Quote:
Originally Posted by andqui
That's what I've been trying to do. Approach from the front, go deep to 80 m and silent running, attempting to then pop back up to periscope depth once the escort passes. I'm detected without ever hearing ASDIC pings about 30% of the time.
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what year?
just sitting there dead stopped is not always an option... a submarine is a hallow metal tube underwater, sound travels more efficiently through water than it does air because it is a denser medium. escorts can hear you with their hydrophones without having to ping you.
in SH3 a slow moving escort - depending on the skill level of the particular escort - WILL detect you if you get close enough to it,
even if you are silent running,
even if you are stopped. in real life there would be dozens of fans, motors, pumps, actuators and compressed air valves all making little noises constantly. if you are close enough, they are going to hear this stuff. keep your distance. especially after 41-42... and you can forget about 43. beyond 1941 there arent many rookie escorts any more... the Allied Navies of the world became very adept at one thing above all else during the war years and that was killing German U-boats. in WWI the greatest technological and tactical advancements were made in the field of aviation... this wasnt true of WWII where arguably the greatest developments in tactics, technology and capability centered around anti-submarine warfare. Simply put, the allies had ONE job in the Atlantic... KILL SUBS
statistically, in 1943 onward, a German U-boat crew had about an 80% chance of not returning home from patrol. these supermods remove the "game" element and tweak the AI to replicate realistic odds of survival. so while in stock SH3 you can creep right under a destroyer and shoot them the finger as you pass - even in some cases surface and gun duel it with a destroyer... it is simply not an option in GWX / NYGM.
id say if you are creeping by escorts and experiencing detection only 30% of the time you are doing a GREAT job really. in 1939-1940 you should be experiencing closer to 95% success rate. especially at night if attacking while surfaced. Surface attacks should be carried out at night, early in the war, from a the median range of your torpedoes, preferably in rougher seas with worsening weather (overcast, not raining). turn tail and leave the scene at medium speed once you have fired your shots. the destroyers will be banging away with ASDIC looking for a submarine under water that isnt there. be wary of search lights and star shells - i have seen that escorts typically rush to the stricken ships or just off their beam a few hundred meters, they will scan that area with passive and active sonar as well as scan the convoy lanes with search lights and star shells... if you are far enough away the searchlights/star shells wont find you.
the secret to a good convoy attack is patience and persistence. it is intensely frustrating to spend the time getting into position and getting caught, but if that happens you just have to evade the escorts and spend a day or two in game getting yourself back into attack position. theres not really a secret recipe for getting inside the lanes of the convoy 100% of the time like a ghost.