"nice rack"ing up unrealistically huge tonnage

[Night60700]

Originally Posted by allievo

• Try to ignore radio contacts about single merchant and intercept only convoys and task forces. Attack single merchants only if they're detected by your crew.
• Fire more than one eel on one target regardless of failure probability so torpedoes will run out sooner.
• In case of a storm (I mean 15 m/s wind and heavy fog) think about your crew and suspend hunting i.e. dive to 50 m and move with Ahead Slow until O2 level hits the minimum then proceed on the surface till batteries are recharged and dive again. Do it as long as the storm lasts. If you've got a contact don't attack, just shadow it or let it sail away.
• If you don't play on maximum difficulty, change the realism settings towards 100%.
• Start a campaign after '43 since escorts are heavier to evade then plus radar and aircraft make life harder.

Hope I could help a bit. Fette Beute!

Ok, Most subs found targets from radio contacts until later in the war.
More the one eel was fired because of the dud rate.
Storms didn't force anyone underwater if only for the need to navigate by sun and stars.
100% realism is not real. It's more like a super hard mode.
Start a campaign in 45 and you'll still beat their numbers.

The real reason is navigation. Before the age of GPS is was easy to get lost at sea. And it could be weeks between contact. The AI tonnage is based on those two factors. Yours isn't, so you will always have more tonnage.