Old player/picked up the game again and questions

[briangw]

Hey all,

I played this when it first came out and like the first time, I'm a guy that leaves the realism low but don't recall having as many issues as I am now. This time around, I've run into a problem with attacking ships.

Convoys: I tend to approach them at 90 degree angles in order to fire off shots. However, at this go around, I've had bad luck targeting them with Destroyer flanking the convoy, esp. on the side I am. My first mistake was leaving my periscope up and I think they saw that. The second time, I was 1500 yards away but given it was daytime and I was at periscope depth, one of the destroyers saw me even with no periscope up (I assume they detected my position acoustically).

So my questions are, how do you target multiple ships outside of getting noticed by destroyers and can you even fire off shots father than 1000-1500 yards?

One other thing is that my save game is crashing just after I left the Tokyo harbor taking pictures. Increasing time tends to make the game choppy/slow it down and then my game stops responding. Anyone know how to fix that or am I doomed?

Thanks in advance!

Brian

[Crannogman]

Welcome back! Knowing your game version (eg 1.4 or 1.5) and any mods, as well as computer specs would help. Look-up the Large Address Aware fix.

You can def engage from longer ranges; against escorted capital ships, I'll often attack from ~6 thousand yards, but that's with auto-targeting. You might try stalking until nighttime and then attacking. With escorted convoys, I usually attack from about 45degrees ahead, where there's often a hole in their screen.

[Rockin Robbins]

Welcome back! Attacking during the day is definitely dicey. Try engaging after dark and watch your luck change dramatically!

[Armistead]

As stated, much depends with your mods. Main thing is to understand how the AI works and stack as many values in your favor. However, sometimes targets are juicy and you need to attack.

Enemy has basic passive and active sensors. He can hear you better the slower he's going. Weather has much impact on how well he hears. If high waves/wind, he's basically deaf. Your speed, silent running, the angle of your sub, etc., have impact.

A 90% attack is often dangerous, because often it leaves you broadside to the flank escort.

[THEBERBSTER]

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[james_nix]

I've been experimenting with pointing directly at the convoy under the thermal layer. To reduce my signature since I am so narrow and engines turn off.

When the first escort passes my 45 degrees, I'm just on the edge of his sonar cone so I slowly come up to periscope depth turning 90 degrees as I do to line up the shot.

Usually by that time the merchants are coming in close and I am ready to fire!

Something to play around with which might work for you.

[Rockin Robbins]

James that works in the game. But in real life the sub had to always be moving. Hovering with engines stopped even for 30 seconds got completely hairy and after a minute or so the boat was totally out of control. Likely the boat would be pointed straight up and the crew walking on the walls!

Of course the game isn't realistic in this matter, but we can be by running our sub consistent with the way the real submarines did. One valid way would be to approach at a medium speed, cut the power and coast like a bicycle. THAT's a silent procedure and you keep moving. You'd have to turn the power back on when the speed fell to near zero.

I've found that up to 2 knots, 100 rpm, is quite stealthy. Keep that narrow profile, take advantage of dark and bad weather and you'll have success.