Cant get to american coast

[thegroo]

It's 1942 and i got orders to proceed to the american coast for the last two patrols.

But it's no use to go there, because i'm out of torpedos everytime.

I allways encounter a convoy in BF
With multiple attacks, i was able to sink 11 merchants in one convoy and 9 in the other
In the last attack the escorts got a sniff and 4 where hunting me for about 3 hours but i got away:p

I love GW and my IXC

Good hunting to everyone
Dieter

[Jimbuna]

Don't knock it mate...just be glad your finding convoys. Many a time in real life kaleuns would return from patrol without sinking anything

[melnibonian]

Why don't you try to get to the patrol area after the convoy attack, get the renown and then refuel from a milk-cow??? That way you will not spend so much time in transit.

[thegroo]

Originally Posted by melnibonian

Why don't you try to get to the patrol area after the convoy attack, get the renown and then refuel from a milk-cow??? That way you will not spend so much time in transit.

Good idea

Maybe, on the next patrol i'll stop by a milk-cow and then proceed to the american coast.

But as i'm close to my home base, i think in reality any kaleun would resupply there.
I think Karl would forgive me

Dieter

[melnibonian]

Ideally I try to be at sea as much as possible, so even if I'm out of torpedos I still try to hunt using the deck gun (within limits obviously).

[Safe-Keeper]

Heh heh, I know the feeling. I just found myself ordered from Bergen to the BD grid, and didn't get farther than north of England before I found a large convoy and emptied almost all my eels into her. Frustrating, though it should not really be - successes are successes, after all.

[Hartmann]

That´s the question.... spend the torpedoes if you find a convoy or ignore the target and go to the patrol grid..

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by thegroo

It's 1942 and i got orders to proceed to the american coast for the last two patrols.

But it's no use to go there, because i'm out of torpedos everytime.

"I Think we're gonna need a bigger boat."

[THE_MASK]

Thats why i like the stock sh3 weather with weeks of bad weather . Cuts down on the tonnage to a more realistic tonnage . If you dont take tonnage while its there in good weather , chances are the weathers going to turn ugly later on and no tonnage sometimes from bad weather .

[Kapitan]

In bad weather if one torpedo doesnt sink a ship then i move on cause i know once the first hits the ship will try and zigzag so if i fire again i could end up wasting 4 or 5 torpedos on one ship which is not good at all.

I prefer to sink ships with my gun first then once ammo is run right out then use torpedos on the big C2 T2 and C3 and T3 tankers i dont waste torps on coastal or small merchants or tankers unless i realy need to get tonnage up.

[thegroo]

Originally Posted by Kapitan

In bad weather if one torpedo doesnt sink a ship then i move on cause i know once the first hits the ship will try and zigzag so if i fire again i could end up wasting 4 or 5 torpedos on one ship which is not good at all.

I love bad weather to attack.
When attacking a convoy i try to get between the 2nd and 3rd row of ships.
From there i fire one torp at the leading ship in row one and two torps at the leader in row four. Then i wait for the leaders in row 2 and 3 and time the shots so that all 4 ships get hit about the same time.
Now the convoy starts to zigzag but in doing so needs more time to pass my position.
This gives me more time to reload and i'm able to engange more ships in rows 2 and 3.
As i'm realy close the zigzaging dosn't worry me to much.
With this tactic i'm able to get 4-6 ships in the first attack.
Now i go deep and sneak away and attack the convoy a few hours later again.
As average i peel away 10 ships from a convoy but then i'm out of fish and have to head back to the barn.

Dieter

[thegroo]

Originally Posted by Hartmann

That´s the question.... spend the torpedoes if you find a convoy or ignore the target and go to the patrol grid..

Hmm, a good question.
How would that be handled in WWII.
Tactically it would be better to attack, but there could be strategic reasons to bypass the Convoy.
Any pro knowing anything about such situations?

Dieter

[Ducimus]

The uboats assigned to Drumbeat, the original effort, had orders to not engage any ships until an appointed time they were on station. The element of surpise was to be kept at all possible costs. The exception was any ship 10,000 tons or higher. To quote, "we never pass a 10,000 tonner".


So, operational requirements, or mission requirements in some cases take more precedent. Everything else becomes a secondary target or target of opportunity. So i guess it really depends on what the parameters of your patrol are, or what you interrpret them to be.

[thegroo]

@Ducimus

Thank you for the info.
This gives me an idea to spice up my patrols.
I could restrict myself to hunt only for specific targets, like tankers or cargo ships carrying only tanks / planes:p

Dieter

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by thegroo

@Ducimus

Thank you for the info.
This gives me an idea to spice up my patrols.
I could restrict myself to hunt only for specific targets, like tankers or cargo ships carrying only tanks / planes:p

Dieter

If you really want to spice up the immersion, why not use SH3Gen and add some secondary orders that let you do whatever your imagination can come up with.