A lucky tanker?

[washishu]

Cruising around BF1 I was down to 25% fuel and hoping to catch something with my last four torpedoes. Picked up a fast moving target on hydrophone and gave chase. In heavy seas it took a good while to catch up and get a visual; a big fat T3 tanker, but we are now almost into the Irish Sea. It’s night time now but I don’t want to be here in daylight.

I closed to around 2500 metres astern and fired off two of the three in the for’d tubes setting depth to pass underneath and relying on the magnetic detonators; first was a premature detonation. The second hit and the tanker slowed from 12 kts to about 6 kts; down but not out. The last torpedo from for’d tube disabled it further and it was soon dead in the water and down by the stern.

I manoeuvred for the kill shot from the stern tube with the last torpedo, aiming to hit midships at 4 metres depth. It hit but was a dud. The tanker appeared to be going down slowly but the seas were too rough to man the gun to finish it off. I had no choice but to make a hasty retreat before daylight.

If that tanker sank before I got back to Lorient, would I still get the kill?

[bstanko6]

I don't know if certain MODS allows that, but if you do not see words on the screen that say "She is going down!" or otherwise, than no. Also if you press K on the keyboard, it brings you to the captains log. It will tell you if you sank it!

[UKönig]

In my experience, if you do not stick around until some kind of confirmation has been received, then no, you do not get credit for the kill.
Because you didn't stick around to observe the sinking, as far as you know, the ship could be taken in tow and saved. True, it'll be down for repairs for a while, but not destroyed.
The only thing you can do in that case is to wait around until conditions improve so that you can surface and finish it off with the deck gun. That part becomes the most trying on the patience of the captain involved...

[Pisces]

If you didn't get the "It's going down" text, and you move beyond 35-50-ish km it is going to despawn and you'll never get the credit. If you would then regain contact it will respawn in pristine condition as if nothing happened and your torpedoes and other damage will be entirely in vain.

[washishu]

Also if you press K on the keyboard, it brings you to the captains log. It will tell you if you sank it!

I am aware of the log but once previously I had intended to check the log later to see if a damaged ship had eventually sunk; and I forgot.

If you didn't get the "It's going down" text, and you move beyond 35-50-ish km it is going to despawn and you'll never get the credit. If you would then regain contact it will respawn in pristine condition as if nothing happened and your torpedoes and other damage will be entirely in vain.

That would make a lot of sense. I have in the past pondered on whether SH is generating and 'playing' everything—Atlantic, Med, etc.—or whether it just deals with things in my immediate vicinity; the latter seemed the more likely. And I seem to recall reading somewhere here in the past that 50km was some kind of magic SH number.

And whilst I'm here, another thing I'd like to know concerns the hydrophone, or more specifically the hydrophone reports. When the operator calls a contact at long range, what sort of distance is that? (I understand that in reality this would be a variable figure as it is governed by all sorts of factors, but in SH?) Likewise medium and short.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by washishu

... And I seem to recall reading somewhere here in the past that 50km was some kind of magic SH number.

In my personal experience the hydrophone border lies at 34 km. But in respect of other peoples efforts in investigating (like the GWX team) I also mentioned the 50 km. I may not have done a very thorough job checking all kinds of sensors and variants. But they may have taken a bit of safety margin in those statements of 50km.

And whilst I'm here, another thing I'd like to know concerns the hydrophone, or more specifically the hydrophone reports. When the operator calls a contact at long range, what sort of distance is that? (I understand that in reality this would be a variable figure as it is governed by all sorts of factors, but in SH?) Likewise medium and short.

There is a config file that defines what short, medium and long range is. You'd expect in real life that Bdu would have instructed commanders as to what these definitions are. Atleast in terms of speed in radio reports. So I don't consider it a cheat looking into those files.:

SilentHunterIII\data\Cfg\Contacts.cfg

That said, the sonar operator seems to only report contacts within 20-22ish km. While if you listen yourself on the hydrophone station you can hear them upto the spawning range of 34 km. So it pays to do the dirty work yourself. You'll cover more than twice of liquid real-estate.