....on our way to Gibraltar this morning.....part 2...

[Leandros]

...this one thought he was smart....stopped dead in his tracks....



......sorry about that....I have more torps....his friend is coming, too...





...don't they ever learn....



...lining up for a tail-shot....



...got you....



....a third one coming up, too. Long story short......three in eight minutes....



...four in 24 minutes.....



....and a Hunt II....

[GoldenRivet]

I have four things to say:

1. first and most importantly... Very nice job. You have obviously sent your share of tonnage to the bottom. please understand however that I dont mean to belittle your accomplishment with 2, 3 aand 4 but i must ask for my own satisfaction...

2. I count no less than 6 escort vessels all weighing in at under 1250 tons each. are you seeking historical accuracy? or just having fun with the game? because if it is historical accuracy you are after... the brits will have built a replacement for each of those escorts - (or scalped them from canada or the USA) before you ever get back to port. in the future... save those expensive torpedoes for merchants carrying bullets fuel and rifles to the enemy ashore, after all thats the purpose of the u-boat, to win a land war by depriving shore based forces the materials of battle... but if your playing for the heck of it... disregard.

3. what realism settings are you using? manual targeting? weapons officer assit? etc

4. the empire, the granville, the tramp steamer and the small merchant are the only targets of real merit where Bdu would be concerned. they would likely be quite dissapointed to hear that you sunk more escorts than merchants.

but overall, nice work out there, hope you make it through gibralter okay, might stop in at bessel or somewhere for more torpedoes !

[Leandros]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

I have four things to say:

1. first and most importantly... Very nice job. You have obviously sent your share of tonnage to the bottom. please understand however that I dont mean to belittle your accomplishment with 2, 3 aand 4 but i must ask for my own satisfaction...

2. I count no less than 6 escort vessels all weighing in at under 1250 tons each. are you seeking historical accuracy? or just having fun with the game? because if it is historical accuracy you are after... the brits will have built a replacement for each of those escorts - (or scalped them from canada or the USA) before you ever get back to port. in the future... save those expensive torpedoes for merchants carrying bullets fuel and rifles to the enemy ashore, after all thats the purpose of the u-boat, to win a land war by depriving shore based forces the materials of battle... but if your playing for the heck of it... disregard.

You are very welcome to it, GR! And, yes, I do play for the heck of it - but not meaning that I primarily go for the escorts. OTH, I try to avoid them, but a man has to defend himself.....I know, Karl wouldn't be happy about this, particularly if I do not catch up with the convoy again. But, what to do? I let the advance Hunt II (probably the one that came back after me) pass, then I went for the Granville and Empire. While laying dead still after that and letting the convoy pass (in the middle of it) I suddenly observed this semi-surfaced S-class submarine. I just couldn't let it get away as it could have become a nuisance later. A surface escort is one thing but one of my own kind can be dangerous. Having sunk him several escorts started to diverge on me. First one Swan, then two, one more, and finally the Hunt II. I tried to sit tight but even with the stirred-up surface I was discovered (I have even invested in this fancy rubber skin material). I am glad my crew can confirm that this was all in self-defense..........all those expensive torpedoes...

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

3. what realism settings are you using? manual targeting? weapons officer assit? etc

I am relatively new at this but I am still very ashamed to say that I play at 65 %, delegating a lot to my crew, particularly my weapons officer. And I hate duds...

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

4. the empire, the granville, the tramp steamer and the small merchant are the only targets of real merit where Bdu would be concerned. they would likely be quite dissapointed to hear that you sunk more escorts than merchants.

I hope to be able to surface now, load down some torpedoes in peace and quiet and try to correct this misfortune.

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

but overall, nice work out there, hope you make it through gibralter okay, might stop in at bessel or somewhere for more torpedoes !

I am actually OK for torps, used only one on each of these, except the Swan that managed to come to a quick standstill. But I need to get some more below deck. I have the whole day for reloading and catching up....:p

Surfacing now....



