Aircraft in Early War

[sharkbit]

I've always disliked how aircraft seem impotent in the game. It has always been "aircraft spotted", crash dive, surface after 15 minutes or so. There is never any surprise.
I've recently been experimenting with a dice roll to randomly simulate the possibility of a surprise attack. When I get the aircraft spotted message, I roll 2 dice and multiply by 10. That is the number of seconds before I can dive. The dice are modified by some factors for year, night, etc.
It makes things a bit more chilling when you're watching a Sunderland coming at you and you're counting down the clock before you can dive.

[Aras]

After 1943, Allied aircraft were equipped with superior radar. They could locate a surfaced u-boot form high above and start their attack run. The anti-radar u-boots had that time were not enough to warn the u-boot about the incoming aircraft in time. Several u-boot commander (that survived off course) reported aircraft appearing suddenly and attacking leaving no time for them to submerge.

With the advance of the radar and other technologies, the surfaced time started to shorten because of the dangers. The u-boots back then were submersible meaning had limited oxygen supply to last submerged for extended period of time. (H.sie hardcoded fixes simulates this very well by the way)

A Hunter/Killer group waiting for them on the surface could mean inevitable death for a u-boot after 1943 since it couldn’t last enough submerged.