Hey vets ... what do you do in this situation?

MarkQuinn · 03-25-07, 09:06 AM

This was just a throw-away practice campaign to get the swing of the new game so please forgive me for not having specific details.

I'm headed south out of the base at the Phillipines with orders to patrol an area at the southern end of the islands. Not even a day out of port my watch crew call out a ship sighting. It was pretty dark and we were far from them headed south and as best as I can tell they were headed in a north-easterly direction, moving very fast. Point is, we were passing each other up. I knew for sure it was a destroyer and a smaller unidentified ship.

I went to pariscope depth and turned the boat around to get closer and get a better look at him. We'd just about passed each other (but at a distance) by the time my crew called the sighting so there was no way to intercept his course and set up an attack. I was about 90% sure I'd ID'ed it correctly and despite the darkness and our distance I was pretty sure it flew Japanese colors (this would later be confirned when I surfaced and he fired on me).

To make a long story short --- or rather, to get to the question --- I screwed up big time and I want to know what you vets would have done. The problem was, even though it was night time I had to remain submerged because he'd see me if I came within torpedo range or even further out. And yet, he was headed in the opposite direction from me. Even on the surface he'd outpace my boat. So what chance do I have to keep up with him and set up a proper attack run while submerged? Given his proximity to my base he was obviously headed north to pick off our ships as they left the harbor. To let him go would be tantamount to treason, yet to engage him would have been suicide. I had NO initiative here, and I was screwed.

Well the surfacing debacle was my inexperience and the fact it was a throw-away game. I surfaced and thought I'd test out my boat's flank speed. He and the smaller vessel opened fire almost immediately.

Would the better bet, since there was NO way I could catch him, be to have surfaced after he was out of visual range and simply report the contact so the home base could prepare a little ambush for him? I'm thinking that must be the case, illustrating the submarine's effectiveness as a recon vessel as well as a weapons platform.

But what would you guys have done?

(On a side note, I'm wondering if this kind of thing is an example of the inexperienced crew in Ubi's new "role-playing" system. If that same watch crew had been on five patrols together, I wonder if they'd have spotted the destroyer before we passed each other, giving me time to get in position?)

03-25-07, 09:06 AM	#1
MarkQuinn A-ganger Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 71 Downloads: 37 Uploads: 0	Hey vets ... what do you do in this situation? This was just a throw-away practice campaign to get the swing of the new game so please forgive me for not having specific details. I'm headed south out of the base at the Phillipines with orders to patrol an area at the southern end of the islands. Not even a day out of port my watch crew call out a ship sighting. It was pretty dark and we were far from them headed south and as best as I can tell they were headed in a north-easterly direction, moving very fast. Point is, we were passing each other up. I knew for sure it was a destroyer and a smaller unidentified ship. I went to pariscope depth and turned the boat around to get closer and get a better look at him. We'd just about passed each other (but at a distance) by the time my crew called the sighting so there was no way to intercept his course and set up an attack. I was about 90% sure I'd ID'ed it correctly and despite the darkness and our distance I was pretty sure it flew Japanese colors (this would later be confirned when I surfaced and he fired on me). To make a long story short --- or rather, to get to the question --- I screwed up big time and I want to know what you vets would have done. The problem was, even though it was night time I had to remain submerged because he'd see me if I came within torpedo range or even further out. And yet, he was headed in the opposite direction from me. Even on the surface he'd outpace my boat. So what chance do I have to keep up with him and set up a proper attack run while submerged? Given his proximity to my base he was obviously headed north to pick off our ships as they left the harbor. To let him go would be tantamount to treason, yet to engage him would have been suicide. I had NO initiative here, and I was screwed. Well the surfacing debacle was my inexperience and the fact it was a throw-away game. I surfaced and thought I'd test out my boat's flank speed. He and the smaller vessel opened fire almost immediately. Would the better bet, since there was NO way I could catch him, be to have surfaced after he was out of visual range and simply report the contact so the home base could prepare a little ambush for him? I'm thinking that must be the case, illustrating the submarine's effectiveness as a recon vessel as well as a weapons platform. But what would you guys have done? (On a side note, I'm wondering if this kind of thing is an example of the inexperienced crew in Ubi's new "role-playing" system. If that same watch crew had been on five patrols together, I wonder if they'd have spotted the destroyer before we passed each other, giving me time to get in position?)