[Bilge_Rat]

some have been answered already, but some comments:

Originally Posted by vonCrandall

The convoy consists of 12 merchants and 1 lone destroyer riding shotgun in front of them all. Given this fact, I decide to engage them now

I would have done the same.

First nothing. He just keeps chugging along, and then within 15-20 seconds, he makes a hard left and straightens out at what likes like DIRECTLY at me. First question: I did fire 2 of the steam torpedo's because of the speed and distance of the convoy; can a destroyer, that is not THAT far off the waterline see a small steam trail in the water from 2km away?? Is this what made him turn - he didn't have a 'good idea' where I was, he was literally aimed directly at me.

I think it's a combination of factors. First, it appears the escort AI is programmed to head towards the general direction of where the torps comes from after they hit and start searching. Second, after the torpedo hits, the escort's state should change from "passive" (i.e. just another boring day at sea) to "alert" (i.e. finally, some action!). When that happens, the range of all its sensors increase including the visual sensor (i.e. the grey cone). If your periscope is inside the grey cone, the escort may see it and come charging over.

example:



Here I am just outside the "grey" visual cone with my scope just barely above the sea surface and the visual cones of the escorts still extends out to around 1,500 meters. This cone is affected by sea state, alert state and how high your scope extends, so he could easily spot your scope in calm seas at 2 km, especially if it is fully extended.

At this point I am watching the yellow detection circle. As the destroyer (Class A) is starting to do random circles in the area and I start hearing distant depth charge explosions. Question 2: Why does NOONE in my crew tell me when there are depth charges in the friggen water?

that is not in the game, and I am fairly sure it was not possible in RL, despite what the movies show.

My tactic to get away is fairly simple. I pick a general direction I want to head to, in this case is was between North and East. I turn my rudder left or right at times, but keep within 00 and 090. Whenever the DD is close and there are depth charge explosions, I go flank ahead, I turn my rudder (keeping within N and E for this example) and go down another 10-20m. Whenever I think the last depth charge just went off, I go back to all slow and rudder amidships. Question 3: How long can the destroyer not 'hear' me after a depth charge goes off?

the disruption of water after the DCs go off which exists in RL is not modeled in the SH series. If you go to "flank", it just makes you "noisier" and easier for all the escorts to detect. On the other hand, you sometimes have no choice but to go to "flank" to get out of the way of the DCs, so its a trade off.

An hour passes. No damage and he barely, if at all, even got close. The problem is, he won't go away. I am almost on the bottom of the seafloor at this point. Anytime he drifts off and I have a good size distance gap between us, his sonar begins searching and almost always finds me even thought I am at an almost 180 degree slim profile and 3m from the ocean floor. Question 4: How do you get away from the sonar? Did I just have bad luck and 140m wasn't deep enough?

the passive (yellow) and active (red) sonar cone go smaller as you go deeper, slower, more silent. Your tactic is good, 140 meters "may" not be deep enough if he is waiting right on top of you, which they will do with IRAI.

I cannot for the life of me evade this destroyer. After 2 hours I start with other tricks; make ALOT of noise and have him come to depth charge me only to pull a 180 and go totally silent in the other direction, sit on the floor at All Stop, try going multiple directions after being depth charged - nothing works. Question 5: If I am in the yellow detection circle on the minimap, does this mean I have a good chance of being detected, or that I WILL 100% be detected? This is what I am very curious about because he kept me in the yellow circle quite often. But then when I got out (or it shrank when his screws were facing me) I would go all stop and he would just turn around like he always knew where I was.

no, when you are in the yellow cone, it takes a certian amount of time before the escort can "hear" you, although I think it is only around 15 seconds. It also appears to be affected by other factors, such as your position relative to the escort (i.e. facing or broadside) and the escorts skill (i.e. veteran/green) and alertness state (i.e. passive/alert).

On the second part, after the escort "loses" you, it will keep searching for a fixed period of time, 15 mins in stock, but I think (30-180 mins ?) in IRAI. It will also, I believe, begin a spiral search pattern around the area where it lost you to try to reacquire contact. If it does not find you within that time it will leave. If it does find you within that time, then everything starts all over again.

IRAI also has a "fatigue" script where over time the escort's crew will become tired and less effective, although that may take 12-24 hours to have an impact.

New sonar contact, warship, slow speed, long distance! Wait, what? What the hell is this?

Apparently I don't know if I just happened to be in the path of a DD patrol or if this pain in the ass destroyer phoned home for help but there are now FOUR (4) more destroyers heading directly to my location from about 10km away. How the hell did this happen?

As TDW answered, other escorts in the area will converge.

In terms of tactics (since I also play with IRAI), if I am dealing with 1 escort, I would stay at PD and try to sink the escort rather than going deep.