I thought when running SH3 at 100% realism it would be as real as it gets, but this is far from true.
One of the worst aspects is the torpedo firing system, at 100% in SH3 the captain needs to calculate the torpedo solutions himself. On the real german uboats during the war this was mainly done by the IWO, the first weapon officer. But sometimes it was done by the captain during submerged attacks. So in this sim its actually more realistic to use the weapon officer assistance than to have it disabled.
And the hydrophones dont give you an estimate of an escort's position. Only short range, but not how short which could be done in the real war by listening to escorts propeller noise. If enemy propeller noise is present at all in SH3 its very weak, which is not realistic at all. This information was vital to avoid depth charges.
The convoys consists mostly of british and american ships, even before 1941...way too many americans compared to the real convoys. Several nations were involved, but the 3 most important were Britain, Norway and Holland. Britain lost some 3 mill. tons of shipping in convoys during the war, Norway some 2 mill. and the Dutch 1,5. And not to forget...thousands of sailors with them. In my opinion the developers simply did a bad research job here, they could easily add some norwegian and dutch flags to the ships to make it more realistic, and not forget many of the sailors who gave their lives for the allied victory.
When it comes to the gameplay i noticed a lot of strange convoy behaviour. I attacked a convoy and sank a tanker, and the convoy broke up and headed in all directions, it looked like total panic. A coastal merchant turned 90 degrees into the convoy and collided with a C3 and went under. In the war convoys sometimes broke up when attacked, but not the way simulated in SH3.
However, i was very impressed by the game's graphics, the sea motion is fantastic. I almost felt like i was back at sea again, as an old uboat man i am
