Life boat mod question re: abandoning ship

[U777]

I've only seen the lifeboats show up when the ship is halfway underwater with no chance of saving itself.

[Sgt_Raa]

Originally Posted by U777

I've only seen the lifeboats show up when the ship is halfway underwater with no chance of saving itself.

yes me too.... remember that its just a mod added into the usual debris field..... so if the ship drops debris it may not neccisarily sink?

[Panser]

My personal experience is that if a ship is damaged enough to drop any lifeboats, it will go down eventually. On a slow sinking of a large ship you will quite often get one or two released very early. Once you get about three dropped simulatenously the ship is likely on it's way to the bottom very soon after.

I think this is a nice touch actually as there are plenty of accounts of lifeboats either being manned in a panic long before or ship sinks or even having to return to a ship with egg on their face because it remained afloat and serviceable.

[the.terrabyte.pirate]

I had a situation about two patrols ago. Hit a medium cargo with my last eel. The bow sank far enough down to be permanently awash, and a lifeboat spawned, but she kept steaming into the distance with her bum in the air... like she was mocking me.

I followed for over 36 hours, but she didn't sink.

[evan82]

Life boats are lowered down by the "crew" [ by the 3d ship model], when this model is under specific depth which is definite in val files.

[K-61]

Last night I torpedoed a large merchant with my last torpedo, in a calm sea. It dropped low by the bow but sailed on for some. After some time it dropped a lifeboat and eventually it slowed and then stopped and the convoy sailed on. As I was out of eels and she had a deck gun, I was averse to the idea of surfacing to finish her off. I decided to linger, then maneuver to about 2-3 kms directly to her front. As fate would have it, the seas whipped up and I was unable to use the deck gun anyway! I stayed nearby and watched her; after 14.5 hours she finally sank.

[Gerald]

or after a long time,is of course a well known phenomenon, it is important to have patience

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by K-61

Last night I torpedoed a large merchant with my last torpedo, in a calm sea. It dropped low by the bow but sailed on for some. After some time it dropped a lifeboat and eventually it slowed and then stopped and the convoy sailed on. As I was out of eels and she had a deck gun, I was averse to the idea of surfacing to finish her off. I decided to linger, then maneuver to about 2-3 kms directly to her front. As fate would have it, the seas whipped up and I was unable to use the deck gun anyway! I stayed nearby and watched her; after 14.5 hours she finally sank.

Sounds pretty realistic to me....certainly a possibility.

[Tessa]

Originally Posted by K-61

Last night I torpedoed a large merchant with my last torpedo, in a calm sea. It dropped low by the bow but sailed on for some. After some time it dropped a lifeboat and eventually it slowed and then stopped and the convoy sailed on. As I was out of eels and she had a deck gun, I was averse to the idea of surfacing to finish her off. I decided to linger, then maneuver to about 2-3 kms directly to her front. As fate would have it, the seas whipped up and I was unable to use the deck gun anyway! I stayed nearby and watched her; after 14.5 hours she finally sank.

Even with her armed once she's dropped out of the convoy and escorts have left her behind all you gotta do is wait for calm waters to use your deck gun. Even if submerged you don't have to run at silent so can easily maneuver however you wish; best to either position yourself on a facing where she has no guns (or out of their arc of fire) or put yourself at 4000m-5000m away. Calm seas and a stationary target you've got the major advantage long as you (yourself) can handle the deck gun well and drop 5 or 6 good waterline/low hull shots and submerge if needed if their guns have the range to reach you and present any kind of real threat. Especially something as large as a large merchant still presents a good target size to aim at even at long range.