Firing blind
 

I'm in the process of finishing my first patrol. A couple of times now, I have been in the position of sinking:woot:, or trying to sink:damn:, a ship in the pitch black of a stormy Nordsee night. I'm still hoping that the one ship that I sunk was a valid target because I couldn't make out the flag even in the flames of the sinking wreck. In both cases, these ships were "radio contacts" that popped up on my navigation map (I'm playing at near full realism, minus only the automatic map notifications). I am assuming that the reason these come in as radio contacts is because they are British ships and ready for sinking. Of course, I could be assuming my way out of a brilliant naval career. What is the scoop on the radion contacts? Ar they always valid targets? Thanks, in advance, for any advice.

By the title of the thread I figured you meant firing torpedoes without the scope but I see now that it is about map contacts.

Those random contacts that popup can be anything from a single merchant (either Enemy, Neutral or Friendly) to a Warship or Convoy.
I just got one that turned out to be a 10000+ neutral Tanker:damn:

i think you have to get in close - check the flags before sinking. there is a flag mod to make em' clearer, but still, you need to check first.

Rats! That's what I was afraid of. The one I sank was just off the northern coast of Scotland, above Aberdeen and scarily close to Scapa Flow. That was probably a British coastal vessel, but I won't know for sure until I get back to Kiel. In the future, I'll try to time my intercepts to occur in the daylight so I can see that darn flag.

Thanks for heads-up, y'all!

You using any mods? If you are using either GWX3 or NYGM they will be illuminated if they are neutral therefore you can sink all darkened ships

... or scroll back your confirmation and message screen. It states enemy unit or neutral unit sunk.

Not so. Only some neutrals are lit up. You still need to check the flags if they are dark.

MOST darkened ships, I sunk a Norwegian ship the other day that wasn't lit up. And this was on September 4th 1939 or so....

:rotfl2: yeah I've done that to, In realality it was not a big deal it actually happened all the time. So I set the .cfg so I get 0 renown instead of -x renown

Cheater!:stare:

No, wait. He got that idea from me. D'oh!:damn:

Also a good idea to set friendly renown to -1 instead of -10. It usually was forgiven when it happened. On the other hand with neutrals you waste a torpedo for no reward, so it's still a good idea not to do it.

You are stacking the odds against yourself firing blind. Better to eyeball the contact and find out what nationality it is plus an equally important factor....is the AOB favourable.

I'd heard about the permitted sinking of ships running without their lights on. They could be sneaking spies, right? But, I think I'll just stick to visually verified targets, or targets, such as those right in or around the English coast, that are most likely hostile.

I do have to avoid the Norwegians as my wife is of Norwegian descent and would be very upset.:D

Mainly, I was getting frustrated with the constant terrible weather and the concomitant terrible visibility. I guess that's just the breaks.

I am using GWX 3 and SH3Commander. This is really good to know!:yeah: Those sneaky bastards will never know what him 'em!

Thanks!

Noooooooo...read what Steve posted @ #10

I don't have a link for it and a bit too lazy to look for it, but there is a flag mod out there than makes the flags brighter and easier to see and is a good addition to GWX, which is especially dark at night.