Well, if you want to modify the game to make it easier, it's not difficult. Some people here, for example, have changed the explosive power of torpedoes. With extreme numbers, one torpedo could destroy an entire convoy. Alternatively you could accelerate the rollout of the new types of submarines or improved torpedoes. Imagine starting in 1939 with T5s.
It wouldn't take more than an adjustment or two to let your submarine dive to 500 meters without difficulty. At that depth, you would never be picked up by ASDIC, and depth charges wouldn't hit you either.
As for whether the Germans were evil (or the Japanese for that matter), I would say definitely not. There are a number of cautions available historically that American destroyers would fire on or depth charge German submarines. The submarines were under very strict orders to never retaliate against American aggression for fear of bringing the US into the war. At the beginning of the game, we are ordered not to fire on UK capital ships, and not to fire on French ships at all because any attempts along those lines may injure the attempts to negotiate the UK and France out of the war.
I can think of at least one incident in which a u-boat attacked a ship, only to find that it contained Italian POWs. The u-boat broadcast its peaceful intentions and began the humanitarian rescue of the survivors only to find itself attacked by American forces soon thereafter. German u-boats attempted to follow the prize regulations whereas US subs waged unrestrained sub warfare from day one.
I think it's also safe to say that no u-boat captains ever commanded any German concentration camps.
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