Target detection (pre-radar)

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by HMCS

It's a cheat, but I cruise the known high-density shipping lanes and wait for lags in the time compression. Then I dive to 'scope depth and manually conduct a sonar sweep.

I also conduct sonar sweeps at 'scope depth on a regular basis on enemy shipping lanes i.e. Tokyo Wan, Bungo Suido, etc. say, every six hours whether or not the TC lags or slows. I have found quite a few targets that way.

With RSRDC it can vary as to what phase of the war you are in. During the Guadalcanal campaign Truk, The Bismark Sea and the Slot are most definitely target-rich. Budget some time during your patrol for "choke points" like the Straits Of Formosa, etc.

You won't pick up anything at the surface with RFB.

I agree, it's a waste of time just to submerge for sonar scans, you're not going to hear anything. The PC lag tells you a target is near before you find it. Unless you get the PC lag, you're not gonna find a target. When you get the lag, time to do a sonar check yourself and get a bearing. When I first played I didn't realize how many targets I missed. The PC would lag, but I didn't know to check sonar myself and continued in the same direction. If a PC lags, anyone can find the target.

The range for the PC lag reaches out throughout the entire game to the highest level of crew experience and equipment, that's why you can hear targets long before your crew doe's early war. As the war goe's on and you get better stuff and crew, you'll get less lag time, but the lag will be there. Maybe late war some sonar sweeps would be in order, because your crew can pickup targets at the highest or furthest level and you get little lag time with the SV radar, so you're right on the edge, but overall, no PC lag, no targets. The only time I don't trust PC lag is when I'm near land or a port or a narrow straight. You also have to be more careful early war with 1.9 as it seems Duc did something to give the enemy better vision or sensors.

I

[BGrey]

At first using the lag to find targets seemed quite wrong to me but as I think about it there isn't any way to avoid it and still find anything .

[Apocal]

You could simply drop down TC at certain intervals and do a manual sonar sweep. The downside is that it would greatly extend the amount of real time you put into each patrol and most of that wouldn't be the 'fun' parts, unless you are very heavy into getting the experience of a sub skipper in WW2 and want a taste of the mental and emotional exhaustion they experienced as the days on patrol added up.

[Rockin Robbins]

That's what I do. I just go to periscope depth once every three hours in a dense shipping area and once every six hours if I don't think I'm likely to find anything. It takes what? a minute to get to periscope depth, 30 seconds to do a complete sweep and another minute to surface, hit time compression for another three hours of game time. That's not too bad and you'll find a lot that way.

[Apocal]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

That's what I do. I just go to periscope depth once every three hours in a dense shipping area and once every six hours if I don't think I'm likely to find anything. It takes what? a minute to get to periscope depth, 30 seconds to do a complete sweep and another minute to surface, hit time compression for another three hours of game time. That's not too bad and you'll find a lot that way.

I try to finish patrols in under four or five hours, unless I decide to double-barrel. I'm still playing stock 1.4, so there are plenty of contacts around. That'll probably change once I get the 1.4 compatible version of RSRD installed.

[BGrey]

Originally Posted by Apocal

I try to finish patrols in under four or five hours, unless I decide to double-barrel. I'm still playing stock 1.4, so there are plenty of contacts around. That'll probably change once I get the 1.4 compatible version of RSRD installed.

That it will . Im doing alright finding things though one of my great finds was four destroyers that sat on me for an hour. I got everything patched up but someone neglected to fix the broken pipe above my head and it has been hissing at me for the last 3 days in game .

[vanjast]

I have a max TC=256x on my game.. The way I play I wouldn't consider the lag cheating, cos with TC=1x, I would have probably detected them earlier. So yup, it's all POV.