Flak Gunners in GWX

[its a viic]

I just installed GWX a few weeks ago. I currently am in a viib. Cruising along am 53 and plane spotted. I am in Sept 39. I decide to have a flak gunner take care of the plane which now have turned into two. On their second pass ... flak gun destroyed , gunner dead, down to 90% hull integrity. Yikes!!
I have to tell ya the vanilla with 1.4 patch was pretty easy to shoot down planes, even more so this early in the war. I knew GWX was going to have rabid plane AI but geez. This is craziness. Question. How many of you put alot of stock in flak gunners in GWX? Should I just get one and concentrate on more torpedo petty officers. I think I may just crash dive any time I see a plane. Alot of you have been playing GWX Alot longer than I. What have you all done as far as enemy planes are concerned? I play D.I.D. at 76% difficulty.

[Alex]

Personnally, as long as I spot more than 2 planes, I order to dive.

[spork542]

What should you do? Do what any sensible U-Boat man would do.


ALAAAARM!!!!

[bruschi sauro]

AIRCRAFT SPOTTED ....ALARMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
CRASH DIVE.....

[nikbear]

I dive all the time,but thats because my AA men have entered into a suicide pact and whatever I do,whatever the boat,I've never been able to get them to fire at the planes in GWX.I've tried all the stupid routines,man the gun and fire a shot to show them how its done,go back to the bridge....nothing except winged death and damage,bloody SHIII bug the only time I've shot down a plane was when I manned the gun myself,and by luck rather than skill shot down a really slow anson.Not worth the bother 99% of the time

[Jimbuna]

Dive every time....your boat is a 'bullet magnet'

[Telgriff]

Originally Posted by its a viic

I just installed GWX a few weeks ago. I currently am in a viib. Cruising along am 53 and plane spotted. I am in Sept 39. I decide to have a flak gunner take care of the plane which now have turned into two. On their second pass ... flak gun destroyed , gunner dead, down to 90% hull integrity. Yikes!!
I have to tell ya the vanilla with 1.4 patch was pretty easy to shoot down planes, even more so this early in the war. I knew GWX was going to have rabid plane AI but geez. This is craziness. Question. How many of you put alot of stock in flak gunners in GWX? Should I just get one and concentrate on more torpedo petty officers. I think I may just crash dive any time I see a plane. Alot of you have been playing GWX Alot longer than I. What have you all done as far as enemy planes are concerned? I play D.I.D. at 76% difficulty.

Dont even bother with flak gunners, I only keep them on the boat to shoot at small merchants and fishing boats to save torps and deck gun ammo. I attempted to shoot at aircraft once in GWX...the result was 4 dead and 6 injured along with a big dent in my IXB.

[Rose]

Dive!

[Carotio]

Are we mice or men?

Of course we stay surfaced and give them some fight back!

My flak gunner is always in the mood for shooting back...

[Webchessie]

I really like watching the burning aircraft that I hit, but I find that that kind of fun usually ends up with dead crew and beat-up boat. Late in the war and it's always best to heed the call of . . . .

ALARM!

[Iron Budokan]

I don't qual flak gunners, either.

Originally Posted by its a viic

I knew GWX was going to have rabid plane AI but geez. This is craziness.

Nope,that's not craziness.That's the reality,where GWX puts things in their right places.

I would recommend you to read about "U-Flak" concept at
http://www.uboatwar.net/VII.htm.

The idea of U-Boat usage as anti-aircraft boats failed,and Type VII U-Boats,fit with numerous flaks managed to shoot down just a few aircraft.So,all historicans do admit that crash dive was the only suitable option,when U-Boat encountered an aircraft.

That's why,I think GWX Development team made such aircraft AI model.

Good Hunting

[maillemaker]

Yeah, I just finished "Iron Coffins", and the real threat was aircraft towards the end of the War. I was amazed how hour after hour on some days they got radio call after radio call that went:

AIRCRAFT. BOMBED. SINKING. U-XXX.

In fact I was amazed the number of u-boats that were able to send off a radio message.

If anything, I think the game is less realistic than the war was (though I haven't gotten late in the war in the game). It seems like they had almost no chance of getting away from them. Especially for the bit of time when their Metox detectors were actually broadcasting the U-boat's position!

The author basically said it got to the point where if you didn't have a snorkle you were doomed.

One reason the flack u-boats didn't work is the attacking aircraft stopped attacking the u-boats. They would simply circle out of range, calling in more and more aircraft and hunter-killer surface groups until the u-boat tried to dive. Then they would descend on them and blow them to bits.

By the way,maybe a bit off-topic question,but still what is the effective detonation depth of Depth Charges in GWX?

I ask because there were numerous times,when my U-Boat was hit in shallow waters of Celtic Sea,other places in British approaches and even at depthes slightly bigger than 100 metres - about 120 meters or so.

So,where is safe depth starting?

[Jimbuna]

There is no safe depth....quite simply because your boat can't dive deep enough