What's the best way to find targets?

[Hyfrydle]

I have been playing SH since number two and have never had too much trouble finding targets to sink. Bought SH 5 two day ago and I've been patrolling up and down the east coast of Great Britain and I've managed to sink one merchant with a tonnage of 5000.

I have tried patrol patterns and also periodically dropping to periscope depth to check the hydrophones for targets and the sonar guy says nothing. Also took me ages to work out that you use the mouse wheel to manually use the hydrophones.

So my question is how do you guys find targets? Is there a method I'm overlooking?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Will-Rommel]

No tips there your doing it all fine.

Same happened to me, yet when i decided to break and head for base i stumbled upon 2 convoys just 75km from my patrol zone. War is random sometimes.

Maybe if you were spotted in this area the admiralty decided to re-route the traffics lines to avoid your presence?

[Hyfrydle]

Thanks for the reply. I have had to dive due to periodic aircraft so maybe there aware of my position will stay submerged for a while then hunt at night maybe I'll get lucky.

I keep patroling the areas by the ports so sooner or later someone will head my way.

[Spotter]

I usually use this long hollowed out steel rod with mirrors at both ends.

Seriously though, if you check the shipping lanes on the charts, you'll find plenty of targets.

Subs are patient hunters. Sprint, then cruise at one quarter as you listen and search on surface and bellow. You can't go charging around full speed all the time, because quite frankly all you'll do is annoy the surface ships that have sonar.

Sometimes advancing time helps, in areas you feel good hunting grounds. Other times you can lurk near ports, which is dangerous at best, and pick them off as the convoys sprint for home.

Hope that helps

[Hyfrydle]

Thanks for more info but what are the charts you mention?

[Decoman]

I am curious as to how a uboat commander would look for targets. One could sail in a zig zag pattern on the surface, but it would be limited to the visual range. I wonder what is the visual range approximately. I guess it is the same all over the planet, with the far distant targets eventually disappearing beyond the horizon.

Else I understand that the hydrophone in-game would allow for listening out to ca 30km range. But then moving around submerged all the time would be a slow process. I wonder what might be the optimal depth for listening with the hydrophones, searching for ships traveling on the surface. I tend to simply dive to 40-50m depth for using the hydrophones.

[jhelix70]

Not sure what was done historically, but even when traveling on the surface I submerge occasionally to listen with the hydrophone...make sure you dive to a reasonable depth then order all stop to minimize the noise the sub is making.

[bert8for3]

Originally Posted by Decoman

... I wonder what might be the optimal depth for listening with the hydrophones, searching for ships traveling on the surface. I tend to simply dive to 40-50m depth for using the hydrophones.

Good question. IIRC in sh3 it didn't matter, in sh5 I certainly pick up prop noise at peri depth, but is that optimal or does it not make a difference?

And not to go OT, has anyone noticed thermal layers yet?

[wetwarev7]

I suggest a submerging for a hydrophone check every two hours while patrolling. Submerge to 50 or so and come to a full stop. And man the hydrophones yourself, unlike the AI, you don't have to be upgraded to hear everything in the vicinity

I've picked up so many more contacts on the hydrophones than any other method.

[piri_reis]

Originally Posted by wetwarev7

I've picked up so many more contacts on the hydrophones than any other method.

Generally at what distances do you hear them? What was your max?
Trying to figure out if there is a cutoff range for the sounds like back in SH3.

[wetwarev7]

Originally Posted by piri_reis

Generally at what distances do you hear them? What was your max?
Trying to figure out if there is a cutoff range for the sounds like back in SH3.

I'm not sure, certainly much further then could be seen. There have been many times where I spent all day chasing, submerging, chasing, etc before visually spotting the target.

I would like to point out this is based on SH3-SH4. I have yet to leave shallow waters in SH5 yet.

[subby77]

For the estern parts of UK i was having the same problem, so I changed and hid around the northeastern part, and got alot, as well as the southeastern part before you enter the water dividing UK from the rest of europe, dont enter that dividing water, unless your fully armed as its crawling with DDs, but stay to the east of it. You wont find much on the plan eastern coast of UK, as theres no reason to send merchants up and down the full length of the kingdom when you can simply drive the supplies on the roads the full length.

[B_O_L_T]

No such thing as optimal depth for hydrophones as thermal layers affect sensors in the sh series, your best bet is just to stay above the layers, slow down to 1 or 2 knots or even stop, do a couple of sweeps and crank the speed up again. Even at night you should be diving once in a while to check your phones, hydrophones have greater range than the mk 1 eyeball. Once you have access to radio and radar df, then the surface is your best bet for detection, but you are also much easier to find by that point.

[Sunfighter]

sometimes, you just hit the jackpot at pure randomness.

[Capt.Mic]

Originally Posted by Sunfighter

sometimes, you just hit the jackpot at pure randomness.

Wow, and here I thought the one that I found with 14 ships in it was big..