[CaptainHaplo]

Welcome CRM - well thought out and communicated post.

Don't give up - you will miss way too much fun if you do! Remember - starting in 41 means a different traffic pattern than in 43 or 45. RSRDC really does cut down traffic tremendously - run without it one time and then as you get more comfortable add it back in if you want.

The experience you had was NOT typical - I usually can go from pearl to southern Honshu and complete my first assigned task, without seeing much, but within a week or so I see action.

Remember - traffic is more realistic with the mods you use. The idea that merchants should abound - even outside a busy harbor - isnt necessarily true. Sit south of the opening to Tokyo Bay and one would think you would see a constant stream of merchants (given there are 5 ports in there actually) - but you dont. I have sat south of that narrow, shallow opening and seen nary a merchant in a week. Its also very important to recall that your radar and sonar have a limited range, and the scale of the pacific (and inshore areas) is such that you think your close enough to hear or "see" a target when your not. Add in SH4 (and the mods your running) also make sensors more realistic (using facing, etc).

If you want success, look at the historical shipping lanes, like Formosa. Even in Formosa, running a similiar mod config as you have, you have to be sitting in the right hot spots. Again its a matter of scale. You can hear a ship or convoy maybe 25 miles out - but radar might see them at 40. One problem - on the surface you can't hear them, and you may have a bad angle on them for radar. Use the historical approach - dive every once in a while just to do a sweep with the hydrophones. Its amazing what you can hear and can't see, even when you have radar.

Don't give up - and wait till you run into a mid-late war convoy or TF! Early war the escorts have less skill. And on a port run - its realistic - the ships have to build up steam before they can get underway. Its not like every escort tied up is always ready to weigh anchor and cast off.