VIIC/41

Threadfin · 08-09-24, 07:25 AM

Since shortly after upgrading to a VIIC in June of 1940 (U-48 to U-410) I have had my eyes on the VIIC/41.

I would be astonished and pleased to survive the war. No way that will happen, but if it is going to, I think the VIIC/41 would be the reason why. It's not much different from the bog standard VIIC, but it can dive deeper, test depth greater by 50 meters, which is significant. The description in-game notes the lighter weight of the boat gives it a higher top speed, thought the accompanying stats show both versions at 17.7 knots. Despite the thicker pressure hull, the VIIC/41 was lighter since they were built with lighter machinery, intended to offset the heavier hull, and ended up exceeding the offset.

In order to upgrade to a better boat, you need a blueprint, which are campaign phase rewards. Got the first one that allowed upgrading to the VIIC from Tonnage War, phase two.

To get the next one I did The Black Pit, with a blueprint awarded end of phase two. The Black Pit is an objective in the mid-Atlantic, hitting tonnage thresholds with ships put under in grids BE, BD, AL and AK. We are based at La Rochelle.

In December of 1941 we finally hit the requirement, and got a new blueprint.

It's funny, but I am partial to certain U-Boat numbers, some appeal to me, others don't. I knew which number serials were used for the VIIC/41 and some I didn't want to command, like any four-digit numbers. U-1063 just feels like the conscripts at the end of the war, fodder for the Allies ASW and not a boat number befitting an Ace lol. So I worked out how to keep rolling new numbers, if anyone wants to encourage a certain result next time they upgrade. I would have taken any in the 200s, 300s or 900s. In the end I took command of U-292, which appropriately enough, was the very first /41 laid down. Here I have it in January of 1942, more than a year ahead of historical service entry, but if the Germans had gotten their act together earlier (and had the resources and ability to quickly works boats up) these boats could have seen action in 1942.

To keep rolling your boat number, spend the blueprint and choose the new ship. If you don't like the number back out to the quartermaster and do it again. Your blueprint is considered spent, but each time you come back in a different boat number will pop up.

Now about this boat. You can see it comes with Turm IV right out of the gate. The description says it has a fast-firing 37mm, but I got a quad twenty on the lower deck. Upper platform has twin twenties. Serious firepower that I will probably not use lol. I dive at every aircraft contact, no questions. I thought it would be expensive to re-equip, but it wasn't bad. I wish I had this conning tower arrangement before we got the sub pen, would have been a surprise to those Sunderlands. The boat came with the Cross, accumulators and some other upgrades I had already unlocked. But I did need to upgrade the hydrophones again (GHG Balkon, 32000 cost) and I had to upgrade the toilet again! How is this not standard by now?!

Changed to this nice camo, and put a wooden deck on her. U-292 is ready for her first war patrol. We have just unlocked Drumbeat too. You get a milk cow after the first phase, but that first mission or two could be painful.

Threadfin · 08-09-24, 10:18 AM

I wonder if the depth charges in this game have a detonation floor? Is there a max detonation depth? Maybe it's possible to dive below this with the VIIC/41? I aim to find out!

XLjedi · 08-09-24, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Threadfin

I wonder if the depth charges in this game have a detonation floor? Is there a max detonation depth? Maybe it's possible to dive below this with the VIIC/41? I aim to find out!

In the unstable beta I was resting peacefully on the seafloor at 200m+ and they depth charged me. I'm hoping they update the max depth, I shoulda been safe in that situation. Someone can correct me, but I think the depth charges were only good to about 150m?

Threadfin · 08-09-24, 03:14 PM

Well, I'm not sure. After posting I did an internet search for deepest WW2 depth charge and this sort of thing and found nothing. I've always had in mind that Royal navy charges were max 164m, but maybe that's not accurate? What about US DCs? And anyway, regardless of what is historical, all that matters to us here is how it works in the game. Perhaps the DCs have no max depth? Need to discover how it works.

