem?

I have a related q: how many times would a Uboat realistically dock at a supply ship/Milchow, before returning to base? I've been in the mid atlantic and I've resupplied off a milchow like 4 times, and hence my boys have been at sea for like 4 months or so. Should I be expecting a mutiny soon? When should my conscience force me back to base?

P.S. If I take hull damage or irreparable equipment damage, I go back. But failing that, I just grab more torps, fuel, food, and keep hunting...

I'd have thought (making a balance between historical facts and gameplay conditions) that if your on an extremely distant patrol, once on your outward journey and the same on the return.

That sounds right. But for a Type VII working the western approaches, did they resupply from milchows or did they just go back to Lorient? It seems logical to stay in the air-gap if possible.

I'm pretty sure they were mainly for u-boats heading home from a patrol to pick up enough supplies to get them there. Even a supply submarine couldn't carry enough supplies to keep several operational boats on station. Torpedoes take up a lot of space.

This is a mistake players make in SH4 as well, 'refitting' over and over again when in actuality forward bases were there to give the subs a couple extra torps for protection and enough fuel to get where they needed to.

From the SH3Cmdr User Guide...
So, three things to keep in mind:

1. If you have *any* damage, you will be docked for the one day plus however many days it takes to repair the damage.
2. If, for whatever reason, you want to remain in base for only one day (plus any aforementioned damage time) regardless of where you are docked, simply change the Commander status to "In other base before patrol x" (to do this, in case it's not obvious, just click on the link to the right of "Status" on the main screen). To use the "standard" number of days in base (as per your "Career Options" settings), change it to "In home base before patrol x". If you are docked anywhere other than your home base, the status should default to "In other base before patrol x".
3. SH3 has a bug which manifests itself in patrol dates - I'm too lazy to explain it, but a search will find it.