[keysersoze]

Originally Posted by gap

So do I.
In general, information reported by uboatarchive is directly derived from first hand sources; they even publish their sources, when possible.

The best first hand documents I was able to access from their website so far, are the Cumulative Edition - CB 04051(103) of British Interrogation Reports and, even better, the U-boat Information for U-boat Type VII C, directly issued by Kriegsmarine. They are respectively dated June '44 and July '40, which is also good, because they account for both early and late war specifications, thus complementing each other.

These are great documents. I've read much of the "U-boat Information for U-boat Type VII" document before, but had never seen the British interrogation reports.

Originally Posted by gap

This should dispel any doubt about the size of M42's magazines

Originally Posted by gap

Summing up, in our settings I would reduce M42's practical RoF to 60 rpm (maximum) by altering reload times, and I would keep the 5-round clip size. As for the SK C/30, I am tempted to use the same RoF as the 88mm deck gun: 18-20 rpm.

I think these are sensible alterations. I am also beginning to wonder about the SK C/30's rate of fire. From a subjective perspective, I think it would be hard to manually reload such a weapon fast enough to achieve anywhere near 40 rpm.

Originally Posted by gap

Lastly, please note that nowhere it is said that the new 40-round magazines entered service in Ubootwaffe. 20 rounds is the figure stated by most sources relative to U-boat armaments; I start wondering if we shoudn't revise our settings accordigly though it would suck indeed

Yes, this is also troubling. In fact, many of our sources, such as Skwiot and Mehl, mention the 20 round magazine at least as often as they mention the 40 round magazine. It seems clear to me that both magazines were used at some point in the war, but it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when transitions occurred or the frequency with which different size magazines were employed. It might be that the 20 round magazine stuck around longer than we originally thought

Originally Posted by gap

Unfortunately, this is the only option left, unless TDW can devise a patch for making the game to use ammo shells availability settings.

I have faith...TDW can do anything

Originally Posted by gap

Despite the silly background music, quite making it to resemble an ILS-2 video capture (I usually don't disdain trance music, but in other contexts), it is actual wwii footage showing some P-47 Thunderbolt as they are shooting their tracer ammo on enemy targets

Very interesting video, and another good example of historical tracer appearance.

Originally Posted by gap

I bend toward the propaganda. Right then, film recording cameras had to be a rare item, and I doubt that a "free lance" documentarist could have got so close to Nazi weaponry

That is probably true, although there were many reporters aboard U-boats, such as Lothar-Günther Buchheim in U-96. I don't think he took any videos, but there are hundreds of excellent pictures from the famous "Das Boot patrol." Of course, these guys were not really journalists—they were basically on board the U-boat for propaganda purposes, but that did not stop Buchheim from expressing some strong anti-war views. But at least the pictures or videos they took are footage of the "real" war, not contrived images from training boats in the Baltic made to look like they are on patrol.