You learn as you go, if you survive, eh? What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger... etc etc etc... lol - But congratulations on a successful patrol! The variability of the game is like that though, where one patrol you can't help but stumble into one grouping after another of ships, and then the next, you go weeks without anything. We tried to enhance that in FotRSU mod. There is a quote in one of the submarine boats' books, where someone said (paraphrasing) "It was weeks of sheer boredom, followed by hours of sheer terror."