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Old 04-19-12, 02:41 AM   #1
misha1967
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Default Observations on strategy and tactics

First off, I'm certainly not reinventing the wheel here, as a matter of fact most of what I've learned comes from studying the real tactics of U-boat commanders, but it might be of some use to "noobs", so here goes. The rest of you fellow veteran Kaleuns can just roll your eyes and skip it. I'm not going to tell you anything you don't already know.

First: Your boat's "ears", the hydrophone, are much more efficient than any set of eyeballs.

The surface is nice, you can go really fast and you don't have to worry about the batteries and the CO2 levels. But it's really not all that efficient, particularly not when you're close enough to the enemy that they have planes within range.

By all means use the surface whenever you're outside of enemy air range, but don't do so when you're not, particularly not in the early war.

Once you get to your patrol zone, for instance the British East Coast, dive when the sun rises and stay down unless you have a very good reason to come up. Use the nighttime or bad weather to change positions. You won't see anything on the surface with your watch crew sooner than your hydrophone operator will hear it.

If you DO catch a contact while you're down below, then you have to use your judgment. If you are going to chase, you obviously can't do so below unless the target is coming right at you. Just remember to make a sweep of the surface from periscope depth before you surface.

But don't just cruise around on the surface within range of the RAF to enjoy the view. Not only is it tiresome to have to crash dive every time your crew spots a plane (and you're pretty much dead if your TC is above 128/256 even if you DO hit the crash dive button), you're also much less likely to pick up a target using your eyes than you are using your ears.

Don't worry about the silly CO2 warning if you're below the sea either. The game triggers that warning when you hit 10% of lethal, NOT 10% of atmospheric content. Do check your CO2 levels from time to time, but your crew is not going to die unless you pass into the 90% area, which will take a couple of days to reach and you won't ever have to do that to see the sun set. Besides, even if you DO worry about the CO2, it only takes a few seconds to "air out" the boat.

And if that isn't enough incentive, I can tell you that my intercepts and sinkings have gone up a lot since I started using the "cautious" method. I don't waste time and fuel cruising back and forth in empty waters anymore.

Now, obviously, that advantage is going to drop as the Brits develop radar since that will mean that the night is no longer your friend, but you'll be doing yourselves a favor in the early times by relying more on your hydrophone and less on your watch crew's eyes.
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Old 04-20-12, 09:06 AM   #2
gazzmetrik
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Thanks for the tips!

After watching Das Boot myself, I started employing the same tactics when on patrol. I do however have some questions.

(1) Is there a hidden key/command to have my sound man look for contacts? During the day hours i dive and hit up the hydrophone station. Sometimes i hear faint prop noises but my sound man doesn't pick them up.

(2) How far can the hydrophone actually pick up sounds? I came from SH4 and i miss the ability to have my sound man pick up contacts and report them.

(3) Does depth affect the distance sounds can be heard?

Thanks for the info!
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Old 04-20-12, 07:36 PM   #3
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Great observations Misha!!
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Old 04-20-12, 11:08 PM   #4
misha1967
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gazzmetrik View Post
Thanks for the tips!

After watching Das Boot myself, I started employing the same tactics when on patrol. I do however have some questions.

(1) Is there a hidden key/command to have my sound man look for contacts? During the day hours i dive and hit up the hydrophone station. Sometimes i hear faint prop noises but my sound man doesn't pick them up.

(2) How far can the hydrophone actually pick up sounds? I came from SH4 and i miss the ability to have my sound man pick up contacts and report them.

(3) Does depth affect the distance sounds can be heard?

Thanks for the info!
You're welcome!

Questions, and good ones too.

1) Your sound man is constantly sweeping for contacts when underwater, whether you ask him to or not. The ones you're referring to are contacts that his skill level hasn't risen enough to identify yet. Pumping points into his skill level will vastly improve this. Until then you can, if you like, drop to TC1 at set intervals to do a sweep yourself, but if he's not reporting them it's not because he's not listening, he's just not hearing them because he hasn't got enough experience yet.

2) The ranges for the various hydrophones are listed on the equipment menus. They're typically around 20km, which is far longer than eyeballs.

3) Yes, in theory. Whether this is actually modeled correctly in the game I don't know, as it would take considerable testing. Rule of thumb, though, you should be below 30m for maximum range IF the hydrophone is modeled right.
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Old 04-21-12, 03:25 AM   #5
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REALLY GOOD INFO THANKS
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Old 04-21-12, 04:09 AM   #6
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Yep really good info, not even used by ye olde salts all of the time

Regarding the range of the hydrophones, Buchheim's three photo books are a very good source of information. E.g. he states that theoretically you could see for 20 kilometers, but only in (very) favourable conditions. So it would be from 8-16 km in most conditions, 20 in very good and certainly none in fog.
The height of the boat (where you stand, with your binocs) is the limiting factor of course, but silhouettes od ships can be seen from very far away against the horizon, while the low boat's silhouette remains invisible against the horizon, looked at from the higher hull or bridge of a surface ship.

I still think the visible detection of the destroyers is much too good, also at night - they will fire at you without seeing you in dense fog, and also easily ram you in zero sighting conditions.
But will look for the newest mods, maybe there's some improvement.

Thanks Misha,
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Old 04-21-12, 08:03 AM   #7
gazzmetrik
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Thanks again Misha

actually after posting i loaded a new mod and found the range of hydrophones on the equipment menu. oops. hehe.

Actually you're right about the inexperienced sound man, until I can promote him, i usually need to do the sweeping myself.
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Old 04-22-12, 01:39 AM   #8
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So when should we be underwater to use the hydro? ShouldnI be moving when underwater? When should I surface to recharge the batteries?
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Old 04-22-12, 02:21 AM   #9
misha1967
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eviljezza View Post
So when should we be underwater to use the hydro? ShouldnI be moving when underwater? When should I surface to recharge the batteries?
Underwater all day (unless the weather makes air interception impossible or unlikely), surface to recharge batteries after sundown. Don't move when below unless chased. Of course, if you DO hear something on the hydrophones during the day, you'll most likely have to move on the surface to intercept unless they're coming to you. In that case, use your judgment.

The idea here being to avoid unnecessary risk. Moving on the surface in daylight within range of enemy air just to travel accomplishes nothing other than enjoying the scenery, and your ability to detect enemy targets is actually worse than if you were below, using the hydrophones.

If you need to give chase, get far away from a particular position in a hurry or close on another position in a hurry, then you're gaining something from being on the surface in return for the added danger, and in those cases you'll just have to weigh risk versus advantage.
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Old 04-22-12, 02:26 AM   #10
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OK that sounds good, gonna try out some new tactics then. Cheers
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Old 04-22-12, 08:52 PM   #11
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One thing that I would like to add is that one should upgrade the GHG hydrophone up to the KDB hydrophone. The GHG has a very nasty forward baffle that WILL cause no end of trouble. KDB is omnidirectional and the rear baffle can be neutralized by briefly killing the engines. Granted, it is more "fragile", I have never lost a hydrophone in an attack. Depth charges seem to be attracted to the diesel room, anyway.
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Old 04-22-12, 09:19 PM   #12
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Just remember, the later you make it, the flexibility for your tactics decreases, and the minimum depth to survive depth charges increases.
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