Gathering of the Destroyer Clans

glilley · 03-26-21, 06:22 AM

Well, U-boat captain Oscar Mier never new the Brits disliked him SO much. Playing TWoS, Fifth patrol, Sept 1941, square AK intercepted reported large convoy (home bound). First attack went OK, sank 2 and dived to evade and 4 escorts worked me over for 3 hours or so and gave up. About normal for this time in war. Surfaced, reloaded and caught up with convoy mid morning and shadowed it until around midnight. Attacked again, bagged 4 ships this time and dived to evade. Six escorts now on me.

Spent next 28 game hours at 175 meters silent running, changing course numerous times with these 6 escorts all over me. At about 36 hours game time with CO2 running at almost 70/100 and most of crew in their bunks, a task force with 1 CV, 1 BB and 8 escorts swings close by. The escorts peel off and come join the fun for a total of 14 escorts parked over me. Some of these guys are actively working me but most of them are parked around smoking-and-joking and just watching the show. After another 4-5 game hours and nobody moving off, wrote off that career.

Anyone ever have this happen before? Would have thought the game engine would have limited the amount of time a convoy's escorts would stay on you so that they don't leave the convoy unprotected for too long. And then, these other guys leaving 2 capital ships unescorted. Strange.

les green01 · 03-26-21, 06:00 PM

sounds pretty much real life then the ones park there was probly listening for you and guiding the others you can only hope the other boats got some licks on that convoy while you kept the escorts busy

glilley · 03-27-21, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by les green01

sounds pretty much real life then the ones park there was probly listening for you and guiding the others you can only hope the other boats got some licks on that convoy while you kept the escorts busy

Well, not really. With the original 6 escorts half of them were laying to listening and the 8 destroyers that peeled off from the task force towards the end really seemed like a game engine oddity. IRL protection of the convoy was an escort's primary mission. Now, one way you can accomplish that is by trying to destroy a U-boat once you've latched on to one, but you never hung around for a day and a half with ALL your escorts, leaving the convoy (and in this case 2 capital ships) unescorted and open to further predation. Escorts kept a U-boat down long enough for the convoy to escape, change course and would then haul off to rejoin before any U-boat(s) overwhelmed the escorts that were left. Hunter-killer groups were formed specifically for the task of hanging on to a U-boat until it was dead and were usually called in (if available) to take over from the escorts, but they are a separate task force in SH5 and none of these escorts belonged to one. Again, think it was a game engine weirdness but they got me! But yeah - just have to hope that while all 14 of them were gloating over my oil slick my virtual commrades were putting big holes in the convoy! Ha ha!!

les green01 · 03-27-21, 02:14 PM

in iron coffins werner talk about escorts from a convoy working them over until the convoy was well out range and only left because another group was following up and that group work them over course that was latter in the war

kapuhy · 03-27-21, 02:48 PM

While leaving task force completely unprotected is obviously not realistic and an error in AI routines, detaching a part of escort screen to stay and hunt you to exhaustion is:

"U-371 was now unlucky enough to be the first victim of an Allied submarine hunting tactic called "Swamp". This called for the area of a known or suspected U-boat to be packed with escort ships and patrol aircraft. They would then systematically and continually search the area, forcing the U-boat to remain submerged until its batteries ran out or it tried to escape on the surface. Either option was almost hopeless."

glilley · 03-27-21, 03:07 PM

OK then - thanks for the info! Happy hunting!

Compans57 · 03-29-21, 11:43 AM

One of the annoying things about destroyers in this game is their uncanny ability to know exactly where you fired from. There have been very few occasions where they went off and looked in the wrong direction. The norm seems to be once torpedoes are within the stream they peel off like a swarm of angry bees towards where I am, no matter how deep or silent I try to get. It'd be nice occasionally to hear them bombing some empty spot at a distance.

les green01 · 03-29-21, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Compans57

One of the annoying things about destroyers in this game is their uncanny ability to know exactly where you fired from. There have been very few occasions where they went off and looked in the wrong direction. The norm seems to be once torpedoes are within the stream they peel off like a swarm of angry bees towards where I am, no matter how deep or silent I try to get. It'd be nice occasionally to hear them bombing some empty spot at a distance.

what years do you play,what eels do you use if g7a going leave a trail right towards you also try to get your noise signature down low has you can by the motor officer are you reporting to bdu the ships sightings after the allies break the code they read the mail you send

Compans57 · 04-01-21, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by les green01

what years do you play,what eels do you use if g7a going leave a trail right towards you also try to get your noise signature down low has you can by the motor officer are you reporting to bdu the ships sightings after the allies break the code they read the mail you send

I've been playing the whole campaign from '39 onwards and I'm currently in 1943.

I've been using the fat torpedoes exclusively for a while so that may be part of the problem. Does it really make that much difference using electric?

Yes, I'm going to silent running near escorts.

