Recently got the game
 

and I am enjoying it so far, my first mission was to drop off an agent off the coast of japan. Pretty uneventful considering that I didnt run into anything. On the return journey however I get spotted by two seaplanes. They missed with their bombs and I managed to criticaly damage one of them. One of them runs away while the damaged one comes again for another run. I hit it directly with my AA gun, catch it on fire and bring it down in a flurry of flames...right into my submarine! Which then proceeds to sink from having a rather bad case of "Airplane inside the submarine" Is this usual or did I get particularly bad luck?

edit: on another note, was is the best way to find the range of a target?

You were doing great until you decided to duke it out with seaplanes. Most sub skippers in the war avoided engaging aircraft unless they had no other choice. A plane is cheaper than a submarine so even if it just damages you, it's an exchange in favor of the enemy. However, having a plane kamikaze right into your sub is a rare stroke of bad luck indeed.

The problem was that for some reason or another it took a really long time for the sub to dive down, Im guessing it was because the batteries were very low from avoiding passing ships because the dropoff point was in sneezing distance of a harbor.

Well, in general the Gatos (if that is what you were commanding) were slow divers when compared to most contemporary German and British designs, but that was mostly due to the fact that the Gatos were significantly larger boats. Sufficient fuel bunkerage to provide the range necessary for 75 day patrols from Hawaii to Japan and back could only be obtained with a large boat, which will take longer to submerge than a smaller one like a U-Boat. Another reason it's better to duck aircraft if you can. :03:

As Torplexed said, best move is to get out of the way of any aircraft as fast as you can. And that means the 'C' key for crash dive... way too risky generally to take them on, and as far as I know you get no renown reward for aircraft in SH4 (you sure don't in SH3).

It's fun though..

I dont think I was commanding a gato, neither was it the salmon, it had a very large conningtower and only one AA gun

Can't have been low batteries as it is the diesels engines that drive the boat down. Batteries don't really kick in until you are under.

That describes every early US submarine with the exception of the S-Boat. :D What port did you set out from?

:haha:

I set sail from Pearl Harbor

Then you likely have (or had) a Gar or Tambor class boat. Fleet boats not too different from the Gato. :salute:

I remember now, it was the Tambor, I also hit my boat up against some rocks while planting the people in japan, so that might have had something to do with it.

From the logo, Torpex, it looks like you are scouting for girls.

I sent the periscope recon photos to CINPAC. For some reason they requested more photos....with a zoom lens. I get the toughest assignments. :D

I imagine that would be a tough assignment, all those japanese destroyers making sure no one spies on their "secrets"

That is the real question. What EXACTLY are you taking pictures of? (You do not have to answer. In fact, it might be better if you don't answer.)