I think the biggest issue being faced is that SH 4 has been developed from what was a flawed platform, SH 3.
Consider the following:
1. USA subs COULD NOT use their periscopes for considerable periods of time, especially night where there was not strong moonlight. This also lead to blindness in the morning twilight. The result? Subs either attacked in DAYLIGHT submerged or NIGHT surfaced. Now, who has managed a surface attack in SH4, and when? If you're like me, the answer is "never"! Why? Because the problem existed in SH3....I remember reading a lot about what was required to make it possible to overcome the majority of problems. So, no surface attacks.
2. Many escorts were not part of the IJN, technically. Also, those IJN units assigned were used in sectors, as has been mentioned. This meant wildly different experiences in terms of escorts numbers and capabilities.
3. Spotting periscopes has become absurd. It doesn't seem to matter what the sea state.....even MERCHANTS spot it. The allies didn't develop ship-based radar reliably detecting periscopes until early 1944, I think.....or at least that was when it was widely deployed. The IJN didn't HAVE radar on the majority of its destroyers, PERIOD! As for escorts? Forget it! Read Clear the Bridge - many of Tang's attacks were on the surface, and we're talking through 1944!
4. The behaviour of AI is still retarded. Witness the example from Switch posted earlier. My experience so far tends to be....
- detect convoy WITH SONAR while moving at 12kts (ridiculous in itself).
- approach to visual.
- dive to pd immediately.
- approach at silent speed.
- take shots.
- dive below layer.
- creep off at 2-3kts.
- watch DDs mill around dropping charges while trying not to collide.....often this leads to them blowing their own DC racks off their sterns sue to self-imposed damage from dropping while moving at 2-5kts (so far I've counted 3 DDs actually destroying themselves through this method).
- come back to PD to shoot at remainder of convoy that has obligingly hung around instead of maintaining convoy speed with some escorts.
Rinse and repeat for next contact......
Most of these problems (if not all) existed in SH3 (such as uber escorts or complete idiots, nuclear DCs etc.....). So, they exist in SH4. We would all have been better served had they written a NEW SIM, not tried to squeeze a Pacific sim from a faulty base. Sure, the graphics are nice, for the most part (although the subs seemed to move far more realistically in SH3 - the SH4 subs seem to move like lifeless bricks). The crew management is a vast improvement over SH3 stock. But, after that, what? SD radar, for example....it was NEVER anything OTHER than a-scope....it gave RANGE but not bearing. How hard should that have been to do????
I have yet to take any damage of note from escorts at all. I've been hit by fire from MERCHANTS at 2500yds, and that did more damage than I've ever suffered from escorts.
This sim is simply junk when you consider what was done by the modders with SH3....I find it a complete yawn, what challenges there are seem to be completely unrealistic, and the challenges that SHOULD be there aren't. It's all arse-about-face, as we say around here.....
Sorry - couldn't help myself!
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