Now that I have the VIIC/41 I should be able to go below 300m and if I get hit down that deep at least we will know they can reach us any depth we can go in the game. I will be testing it, hopefully not so often, but next depth charge rainstorm I'll test it out.

Playing dead is dead and now in 1942 I'll take every advantage or kernel of info to help us survive.

Threadfin · 08-10-24, 08:45 AM

U-292 had a successful maiden patrol, 32k out in BD grid, grinding tonnage for The Black Pit. No trouble encountered so I did no deep dives. Found some info showing depth charge specs

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WAMUS_ASW.php

So it comes down to how it is programmed in the game. If there is no max DC depth then no number is safe. If there is, the VIIC/41 should be able to sail below this floor essentially immune.

Anyway, aircraft are always the most dangerous enemy. In SH3 I played more than one hundred dead is dead careers and managed to reach the end of the war exactly one time! Many of those were depth charges, but more were aircraft.

One thing that potentially works in our favor is how the tech upgrades are handled in this game. The player can get way ahead of historical timeline. Obviously I got the VIIC/41 more than a year early. I had the Cross in early 1940, before the enemy even had radar. Now in summer of 1942 we have FAT, T5s, Borkum detector, GHG Balkon and more. All of this makes it easier than it could be, with a more strict adherence to historical service dates. I will use some house rules in subsequent careers to temper our successes, but for this first one I am not holding back so I can assess what needs to be done in later careers to get it where I want it to be.

The Cross was a passenger for more than a year, and we did not start picking up signals until November of 1941. It's odd, but the detector is installed on the boat as part of the radio room, but it is the soundman who needs to be on duty to use it. Since I've opted for three engineers, that leaves gaps in my Cross coverage (two radiomen, who need to run both sound and radio rooms, plus rest so cannot have continuous coverage with my current officer distribution). It nearly cost us last night. During this down time, at night west of Ireland in the BE grid we got jumped by an aircraft and it was close. I've invested all of our specialization points so far in to dive time and silent running, so we were able to get under and avoid the charges or bombs that were dropped. But one of these days we will run out of luck. Clearly this aircraft had radar. I believe it was a Halifax.

One thing I am doing in this career is making my refits as long as possible. I want to slow down the operational pace, and can get it to about four weeks in port using vacations and intentional indecision with the quartermaster. Even so, we have done 26 patrols/missions by June of '42. Our tonnage mark is nuts too, so some house rules to tone it all down will be in order. The pace slows as we get later in the war, with more distant patrol or mission areas, and more time spent at sea.

Being ahead of the tech curve gives us an edge, so there's a chance to see out the war I reckon. Hard battles await.

Threadfin · 08-12-24, 09:09 AM

U-292 has entered 1943. Playing dead is dead so this is encouraging lol.

Finished the Black Pit series of objectives, rewarding us with a milk cow.

The milk cow is a headquarters project. By default it is in the northwest Atlantic, but you can send an officer to HQ to convince Control that it should be shifted to a new location. Our next patrol was another Southern Routes to the west coast of Africa. After choosing the mission, I went to HQ and requested it shift to DF9 grid south of the Azores. This takes 12 days. I could burn more fuel on the way to our patrol area, and the milk cow should be in place when we are ready to head home. Found very little aside from Spanish and Argentinian neutrals in our patrol area.

Upon mission complete we swung out to sea and looked for the supply boat. Found her and topped off the tanks. The milk cow works like the quartermaster in port. You can take on as many as four torpedoes, sell and buy food and other supplies, top off the tanks. He will take your prisoners as well. Type XIV boats were not torpedo resupply boats, that was the VIIF. So this milk cow in the game is sort of a hybrid since you can take on torpedoes, fair enough. We resupplied and headed home by way of the mid-Atlantic, getting in on a convoy west of the Azores. The Torch landings happened while we were in refit and the mid-Atlantic is now busier

