[sublynx]

The usefulness of a plane recognition manual depends on the level of role play one wants to play with. No outside views of course.

Here's a situation I would find a manual useful:

It's January 1941. My U-boat is some 300 kilometers north of the Faroes. A plane is sighted. We dive while keeping a periscope on the plane. The plane doesn't seem to spot us so we stay at periscope depth. There have been no reports of airplanes in this area yet. I notice it's a single engine airplane. Now is it a carrier borne airplane or a land based airplane? If it is a landbased airplane it means that the enemy is flying from the Faroes and the area is unsafe permanently. If it is a carrier based airplane the area is unsafe for now and there is a task force nearby. I need to identify the plane through the periscope view and to do that a manual would be helpful.

This kind of reconnoitering would be crucial in a real U-boat. The info would help us and other U-boats in the area. As players we know about when Allied airbases are established so in that sense info about the planes is useless. It all depends how much one wants to role play while playing SH3. I like the role play aspect so I try to gather intelligence in a way I guess a real U-boat commander would have.

There was also a phase in the war when BdU ordered U-boats not to dive in certain situations when planes where sighted (desperate as that was) and during that phase one would need some help in recognizing the enemy.