Beginner Tactics?

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by IonicRipper

Thanks for the links, im sure they will be very useful in the near future

And thanks to everyone else for the tips

You are welcome, Good hunting!

[IonicRipper]

Any tips against planes? I keep shooting them down with the AA gun but those pesky mosquitoes are annoying

I had this idea that maybe if i stayed at periscope depth duing daytime and only surface at night they might not spot me... Could this work?

How do you guys deal with the planes?

[Armistead]

If you're playing stock planes are terrible, lots of them and spawn where they shouldn't. You're best bet is to dive during the day and surface at night or you'll go nuts diving and surfacing...There is a small mod for stock that reduces air traffic.

The supermods also deal with planes, lots of them in some places, but most stay within the limits of their airbase. Playing TMORSRD I can pretty much stay away from them, except areas of large battles...planes always in area of carriers.

Also, if planes spot you, more planes will come a looking....don't fight em.

[razark]

Originally Posted by IonicRipper

Any tips against planes? I keep shooting them down with the AA gun but those pesky mosquitoes are annoying

Find a mod or edit the file to reduce them.

Originally Posted by IonicRipper

I had this idea that maybe if i stayed at periscope depth duing daytime and only surface at night they might not spot me... Could this work?

Could it work? It should. It was pretty standard practice during the war.

Originally Posted by IonicRipper

How do you guys deal with the planes?

If I get a radar contact, I draw a 6nm circle around my position. I then draw two lines, starting at the location of the aircraft, and tangent to the circle. This forms a cone/triangle shaped area. I watch the contact, and if it is entering the defined area, he will pass within 6nm of my boat, and I pull the plug. If he doesn't enter that area, he's too far away to see me, and I sail on, and wait for him to return.

[TorpX]

Does anyone know how far away they can see you at PS depth? I had thought that they were unlikely to see you unless the seas were calm but that seems not to be the case. I've lost two careers this way.

[Armistead]

Depends on weather, day or night, fog and crew ratings. Also depends on what mods you run as each may have different visual settings.

It's important to get a good course and setup before you move in close. I like to get targeting figured out at about 2000 yards, then I will wait for my final look which will be to shoot around 1000 yards. That way if they see it, I can shoot and evade before escorts come.

Also, don't leave it up longer than you must.

[troopie]

G'day IonicRipper,

I'm up to november 1943 in stock 1.4 and as yet planes very rarely patrol at night so you've definately got the right idea. There's couple of things to consider though: at periscope depth planes can see you through the water if they happen to fly right over the top of ya, so if you're going to cruise underwater all day try sittin a little deeper like 25 meters or so.

Also, planes seem to fly along predefined routes so I'll tend to keep steamin along on the surface in the mournin untill I come across my first plane then dive an stay down the rest of the day. they'll keep patrolin' till it gets pretty dark so it's best to stay under untill about an hour after your night lite comes on in the navigation screen.

As the game goes on your guys will (eventually) get better at spottin/reportin contacts and better at shootin 'em down on their own, and of course you'll get better flack guns and radars and eventually you stand half a chance. They really don't bother me now, infact, planes are just easy way to rack up a bit more renown.

If I'm comin' to the end of a patrol and I havent used up my flack ammo I'll actually go lookin' for a few.

[Rockin Robbins]

It all depends on what your goals are. If your goal is to survive, then yes, staying submerged all day will get the job done. It will also get you removed from command when you return to port.

You see, your job is not to survive. Your job is to sink the enemy. I believe it was Grider who made a deal with his crew on the transit from the Panama canal that he wouldn't initiate any attack where they had less than a 50% chance of survival. They felt much better. That means taking the necessary risks to have your boat in fighting condition and searching the maximum number of square miles of ocean each day to develop the most targets. You can't search squat at periscope depth and 2 knots. If you do luck out and find a target, your batteries are half flat and you'll die in the evasion process. If you survive, your lack of production will have you removed from command and you'll be pounding sand on a beach somewhere it's really dangerous and you're not in charge of the risks.

Fight your boat! That means keeping on the surface every second you can so your batteries are at 100%. It means that when you sight a plane you dive.

NEVER FIGHT A PLANE. What are you going to do? Use your expensive, hard to replace submarine and crew of 60 to kill a cheap, easily replaced plane with a crew of one? There's almost no gain there at all. Or, as is more likely, will your expensive, difficult to replace sub and crew be killed by that cheap, easily replaced airplane at huge advantage to the enemy? Heads they win, tails you lose. Bad bet. Get down quickly and don't be spotted or he'll call his cheap expendable friends by the dozen.

ONLY STAY SUBMERGED for the absolute minimum necessary amount of time. When you're forced down by a plane start your stopwatch as you pass periscope depth. Descend to 90 feet and wait for the five minute mark. Surface immediately, don't pause at periscope depth to sight see, just pop to the surface. In five minutes there is no way another plane could have gotten close enough to hurt you without you having time to submerge again. You can detect them much better on the surface than at periscope depth. We're maintaining battery charge levels here and maximizing range.

When you're evading, every second you need to the thinking, "Why can't I surface NOW to get away." Every second you're submerged is minutes of recharge time and excess fuel consumption. I don't mean surface beside a DD. I mean surface when you have them astern by 3000 yards and can run away on the surface.

A submarine is a surface torpedo boat that has the unique ability to submerge when absolutely necessary for short periods of time. Fought that way, the diesel-electric sub is a devastating weapon. Fought like an ostrich it is an expensive impediment to the war effort.

I guess that means I have no opinion.