Am I ready to start my war?

[FFIF]

seperate question for the old salts...

Ive downloaded the fuel effencincy mod, and ive been running at 1/3, is this historically correct for an outbound trip to the patrol area? Having to go the long way around england, it looks like an easy 2 week trip just to get to my patrol area at 8 knots.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by FFIF

seperate question for the old salts...

Ive downloaded the fuel effencincy mod, and ive been running at 1/3, is this historically correct for an outbound trip to the patrol area? Having to go the long way around england, it looks like an easy 2 week trip just to get to my patrol area at 8 knots.

If you are in a Type VII, 7-8 knots is by far the most fuel-efficient speed.

Yes, it will take longer to get to your patrol grid at 1/3 ahead than at a higher speed.. however you will burn less fuel in covering that distance and have more left over once you get there. That means you'll be able to stay on station longer and/or patrol a much larger area should you decide to go looking for targets somewhere else. You will also have more fuel on hand to use in pursuit of targets or escape from danger should you need to crank up the speed temporarily in those situations.

As a test, set your speed at 8 knots and ask your navigator to give you your maximum range at current speed. He will reply by reporting a distance in kilometers. That's how much distance you can get out of your remaining fuel if you remain at the current speed.

Now increase your speed to 1/2 ahead, full ahead, and flank speed, each time stopping to ask again for maximum range at current speed. You'll see that the maximum distance you can travel on remaining fuel at a given speed decreases as the speed goes up. The same thing happens if you drop below 7-8 knots. At higher speeds, you begin to burn more and more fuel for every kilometer you travel; at slower speeds, you travel shorter and shorter distances for every liter of fuel you burn.

7-8 knots (in a Type VII, at least) is that "magic" spot on the dial where you get the maximum distance possible out of every drop of fuel on hand.

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by FFIF

seperate question for the old salts...

Ive downloaded the fuel effencincy mod, and ive been running at 1/3, is this historically correct for an outbound trip to the patrol area? Having to go the long way around england, it looks like an easy 2 week trip just to get to my patrol area at 8 knots.

2 weeks out, 2 weeks on station, 2 weeks home... but at 8 knots you have plenty of fuel for that.

[Weiss Pinguin]

You'll find, however, that 8 knots is insanely slow after a week or so of time-compressioning your way around the Atlantic Also, in bad weather running at 8 knots means you'll actually be making 5-6 knots or less if the seas are bad enough. I usually run at 10-13 knots in transit, and slow down when I reach my grid.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Weiss Pinguin

Also, in bad weather running at 8 knots means you'll actually be making 5-6 knots or less if the seas are bad enough.

True, but I'm pretty sure that ordering the engines to turn for 8 knots is still the most fuel-efficient setting, even if the weather state reduces your actual speed.

That said, I've never had a problem with making 10-12 knots on the way out and in, depending on how far off my assigned grid is; as has been said many times before, in GWX the last thing you should ever run out of is fuel. But I would hate to be out on patrol and realize that I only had enough fuel to make it home at 8 knots all the way if I started back immediately when I've still got plenty of ammo left and, in theory, could've found more targets for it if only I'd been more careful with my fuel consumption from the start.

[FFIF]

i asked for a fuel status report and it said at 8 knots i had a range of 34486 km??? is that sounding right? and this is with the fuel eff. mod and GWX

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by FFIF

i asked for a fuel status report and it said at 8 knots i had a range of 34486 km??? is that sounding right? and this is with the fuel eff. mod and GWX

As noted above, the last thing you should ever run out of in GWX is fuel, provided you aren't trying to tear out to the mid-Atlantic and back with a realistic-length patrol in between whilst running at full or flank speed 24/7.

The fuel loadout was increased in GWX, I don't know by how much... but this was done to make up for the fact that the game figures distances based on a "flat world" map and doesn't take into account the curvature of the earth. So distances from some points to other points are greater than they would be in real life, and the amount of fuel GWX gives you was increased to compensate for that.

[FFIF]

ok i understand the fuel numbers now, and i have arrived at my assigned patrol grid now. I am guessing this will be a pretty lame duck patrol, since it is still mid august 1939, and we arent at war yet. I will spend a couple weeks in the general area and then head back. By then it should be around the first few days of September, and i bet they will turn me loose to attack on the trip home. So far i have had two contacts the whole trip out, im blaming the weather for that, since it has been horrible. Ive used the opportunity of contacts to practice getting close and in good positions to fire.