D.I.D. is the only way I can now play. I've 'cheated' before and it just doesn't feel right. The 'sim' goes out of it. I agree that you are much more careful about your boat and crew and that's the way it should be.
But sometimes fate and bad luck come into play. A while back I started a career with a type IXB in 1942. My first patrol took me to Natal and then up and into the Caribbean. Almost 2 months and 38,000 tons later we headed for home. In a raging zero visibility storm 200 km from Spain we run into a giant , heavily escorted convoy. Managed to submerge and almost made it by. The last escort must have detected us cause next thing you know three or four DD's are going at it. Almost two hours of real time evasion ended with the dreaded death screen.
What to do? I was using 256 TC at the time and had some time to react. Computer slows when something big is near. I call it a 6th sense.
. I ponder reloading but just couldn't do it. All that time invested and almost home. Haven't used a type IX since.
I love this game.