Wounded bear hunt 1942 Mission
 

NNN

You've hit it exactly. Bulls-eye! Yes, the missions are all pure crap. That doesn't mean you can't learn to use the mission editor and fix them because there are some really interesting events contained in some of them. Unfortunately they insist on starting you out on the surface, engines off, floating helplessly in the middle of a few dozen Japanese captial ships with all guns trained on you and ready to fire. You don't even have time to select the right curse word to scream before you die!:rotfl2:

You are right, the missions are terrible - do not play the ones that come with the game. Play a patrol or, even better, a career. You can make sure your sub has radar and better guns and a decent gunner. A good gunner can easily knock a few planes out of the sky. A radar set will let you dive before the planes see you, which is even better. Once a plane spots you they will radio for help, and you will be constantly harassed by them until nightfall. Planes own the day, you own the night.

I remember the first time I was able to mount two dual 20mm AA guns, and sailed past Iwo Jima on the surface during daylight like I was a Boss. I shot down 10 Zeroes and took no damage, but I was out of AA ammunition. Radar is a much better investment- you're a submarine, not an Anti-Aircraft Cruiser.

NNN

There is a button to raise the radar antenna. This will let you detect planes while you are at periscope depth. Then you can avoid coming up when planes are nearby

NNN

Certainly that is possible. That is the problem with the single missions, it's hard to know (and impossible to change) what equipment is on your sub. If your sub does not have radar antenna button, it probably does not have radar at all

I checked this out. It actually is a patrol, not a single mission. Also, at least in TMO (other mods might be different) the default sub (gato) has an air search radar (SD), but no surface search radar.

Some advice:
1: At any time, you can check what your sub is equipped with by going to the weapons and sensors screen. The button for this is between the crew management and damage control screen buttons.

2: The conning tower model always has a radar station due to a game limitation. This does not mean that your boat is actually outfitted with radar.

3: If your air search radar detects an aircraft, dive immediately. We where actually talking about this in your FUEL LIMITED OR UNLIMITED? thread, so check there for details.

4: Don't try to fight aircraft. Even in TMO, their lethality is honestly way underdone. Trying to fight an aircraft would have been borderline suicidal.

5: That patrol probably has so many aircraft because you're trying to sink an aircraft carrier. If possible, try to figure out which direction the aircraft are coming from. The aircraft carrier is probably over that way.

6: The radar station that you can man is the surface search radar, not the air search radar. Unfortunately, there is no way to actually check the air search radar manually.

NNN

NNN

I'll have to check. Historically, a lot of boats stayed under all day and moved on the surface at night

A boat that stays under all day doesn't have the ability to fight at night. And it will get terrible fuel economy. Really, the only winners from a hiding submarine are the Japanese. It was true in the war. It's true in the game.

That hasn't been my experience, although it may have been yours

Historical yes in some cases, but American commanders could be overly cautious, at least early on, witness the the convoluted torpedo attack doctrine at the beginning of the war... I just finished reading Thunder Below! and it's interesting that the Barb, a very successful ship, engaged in surface paroling during the daylight hours, Fluckey put it this way "Though the tally shows more shells, bombs, and depth charges fired at Barb, no one received the Purple Heart and Barb came back alive, eager, and ready to fight again." and in another passage goes on to say "Having a quartermaster on watch in the conning tower with periscope raised, while on the surface, was paying off. It made us more visible to the enemy, yet doubled the search area we could cover visually." as well as
"The Barb, as usual, stayed on the surface". References to staying on the surface for long time periods, days even, abound in the book. Although some of the officers were quite amazed at his desire to patrol on the surface. Late war skippers could be quite aggressive, the Barb landed a demolition party on Japanese soil and blew up a train for pity sakes! Other subs would routinely bombard shore targets. I patrol on the surface, it's just more efficient, and I'd rather emulate a successful skipper like Fluckey than overly cautious ones.