After continued campaign testing, I've noted that my fear of running out of battery power with no effective means of recharging them is quite well founded and not to be ignored...since I've already done it on a few occasions...
It seems that since the batteries are set for high speed they will drain extremely rapidly at lower speeds. I don't find it useful attacking targets (especially convoys...) at high enough speeds to maintain the best battery efficiency. If I go too fast, I have far less time to plot a solution, and engage than If I'm traveling at a slower speed. I know the Torps are acoustic homing and while this helps, it's not the be all and end all. Most of what I encounter are slow moving targets. They move slow enough to not trigger the acoustic homing device on the torps, so I have to shoot 'em the same way as any non-homing torp, which requires a decent firing solution and attack angle.
I've changed the throttle settings to match the TMO 1.9 Tench, so I'm usually running at 1/3 or 2/3 (6-7 knots and 13-14 knots submerged, 3-4 knots and 9-10 knots surfaced) for data acquisition and solution plotting.
Code:
[EngineProperties]
AllStop=0.00
AheadSlow=0.16
AheadOneThird=0.33
AheadStandard=0.47
AheadFull=0.80
AheadFlank=1.00
BackSlow=-0.26
BackStandard=-0.40
BackFull=-0.53
BackEmergency=-0.66
I'm also noting, that even with a max RPM of 25, DDs and other escorts with passive sonar seem to be able to hear me (even at 1/3-2/3).Although the range at which they can do so seems to be severely limited. It may be that RPM isn't the only factor that determines how well they can hear you. Perhaps speed is also a factor.
I was also thinking it might be cool to adapt the gtaling guns from the Shark for AA work and use them in place of the .50 cal machine guns.