It all worked so well that I decided to do the Labrador weather station mission next. Went back to HQ and requested the milk cow shift to BD1, putting her along our route so we could top off outbound and inbound. Reached the rendezvous in one week, so patrolled the area for another week waiting for the resupply boat to arrive. Bedeviled by the weather and fog, we managed to put under one American liberty ship sailing alone while waiting. When the milk cow arrived we met her, topped off the tanks and filled those two torpedo slots, and headed for the Canadian coast. Got there and went though the procedure. Had to put three officers and six ratings in the shore party, and it all took quite a bit longer than most of these sorts of events. While they were ashore a number of enemy patrol boats and destroyers appeared on the scene. Dropped to periscope depth and escaped their direct attention. When the weather station was complete, the party re-embarked and we got out of there at high speed. We are now enroute back to BD1 to top off for the trip home.

Threadfin · 08-14-24, 10:11 AM

U-292 and her stout crew have lived to Christmas 1943.

In June the Battle of the Atlantic shifted to the Last Stand phase, at which point it seems the Allies got a big shot in the arm tech-wise. Rocket-firing ASW aircraft (I guess, saw one with stovepipes and didn't hang around to see if they work), modern destroyers like Sims and Tribal class. Probably VLR Liberators out there. Hedgehogs I'd reckon. Fido?

UBOAT features a number of campaigns within the campaign, and rather than spend this first career jumping around to sample it all, I decided that since I love this game so much I will do many careers, so we've ignored some theaters, saving them for subsequent careers so that each one will have its own mojo.

Those are things like Drumbeat, Norway/Arctic and the Mediterranean. Instead, our boats (U-49, U-410 and U-292) have been North Atlantic hunters. Moved to France in June of 1940 and have spent most of the career grinding tonnage in the mid-Atlantic (BE, BD, AL AK grids) for the Black Pit and Last Stand objectives. We have done a few peripheral missions, one to Canada to establish a weather station after getting a milk cow. A couple to west Africa and a couple of agent insertions. But the main business has been anti-shipping patrols on the convoy routes in the North Atlantic.

The VIIC/41 is exceptional. Sailors are famously superstitious, so I don't want to jinx anything, but this boat's diving capabilities have been key to our survival as the war enters 1944. Playing this career on 71% difficulty and I'll bump some stuff for career number two, whenever that arrives.

Rockstar · 08-14-24, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Threadfin

Well, I'm not sure. After posting I did an internet search for deepest WW2 depth charge and this sort of thing and found nothing. I've always had in mind that Royal navy charges were max 164m, but maybe that's not accurate? What about US DCs? And anyway, regardless of what is historical, all that matters to us here is how it works in the game. Perhaps the DCs have no max depth? Need to discover how it works.

Now that I have the VIIC/41 I should be able to go below 300m and if I get hit down that deep at least we will know they can reach us any depth we can go in the game. I will be testing it, hopefully not so often, but next depth charge rainstorm I'll test it out.

Playing dead is dead and now in 1942 I'll take every advantage or kernel of info to help us survive.

You peaked my interest concerning detonation depths and I found this. Hope it’s useful to you and modders.

U.S. ASW
http://navweaps.com/Weapons/WAMUS_ASW.php

U.K. ASW
http://navweaps.com/Weapons/WAMBR_ASW.php

Generally speaking if the information above is correct subs should be safe below 300 feet (91 meters) until around 1943

Also: https://maritime.org/doc/depthcharge6/index.php

https://maritime.org/doc/depthcharge9/index.php

Threadfin · 08-15-24, 09:34 AM

Thanks mate. It is expected that the implementation in the game mirrors real life specs, but no guarantee. Anecdotally I can only say that so far we have not been hit below 200 meters, and according to the above information that is expected. The VIIC/41 is the way to go in dead is dead careers no doubt. The key is to use that capability and not hang about near the surface too long lol.

