1943 isnt a very good year

[Chris1999]

Originally Posted by K-61

My Kaleun is in patrol 6 in Nov. 43. Transiting the Bay of Biscay results in having to dive several times,

I think it's june or july '43 in my game. I was just sent to AM14 or somesuch. It was a pleasure cruise!

Originally Posted by K-61

and I use max 256 TC for the trip.

It seems like there's no way I could use TC this high. I've noticed that it doesnt warn you as quickly as it could. for example, when I am at 16X I can see the metox going off and can sometimes be underwater before the plane is laying waste to me. with 256X it seems like i am still in the process of diving down when I am dive bombed.

Originally Posted by K-61

The most important upgrade you can make in my opinion is the radar detector and then the schnorkel, although it has not been offered to me yet.

No snorkels for me either : /

Originally Posted by K-61

To maximize my ability to remain under I always upgrade to the latest batteries and only proceed at slow ahead. It's air that limits my time underwarter most of the time.

This is also what I do. Air would also limit my bottom time, but I try to surface with ~50% of my battery as a reserve for whatever problems lie ahead of me while recharging. It's come in handy too.. Sometimes the bombers return with friends quickly.. or a sinkable boat arrives nearby and I need to make an attack

Originally Posted by K-61

Patience and discretion are the words of the day. Overaggression will get you killed in no time. Keep a fresh and competent bridge watch at all times and a qualified sonarman in hydrophone room.

I always keep a full qualified watch, without that, I'd surely be dead already. Eventhough Ive had full watch crews (with a veteran 3 skill officer) die in aircraft attacks, I'll keep sending those hapless boys up there to scout for me.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Chris1999

It seems like there's no way I could use TC this high. I've noticed that it doesnt warn you as quickly as it could. for example, when I am at 16X I can see the metox going off and can sometimes be underwater before the plane is laying waste to me. with 256X it seems like i am still in the process of diving down when I am dive bombed.

The general consensus seems to be that the highest "safe" TC for use in any area where you might encounter the enemy is 128. Anything above that, and too much "game time" elapses before you can react to the potential threat. Keep in mind that when you are in high TC, it's really the game that's going at "high speed" - you aren't. Your reactions still happen in "real time" but the enemy AI's don't.

I did the math once and it was kinda eye-opening. Assuming that 2 TC means 1 second of "real time" = 2 seconds in the life of your crew and u-boat, then 1024 TC would mean that 1 second of "real time" spent playing the game would = 1024 seconds on your u-boat.

1024 seconds = a little over 17 minutes.

If you are running at 1024 TC when, say, an enemy destroyer or plane is sighted by your watch, and it takes even one second of real time for the game to drop to 1 TC and alert you, you have already lost 17 minutes of reaction time in the game. By which time you may already be under attack, because the enemy AI takes its "orders" from the game, and in TC they just get them faster and react faster. Meanwhile, your crew is still at the mercy of human reaction time which simply can't compete at that level of TC.

At 256 TC, 1 second = a little over 4 minutes. That's still a pretty good chunk of time.

At 128 TC, you're down to a little over 2 minutes. I haven't played past 1940 yet, but I'm guessing that even 2 minutes can be the difference between life and death later in the war when Allied ASW tactics and technology begin reaching their peak effectiveness.

At 16 TC you're back into the realm of losing only seconds instead of minutes. That's got to make a big difference later in the war, especially when it comes to attacks from the air.

Now my head hurts!

[JokerOfFate]

No where is safe, just temporarily non-hostile

So youre telling me that when its later in war if I want to survive, my WHOLE patrol is best to be at 16 TC?? oh man Although I do notice that while on the high TC I still get the watch alerts that pause the game but usually my watch crew is always competent enough to spot them far enough out that even if I lose time I still have another few thousand meters before they even begin to see me.

EDIT: This is under good conditions with unlimited visibility however.

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

The general consensus seems to be that the highest "safe" TC for use in any area where you might encounter the enemy is 128. Anything above that, and too much "game time" elapses before you can react to the potential threat. Keep in mind that when you are in high TC, it's really the game that's going at "high speed" - you aren't. Your reactions still happen in "real time" but the enemy AI's don't.

I did the math once and it was kinda eye-opening. Assuming that 2 TC means 1 second of "real time" = 2 seconds in the life of your crew and u-boat, then 1024 TC would mean that 1 second of "real time" spent playing the game would = 1024 seconds on your u-boat.

