[BillCar]

I'm in the same boat, so to speak. Little time to play, but don't want to turn it into an insta-sink shooter.

My solution is to sail around at 32x when on the bridge or in the control room. When transitioning to the bridge, I go to 1x and get up there, look around, take in the nice motion of the waves. Do a scan of the horizon without binoculars, and then pump it up to 32x and scan the horizon at that speed, while sailing for a bit. Dive, have the SO listen for hydrophone contacts. Surface again, head to navigator's map, bump speed up to 128/256/512/1024, depending on how pressed I am for time. Repeat this sequence of actions; vary it to your taste.

It'll give you a nice mix of the sub atmosphere, the nice scenery from the bridge, and strikes a nice balance in terms of time spent playing / time passing in game. It works pretty well for me.