Whats your style

[SubHunter88]

Just wondering what everyone's prefered style is. In my current set up in runnin a Vanilla SH3 ( i actually like the realism of roatting crew my self and such) all options on/max except limit external view (i actually like seeing my sub plowing thru heavy seas and it makes for some cool screen caps) and manual TDC. mid 1942 in the north atlantic just west of ireland and im have a good bit of sucess.

So im wondering when your on the hunt whats your approach?

Personally I love stealth. to me my U-boat is like a sniper of the high seas. I very rarely use my Deck gun, and given the choice prefer to avoid risking a mixup with destroyers or corvettes. 1 eel, 1 kill. I personally get a thrill carefully tracking a convy near dusk as it gets closer and closer.... carefully examining the ships in it and reviewing thier specs. I cut a victim from the herd check my calculations, check them again, and then chek them once more... FIRE... i normally start with a further one first, then a closer one.. timing 2 almost simotaneous hits... if its a well defended convoy (3 or more warships) i'll break off after 2 maybe 3 confirmed kills. running silent i wont be reloading and need to be prepared to defedn my self. get deap and get silent... then head over to my sound station and track those pesky corvettes and hope they dont get a track on me.

So what do you guys all do?

are you the type who loved the adreniline pumping thrill of a turning fight with a destroyer? do you try to hit escorts first then run down the convoy with your trusty deck gun?

[maillemaker]

Well, to tell the truth, once I figured out that you could nail escorts by getting them to chase you, that became my modus operandi. Kill the escorts, then rape the convoy.

Now that I'm going 100%, I don't know if I will be able to do that anymore.

Steve

[krashkart]

I'm finding my path as a Kaleun. Naval combat in SH3 is a lot like combat as a foot soldier in Operation Flashpoint. Lots of sneaking around, a good deal of observation, assessing strengths/weaknesses and so on. I like these kinds of sims. Makes me feel comfy inside.

[Dissaray]

I tend to stay hiden from the enemy and generaly avoid attacking escorts though if the escorts give me trubble I won't hesitate to kill them. I do love attacking task forces too. I try and save as meny torpidos for large targets, generaly merchant shiping and capital ships. In an effort to get as many kills as possible I try to take ships down with one shot, generaly into the engen room or under the keel. If they don't go down after that first hit and conditions are faverable I will go in with my gun a'blazing. My firing solutions tend to be figured out well in advance of the actual attack on the nav map, though I will make quick and dirty adjustments at need

[Rustywing]

I think half the fun in SH3 is in the planning for an attack on a convoy and exiting it hopefully without being discovered. If I'm detected, hopefully I can sneak away to fight another day. Sometimes when getting ready to attack and I find that the escorts have positioned themselves so as to make it suicide to take a shot. I slip quietly away and try another day. I have recently started to play DID which I think makes you treat your boat and crew more carefully.

[BillCar]

I spend most of my time surfaced, and do hydrophone checks for a few hours (I usually space the checks out by 12 hours or so).

When my watch crew spots a ship, I eyeball its AOB, and use the Angriffscheibe to get a rough course heading for the enemy ship. I will then run a parallel course on the edge of visual range, and I will do frequent range checks to see if our courses are diverging or converging. Occasionally I will plot their relative position, but I generally don't bother –*I find that running parallel gives me a good idea of their speed by constant bearing, and I can adjust my course pretty accurately with the Angriffscheibe.

When the time comes for the attack (i.e., it gets dark, or they spot me somehow), I will first do a fixed line reading of their speed, and then kick my engines up and overhaul them. I will run a dog leg from behind, turning into them in a way that will get me to roughly 90 degrees AOB. I will usually go decks awash if the night is bright.

I have tremendous success with this method, and use it against both convoys and isolated merchants. When attacking convoys, I ignore destroyers and go for larger merchants. After firing torpedoes, I will go to 70m quietly if getting down before being spotted and before torpedo impact. I will then head out of the convoy at 25 degrees to its course on either side, so that I am still moving in its general direction as I escape the escorts, allowing me to resume the attack more quickly upon surfacing than if I had run out the back of the convoy. I generally time convoy interceptions so that I will have the opportunity to attack twice or even thrice in one night, depending on the persistence of the escorts.

If I am going to be attacking single merchants in daylight, I will either overhaul and get into a submerged position (I will plot the enemy course on the nav map just so that I can be certain of my location when I cut across their path), or, if spotted on the surface, I will charge in to about 500m distance and send a magnetic under the keel (you can only do this for the first year of the war, or less, since armed merchants are de rigeur after that). I prefer not to attack convoys by day, instead running parallel on the edge of visual range through the day and overhauling at night for a surface attack (or submerged, as necessary).

If tracking a ship submerged, I will also use the constant bearing method, similar to what I do surfaced.

So far as my research has led me to believe, these methods are reasonably historical for the most part, which is handy for me, because I also find them to be the most fun!

