One thing I think i have noticed....
 

Was on patrol, running submerged and detected a merchant running very fast. Discover that it is a large tanker, and think "he's not getting away from me" so I surface and set a course to run alongside him.

Checking up in the manual, his top speed is 18knts.....same top speed as me. I quickly realise that infact when running alongside him, i'm making no headway, running parallel but not getting ahead nor dropping back. I try for probably nearly 2hrs game time with the engines at flank, trying all sorts of maneuvers to get close without him seeing me in the dawn sun but to no avail.

Long story short, he ups and dissapears.....guess he reached his max "runtime" and the game got rid of him.

But it seems to me, the small ships of little value in tonnage and renown, the game has them running at med-to slow speed making interception on the surface or sometimes submerged for a Uboat quite possible.

Large heavvy ships, like this tanker or form of large warship, the game has tehm running pretty much full speed, making interception frustratingly difficult if not impossible.

Anyone else agree with me on this?? I was so annoyed when that tanker "upped and dissapeared" from me :damn::damn:

Probably reache his final waypoint and was scripted to disappear, therefore avoiding log jams in the game.

A lot of high value/high speed ships sailed alone because the majority of ships were only capable of slow to medium speeds and would therefore only hinder the faster ships progress.

It has been my experience that every once in a while, you get lucky.

This has happened to me several times. I learned that if a ship is between 3500-4000 meters, if I plan it good, I might can put a shell ot two into the engine section. If I can hit, this sometimes causes them to zig-zag which will naturally cause a decrese in speed.

If not, I just radio a contact report and head on out.

i've seen my fair share of ships sail off into the distance myself... it is frustrating when they're doing near 20 knots and you know there's no hope of catching them even with a quick bowshot...

however i did one day come accross a lone passenger liner doing a hefty speed. i got a "Schiff gesichte!" and went to my bridge to see what i'd suddenly run accross and there was this 4 funnel jobby swishing accross my bow with almost a 90° angle...
well i quickly set all four bow tubes up opened caps and promptly converted her to christianity!
took a while to reload but then took one more to finish her. twas a damn fine day that was ;)

Had an absoloute nightmare the other day, sighted an Auxiliary cruiser heading my way, got in line to intercept, but accidentally knocked the time compression too far and he ended up on the other side of me, with no way of catching him.

:shifty:

I don't mean to sound nasty....but that just made me lol thinking of that....the glum looking smiley at the end has something to do with it I think :D

It's better than my efforts.

Had a Task Force heading West in the South Med, Got the absolute perfect spot to get ready for intercept. Had HMS King George V on a 000 Gyroangle coming straight towards me. Waited ten minutes until his range dropped to around 1000m. Making sure he couldn't get away. Two TII's fired off towards him, and I automatically hit 'C'. F~@!ing d'oh :damn:

Cue all destroyers and battle ships hearing me, King George turns and the two torps completely miss him, and I get the depth charging of a life time.

I agree that the game does this.

This is an accurate depiction of what happened. BBs and large tankers travelling alone didn't hang about at low speeds. Many smaller freighters were incapable of speeds above 6-9 knots.