Pure Dumb Luck

theluckyone17 · 07-30-07, 06:19 PM

As "theluckyone", I seem to have lots of luck. Problem is, it's either all good, or bad. Might just be as bad as having no luck at all, really.

I spent the past couple days on the same patrol, from Pearl. Completed two full patrol missions, then refit at Java, after which I radioed in for a third mission. Even managed to run across a few ships, and sank them along the way.

The last ship, I detected by hydrophone. By the time I intercepted, it was dead of night, with the worse weather SH4 can throw at me. 15 m/s winds, heavy rain and fog. Visibility was nil. I managed to get a good track on them via sonar, and intercepted on the surface. Torpedoes all missed... so I dove shallow, got a hydrophone reading, surfaced, and just started firing off the deck gun in the general range. Fill a given area with enough lead, and you might hit something, right?

Yeah, it worked. Fired enough to get a fire started on deck, which lit the ship enough to get a fish off.

Pure dumb luck.

After sinking that target, I kept patrolling. Weather cleared up, then returned in full force. And my luck balances out. Somehow, in the midst of all this muck, I ran across a couple destroyers. "Ship sighted at xxx, short range!" Three seconds later, BOOM, over the bow. I ordered a crash dive. A few more seconds, BOOM. An answering BOOM in my engine room. "We've got flooding, sir!" I also ordered full rudder to port, and watched the bow of a destroyer loom out of the fog, close enough to my boat to reach out and touch. Their AA's open up, adding insult to injury.

Finally, the sub gets underwater... and she starts into a uncontrolled dive. I know the pressure hull's been damaged, and I can't get too deep. Fighting on the surface doesn't sound good, but if I can get far enough away from the destroyers underwater, then I can emergency surface and lose them in the rotten weather. Or so the theory goes.

I braved the deep until 160 feet, and ordered the surface. Leveled out at 180 feet, and rose... finally shot out of the ocean like cork from the deep end of the pool. And guess who's waiting for me. Their deck guns light up again, pounding my poor hull. My deck gun replies, but it's rather ineffectual... my speed does more good. I get to watch the destroyer still at a near dead stop as it stops firing, disappearing into the fog. Ten seconds later, I get the twisting camera of death.

Blech.

07-30-07, 06:19 PM	#1
theluckyone17 Captain Join Date: May 2006 Location: Niskayuna, NY Posts: 482 Downloads: 103 Uploads: 0	Pure Dumb Luck As "theluckyone", I seem to have lots of luck. Problem is, it's either all good, or bad. Might just be as bad as having no luck at all, really. I spent the past couple days on the same patrol, from Pearl. Completed two full patrol missions, then refit at Java, after which I radioed in for a third mission. Even managed to run across a few ships, and sank them along the way. The last ship, I detected by hydrophone. By the time I intercepted, it was dead of night, with the worse weather SH4 can throw at me. 15 m/s winds, heavy rain and fog. Visibility was nil. I managed to get a good track on them via sonar, and intercepted on the surface. Torpedoes all missed... so I dove shallow, got a hydrophone reading, surfaced, and just started firing off the deck gun in the general range. Fill a given area with enough lead, and you might hit something, right? Yeah, it worked. Fired enough to get a fire started on deck, which lit the ship enough to get a fish off. Pure dumb luck. After sinking that target, I kept patrolling. Weather cleared up, then returned in full force. And my luck balances out. Somehow, in the midst of all this muck, I ran across a couple destroyers. "Ship sighted at xxx, short range!" Three seconds later, BOOM, over the bow. I ordered a crash dive. A few more seconds, BOOM. An answering BOOM in my engine room. "We've got flooding, sir!" I also ordered full rudder to port, and watched the bow of a destroyer loom out of the fog, close enough to my boat to reach out and touch. Their AA's open up, adding insult to injury. Finally, the sub gets underwater... and she starts into a uncontrolled dive. I know the pressure hull's been damaged, and I can't get too deep. Fighting on the surface doesn't sound good, but if I can get far enough away from the destroyers underwater, then I can emergency surface and lose them in the rotten weather. Or so the theory goes. I braved the deep until 160 feet, and ordered the surface. Leveled out at 180 feet, and rose... finally shot out of the ocean like cork from the deep end of the pool. And guess who's waiting for me. Their deck guns light up again, pounding my poor hull. My deck gun replies, but it's rather ineffectual... my speed does more good. I get to watch the destroyer still at a near dead stop as it stops firing, disappearing into the fog. Ten seconds later, I get the twisting camera of death. Blech.