[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by BarracudaUAK

I've noticed that you've quoted that several times in other threads...


I will say this:

As long as my submarine is reliant on the surface (i.e. diesel powered), I want a deck gun available.

And I don't care how difficult it is made, I WILL find the "you can't do that" for the game and I WILL do it, sucessfully.

Even if it is considered "wrong", "dumb", or "why the heck would you do that"?

In my experience, the more unpredictable your course of action is, the better off you will be. AND the more unfavorable, and therefore the less 'popular' (i.e. risky) your course of action is, the greater the odds of success, because your opponent isn't expecting you to do that because it is "suicide".
(especially with "brain dead" to "extremely dumb" AI.)


Rocking Robbins, I took no offense from your post,
nor do I intend any with mine.

As much as I like reading about history, and looking at the way things were done, and equipment used, I've always wondered 'what if'. It isn't enough to simply know that 'it worked', or 'how' it worked, but 'how do we make it work better'.

As far as games (or sims) are concerned, I always play them "as is".
Some consider it "gaming the game", but then again, playing "dead is dead" and then starting a new game is also "gaming the game". Because you know more than you did last time.

In SH3 I try to pick off the DDs and DEs first, then if they are distracted, I leave them while picking off the convoy, or if I get them all, I get the big ones (5K+), then surface and get the small stuff, then move on.

In AOD I wait in shallow water and go for the largest, then "bottom the boat", and wait for the escorts to loose me. I can't do that in SH3, deep water is life, but AOD, shallow water is best for me...

In SH4 I'm leaning toward the former... pick off the escorts, then deal with the convoy at my leisure.

And dual deck guns will help me do that even faster!

Barracuda

Well, my perspective is from TMO. If you try that stuff with TMO you will quickly find out that any armed merchant hits harder and more accurately than you can. Forget about any chance of engaging a destroyer. The only success I've had there is with a gunboat doing the jack-in-the-box.

Surface, shoot two and submerge. Shoot to another bearing from the target, surface, shoot two, submerge. Repeat until one of you is dead. Remember you must plug your average gunboat dozens of times to sink him. Usually one hit through the pressure hull and you're toast.

There's no such thing as the unexpected to the Japanese navy. They expect everything you do and never get excited or flustered. It's a very professional navy we're up against and doing the "unexpected" is only unexpected for us. After all, the basic Japanese strategy is direct frontal attack no matter what the odds. If you decide to go gunboating with a submarine that's exactly what they expect, because that's what they would do. In fact that is why with good submarines and much better torpedoes than we had they had poor success with their submarines.

It's not unusual in TMO to be sunk with the very first shot from 10,000 yards from a Japanese DD. Most times you don't get to shoot at them once. No matter how good you are, you can't win a battle where only the enemy gets to shoot.