Armed Merchant ships

bookworm_020 · 08-16-10, 06:36 PM

After 43' the only things that don't have a gun on them is the sail boats and other micro ships!

Flaxpants · 08-16-10, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bookworm_020

After 43' the only things that don't have a gun on them is the sail boats and other micro ships!

Hehe, look out pleasure sailors and fishermen and anyone else in a dinghy!
U-527 coming to a grid ref. near you soon!

sharkbit · 08-17-10, 08:42 AM

Beware-many of the gun crews on merchants are pretty eagle eyed and are quite accurate.

I try to avoid gunning it out with merchants anymore late war. In fact, I usually unbolt my deck gun and chuck it over the side to remove that temptation.

Skunkito · 08-17-10, 09:14 AM

Can you specifically target the gun on the merchant and take it out first? Or does it carry on firing?

(newbie question I know)

Herr-Berbunch · 08-17-10, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skunkito

Can you specifically target the gun on the merchant and take it out first? Or does it carry on firing?

You can try, if you get it then it will stop, but first you do have to get it!

frau kaleun · 08-17-10, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skunkito

Can you specifically target the gun on the merchant and take it out first? Or does it carry on firing?

(newbie question I know)

You can order your gun crew to aim for specific targets. Waterline, hull, weapons, bridge are the options I think. There are icons that come up when you access the gun commands.

In theory taking out the bridge - or maybe it's the control room, I can't remember exactly how it's worded - anyway, taking that out would destroy the ship's communications center (so they can't call for help and give away your position). Poking holes in the ship along the waterline will make her sink faster.

If she's armed I guess going for her weapons is a no-brainer but I usually just submerge again as quickly as possible and rely on eels if she doesn't seem likely to sink from whatever damage I've already done.

Skunkito · 08-17-10, 09:38 AM

Ah no, I'm aware of that - I meant specifically if I take manual control and aim for the gun crew on the merchants deck will it not kill them pretty sharpish?

I mean I'm quite a good shot, I would ahve thought putting a HE round within 10 feet of a gun crew would be the end of them.

frau kaleun · 08-17-10, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skunkito

Ah no, I'm aware of that - I meant specifically if I take manual control and aim for the gun crew on the merchants deck will it not kill them pretty sharpish?

I mean I'm quite a good shot, I would ahve thought putting a HE round within 10 feet of a gun crew would be the end of them.

If the weaponry itself is destroyed, I assume it's destroyed and they can't return fire, no matter who was aiming your gun when the shot was fired. I don't think the game would give you the option of ordering your men to target another vessel's weapons if actually hitting them didn't make any difference.

But I do suspect you would have to destroy the weapons themselves, or do enough damage for the AI to consider them no longer operable, regardless of how many enemy crew would (in theory) be taken out by any near misses on the weapons themselves.

Also, be aware that an armed enemy, if its weapons are operable, will continue to fire on you even if it's sinking. I think there are some screenshots floating around of enemy ships still firing shells at a uboat even as the decks slip below the surface.

Flaxpants · 08-18-10, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skunkito

Can you specifically target the gun on the merchant and take it out first? Or does it carry on firing?

(newbie question I know)

Last night I did this very thing. Again I thought I'd give the deck gun another go against a large merchant at night. I fired the first shot at him and then saw an orange flash on his deck structures. Great! I thought, hit him first time, but then I saw my shell land short of his boat with a splash, shortly followed by his shell whizzing over my head. So now I knew where the gun was (he only had the one able to fire on me). I fired a couple more shots only, and the second hit around the same area of his boat that the gun was positioned, causing one of those epic explosions with fountains of orange debris. After that he didn't return fire at all. Call it blind luck, but you definately can target those guns and put them out of action as I did. On a side note, one thing that really helped me in these recent gun battles I've been having is to head straight for his boat, in my case at a slow speed. You have to manually adjust your range constantly, but then so does he, and at least in these encounters he didn't seem too good at it- this is where I got the advantage I needed.

08-18-10, 07:29 PM

My favorite method for taking deck guns out of the picture (besides torpedoes), is to report in the target and wait for the Stukas to remove them for me. Then I can surface and send a few insults of my own their way! I love those guys!

Flaxpants · 08-18-10, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hans Uberman

My favorite method for taking deck guns out of the picture (besides torpedoes), is to report in the target and wait for the Stukas to remove them for me. Then I can surface and send a few insults of my own their way! I love those guys!

I was presuming that reporting contacts via the radio was more of a formality and actually had no effect on the gameplay. So the Luftwaffe turn up do they? Cool.This is news to me. Good news! I take it you need to be near a German base in order for this to happen?

08-16-10, 06:36 PM	#1
bookworm_020 Navy Seal Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Sinking ships off the Australian coast Posts: 5,966 Downloads: 1 Uploads: 0	After 43' the only things that don't have a gun on them is the sail boats and other micro ships! __________________ "There is always one person in any organization who knows whats going on, That person must be fired"

08-17-10, 08:42 AM	#3
sharkbit The Old Man Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 1,529 Downloads: 334 Uploads: 0	Beware-many of the gun crews on merchants are pretty eagle eyed and are quite accurate. I try to avoid gunning it out with merchants anymore late war. In fact, I usually unbolt my deck gun and chuck it over the side to remove that temptation. __________________ “Prejudice is blind. There will always be someone who says you aren’t welcome at the table. Stop apologizing for who you are and using all your energy trying to change their minds. Yes, you will lose friends, maybe even family. But you will gain your self-respect. You will know your worth. Once you have that, nothing can stop you.”

08-17-10, 09:14 AM	#4
Skunkito Swabbie Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 14 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Can you specifically target the gun on the merchant and take it out first? Or does it carry on firing? (newbie question I know)

08-17-10, 09:38 AM	#7
Skunkito Swabbie Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 14 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Ah no, I'm aware of that - I meant specifically if I take manual control and aim for the gun crew on the merchants deck will it not kill them pretty sharpish? I mean I'm quite a good shot, I would ahve thought putting a HE round within 10 feet of a gun crew would be the end of them.

08-18-10, 07:29 PM	#10
Hans Uberman Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	My favorite method for taking deck guns out of the picture (besides torpedoes), is to report in the target and wait for the Stukas to remove them for me. Then I can surface and send a few insults of my own their way! I love those guys!