1024 seconds = a little over 17 minutes.

If you are running at 1024 TC when, say, an enemy destroyer or plane is sighted by your watch, and it takes even one second of real time for the game to drop to 1 TC and alert you, you have already lost 17 minutes of reaction time in the game. By which time you may already be under attack, because the enemy AI takes its "orders" from the game, and in TC they just get them faster and react faster. Meanwhile, your crew is still at the mercy of human reaction time which simply can't compete at that level of TC.

At 256 TC, 1 second = a little over 4 minutes. That's still a pretty good chunk of time.

At 128 TC, you're down to a little over 2 minutes. I haven't played past 1940 yet, but I'm guessing that even 2 minutes can be the difference between life and death later in the war when Allied ASW tactics and technology begin reaching their peak effectiveness.

At 16 TC you're back into the realm of losing only seconds instead of minutes. That's got to make a big difference later in the war, especially when it comes to attacks from the air.

[Chris1999]

Yes, it happened this way for me, too. Not anymore.

Why? Faster planes? (its B-24s and hurricanes instead of the little scout plane) more CPU processing time because its 4 planes coming at me instead of 1? i dont know, but, I am still on the surface when they make their first bombing runs. my sub has multiple scars and headstones to prove it

When I attacked a convoy I surfaced a few hours later to recharge my battery and was greeted by 6 B-24s who drop 4 sets of depth charges per run, each. There were so many explosions going off at once I couldnt see blue ocean, but das schwein U-802 lived!

It definitely seems like when you kick the beehive a little, they definitely come for the counterattack

Originally Posted by USNSRCaseySmith

Although I do notice that while on the high TC I still get the watch alerts that pause the game but usually my watch crew is always competent enough to spot them far enough out that even if I lose time I still have another few thousand meters before they even begin to see me.

EDIT: This is under good conditions with unlimited visibility however.

[Sailor Steve]

B-24s have radar.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

B-24s have radar.

Yes, once you reach the point where Allied planes can pick you up on radar... well, if they have done so, they will know where you are and be on their way in to attack before they are close enough for your watch crew to spot them.

So it's no longer a matter of a plane just happening to be in your vicinity and you getting alerted to it at around the same time or even before it sees you. It doesn't have to be close enough to see you to know you're there. And it sounds like even having radar of your own doesn't even out the odds very much.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

And it sounds like even having radar of your own doesn't even out the odds very much.

The problem is that rather than appearing on the horizon cruising around looking for you, they appear on the horizon heading right for you at full throttle.

[Puster Bill]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

The general consensus seems to be that the highest "safe" TC for use in any area where you might encounter the enemy is 128. Anything above that, and too much "game time" elapses before you can react to the potential threat. Keep in mind that when you are in high TC, it's really the game that's going at "high speed" - you aren't. Your reactions still happen in "real time" but the enemy AI's don't.

I did the math once and it was kinda eye-opening. Assuming that 2 TC means 1 second of "real time" = 2 seconds in the life of your crew and u-boat, then 1024 TC would mean that 1 second of "real time" spent playing the game would = 1024 seconds on your u-boat.

1024 seconds = a little over 17 minutes.

If you are running at 1024 TC when, say, an enemy destroyer or plane is sighted by your watch, and it takes even one second of real time for the game to drop to 1 TC and alert you, you have already lost 17 minutes of reaction time in the game. By which time you may already be under attack, because the enemy AI takes its "orders" from the game, and in TC they just get them faster and react faster. Meanwhile, your crew is still at the mercy of human reaction time which simply can't compete at that level of TC.

At 256 TC, 1 second = a little over 4 minutes. That's still a pretty good chunk of time.

At 128 TC, you're down to a little over 2 minutes. I haven't played past 1940 yet, but I'm guessing that even 2 minutes can be the difference between life and death later in the war when Allied ASW tactics and technology begin reaching their peak effectiveness.

At 16 TC you're back into the realm of losing only seconds instead of minutes. That's got to make a big difference later in the war, especially when it comes to attacks from the air.

The problem with 16 TC is that the crew fatigue (unless you have the 'no fatigue' mod). I use 64 TC when in enemy territory. That still gives you a lot of time because you only lose a minute, but actually much less because I have the game drop down to 1 TC when they spot a plane or a ship.