[JoeCorrado]

Between March 1942 and March 1945 there were over 1,000 Ultra Messages sent to commanders operating in the Pacific. Each message was the result of the American's having broken the Japanese code. The messages were fairly common and dealt with information both mundane and critical, one item they revealed was naval units assigned to escort duty. From this information- critical information regarding convoy routes and escort strengths were gleaned and the mentioned Ultra Messages relayed to commands that were believed most likely to benefit from the information, or that could be POSITIONED in order to take advantage of the information. For the U.S. submarine fleet, this meant being in the right place, at the right time, and sinking ships.

Source: The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia

"Allied success at reading the Japanese merchant shipping code often put American submarines in the right places at the right times."

Source: Valor At Sea

During 1943 U.S. SUBMARINES alone put over 1, 500,000 GRT of Japanese merchants on the bottom. US codebreakers were picking up messages which proved highly productive on a regular basis and by the early months of 1945 the hunting grounds of the US submarine fleet were getting thin.

Comprising less then 1.6% of all US Naval personnel in the Pacific, yet accounting for more then half of all enemy shipping sunk, the US submarine fleets were well represented in the Allied effort for achieving victory. Historians have stated that a major factor contributing to Japan's surrender was this island nation's recognition of the fact that she was unable to sustain the war effort due to the severe shortages of raw materials and basic essentials. By eliminating their ability to import vital goods and supplies, American submarines were able to do to Japan what Hitler's U-Boat force came close to doing to England.

The American Submarine Force accounted for 54% (over 5,000,000 GRT) of all Japanese ships sunk during the war.

I do not wish to argue the RSRDC model for merchant shipping- and the work put into the recreation of known shipping, both military and merchant, is nothing short of incredible. However, I expect that the BEST service for RSRDC would be to make it an even truer representation of reality by including ships and convoys that we do not have official written proof of, but which MUST have existed since it was in fact sunk.

1943-1944 was the U.S. Submariner's "Happy Time" and that's all I am looking for from the game- a little happy time. LOL I have targets aplenty (too many in fact ) with just GFO and a few added mods, but I do so miss the "realism" of actual naval battles that RSRD provided. This aspect of RSRD represents the pinnacle of modding success in my humble opinion.

It isn't really a question of adequate targets IF you know when and where- Ultra Messages don't appear to be much of a factor at all in RSRD- but Does RSRDC provide ships (target opportunities) in the numbers necessary to account for the KNOWN tonnage sunk during the war- even for just the official totals confirmed by the U.S. Submarine Force? These ships would have sailed and sailed again being potential targets each time till they were eventually sunk. Does RSRD account for the same ships or only if they are mentioned by name in a convoy report? SH4 has many followers and the "realism" factor should be balanced with the playability factor. That is my only point.