i've been lurking for quite some time and figured I'd say hello. Being a former OS in the Navy I've always loved naval sims and have played just about every one that comes my way. I have some thoughts and questions of course for the better players than I though.
1. When engaging a convoy do you go after the escorts first/at all before taking on the merchants? Right now my method has been to pop and shoot and then dive and sneak and repeat when clear. This of course only works for as long as I can maintain my position among the convoy. I try and dive below the thermal to reposition and cruise ahead at flank just to maintain my range.
2. torpedo settings, I've heard a couple differing opinions and have tried both with about equal success/failure. One, high speed versus low speed. Supposedly high speed always is what i'm lead to believe and even then I've had destroyers floor it and move out of the path inside of 700 yard shots. Contact vs magnetic, this will vary slightly depending on the next point but contact hits give you a larger hole in the ship which improves flooding versus magnetic which may cause it to go off before reaching the target per say and thus making a smaller hole. Torpedo depth, this is probably the most crucial I think. Torpedos by design are meant to break the keel of a ship with its explosion according to real life applications and as such are best achieved by shooting just below the keel. This is where magnetic triggering comes into play. I've done the shoot beneath method successfully only a handful of times and never with a small ship like a destroyer. Those always end up missing and going below the ship. Now, with very large ships like BB's and carriers as well as the huge liner and large merchants shooting into the side never ever gives me a victory with a single shot, but I have done it a couple times with the undershot.
3. diesels. On my last patrol I got hit by an airplane. no biggie, he destroyed 2 of the 4 diesels. one on either side. so I assumed I could still move, albeit slower, surfaced. Nay nay, now surface propulsion. Is this a bug? Why have 4 diesel engines ( 2 to a side ) if not for redundancy in just this kind of situation? Had I not had unlimited batteries and such on I would never have made it back to port ( unless you can charge batteries on the surface without propulsion ).
4. graphical bugs. this isn't a function issue, just a nuisance to me. For one, after one dive and surface the bow planes never go back down again even though the armature goes down. It's like they break off
second, ship hits, most of the time I get no visible damage with my hits and occasionally additional hits to the same target will "erase" a previous hit and make a new visual damage hit.
5. medals? is there any benefit as to medals themselves thus making the decision on whom to award them to more important?
I think thats all the major points I got right now.