Not really going through Gib, just going there for some good hunting having spent the advised time in DJ13.

[Kielhauler1961]

Quote:
I am relatively new at this but I am still very ashamed to say that I play at 65 %, delegating a lot to my crew, particularly my weapons officer.

I couldn't agree with this more . The Captain's job was positioning the boat and selecting which targets to engage. The Executive Officer was below at the plotting table and the fine detail of the attack was his job. I'm surprised that at 100% realism the skipper doesn't have to cook the meals too! It's bad enough having to tuck the poor, tired crew into their bunks and read them bedtime stories...

That is why ships have crews - everyone has their own role to play. The Captain has the responsibility for co-ordinating it, and bears ultimate responsibility for the boat.

Don't feel ashamed Leandros. I played this game for 18 months at 67% and had a great time. I'm at 90% now (my Exec still has to earn his pay) or 80% if I want some screenies. Try this tip for a few extra %... Uncheck the "No Weapons Officer assistance" box but keep auto-targeting checked (manual targeting IIRC). It actually makes very little difference to your shooting and you get that little bit extra. Well done on getting all those escorts in one hit! I'm sure Doentiz would be delighted that there are five fewer of the enemy to worry about. They're all kills. And, as you say, it allowed you to take another bite out of the convoy.

P.S. In my experience anti-radar and anti-sonar aren't worth a hill of beans. That renown can be better spent somewhere else. It wasn't adopted in RL because it didn't work!

The rubber anti-sonar coating actually worked very well in real life. The trouble was it would wear off. Radar detection could have saved more boats from aircraft than upgraded AA guns. Anyways, I always liked screenshots.

[GoldenRivet]

still a good haul at 65%.

well played man

[Leandros]

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

still a good haul at 65%.

well played man

Thank you, guys - I feel much better now - with all that credit I can face up to Karl again....

Well, my intention was to catch up with that convoy. Problem was I had taken a break, saving the game and shutting down my computer. When I tried to start up again there was a snag. It wouldn't start. It went through the whole procedure then flopped, advising that Silent Hunter had to be shut down and that it willingly could inform Microsoft about the misfortune. That helps a lot....

After several tries I had to start up again from the homebase - Lorient, so I went out again on the same date Dec. 18th, 1941 (well, I see it actually delayed me to Jan. 18th 1942). I double-paced it down towards Gibraltar, skipping DJ13. This time I didn't encounter any Catalinas but a persistent Kingfisher. Since I have a very experienced gun crew I decided to stay on the surface (yes, I made a quick save before letting him close).

Nice plane, the Kingfisher:



He made a couple of tries but my gunners disturbed him sufficiently to miss his aim:





Not by much, though:





After he had returned to the Gib a couple of Hurries showed up - same story:



After having laid in wait a couple of days west of Gib I inched eastwards for some merchants. Only small ones.

A destroyer passed within a couple of hundred meters. I sat still:



Then all hell broke loose again - destroyers all over the place - and finally a Flower class corvette. He seemed to damage himself so he limped away on reduced speed. I had to surface to finish off a small merchant with the gun (must save those precious torpedos) and chased after him afterwards. My gun crew reduced him as we closed up. So here I am again with this sheet:



So, what to say to Karl now? Well, I can always catch up with another convoy. Still has got 12 torps....

[yobert]

Not bad at all, what kind of boat are you in? I am still in VIIB Think i will save for IXC since i am close to its realses and skip IXB

[Leandros]

Originally Posted by yobert

Not bad at all, what kind of boat are you in? I am still in VIIB Think i will save for IXC since i am close to its realses and skip IXB

Thank you. It's a IXB. Wouldn'r be without the gun!

[Kielhauler1961]

Originally Posted by Kraut

The rubber anti-sonar coating actually worked very well in real life.

Ahh, can you cite any evidence for this claim? I've never been able to find any.