Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhodes
Well, for me and until this date, I think that they are right balance. Why?
1. One time, current campaign (the one of the latest reports) I spot a small convoy - one escort and 3 or 2 ships. Clear sky, crystal flat water, moon light.
Approached slowly, let them come tome me, try always to to be in a angle of 45º, etc.
At 3000-2000 yards, the merchants spotted me. Began to fire all their weapons, flood lights at me, etc. Had to dive. Possible I should have done a submerge attack, with all that clarity.
2. Convoys that the escorts detect me, by any means. So it is not always: "it's easy peasy"
3. Until this time, I only manage to get inside a convoy once.
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Oh, I was just wondering, glad you find it balanced. I do as well, quite happy with it, even though at times it seems kind of easy but thats the balance. Really all has to do with conditions of the night for most part, minaly light and fog. As MM pointed out, feedback is very important in modding. My experience is not always the experience others have. One reason and a unfortunate part of modding, is I have a inside track on the workings of the mod. I actually do my best not to use that knowledge and try to create things so they can vary and feel I struck that balance in TMO. Even though I designed the TMO Update, changed a lot of things, have do hours and hours of testing and I can not always predict how things will go down, I still get caught off guard, and even lose my boat now and then. Mod remains a challenge, even for me, which was the goal. Having said, want it difficult but not impossible. I loved the original TMO, but at times it was impossible, primarily due to the damage model and overpowered depth charges, which I corrected. With addition of night surface
Sounds like you are doing it right, keeping angles small to reduce visibility. Yes, moonlight is the main factor in night surface attacks. I always attack so the moon is behind the convoy, my position is "down moon". A rule of thumb is full moon, go for night attack with periscope or shadow until dawn, then attack, use the rising sun to illuminate the targets, works well. Much like human eyes, the visual sensors have difficulty during transition time of dawn and dusk, so if torpedo wakes are coming from the "dark side" (west) at dawn, they typically have more trouble spotted them.
Sometimes there is no moon but the night is just lighter than others, can chance it, Captains discretion. Thing about mod is those without radar have a hard time tracking you on surface (as should, subs were tough to see on surface, esp at night) for very long. Your boat can disappear into the night, as so many did.
Calm seas is best for surface attacks because your sub becomes more visible in heavy seas due to the spray kicked up, water flowing out of the superstructure's holes. Heavy seas also slows your boats surface maneuverability and dive speeds down.
Far as getting inside convoys, well that is a very situational thing, but quite possible, provides a real advantage, and is a lot of fun. Mainly only possible in mid 1944 on, when Japanese started running larger, allied style convoys, the convoys in TMO (most of them) esp the North South/HI convoys (Singapore-Japan) and N/X Takao-Manila(TAMA )Manila to Takao (MATA convoys). Previous to mid 1944, its rare to find a convoy suitable for a attack from inside.