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PortsmouthProwler · 05-26-09, 08:48 AM

[quote=Stealhead;1107474]I disagree I prefer to fire between 2,000- 4,500 yds(within the max range of a mk.14 at top speed) you have a...quote]

I did read the post. If I may, as one who writes for publications and deals with layout on a daily basis - you need to be more reader friendly in your posts. Large dense blocks of text are intimidating and discourage the reader. Break information into bite-size chunks and separate things with white space (or, on this forum, with grey space).

* Anyone is free to play the way he wishes and I don't have an issue with that.

* My style is to play as close to the historical reality as possible. I won't say that I'm the last word, but I have done perhaps more reading than most, as well as worked on SSNs at a Naval Shipyard. I loved US Sub Ops (1949) - standard reference. I also highly recommend George Grider's (...as told to a ghost writer, q.v.) War Fish. Very, very, informative.

* I also knew a tin can veteran for awhile and, remarkably enough, also knew a diesel boat vet at the same time. We talked a lot about distances, approaches, etc.

* These things I find to be a tad ahistoric in the game:

** The player should be able to get within a nautical mile on the surface on a dark night (90% chance) unless he's really careless. Yes, the IJNs night spotting was very good, but on a reasonably dark night, it's next to impossible to pick up a conning tower a mile away. This is disappointing, because the US skippers found, just like the Germans, that surface night attacks were very, very favorable.

** You keep your scope down, are on Silent, making 1.5 kt, and the DDs pick you up at 1200 yards. Sorry, IJN ASW wasn't that good. Their equipment and doctrine were so-so for the first 30 months of the war. Actually, it was their doctrine that was killing them, or rather, the lack thereof.

** Players reporting routinely making kill shots at 1500+ yards. Read US Sub Ops. Yes, there were some long ones (the longest was supposedly about 3,500 yards), but experience showed that you wanted to fire at less than 1,000 for a high hit ratio.

The point being that I play this as 'realistically' as I know how, even asking friends to drop by and throw a bucket of salt water in my face occasionally

My gripes are actually pretty minor - I wish things were a bit tighter, but...eh.

The real point being that I use the wakes etc., as just one piece of the puzzle. If I see no wake and 'calculate' 14 kt, something's amiss. Also, by getting to a half-mile or less, the whole "shootin' match" becomes much less of a geometrical exercise - the AOB and minor errors in speed are nugatory at 800 yards.

Anyhow, that's how I play. No contacts, no map work, just me and the scope and the TDC. I miss all too often or am driven off/sunk.

Hey, maybe I stink at this!

ADDENDUM

Bear in mind that COMSUBPAC issued target priorities and these were subject to change as the war progressed. Up until '44, DDs were very low. They were given the blessing to go after in '44 because Intel theorized that the Japanese were straining to replace ASW assets. In the early war, CVs and capital surface vessels were top priority, followed by merchants. About late '42 or so, someone woke up and realized that going after tankers was huge.

So I target (a) Merchies, especially fat juicy tankers [when I spot one, that is], (b) big IJN targets with lotsa superstructure, (c) targets of opportunity. I rarely target DDs and leave the fishermen alone.

Which means: get up close to the dumb slow merchant and blast 'em!

05-26-09, 08:48 AM	#7
PortsmouthProwler Bosun Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 65 Downloads: 11 Uploads: 0	[quote=Stealhead;1107474]I disagree I prefer to fire between 2,000- 4,500 yds(within the max range of a mk.14 at top speed) you have a...quote] I did read the post. If I may, as one who writes for publications and deals with layout on a daily basis - you need to be more reader friendly in your posts. Large dense blocks of text are intimidating and discourage the reader. Break information into bite-size chunks and separate things with white space (or, on this forum, with grey space). * Anyone is free to play the way he wishes and I don't have an issue with that. * My style is to play as close to the historical reality as possible. I won't say that I'm the last word, but I have done perhaps more reading than most, as well as worked on SSNs at a Naval Shipyard. I loved US Sub Ops (1949) - standard reference. I also highly recommend George Grider's (...as told to a ghost writer, q.v.) War Fish. Very, very, informative. * I also knew a tin can veteran for awhile and, remarkably enough, also knew a diesel boat vet at the same time. We talked a lot about distances, approaches, etc. * These things I find to be a tad ahistoric in the game: The player should be able to get within a nautical mile on the surface on a dark night (90% chance) unless he's really careless. Yes, the IJNs night spotting was very good, but on a reasonably dark night, it's next to impossible to pick up a conning tower a mile away. This is disappointing, because the US skippers found, just like the Germans, that surface night attacks were very, very favorable. You keep your scope down, are on Silent, making 1.5 kt, and the DDs pick you up at 1200 yards. Sorry, IJN ASW wasn't that good. Their equipment and doctrine were so-so for the first 30 months of the war. Actually, it was their doctrine that was killing them, or rather, the lack thereof. ** Players reporting routinely making kill shots at 1500+ yards. Read US Sub Ops. Yes, there were some long ones (the longest was supposedly about 3,500 yards), but experience showed that you wanted to fire at less than 1,000 for a high hit ratio. The point being that I play this as 'realistically' as I know how, even asking friends to drop by and throw a bucket of salt water in my face occasionally My gripes are actually pretty minor - I wish things were a bit tighter, but...eh. The real point being that I use the wakes etc., as just one piece of the puzzle. If I see no wake and 'calculate' 14 kt, something's amiss. Also, by getting to a half-mile or less, the whole "shootin' match" becomes much less of a geometrical exercise - the AOB and minor errors in speed are nugatory at 800 yards. Anyhow, that's how I play. No contacts, no map work, just me and the scope and the TDC. I miss all too often or am driven off/sunk. Hey, maybe I stink at this! ADDENDUM Bear in mind that COMSUBPAC issued target priorities and these were subject to change as the war progressed. Up until '44, DDs were very low. They were given the blessing to go after in '44 because Intel theorized that the Japanese were straining to replace ASW assets. In the early war, CVs and capital surface vessels were top priority, followed by merchants. About late '42 or so, someone woke up and realized that going after tankers was huge. So I target (a) Merchies, especially fat juicy tankers [when I spot one, that is], (b) big IJN targets with lotsa superstructure, (c) targets of opportunity. I rarely target DDs and leave the fishermen alone. Which means: get up close to the dumb slow merchant and blast 'em! Last edited by PortsmouthProwler; 05-26-09 at 09:18 AM.