U-292 has reached January of 1944 if you can believe it. We have had our close calls, and got lucky a few times too. Didn't expect to live so long if I'm honest, but there ya go. We have completed both Black Pit and Last Stand, each of which required 250k in trade shipping in the square comprised of BE, BD, AL and AK grids. That's a lot of sinkings. Warships do not count toward the total. There are not a lot of different merchant ships in the game yet. Largest we have seen are T2 tankers, which come in around 14,000 GRT. Mostly though, at this stage of the war, it is C3 freighters and Liberty ships, 7800 and 7200 tons respectively.

We have seen no liners, merchant cruisers, big troopships. Nor have I seen any battleships or carriers outside of Scapa Flow. The milk cow has proven valuable, allowing refueling and rearming and turning some patrols in to double-barreled affairs. I can shift it around as needed and it all works beautifully

Our tonnage totals are exorbitant. Some higher difficulty settings and house rules for tech are in order for the next career I think. This first career is to get a feel for what needs to be done to get the game where I want it. Making it a little harder is needed. The alternative technology timeline has given us a big advantage I think. The Cross (and upgrades) are the most important installation on the boat. T5s I'd rate as next. Having these things years early makes a big difference in the campaign. Slowing things down will help to even the playing field I think.

Great game. If we are able to make it to the end I'll be pleased. And then I'll start immediately on career number 2 with some revised settings and rules and mods.

Rockstar · 08-15-24, 06:42 PM

I always thought if the boat and crew makes to the end. A last mission should be created to pick up a shadowy figure and his entourage navigate past an extensive ASW dragnet and Escape to Argentina.

Threadfin · 08-16-24, 07:19 AM

There's an achievement for sinking your boat off the Argentinian coast at the end of the war. Not exactly sure how that is done, can't scuttle I don't think.

Threadfin · 08-17-24, 08:50 AM

U-292 has made it to June of 1944. We had one close affair with a determined escort group out in the mid-Atlantic and had to go very deep. Our boat did in fact take damage at 235 meters from DCs, but all topside and superstructure (AA guns, radar detector, bow caps) suggesting the charges were exploding some distance above us. No leaks or breaches but the boat, she was a-rockin'!

Usually I feel safe and stealthy below 200 meters, but this group was good. Went on for hours. But we made it. I don't think I would have survived without one, the VIIC/41 and two, the little blue hydrophone contact lines on the map which let me con the boat reactively and accurately to counter every move and eventually slip away. But it was a very close thing. Thought the jig was up, and playing dead is dead it would have been disappointing to come this far (over 40 patrols) and have it all end, but that's the appeal of playing this way. It is all hanging out there.

In my next career I'll slow down the tech arc a bit, so we are not so far out in front. But I might make an exception and get the VIIC/41 as early as possible again. This thing is fantastic, and the reason we have made it this far I reckon.

Threadfin · 08-19-24, 09:22 AM

U-292 set sail from Bergen on March 5, 1945, with the boat stuffed to the overheads, and headed south. We re-arranged the milk cows along our route, attacking a convoy in the Pit along the way to make this mission an honorable one.

Met a cow south of the Azores, refueled and took on provisions and then kept shifting them to new locations. By early April we were off the coast of Brazil and kept going south.

Passing Uruguay we ran the radio out of range, so hung about, awaiting a message announcing the end of the war.

On May 2, Donitz instructed all warships to prevent capture. U-292 closed the coast of Argentina in the early dawn hours of May 6. A few years before, Donitz had sent us a bottle of champagne which was put in a locker and forgotten about. But now we pulled it out and drank a toast to our survival (this was dead is dead), to the fallen kameraden and to the good boat U-292 which never failed us. U-292 was then scuttled to prevent capture. Most fun I've had a in a sub sim career.

I had known how much trade ship tonnage we had put under, since Tonnage War tracks it to the end. But I didn't know how many ships that was. So this summary screen was nice to see. Played this career dead is dead at 71% difficulty. I'll bump some stuff for the next career.

I'll start in U-96 in France, January 1941 and take the first mission to transit Gibraltar Strait, redeploy to La Spezia and become a Med boat. I fully credit the VIIC/41 with our survival, the depth capability allowing us to evade the worst of the poundings.

