VIIB or VIIC ?

[Sawbones2]

And another newbie question

Thanks for all the answers and encoragement on the 1st one, btw.

As the title says...i almost have the renown needed to upgrade to a VIIC but when i look at the stats there seems little reason to upgrade the boat...if anything makes more sense to upgrade the people.

Yes, no? am i missing anything (non)obvious?

Thanks

Saw

[bigboywooly]

Depends on the way you like to sail and attack
Personally I prefer the IX boats so stay with the VIIB till can upgrade

The VIIC has more upgrades than the B and is a great convoy hunter in not so deep water

So depends on your end goal really
Stay in a 7 or trade in for that type 9

[STEED]

The IX Boats rock.

And the ladies love them, pure bloody girl bait.

[Jimbuna]

I joined the navy to see the world
But what did I see
I saw the sea

Get an IX boat and go tanker hunting.....wherever you want

[Umfuld]

lol, the guy asks if he should get a 7B or 7C and three people tell him to get a 9.
Haha. Ah, subsim. Gotta love it.


I used to always use the C but just started using a B and I love it.
I guess what bigboywooly says about upgrades is true. I hadn't thought of that. But for now nothing is gonna get me out of my B. Love the agility.


As far as Type IX? Don't listen to these guys. Those boats are pigs. Easy for the escorts to detect and they can't evade after that.
Once you get to the bases in France you can go pretty much anywhere you want in a 7.

[Ivan Putski]

I`ve enjoyed campaigns in both the type VII`s, and type IX boats at present I`m having an excellent campaign in a type VIIc boat. I`m on my 36th mission halfway thru 1943. It`s up to the individual which boat he feels most comfortable in, and what type of missions he`s assigned. I have a carreer in both type boats, and switch between them.

My latest patrol in the VIIc campaign I was able to pick up a large convoy near Gibraltar, slip into it, and sink a Troop Ship, and Medium Tanker with four eels, and slip away from the escorts, took some doing, but all went well. Puts

[Zajcev]

I love the ability of IXD2 to shoot down enemy airplanes. In last mission, I shot down 91 of them, sank 93k tonnage and brought back 5137 score. I wouldn't trade my IXD2 for VIIC back. I used VIIB before VIIC and liked it. VIIC didn't really provide me any advantage, except for faster diving time. VIIC can reportely dive deeper. I got rid of VIIC in february 1943 when IXD2 became available. For VIIC there are nice conning tower upgrades, so you can have the same flak defence like IXD2 - 1x quad and 2x double AA. But I think this becomes available later, and I got tired of VIIC.

Btw I don't know if you found it out, but at least in stock SH3, you don't have to go to your patrol square, just go anywhere you want, sink everything until you run out of torpedoes, then radio back results, and they will tell you to return to base. This saves you weeks in a IX boat.

[NealT]

Between a 7B and 7C, use the 7C.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

I joined the navy to see the world
But what did I see
I saw the sea

Awesome movie!

[Tessa]

When the C becomes available the B has longer underwater range. Once you upgrade the batteries on the C the ships are pretty much the same, the B is a tad smaller but not small enough to make much of difference in terms of range. The C has a lot more upgrades available to it that continue throughout the war. Deciding between a VII or IX is a completely different animal.......

[Graf Paper]

Take it from this old VIIB kaleun, I've had many successful patrols in my boat and I was faced with just this exact question you're having now.

You can hold "upgrading" to the VIIC until the start of 1942, if you want to put it off for that long. The extras that you can get with the VIIC, such as FuMb, anti-sonar coating, and the snorkel, will make life a little easier as the enemy gains better technology and tactics to make your chances of going to a watery grave very high indeed.

Don't worry too much about flak gun upgrades persuading your choice. The damage a single airplane can inflict on your u-boat means you're much better off diving to avoid them, rather than getting into a gun duel. This is even more true, later in the war, when their radar can fix your position and then have enemy Hunter-Killer forces swarming all over you with depth charges.

On the other hand, you could also jump to a larger class and go with the seekuh type IX u-boats. They do tend to wallow in the waves like a sea cow, hence their nickname, but they're the best boats for patrols far abroad, such as sinking merchants off the American coastline and into the Caribbean.

A VIIC will get you there, but with barely enough fuel to do much more than strike a target or two before having to turn round and head to base, arriving home on fumes.

So, your choice of boat really depends on what type of patrols you plan to do in the future but your VIIB ought to be fine until '42. Then again, you might even be the sort who would enjoy sticking with what you got until the end.

There's no hard rule that says you must change u-boats or upgrade anything. If you're having fun, that's all that matters.

[melnibonian]

Personally I do go for the IXC because of its larger torpedo load and range. In terms of the VIIs I do go for the C-Type as it can support more upgrades than the B-Type.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Zajcev

I love the ability of IXD2 to shoot down enemy airplanes. In last mission, I shot down 91

91

You must have that secret SAM mod

[Subnuts]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

91

You must have that secret SAM mod

Shoot down Airplanes by the Millions?

[Tessa]

Originally Posted by Subnuts

Shoot down Airplanes by the Millions?

:rotfl: Most I've ever been able to down is 61 in a IXD2 in 43', Actually had a real gun crew but finally had to start playing the dive and hide game after the heavy flak (the cool 4x 2cm one) finally ran outta ammo.