Darksun, thanks for that diagram, makes things real simple. The entire post is amazing. I have been playing for less than a week. Before this post I had done 4 missions in a campaign and was averaging 1 and 1/2 ships sunk per mission. After reading this thread, in my last 2 missions I sank 14 ships. Thanks everyone for the info! I use 96% realism with no mod. The only thing I left checked was no dud torpedoes.
Setting up the fast 90 attacks is a great deal of fun without nav updates as there is no cheating in getting 500 to 700 feet of the targets track. Someone had mentioned about the watchman calling out bearing and distance. I get 3 readings from him about a minute apart. Then I draw the angle off my bow that corresponds to the bearing and measure the distance and mark the ship location this way. Connect the 3 marks and I have his track. Its usually off a degree or 2. So I have to eyeball him as he nears and either back up or go forward. One time I was sitting right on his track and didn't get far enough away to fire as the torps don't arm until 300 feet. Is it 300? I don't know for sure but from trial and error I believe it is.
The last mission I just finished was a blast. By the time I reached my patrol area I had sunk 6 ships and was down to 4 torps. I got a radio message about a huge convoy in the sector just south of the one I was assigned. I arrived to meet it about 1 hour before sunrise. Upon locating the convoy I veared away about 1 km so to remain unseen and planned my attack about 7 km further along their path. I had my eyes on a cargo ship. The sea was rough and bad visibility. I was getting reports on multiple bearings. Being that I only had 4 torps left, I figured I better just hit what comes across and run. A warship had moved ahead of the merchant ships and he was write in the spot where I was set to ambush from. Seeing as in the campaign I hadn't sunk a warship yet. I let him have the first torp. Turns out it was just a cutter. But I had a ship coming directly at my 90. I mean dead center, so I had to pull the trigger and flank ahead.
Then I turned into another ship and fired from 00 and hit his bow, I think it was a liberty cargo, the torp hit and he caught fire but didn't sink. I had the torp running at 4 meters deep as earlier, I had set one to run 1 meter under the keel of a merchant ship and in the high seas when the ship got pitched up on a wave the torp was too deep to detonate.
At this point some ships are zigging around and in the dark its total chaous. I dove to 20 meters, went under the cargo ship thinking I could finish it off with my stern torp. When I came back up to periscope depth it was like Christmas for any U-boat commander. A big juicy T3 Tanker broadside to me and moving at a snails pace. I just turned about 10 degrees and sent a torpedo just in front of his bow. He was maybe 800 meters away. I had set the torp to run 1 meter below his keel. It hit him dead center,he split in 2 and sank in about 20 seconds.Then I missed with my last stern torp and headed all the way back to Kiel from sector AL37 with no torps. Plus ran out of diesel and made the last leg on batteries. But I got 2 medals after sinking 28 tons.
Still I was cursing that I had only 4 torps when I arrived at the convoy. The other 5 missions when I was on patrol, not a single ship was in my sector
So thanks again for all the tips guys. This is the most fun I've ever had playing a video game!