Nice work devs, most fun I've ever had a in a sub sim career.

In order to approximate a semi-realistic operational rate, we took a vacation between every patrol, and then quarreled with the quartermaster for days on end to get our refits out to about 30 days each. Even so we did 29 patrols, and 15 special missions for 44 total over the course of the career.

Threadfin · 08-21-24, 08:19 AM

Started a new career, this one in U-96, January 1941 out of La Rochelle. My plan was to take the first available mission to pass through Gibraltar and transfer to the 29th at La Spezia. Did one Happy Times patrol, and hoped to get the interned officer mission before transferring. That came up next so we did it, which is key for research.

Ran the strait in early March and went to La Spezia. After just two Battle of the Med patrols, we tripped the second phase (100k), earning a blueprint and taking command of another VIIC/41, U-327 (I re-rolled the boat number a lot until I got this one).

In the first career the first /41 patrol was January 1942, so we accelerated this by six months with this plan. In career 1, I got the second blueprint form Black Pit, not knowing at the time that Atlantic Theater Operations also rewards a blueprint, or we could have done so earlier. But Black Pit is my style, anti-shipping patrols in the middle Atlantic, where Atlantic Theater Operations are special missions like agent insertion and weather station deployment. Took a few months longer, perhaps, but more in my wheelhouse. I like special missions just fine, by the way, but hunting on the convoy routes is where its at.

So far in the Med we have run wild, not seeing a single enemy warship or aircraft after making it through the strait. Three patrols, for 66, 53 and 53k. All singles, all British-flagged, no neutrals at all. All three patrols were hunting in the chokepoint between Sardinia and Tunisia, which was one of the best spots in Silent Hunter. The superb range of the hydrophones in UBOAT means we can sit in the middle and cover to both coasts. Not much can slip past.

We will enjoy this time, as the Torch landings will turn the Med in to a Allied lake. In the war, around 62 boats entered the Mediterranean, all Type VII. None left. Maybe we can be the first.

08-09-24, 07:25 AM	#1
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	VIIC/41 Since shortly after upgrading to a VIIC in June of 1940 (U-48 to U-410) I have had my eyes on the VIIC/41. I would be astonished and pleased to survive the war. No way that will happen, but if it is going to, I think the VIIC/41 would be the reason why. It's not much different from the bog standard VIIC, but it can dive deeper, test depth greater by 50 meters, which is significant. The description in-game notes the lighter weight of the boat gives it a higher top speed, thought the accompanying stats show both versions at 17.7 knots. Despite the thicker pressure hull, the VIIC/41 was lighter since they were built with lighter machinery, intended to offset the heavier hull, and ended up exceeding the offset. In order to upgrade to a better boat, you need a blueprint, which are campaign phase rewards. Got the first one that allowed upgrading to the VIIC from Tonnage War, phase two. To get the next one I did The Black Pit, with a blueprint awarded end of phase two. The Black Pit is an objective in the mid-Atlantic, hitting tonnage thresholds with ships put under in grids BE, BD, AL and AK. We are based at La Rochelle. In December of 1941 we finally hit the requirement, and got a new blueprint. It's funny, but I am partial to certain U-Boat numbers, some appeal to me, others don't. I knew which number serials were used for the VIIC/41 and some I didn't want to command, like any four-digit numbers. U-1063 just feels like the conscripts at the end of the war, fodder for the Allies ASW and not a boat number befitting an Ace lol. So I worked out how to keep rolling new numbers, if anyone wants to encourage a certain result next time they upgrade. I would have taken any in the 200s, 300s or 900s. In the end I took command of U-292, which appropriately enough, was the very first /41 laid down. Here I have it in January of 1942, more than a year ahead of historical service entry, but if the Germans had gotten their act together earlier (and had the resources and ability to quickly works boats up) these boats could have seen action in 1942. To keep rolling your boat number, spend the blueprint and choose the new ship. If you don't like the number back out to the quartermaster and do it again. Your blueprint is considered spent, but each time you come back in a different boat number will pop up. Now about this boat. You can see it comes with Turm IV right out of the gate. The description says it has a fast-firing 37mm, but I got a quad twenty on the lower deck. Upper platform has twin twenties. Serious firepower that I will probably not use lol. I dive at every aircraft contact, no questions. I thought it would be expensive to re-equip, but it wasn't bad. I wish I had this conning tower arrangement before we got the sub pen, would have been a surprise to those Sunderlands. The boat came with the Cross, accumulators and some other upgrades I had already unlocked. But I did need to upgrade the hydrophones again (GHG Balkon, 32000 cost) and I had to upgrade the toilet again! How is this not standard by now?! Changed to this nice camo, and put a wooden deck on her. U-292 is ready for her first war patrol. We have just unlocked Drumbeat too. You get a milk cow after the first phase, but that first mission or two could be painful. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit? Last edited by Threadfin; 08-09-24 at 07:00 PM.

