1939 and fresh out of U-Boot school. Gameplay Q.

Von Due · 03-31-16, 06:44 PM

Ok so the player (me) is perhaps not exactly fresh out of u boot school but my captain is. I chose to start the first patrol on August 1st 1939 as it would give me about a month of brushing up on old dusty skills as well as trying to figure out all those things I never figured out in a rather friendly environment.

1) Hydrophones: Is there a consistency with engine and screw frequencies and speed for a given ship or is it as chaotic as the moon phases?

On my way to the p grid, I'm doing a series of tests one of which is to listen for these 2 frequencies whenever I get a merchant in listening range, then note down what type exactly when it gets within visual, plan is to plot out if eng/screw frequency can be used to determine speed with some accuracy but also if one can determone type of merchant, or at least narrow it down to only a few candidates.

Example: This slow moving tramp steamer had an engine freq of 2.63 Hz and a screw freq that was just a hair lower, but close enough for me not to be able to tell from the eng freq.
A slow large merch had a much lower screw frequency (about 1.2 Hz) and roughly the same eng frequency as the tramp.
These two findings made me wonder.

Has this been done before by any of you and if so, what did you find?

2) Any idea what is up with the hydrophone you start off with? 140* angle it says but my sonar guy kept track all the way from 2* stb to some 172+ (bear in mind I was going slow with minimum engine/screw noise). To hear it is one thing but to track it is pretty astonishing, or he couldn't write down the number 140 if his life depended on it.

Makes me wonder if there is a point at all in upgrading that particular piece of hardware.

3) How close do you guys generally go for identifying nationality, weather and light depending of course (no external camera). I'm getting better at long range ID of type of ship but the nationality is way way tougher, even in broad daylight I need to get really close.

4) I am also trying to work out some sort of time plan for the crew, to get rid of this micro management every hour or so. I haven't gotten far yet and there are complications like weather, p***ed off British destroyers etc, that will affect the resting time needed.
Any tips on tested and proven time schedules for these brave but often exhaused sailors?

6-8 hours on, 4 hours off seems to work for all stations in calm seas with no activity but I would need a more complete plan for this to have much worth.

Goal is to have a predictable scheme with as few changes as possible in a 12 or 24 hour time frame.

03-31-16, 06:44 PM	#1
Von Due Sea Lord Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 1,690 Downloads: 30 Uploads: 0	1939 and fresh out of U-Boot school. Gameplay Q. Ok so the player (me) is perhaps not exactly fresh out of u boot school but my captain is. I chose to start the first patrol on August 1st 1939 as it would give me about a month of brushing up on old dusty skills as well as trying to figure out all those things I never figured out in a rather friendly environment. 1) Hydrophones: Is there a consistency with engine and screw frequencies and speed for a given ship or is it as chaotic as the moon phases? On my way to the p grid, I'm doing a series of tests one of which is to listen for these 2 frequencies whenever I get a merchant in listening range, then note down what type exactly when it gets within visual, plan is to plot out if eng/screw frequency can be used to determine speed with some accuracy but also if one can determone type of merchant, or at least narrow it down to only a few candidates. Example: This slow moving tramp steamer had an engine freq of 2.63 Hz and a screw freq that was just a hair lower, but close enough for me not to be able to tell from the eng freq. A slow large merch had a much lower screw frequency (about 1.2 Hz) and roughly the same eng frequency as the tramp. These two findings made me wonder. Has this been done before by any of you and if so, what did you find? 2) Any idea what is up with the hydrophone you start off with? 140* angle it says but my sonar guy kept track all the way from 2* stb to some 172+ (bear in mind I was going slow with minimum engine/screw noise). To hear it is one thing but to track it is pretty astonishing, or he couldn't write down the number 140 if his life depended on it. Makes me wonder if there is a point at all in upgrading that particular piece of hardware. 3) How close do you guys generally go for identifying nationality, weather and light depending of course (no external camera). I'm getting better at long range ID of type of ship but the nationality is way way tougher, even in broad daylight I need to get really close. 4) I am also trying to work out some sort of time plan for the crew, to get rid of this micro management every hour or so. I haven't gotten far yet and there are complications like weather, p***ed off British destroyers etc, that will affect the resting time needed. Any tips on tested and proven time schedules for these brave but often exhaused sailors? 6-8 hours on, 4 hours off seems to work for all stations in calm seas with no activity but I would need a more complete plan for this to have much worth. Goal is to have a predictable scheme with as few changes as possible in a 12 or 24 hour time frame.