Hmm....
For starters, if they've NOT included thermal layers then I for one will return SHIV!! Sreiously, they were a vitally important tactical consideration, often giving the boats huge advantages in avoiding detection. This is made clear over and over in material published by those who were there (Dick O'Kane and Edward Beach to name a few).
Secondly, there's really no such thing as an easy time when you are thousands of miles/km from friendly assistance. The most mundane problem can become a matter of life or death under those circumstances.
As for the ASW of the Japs, it suffers from comparitively poor technology and, most significantly of all, it was regarded as almost 'peasant' work by the IJN. In fact, many ASW forces weren't even PART of the regular IJN. That attitude was a big factor in why they never got organised the way the Allies did, even though it was as vital to them as it was to the Brits in the Atlantic.
In reading some of the works by actual skippers, the fact that many of them really didn't encounter large numbers of ASW aircraft even when close to the home islands is something that sticks in my mind.
I guess it is likely to be a case of never getting worse than 1942 in the Atlantic by comparison. It SHOULD be considerably 'easier' than what we've grown used to in the super mods in SHIII, but it shouldn't actually be a case of charge in and shoot everything in sight with impunity (unless you've playing on 0% realism.....).
Cheers
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