good hunting in GWX

[StarTrekMike]

I know this is like beating a dead horse but I need to ask.

Before installing GWX I was almost always spotting single merchants that were of a decent enough size to care about...convoys were always kinda rare for me but I like going after the brave ones that run alone.

After installing GWX, I notice that I am barely able to find any decent tonnage despite the addition of some new tasty targets (liners, whaling ships).

What am I doing wrong here?...very seldom does anything come near my patrol grid and my tonnage sunk has put me on the bottom of the list.

What are some of the best patrol grids that have been found in GWX?, should I start raiding ports?

any tips on getting tonnage above 100k?

Thank you so much in advance.

Mike (U-1701)

[Penelope_Grey]

I've never had a 100k patrol. Such things are a bit... unbelievable really.

On the F5 screen there in the top left hand corner are some pull out charts, one of them shows areas of air cover in the various years, as well as convoy and single merchant routes, and areas of high naval traffic. You want to sink lots of goodies, go to the areas of high naval traffic.

[papa_smurf]

Nothing, its just that in GWX single mercahnts are not easy to find, the best grids that I know of are:

AN14, AM51-55, Al99 and "Tanker alley - Between BF13 and 15. Im sure others here will point you to other good grids.

As for getting over 100K tons and other tips go to Brags site for advice and tips.

[GoldenRivet]

consider this...

Otto Kretschmer (If i remember correctly) was the highest scoring u-boat ace. His stats lay claim to sinking about 50 ships in total during his career which spanned 16 patrols.

his average number of sinkings per patrol would have been about 3 ships.

during these 16 patrols he spent 213 total days at sea... this means that his average patrol length was 13 days 8 hours long. therefore something like 90% of his days at sea would leave him with zero encounters with the enemy.

because GWX is a realism mod, if you play at high realism settings you might only manage to sink a couple of ships per patrol much like the real aces. and you will theoretically encounter much less shipping than in stock.

while its true that there are areas with big fat juicy convoys, you will probably spend a few patrols trying to stumble across such areas.

i encourage you to download SH3 commander and activate the "realistic career length" option. when you combine that option with high realism settings, you will likely have a very hard time breaking 100,000 tons.

good luck out there

[Subject]

Well... here's from Peter Rodschou's career:

1st patrol --------------------------------------------
1. august, 1941, departing La Rochelle
8. CG85 - small freighter
9. CG86 - large cargo
10. CG86 - passenger/cargo
13. CG85 - passenger/cargo
14. CG81 - small merchant
16. resupply at Thalia
22. august, 1941, departing Thalia
22. CG94 - large cargo (two!)
26. CG79 - one medium and one large cargo
27. resupply at Thalia
16. september, 1941, departing Thalia
16. CG86 - tramp steamer and one large cargo
17. CG82 - small merchant
22. BE71 - small merchant
24. BE63 - passenger/cargo
BF41 - small freighter
28. september, 1941, docking at new base, Brest

2nd patrol --------------------------------------------
13. november, 1941, departing Brest
15. BF19 (convoy) - large merchant
BF15 - large merchant, liberty cargo and one passenger/cargo
16. BE36 - small merchant
23. BE64 - large merchant
24. BE66 - liberty cargo
26. november, back at Brest

3rd patrol --------------------------------------------
6. februar 1942, departing Brest after major (needed) overhaul
6. BF52 - british S-class submarine (8 hours after leaving port....)
11. CG84 - small merchant
26. DT33 (convoy) - modern medium tanker, large cargo, whale factory
28. februar, docking at Corrientes for resupply
5. marts, departing Corrientes
10. CE69 - modern medium tanker and small merchant
20. BE38 - (convoy) large merchant (2), large cargo (2), liberty cargo
21. BE17 - medium tanker
23. marts, 1942, docking at Brest

4th patrol --------------------------------------------
20. may, 1942, departing Brest
23. BE63 - small freighter and passenger/cargo
24. BE14 - large merchant
BE39 (convoy) - large cargo, medium cargo, (2), heavy transport, large merchant
28. AL55 - large cargo
6. june, 1942, resupply at U-463, which just arrived in BD35.
9. june, leaving U-463 after being held up by foul weather.
11. june arrived at patrol grid and that's where I'm right now.

Convoys are picked up by radiocontact.
Lone ships by sonar, we do spend a lot of time submerged.

Good hunting!

rod.

[Jimbuna]

Can't disagree with what GoldenRivet has already stated

If it's action your after, go to the BF and AM grids already stated or lie 200kms or so west of Gib.

It's all down to individual taste

[twexl]

Since changing from stock sh3 to GWX i noticed it can take up to four direct hits to sink a lowly medium merchant and three hits to sink a 2000 ton passenger/cargo{admittedly two were in the same place} This is not a critiscism of gwx but whatever happened to 'one torpedo,one ship' (Kretchmer?)....Is it worth carrying on a patrol with one eel left?

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by twexl

Since changing from stock sh3 to GWX i noticed it can take up to four direct hits to sink a lowly medium merchant and three hits to sink a 2000 ton passenger/cargo{admittedly two were in the same place} This is not a critiscism of gwx but whatever happened to 'one torpedo,one ship' (Kretchmer?)....Is it worth carrying on a patrol with one eel left?

I have frequently seen ships go down with one hit... two at the most.

I think one of the biggest changes for GWX from stock regarding realism was the sinking times. in stock the little ships could be completely flooded within a few minutes and sink.

historically however there were many accounts of ships staying afloat for a couple of days before finally sinking.

the thing about many cargo and passenger ships is that they are highly compartmentalized - this means that when one compartment fills up with water the flooding slows down rapidly before the next compartment begins to fill up... at which point the flooding speeds up rapidly until the second compartment is full... then, once again the flooding slows down until the next compartment begins flooding and so on and so forth until the buoyancy of the ship is negated and the ship sinks. i think the GWX team might have been trying to simulate this?

Try hitting a ship with one or two torpedoes and observing it for a while before making a choice to send more torpedoes. the first hit or second hit may have been fatal but the ship may show no signes of sinking for a couple of hours... therfore any subsequent shots would have been a waste.

also - Otto Kreschmere's strategy of torpedo per ship may have been supplimented by the fact that most of his kills took place in the happy times and he may have been prone to fisnishing off his targets with the deck gun.

[Jimbuna]

Strange that nobody is suggesting the use of the deck gun in game.

GWX simulates damage via flooding....in the early days (before merchants become armed) if at all possible, surface and hit the vessel in multiple places just below the waterline. This will speed up the flooding process

[twexl]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Strange that nobody is suggesting the use of the deck gun in game.

GWX simulates damage via flooding....in the early days (before merchants become armed) if at all possible, surface and hit the vessel in multiple places just below the waterline. This will speed up the flooding process

I,m not going out there it's windy and raining

[GoldenRivet]

and cold.

[Brag]

To see where the hot areas are, look in the sticky section for Operation Spinnennetz. There you will find a map with all the hot areas away from coasts, with dates of sightings.

It is possible in GWX to accumulate large tonnages even with high realism settings.
If you can stomach the arrogant Balz, , read his postings.

Search for Tanker Alley in this forum, that thread contains screenies of some hot areas.

Also visit my Kielman website, you will find interesting stuff there.

And Twxl --Welcome aboard!

[Jimbuna]

And Twxl --Welcome aboard!

How unforgiveable of me

Welcome aboard Kaleun twexl

[twexl]

Thanks for replies, I've got realistic sinking times on ,will 'lurk' til they sink

[Jimbuna]

Remember....you will only get the renown when the message "She's going down" appears