Contempt for Japanese ASW...

[Bubblehead1980]

I would not call it unrealistic, it was luck and ideal passive sonar conditions.I gave them a target by staying at scope depth to watch torpedoes hit and hit flank to close in and fire on the small freighter to sink it, so even without he had an idea of where i was, but depth etc hard to determine without active sonar, just got lucky.

I would much rather have them diffficult to easy, not getting depth charged in this sim after an attack is anti climatic.I am working on a mod that stops the insta death, basically upped the sub's hit points from the extremely low 300(a solid barrage of charges would easily top that if they are scoring max amount.However, sub's equipment maintains current hit points, this is basically about the hull, making them durable as they were.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead1980

I would much rather have them diffficult to easy, not getting depth charged in this sim after an attack is anti climatic.

This is my point. Either you have as a goal, making the sim as dramatic as you can make it, or as realistic as you can make it. I am willing to forgo the constant drama and near-death experiences in return for a realistic sim. After all, I know, sooner of later, I'll make a mistake, or the AI bad guys will get lucky, and administer a good beating, but it doesn't have to happen all the time.

I don't want the sim too easy, or too hard. I want it just right, or as close as I can get it.

I know I'm in the minority here. Most like the constant thrill of ferocious escorts breathing down their necks.

[Eesocks]

I don't want the sim too easy, or too hard. I want it just right, or as close as I can get it.

So do I, but I've come to realise that true realism in any computer sim is not really possible, the best you can hope for is historical accuracy.And the Japanese convoy protection was inefficient for most of the war due to the IJN using the best escorts and crews for their surface fleet.

Another problem with any sim is that the enemy is computer controlled and your computer always knows exactly where you are!

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by Eesocks

And the Japanese convoy protection was inefficient for most of the war due to the IJN using the best escorts and crews for their surface fleet.

Ironically, on those rare occasions when they were released from Combined Fleet work, Japanese fleet destroyers often displayed no greater competence at protecting merchant vessels than the lowly minesweepers, auxiliaries and subchasers which usually got the duty. Despite their elite status, their only practical everyday experience at ASW lay in screening warship task forces, which usually steamed at higher speeds that deterred submarine attacks and substantially simplified the destroyers' job. Not to mention that they tended to look down their noses at such tedious work.

[Admiral Halsey]

Personally I like games that make the player have to do the realistic stuff even if that means the AI is overpowered to a degree. That's is why I like TMO so much as it makes you think like a submariner.

[Bilge_Rat]

there was always an element of randomness in Japanese ASW. It could be very good on occasion. For example, USS Trout was sunk in feb. 44 by 3 veteran IJN DDs after it attacked a convoy. The big problem with the Japanese is they gave up the hunt too quickly.

On to BH's situation, an escort can detect you at 300 feet depending on various factors, i.e.:

http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/ai.htm

It may also be that the escort was dropping the DCs blind and just got a lucky hit. Even when an escort fails to detect you, it will still drop DCs on what it thinks is a likely spot.

[Rammstein0991]

Originally Posted by Dread Knot

Ironically, on those rare occasions when they were released from Combined Fleet work, Japanese fleet destroyers often displayed no greater competence at protecting merchant vessels than the lowly minesweepers, auxiliaries and subchasers which usually got the duty. Despite their elite status, their only practical everyday experience at ASW lay in screening warship task forces, which usually steamed at higher speeds that deterred submarine attacks and substantially simplified the destroyers' job. Not to mention that they tended to look down their noses at such tedious work.

They werent exactly put through the kind of training needed to get to the level we and Britain enjoyed in OUR DD's I think, part of that is no doubt Japan's racist beliefs of the time that they were invincible geniuses and that we were stupid subhuman beasts who couldnt even hold a gun properly, meaning (in their minds) they didnt need to worry about our subs having any success against them.

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by Rammstein0991

They werent exactly put through the kind of training needed to get to the level we and Britain enjoyed in OUR DD's I think, part of that is no doubt Japan's racist beliefs of the time that they were invincible geniuses and that we were stupid subhuman beasts who couldnt even hold a gun properly, meaning (in their minds) they didnt need to worry about our subs having any success against them.

I don't know if I would put Japan's issues down to just contempt or arrogance, although it played a part. A big factor was just the pre-war philosophy behind the IJN which was obsessed with winning another decisive Tsushima like battle such as they had won against the Russians in 1905. Actually one Imperial Navy officer after the war summarized it best. "The Japanese naval authorities had confounded the war with battle. We built a fleet for fighting battles instead of one for fighting a war."

This philosophy also hampered Japan in other areas than escorts. Japan never had enough fleet train units, minesweepers, troopships, tenders, MTBs, specialized amphibious craft and logistical ships as well. It was all mostly spent on the battle fleet. To a degree this was true of other nations as well, but Japan was shorter in industrial resources than the USA or Britain, so the disparity was greater.

[Bubblehead1980]

I was talking about my contempt for what I saw was weak escorts, esp the Momi PB once realized it did not have active sonar and it nearly cost me my boat.Some luck was involved but I was in ideal passive sonar conditions, in a Gato and since try to play realistically, I rarely purposely take boat below 300 foot test depth, occasionally 345 to 350(as some skippers did) even though I know boat can go much deeper if forced. My contempt for the perceived weakness of the escorts, esp the momi pb being close by, lead me to stay at scope depth, and speed up to make noise after first three fish hit the large freighter(which was in far column so only fired at it, it was a 50/50 shot but managed to get it) then attacked the small one close by with two fish.

So my contempt and disregard of the threat lead me to take a risk.I tend to take calculated risks on patrol, saw this as one as that but may have overdone it.Combination of my actions, their skill, in optimal conditions and some luck.Definitely will not make same mistake again.

Far as realism, well this is 1944, Japanese ASW was pretty good by then and only improved, late war ASW was effective.TMO with RSRD provides best balance of realism and gameplay.Escorts are tough but not always impossible.I think a mod people must have is the SH AI fix, which stops them from always having active sonar on, they listen until detect you, then go active, this allows you to get close in like in RL undetected, depending on other factors of course.

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by TorpX

This is my point. Either you have as a goal, making the sim as dramatic as you can make it, or as realistic as you can make it. I am willing to forgo the constant drama and near-death experiences in return for a realistic sim. After all, I know, sooner of later, I'll make a mistake, or the AI bad guys will get lucky, and administer a good beating, but it doesn't have to happen all the time.

I'm in the same minority as you. While I appreciate the effort that went into making TMO, I often get that "U-Boat being quickly spotted and pursued to exhaustion vibe" that I get in late war SH3. It just doesn't seem to jibe with Japan's historical performance and capabilities.

Certainly, Japan's maritime protection forces did improve as the war progressed. By early 1944, according to Admiral Lockwood, "the enemy was learning from experience, and the task of our submarines was becoming more difficult and hazardous." This was particularly true of aerial escort, at which the Japanese became relatively adept when they could scrounge up the aircraft.

But anyone not hopelessly incompetent is bound to get better at anything tried often enough, and the Japanese navy's eventual improvement at ASW was always relative to it's rather lackluster beginnings. It certainly never reached the sort of suffocating ASW coverage the Allies practiced.