[quote=panthercules]
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Originally Posted by Javelin
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Originally Posted by fredbass
Well if damage caused fuel leakage, then oh well, thats war. On the other hand, if you insist on going faster than slow most of the time, then you're going to run a greater risk. I personally run about 8kts most of the time when surfaced and 3-4 kts when submerged and I have no problems with fuel.
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I did just that too. Mission was to Tokyo Bay. Left Pearl at running submerged during the day and surfaced at 4 knots nights. Still by the time I was hundreds of miles from objective, noticed that fuel consumption was getting to 50%. Decided to return and then intercepted a merchant convoy. Sunk 4 large freighters, and took a beating from several others with their deck guns. After that it was impossible to reach Midway. Still the fact remains that even going at that 4 knots there is no way to reach Tokyo. Gato class sub. Hope someone can address this |
I'm just guessing 'cause I've never done any patrols out of Pearl (yet - been messing around in the Asiatic Fleet so far), but maybe a couple of items for you to consider:
1. Did you top up with fuel at Midway on your way to Japan? This is a must.
2. Slower isn't necessarily better - I believe that maximum fuel economy setting is actually around 9-10 knots, so you may actually have been wasting fuel putting along at only 4 knots on the surface.
3. Not sure whether game models this or not (have seen conflicting posts), but running submerged on batteries as you indicated
should cost you fuel, not save it. It
should take more fuel to recharge the batteries than you "save" from not using the diesels while submerged (I understand that SH3 was bugged for a while at least and actually made this approach work for some folks, though I never tried/tested it myself, but I'm not sure if they got it right in SH4 or not).
Try topping off at Midway and cruising at 9 or 10 knots surfaced as much as possible (till you get within Japanese air cover anyway) and see if you don't make it next time.
Tried different speeds. I estimated that fuel consumption was 2% per day at 4-5 knots. Running continuously on the surface seems to use more fuel. I found running submerged daytimes and only running on the surface for the short time it takes to recharge batteries was by far the most fuel saving way to transverse the Pacific. Its a long haul from Pearl to Japan. Topping off at Midway or Johnson Island is a must.