Identifying enemy ships at LOOONG range

[Twitchy]

How are you supposed to identify enemy ships from torpedo range? I cant even tell what country they are until im within 2000-1000 meters

[AlanSmithee]

Wow... for me 2000 - 1000 meters is torpedo range. Usually by the time ships are within the maximum torpedo running distance I can make a decent guess simply based on hull shape, number/shape of masts, or number of stacks. Of course, I'm not going to fire until they're much closer (think 800 meters) so identification really isn't a problem then (though I admittedly have mistaken C2s/C3s/Libertys in bad weather).

[Twitchy]

I have a habit of making shots from 5000 meters away. By the time I sailed up to the wreckage, I found out I just blew up a ship from Kerplunkascrewamonkeyastan, which, despite its stupid name, is neutral.

[panthercules]

Originally Posted by Twitchy

How are you supposed to identify enemy ships from torpedo range? I cant even tell what country they are until im within 2000-1000 meters

Well, it's only really a problem early in the war (and it can be frustrating - I stalked 2 sizable lone freighters at the beginning of my latest patrol (Dec '39) for quite a while, getting perfect firing solutions on both of them at about 400-500m, only to discover that the first one was Norwegian and the second one American and I had to let them both go) - I can't wait till later in the war when you can just shoot anything on sight and not worry about it.

With the lone merchants I usually go ahead and get in close for a submerged attack run just in case, and then check the flag just before shooting (it's good practice for my crew, even if we wind up letting them go like I had to this patrol). Or, if the weather is good and it's early enough in the war so they probably won't be armed, I'll sometimes get close enough on the surface to fire a star shell and read the flag that way (especially now that they've partially fixed the star shells so they ignite further than 500m from your boat), since I can generally gun them to a stop at that point if they turn out to be enemy.

Good luck, and good hunting!

[Twitchy]

Haha. I love torpedo sniping. I just took out a destroyer from 7000 meters.

[Lane]

You guy's mean you don't cheat and go to F12 key and zoom out to ship
and check flag I am proud of you All.

Lane

[Twitchy]

I have external view disabled. I have EVERYTHING disabled except for manual targeting, havent gotten the hang of it.

[panthercules]

Originally Posted by Lane

You guy's mean you don't cheat and go to F12 key and zoom out to ship
and check flag I am proud of you All.

Lane

LOL - why didn't I think of that

Actually, I only have external cam on for screenshots of my custom emblems and such for desktop wallpaper (it's great for showing friends at work ) - I never use it tactically during the game - too much of an immersion killer.

As for flag-spotting, I lucked out tonight. Every once in a while I get turned around and screw up my manual TDC settings using my stern tube (especially when I'm tired and I have that little black bar over my head like I did tonight ) - I got so excited when I stumbled onto a C3 at about 2,000m range in light fog at night on my way home to Wilhelmshaven (after having sunk nothing but a coastal freighter that I wound up having to gun down off the coast of England when I bounced my last forward torp off her hull - I had a bunch of dud torps and missed shots this patrol for some reason), that it happened again and I blew a stern tube shot at her from about 1000m with my next to last torp. I loaded up my last torp, did an end around and found myself in perfect position for a nice close-up shot from about 400m - that's when I finally was able to see the flag well enough and realized she was a Norwegian (January 1940, so still neutral ) - so I thanked my lucky stars that I'd missed my previous shot and just headed for home.

I was glad about not taking the renown hit, 'cause I might not have found my promotion waiting for me back at base if I had nailed that Norwegian freighter - at least now my watch officer doesn't outrank me any more

[Dowly]

Lol, if it´s traveling near Britain, I`ll sink it. Most of them are British merchants.

[capt_frank]

once they've been spotted, hit the "." key and voila...

[Kafka]

Actually, I meant to ask before. if you accidentally do sink a neutral ship, but you think you just sank an enemy, when do you find out that you messed up? At the end of the patrol? Do you see it on the patrol stats? something like "neutral merchant sunk=1, renown -500?"
K.

[Twitchy]

Nah dood. When it sinks your crew tells you whether or not it was an enemy or neut

[AceChilla]

Originally Posted by Twitchy

Nah dood. When it sinks your crew tells you whether or not it was an enemy or neut

Karleun: "Now you tell me it was a neutral! Your gonna be keelhalled Hans!"

Me I let my officer do that work, those guys aren't there for nothing you know

[CWorth]

I just increased the zoom level of the Observation Scope and Binoculars to 10x instead of the 6x that the game uses.Makes identifying the flags much easier.

[Boris]

Originally Posted by CWorth

I just increased the zoom level of the Observation Scope and Binoculars to 10x instead of the 6x that the game uses.Makes identifying the flags much easier.

How????