[Falkirion]

I'm a cautious Kaulen who occasionally slips up and lets my confidence get the better of me. Like attacking HMS Rodney then surfacing to finish her off forgetting her 3 turrets and multitude of weapons still viable to sink a submarine with.

Most of the time I'll be cautious ready to hit the throttle and get deep and silent to evade.

[KL-alfman]

I admit that I play very careful and cautious.
my greatest satisfaction is after hitting a convoy at night to escape at 120m without being detected by any ASW-vessel.
as many do, I hunt during day-time and attack at night. though I play 76% realism-settings and therefore it's way easier to track the convoy and gather the needed informations, I get a lot of excitement out of SH3.
the most thrilling approach is (when approaching submerged from AOB90) to let the lead escort sail by and then sneaking into the first two lanes of the convoy without being detected by the side-escort which by now is already at 150-210degrees in your back. nerve-wrecking!!

for taking out ships I prefer: one aal = one sinking.
I like rough seas which is an enormous help with killing vessels by bow-hits. the thrust of the engines even more push them under water.

[Panser]

I prefer to attack convoys at night, but I will have a crack during daylight if I think I can get away with it. My preferred tactic is to plot the general course of a convoy and get anything up to 15km ahead (in daylight, maybe less at night) before running a perpendicular course and engaging from a corner.

I feel the corner approach gives better access to the juicier targets which often tend to be towards the centre of a convoy. I will then submerge to about 15m and track the lead ships as they close on my position using the hydrophone. Once a convoy is close enough I will raise to periscope depth and go to silent running, raise the periscope long enough to select my targets if I haven't already done so. I will then turn in about 45° AOB and proceed at 1-2 knots inside the perimeter of the convoy and, when close enough, raise my periscope again just long enough to attack. Anything over 6000GRT will usually get two eels unless the sea is very rough, as I stick to the idea of "sink few rather than damage many".

Once my eels are in the water I will then gradually drop down to about 80m at silent running, getting as deep as I can before the torpedoes strike.

With lone, unarmed ships I always engage them on the surface and use the deck gun if I'm not at threat of air cover or allied warships close by

[BillCar]

Originally Posted by Panser

I feel the corner approach gives better access to the juicier targets which often tend to be towards the centre of a convoy.

Generally very true. When I overhaul a convoy, I tend to turn from the front starboard or front port corner so that I can pass between escorts and merchants alike and wind up at roughly 90 degrees AOB to the big ones. I enjoy attacking in heavy rain and fog as it makes it significantly easier to get in and out – I generally run flank in these situations and do something akin to a fast hit-and-fade attack.

[Deputy]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

Well, to tell the truth, once I figured out that you could nail escorts by getting them to chase you, that became my modus operandi. Kill the escorts, then rape the convoy.

Now that I'm going 100%, I don't know if I will be able to do that anymore.

Steve

Similar to what I've been doing. But sometimes you need a lot of torps to get the job done. That's why I like the Type XXI and homing torps.

[Jimbuna]

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!!

Hmmm. Tactics. Mine just seem to keep evolving.

On convoys, I prefer to gather information on course and speed while end running them.
Basicly the same method as Billcar uses.

If I find myself in front of the convoy, and what I judge to be "too close", I've given up on making an immediate attack based on too many "guesstimations", in favor of making a dry run for the express purpose of information gathering. That gives me about as perfect intel on course speed and composition as one can get. When I get ready to overhaul, everything gets double checked. Particularly when paralel coures and at 090 or 270 to the convoy.

When I reach the convoys 060, I'll turn in 30 degrees, Always keeping something in sight.
For a surface attack, when I reach the convoys 045 I turn straight towards their track briefly, before leading the front row by 30 degrees, OR going from full to slow I'll keep my bow pointed at the lead escort. In the latter case I'll generaly have to slow further to 2 Knots, and keep turning until I'm disecting the convoys track. (This can get tense!).

Daylight submerged attacks start the same but, I'll dog leg off the escorts until I'm 20 to 30 degrees off, what I think the convoys track is. Then it's periscope depth, and bow on towards the lead escort all the way.

I prefer straight bow shots at my targets 090 from just outside.
If that option isn't available (because I end up inside the convoy), I prefer a 90 degree stern shot with 2 eels (my 270 targets 270) while on an opposite course to the convoy.
Under normal conditions it's 3 eels for a tanker or other heavy target, and 1 eel for an additional light target, if possible.

Escape & Evasion:
Fire. Scope down. Order 100 Meters. Turn 45 degrees towards the convoys stern.
On "Torpedo Impact" I go to Full Ahead until I pass 70 Meters. Then I set turns to 90 RPM.
(That's as close to 2 Knots as one can get, without going over. It's also the real silent speed for Type IXBs.) Once out the back, and clear of all escorts, I'll turn on an opposite course to the convoy. No reloading torpedoes until my sound man gives the all clear.

Repeat as neccesary.

Escape & Evasions: