[Keelbuster]

Originally Posted by DeepSix

Oh, absolutely. Well, in theory at least - sometimes my "last minute" is a little too "last minute...."

Good points; they don't always stick to passive sonar, and I've been detected in the middle before - usually when the convoy spreads out and the merchants either come to a stop or slow down so the DDs will pick you up. Once they find me I definitely try to go deep.

I didn't mean to suggest that hiding under the convoy was perfect, only that it's generally the first trick I try. I don't know what "formula" was used to make use of surface noise, prop noise, etc., but it seems to be realistically modeled to me. Also, I forgot to mention that, instead of staying shallow, I do usually go down to 50m (or try to) when getting under the convoy. That's about as deep as I can get, at a quiet speed, between the time I fire and the time the first torpedos strike. But of course that depends on how far away you like to shoot from. And then there's the thermal layer you sometimes benefit from.

That's one of the things I love about the game - there's no one foolproof way to do it.

Cool. Q - I read that thermal layers weren't modeled, and that there is a mod project aimed at pulling it off. There is a distance/sound scale such that at depth your noise is less detectable by passive.

Anyhow, interesting - always cool to hear other people's convoy thrashing strategies. Do you run _with_ the convoy at 3 or 4 kts, or against the convoy?

I've been playing Dangerous Waters, and since then I've been trying to 'clear the datum' as fast as possible following attack. This involves finding the nearest gap in escort coverage, and heading that direction (usually 120 to approaching escort). Right after 'Torpedo Treffre!' I go to ahead standard and turn my bearing appropriately. Then I decide what's going to happen. If the escorts are far away, or extremely sluggish, and I have an extremely efficient crew, I might contemplate waiting to load another torpedo and getting it off into any injured merchants. But, more likely, I will use that initial confusion and (what I imagine to be) the sound cover of sinking burning hulks to get depth and clear datum - get distance from the convoy. I usually go 120 to the convoy direction (which is often also on an oblique angle to the escort's approach) at ahead standard or (if escorts are >4km away) ahead full. When I estimate that an escort is within 2km or closer, I cut to ahead slow, and then, at some arbitrary point, go silent and plod out. When I get pinged, I go to hydrophone and wait for the attack run, change course by 30 degrees and flank for the count of 10 or so then go silent. Works almost all the time (in 1941/2).