I play !x often. Not all the time, but often. Will I play a totally 1x patrol in SH4? Nope. Leaving Lorient to go fight on the westward approaches is a heck of a lot different from leaving Pearl to go into the Yellow Sea.
Now once I TC across the Pacific then I may stick to 1X while I'm on patrol. But, no, I won't do a totally 1x patrol in SH4. I like 1x, am a big believer in it...but that darn Pacific is just too big!