ANTIAIRCRAFT ARTILLERY ON STRIKE:

[jorgegonzalito]

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[Crannogman]

That is weird. Make sure the AA crew are the best available - you should be able to get efficiency up near 100%. Man battle stations, and wait until the guns are actually manned to press the "fire at will" button. You don't need to press other buttons, and make sure they are lit before the planes get close.

If you are attacked by planes while surfaced, do man the AA guns and then set them to "fire at will." I generally go to full or flank speed as the plane approaches, and turn so that the plane is approaching from aside and a little bit behind. As the plane is diving, perhaps firing, I put the rudder over hard in the direction of the plane. The bombs generally miss on the far side. The only time I was hit was when I got in the path of 20 torpedo bombers, but none of them survived (most of them crashed into each other).

[jorgegonzalito]

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[Rockin Robbins]

Hi. Here I am being contrary again. My position is that AA guns are for popping sampans and drying laundry.

Let's look at the scorecard:

Submarine. Expensive. More than 60 highly trained men at risk. Difficult and time consuming to build.

Airplane. Cheap. One or two men at risk. Easy to replace, they're turning them out like popcorn.

So you're in the difficult to replace and very expensive submarine with 65 sailors in the people tube. Are you willing to stay on the surface and slug it out with a cheap, quick and easy to replace airplane?

If you win you've deprived the enemy of nothing much. Two men and a cheap airplane. But if they win they've destroyed your sophisticated, difficult to produce, slow to manufacture very expensive submarine and killed 65 highly trained sailors.

The cost/benefits ratio just sucks here. You have no business ever shooting at an airplane. Get the hades off the surface and to sink one of their expensive, impossible to replace merchants filled with a hundred or more well-trained sailors. Reverse that sucky cost/benefits fiasco and turn it in your favor by fighting the fight your ship was designed for!

War is supposed to be hell--for the enemy!

[Crannogman]

Originally Posted by jorgegonzalito

Thanks Crannogman:
Then I choose the most qualified crew for each major task, I thought that the game was in charge of that automatically. However, when an aircraft is about to attack the submarine must be opened on the screen a picture of options, including immersion at periscope depth, and return fire with anti-aircraft weapons, but in this case it did not happen and crew ignored orders to attack the plane or at the discretion fire. These orders are scheduled in each mission, or already are default in the game?

Are you saying that you are at periscope depth, or that you have the option to go to periscope depth?

I agree that the best policy is to dive before you are attacked. But if you are caught on the surface, you will not be able to get below before being bombed, you are probably better off shooting back and maneuvering as I discussed above. Did you try manning the AA gun yourself and shooting at the plane? It may be that you are put of ammo or that the plane is attacking from a direction where the AA gun cannot point

[fireftr18]

I noticed the dialogue that appears when your crew spots a contact isn't very good. I think there's an "ignore" option or "continue orders" option. I click on that, then go through the command bar as usual.

[jorgegonzalito]

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[Crannogman]

I suggest it for troubleshooting, to evaluate those possibilities for a non-functioning gun. Or you could post a screen showing which buttons are activated

[ColonelSandersLite]

I agree with RR for sure. It's not just that though.

In reality, aircraft are way harder to shoot out of the sky than they are in the game. Just look at the sheer number of AA guns on a typical carrier group, it's way more guns than a submarine can possibly carry. Yet aircraft still had a tendency to get through and hit surface ships.

Further, even if you do manage to to critical damage to an aircraft, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be enough damage to actually make him stop his attack immediately. Really, the only likely ways to do that are going to involve killing the pilot or getting lucky enough to just rip off a wing.


So, not only is a submarine more expensive than even a dozen aircraft, but each of those dozen aircraft actually has a significantly high chance of killing or crippling the sub while the sub has a fairly slim chance of even damaging any of the aircraft in return.


Trying to fight an aircraft is just a complete waste of resources on practically every level.

As to practical uses for the AA guns:
It's not really modeled in the game, but I could definitely see an argument for using them in addition to the deck gun if you find yourself in a surface firefight. Not so much for the purpose of sinking the enemy ship, but to suppress any guns on the ship. Whether we're talking a deck gun or guys with rifles, a 20mm would be extremely effective in this role. I could also see keeping them trained on any lifeboats after a torpedo attack as insurance and for intimidation value. Also yes, for sinking smaller vessels. Probably anything tugboat sized or smaller. Just examples of course, I could think of more.

[Ludwig van Hursh]

Do you have mods installed because that can mess things up right quick if they aren't in the right order.

Edit: But I would just suggest you dive and don't take the chance. I usually only use my AA guns on small trawlers and fishing boats.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by ColonelSandersLite

As to practical uses for the AA guns:
It's not really modeled in the game, but I could definitely see an argument for using them in addition to the deck gun if you find yourself in a surface firefight. Not so much for the purpose of sinking the enemy ship, but to suppress any guns on the ship. Whether we're talking a deck gun or guys with rifles, a 20mm would be extremely effective in this role. I could also see keeping them trained on any lifeboats after a torpedo attack as insurance and for intimidation value. Also yes, for sinking smaller vessels. Probably anything tugboat sized or smaller. Just examples of course, I could think of more.

In TMO I once got in a running gun battle with a bunch of merchies (dangerous enough on their own) and a subchaser with a top speed of 10 knots. In the course of events my main deck gun had been damaged and I needed the sub chaser gone so I played jack-in-the-box with my 40mm BOFORS. I'd surface decks awash, pop off a dozen rounds and submerge, then zip to a new location to repeat. Took me over an hour but he finally went down. I don't recommend the practice!

In my guidebook there's one rule for aircraft: never let yourself be seen by one. They love to talk their buddies in for the party and you are the cake.

[jorgegonzalito]

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[SOFLCS]

It's worth noting that standard doctrine for Lifeguarding held that Subs should stay on the surface "As much as possible.", but that they would dive should Japanese planes appear. IIRC, no American subs were lost performing Lifeguard duty, but several Purple Hearts were awarded for unsuccessful air attacks. One thing the game doesn't simulate is Submarine Combat Air Patrols, when American aircraft worked in concert with Submarines to both protect them, and rescue aviators. It's hard to understand what you're saying, but the AA guns do work, just go into the Gun test mission and set them up. You can use this mission to work on the right sequence to get them into action, but as long as you have a competent shooter, battle stations activated, or you could just activate the AA guns, are surfaced with ammo, and whichever AA setting you want, say engage targets under 1,000 or engage closing targets, it should work. That being said the only real time you should be firing your AA guns is when you're frantically crash diving to try and avoid bombardment. The AA guns are not a trap set out by Ubisoft to kill your sub, that would be bad business, but reflect instead that it's usually better to run from air attacks rather than try and fight it out.

[jorgegonzalito]

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[Rockin Robbins]

Okay let's go through the mechanics of operating the AA gun.

1. Surface the boat
2. Go to the crew management screen and move men to the gun if necessary.
3. Press the AA gun button on your command bar, then press the "man AA gun" button
4. Press the "fire at nearest target" button.
5. Enjoy the fireworks.

You can also man and shoot the gun yourself if you want.