Show me how to fight in the big ones

[Loud_Silence]

Hello everybody!! I'm Loud_Silence. Im from spain, hence my poor english
I've been playing SH3&4 for some time. I ran a campaign in SH3 until 1943 somehow sneaking past the escorts and making some hits on tankers and such, but them i started to get myself surrounded by bombers just after starting the patrol, so i left it...
Some time later i got SH4, and boy, the pacific is totally different from the atlantic... here you have to fight like a destroyer, but only with a gun, four torpedoes each 10 minutes (if i have an excellent crew) and looking through a straw.
Here i've managed to sink some lone tankers and merchant ships, but there are much more warships than in the atlantic, and in a 1 vs 1 against a destroyer, i feel totally outgunned... but a 1v1 is the best scenario... usually i find convoys with four destroyers and even a cruiser.... and the fleet battles... omg... they're just suicide missions for me.
Since SH3 i survived using stealth. I shot at the big targets, go deep and wait some hours for the escorts to leave. But i feel that, if i want to make any important progress in the pacific, ill have to start facing warships also....
Please, can you show me some kind of tactics, maneouvers or something to turn a hunting destroyer into an easy prey? Or what to do in huge battles like Midway? I once managed to sink a battleship by shooting at it from very close, using the periscope like a gunsight and turning the sub... of course then i was smashed by three destroyers and gunfire from other battleships...
Please, help for a noooooob Thank you!!!

[Orion2012]

Originally Posted by Loud_Silence

Hello everybody!! I'm Loud_Silence. Im from spain, hence my poor english
I've been playing SH3&4 for some time. I ran a campaign in SH3 until 1943 somehow sneaking past the escorts and making some hits on tankers and such, but them i started to get myself surrounded by bombers just after starting the patrol, so i left it...
Some time later i got SH4, and boy, the pacific is totally different from the atlantic... here you have to fight like a destroyer, but only with a gun, four torpedoes each 10 minutes (if i have an excellent crew) and looking through a straw.
Here i've managed to sink some lone tankers and merchant ships, but there are much more warships than in the atlantic, and in a 1 vs 1 against a destroyer, i feel totally outgunned... but a 1v1 is the best scenario... usually i find convoys with four destroyers and even a cruiser.... and the fleet battles... omg... they're just suicide missions for me.
Since SH3 i survived using stealth. I shot at the big targets, go deep and wait some hours for the escorts to leave. But i feel that, if i want to make any important progress in the pacific, ill have to start facing warships also....
Please, can you show me some kind of tactics, maneouvers or something to turn a hunting destroyer into an easy prey? Or what to do in huge battles like Midway? I once managed to sink a battleship by shooting at it from very close, using the periscope like a gunsight and turning the sub... of course then i was smashed by three destroyers and gunfire from other battleships...
Please, help for a noooooob Thank you!!!

The Destroyers can be vicious and aren't easily fooled. The best way to attack a convoy is to get in behind the front destroyer and fire as close as you can, preferable within 1000-700 yards, then Dive, and begin evasive maneuvers.

[SteamWake]

Try not to let the DD's pick you up... then slip in for the meat of the convoy. Let all hell loose if you can, the go deep and turn away. Cross your fingers and evade.

Its all in the positioning of the inital attack. Many have been the times Ive had to let an entire convoy slip by because I just could not get into position without being picked up.

[Orion2012]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Its all in the positioning of the inital attack. Many have been the times Ive had to let an entire convoy slip by because I just could not get into position without being picked up.

That's the mark of an experienced skipper

Plus we don;t have the digital version of Adm. Lockwood to snatch our patrols away for comin home with all our fish.

[Loud_Silence]

I know, i know... those are the tactics i use when attacking convoys, and they work most of the times. But in the pacific, i find more task forces than convoys. I once managed to sink a Yamato BB by launching all my six torpedoes at her at slow speed, so they could pass before the escorts line... i needed a impossibly good solution for that shot, and the torps went a bit astern.
But that was the case of a task force cruising at 12 kts. What do i do against a task force in combat, moving at 17+ kts making evasive maneuvers...

[Dennus]

I usually go for the lone merchant or small convoy.

For lone merchants I use active sonar (ping) to get a position and heading. And set up Dick O'Kane attack (if you don't know what it is, look in the guides section of this forum)

For convoys I don't use active sonar so the DD's wont pick me up. I make some submerged periscope sighting to get a fairly good idea of their position and heading, then cruise surfaced to an interception point way ahead (12-15km) of the convoy. Dive to periscope depth, line up for an Dick O'Kane attack or use the Position Keeper if I want to sink multiple targets. The trick is to try to creep in after the lead DD. Pick out some fat targets and put some torpedo's in them. Then dive deep, run silent and start evasive manouvres.

DD are a waste of torpedo's in my opinion.

Haven't yet intercepted a taskforce in SH4 so can't tell you anything about it.

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by Loud_Silence

IWhat do i do against a task force in combat, moving at 17+ kts making evasive maneuvers...

You will need a ton of luck. If a task force is in this posture chances are thy know your there and are attempting to make your shot as difficult as possible while trying to kill you.

Long story short the opportunity has been missed