When first reading the OP, the immediate reaction was "Oh no, not again..."
Realism, as it applies to any computer game is a colossal red herring that, like the nebulous buzzword "immersion", have so wide a meaning as to be contextually meaningless.
The OP demands "realism" and yet cranks out 20-SH3 patrols in two game years and then complains because of a lack of variety in the experience. Guess what, patrols almost certainly had a sameness and multiple patrols increased the probability that the current one would be the last. Nobody ever did 20-patrols in that time frame and in all likelihood, doing so would be effectively impossible. You are attempting to square a circle and have it both ways by demanding "realism" be provided by a modder while at the same time play the game in a manner that is entirely "unrealistic" given the experiences of the actual campaign.
You cannot have "realism" however you might define it without imposing it upon how you play the game yourself. If you expect modders to deliver it to you all tied up nice and neat, you're howling at the moon. If you want "realism" you need to take responsibility for playing in a manner that resembles the reality of the historical situation.
There are some brilliant mods out there and the prospects of getting a glimpse of what the U-Boat war might have been like at some level is certainly attainable but only in some respects. This is not a critique on how an individual might play, that's entirely up to them but elsewhere on these pages there is a post where one demands realism in one aspect of the game while admitting to turning off Limited Battery and Limited Oxygen option is late war careers. It is insane to think that giving his Type VII (presumably) the characteristics of an SSN is in any way compatible with a with the "realism" as envisioned by the authors' of the mod in use. But if you're happy with a nuc U-Boat in 1944 than go ahead and be happy but don't claim to demand "realism" because you just threw that out the window.
SH3 certainly simulates some things well, particularly when a "supermod" is plugged into your stock installation. It is great as an attack teacher, the methods used to approach and engage a target with torpedoes in the real world also work perfectly in the game. It also simulates other aspects of the U-Boat war, particularly the procedural ones but some procedures are simulated better than others. But in the end it is still a game.
Play the game however you like but please stop publicly demanding "realism" (whatever that actually is) until you are prepared to impose historically reasonable behaviours on your own gaming. And please, let's not return to the days of the SH3 modders wars and try to unite all the mods. There is no One Ring to bind them...
Unsolicited $0.02 CAD.
-C
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