there is an approach you can use to prevent the enemy from spotting your scope
this involves taking the sub slightly deeper than the normal scope depth..and constantly adjusting the scope height and the subs depth to compensate ..keeping an eye on the detection meter and or the red target markers on the mini map..
you have a short period of grace between the red marker appearing and the enemy spotting you..perhaps ten seconds at most...adjust the scope height and your subs depth during this time to "lose" sight of the ships again...practice this and you will notice that there is a "zone" where you will be able to see the target ship through the scope but no red targeting marker will appear on the mini map..and it can't see you...
i did make a mod that exagerated this effect slightly..but it can be done just as effectively with the stock game..
you will be able to leave the scope raised slightly and catch glimpses of the target ship in the wave troughs..you are dependant on the weather and the sea state here so it is an interested and dynamic aspect which can be a gameplay joy that makes up for the more arbitrary scope visual distance..
you can with practice actualy get within ramming distance of any ship without being spotted with the scope still partialy raised...here's an example..
it's quite tricky (BUT VERY INTERESTING) to pull off..it gives the game a very unique twist..that said yup the normal scope spotting distance is harsh to say the least...i don't know wether it is deliberate or accidental feature..but this work round certainly adds a huge amount of tension and depth to the gameplay..
one other thing...the enemy AI very quickly "forgets" it has seen your scope if you lower the thing quickly once spotted..so you can lower the scope wait a few seconds and the ship will retrun to it's normal behaviour ( depending on the mission script)
six of one half a dozen of the other..so to speak
