Ok, pretty much everyone said play the stock game so you'll know what has changed. I think I have. Sure I had trouble with the photo recon at Koror (I did everything but throw rocks at those DDs and they would not get out of my way... oh well, maybe photo recon is not my field of expertise)... but after my last patrol... Oct - Dec, 1942 (with a refresh/reload stop in the Solomons) - I had 34 kills for a rather unbelievable 183K tons.
Methinks it is time to move on to the next level... so what is the concensus for the next step? RFB + RSRDC? Gentlemen, I rest my immediate future in your capable hands...