I have been reporing contacts so that could be an issue too.

Thanks!

les green01 · 04-01-21, 12:32 PM

werner in his book said in his book the fat didn't work has good in patrol has they did in the lab or in the training i don't know if that program in the game or not also they can spot the wake of the g7a so you want to use them at night also they can spot your scope or the wake of your scope if going too fast,radio they can find you by Triangulation now the escorts try to keep a small profile to them course that hard to do when gang up but don't sit still keep moving change dept,wait until the escort is on the run hit the coal then do the turns

03-26-21, 06:22 AM	#1
glilley Loader Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Mount Olive, NC Posts: 85 Downloads: 116 Uploads: 0	Gathering of the Destroyer Clans Well, U-boat captain Oscar Mier never new the Brits disliked him SO much. Playing TWoS, Fifth patrol, Sept 1941, square AK intercepted reported large convoy (home bound). First attack went OK, sank 2 and dived to evade and 4 escorts worked me over for 3 hours or so and gave up. About normal for this time in war. Surfaced, reloaded and caught up with convoy mid morning and shadowed it until around midnight. Attacked again, bagged 4 ships this time and dived to evade. Six escorts now on me. Spent next 28 game hours at 175 meters silent running, changing course numerous times with these 6 escorts all over me. At about 36 hours game time with CO2 running at almost 70/100 and most of crew in their bunks, a task force with 1 CV, 1 BB and 8 escorts swings close by. The escorts peel off and come join the fun for a total of 14 escorts parked over me. Some of these guys are actively working me but most of them are parked around smoking-and-joking and just watching the show. After another 4-5 game hours and nobody moving off, wrote off that career. Anyone ever have this happen before? Would have thought the game engine would have limited the amount of time a convoy's escorts would stay on you so that they don't leave the convoy unprotected for too long. And then, these other guys leaving 2 capital ships unescorted. Strange. Last edited by glilley; 03-26-21 at 04:30 PM.

03-26-21, 06:00 PM	#2
les green01 Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Freeman Missouri Posts: 1,735 Downloads: 1375 Uploads: 0	sounds pretty much real life then the ones park there was probly listening for you and guiding the others you can only hope the other boats got some licks on that convoy while you kept the escorts busy __________________ I'll tell you what bravery really is. Bravery is just determination to do a job that you know has to be done. Audie Murphy

03-27-21, 02:14 PM	#4
les green01 Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Freeman Missouri Posts: 1,735 Downloads: 1375 Uploads: 0	in iron coffins werner talk about escorts from a convoy working them over until the convoy was well out range and only left because another group was following up and that group work them over course that was latter in the war __________________ I'll tell you what bravery really is. Bravery is just determination to do a job that you know has to be done. Audie Murphy

03-27-21, 02:48 PM	#5
kapuhy Grey Wolf Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Poland Posts: 873 Downloads: 72 Uploads: 3	While leaving task force completely unprotected is obviously not realistic and an error in AI routines, detaching a part of escort screen to stay and hunt you to exhaustion is: "U-371 was now unlucky enough to be the first victim of an Allied submarine hunting tactic called "Swamp". This called for the area of a known or suspected U-boat to be packed with escort ships and patrol aircraft. They would then systematically and continually search the area, forcing the U-boat to remain submerged until its batteries ran out or it tried to escape on the surface. Either option was almost hopeless." __________________ An elemental spirit summoned up from the Sea of Lament itself and given one purpose, one skill, one desire... to sail! Or, to model hulls and adjust damage zones if no sailing jobs are open. My mods: Little Ships, Air Force

04-01-21, 12:32 PM	#10
les green01 Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Freeman Missouri Posts: 1,735 Downloads: 1375 Uploads: 0	werner in his book said in his book the fat didn't work has good in patrol has they did in the lab or in the training i don't know if that program in the game or not also they can spot the wake of the g7a so you want to use them at night also they can spot your scope or the wake of your scope if going too fast,radio they can find you by Triangulation now the escorts try to keep a small profile to them course that hard to do when gang up but don't sit still keep moving change dept,wait until the escort is on the run hit the coal then do the turns __________________ I'll tell you what bravery really is. Bravery is just determination to do a job that you know has to be done. Audie Murphy

03-27-21, 03:07 PM	#6
glilley Loader Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Mount Olive, NC Posts: 85 Downloads: 116 Uploads: 0	OK then - thanks for the info! Happy hunting!

03-29-21, 11:43 AM	#7
Compans57 Officer Join Date: Apr 2020 Posts: 243 Downloads: 76 Uploads: 0	One of the annoying things about destroyers in this game is their uncanny ability to know exactly where you fired from. There have been very few occasions where they went off and looked in the wrong direction. The norm seems to be once torpedoes are within the stream they peel off like a swarm of angry bees towards where I am, no matter how deep or silent I try to get. It'd be nice occasionally to hear them bombing some empty spot at a distance.