08-09-24, 10:18 AM	#2
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	I wonder if the depth charges in this game have a detonation floor? Is there a max detonation depth? Maybe it's possible to dive below this with the VIIC/41? I aim to find out! __________________ What? Behind the rabbit?

08-09-24, 03:14 PM	#4
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	Well, I'm not sure. After posting I did an internet search for deepest WW2 depth charge and this sort of thing and found nothing. I've always had in mind that Royal navy charges were max 164m, but maybe that's not accurate? What about US DCs? And anyway, regardless of what is historical, all that matters to us here is how it works in the game. Perhaps the DCs have no max depth? Need to discover how it works. Now that I have the VIIC/41 I should be able to go below 300m and if I get hit down that deep at least we will know they can reach us any depth we can go in the game. I will be testing it, hopefully not so often, but next depth charge rainstorm I'll test it out. Playing dead is dead and now in 1942 I'll take every advantage or kernel of info to help us survive. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit?

08-10-24, 08:45 AM	#5
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	U-292 had a successful maiden patrol, 32k out in BD grid, grinding tonnage for The Black Pit. No trouble encountered so I did no deep dives. Found some info showing depth charge specs http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WAMUS_ASW.php So it comes down to how it is programmed in the game. If there is no max DC depth then no number is safe. If there is, the VIIC/41 should be able to sail below this floor essentially immune. Anyway, aircraft are always the most dangerous enemy. In SH3 I played more than one hundred dead is dead careers and managed to reach the end of the war exactly one time! Many of those were depth charges, but more were aircraft. One thing that potentially works in our favor is how the tech upgrades are handled in this game. The player can get way ahead of historical timeline. Obviously I got the VIIC/41 more than a year early. I had the Cross in early 1940, before the enemy even had radar. Now in summer of 1942 we have FAT, T5s, Borkum detector, GHG Balkon and more. All of this makes it easier than it could be, with a more strict adherence to historical service dates. I will use some house rules in subsequent careers to temper our successes, but for this first one I am not holding back so I can assess what needs to be done in later careers to get it where I want it to be. The Cross was a passenger for more than a year, and we did not start picking up signals until November of 1941. It's odd, but the detector is installed on the boat as part of the radio room, but it is the soundman who needs to be on duty to use it. Since I've opted for three engineers, that leaves gaps in my Cross coverage (two radiomen, who need to run both sound and radio rooms, plus rest so cannot have continuous coverage with my current officer distribution). It nearly cost us last night. During this down time, at night west of Ireland in the BE grid we got jumped by an aircraft and it was close. I've invested all of our specialization points so far in to dive time and silent running, so we were able to get under and avoid the charges or bombs that were dropped. But one of these days we will run out of luck. Clearly this aircraft had radar. I believe it was a Halifax. One thing I am doing in this career is making my refits as long as possible. I want to slow down the operational pace, and can get it to about four weeks in port using vacations and intentional indecision with the quartermaster. Even so, we have done 26 patrols/missions by June of '42. Our tonnage mark is nuts too, so some house rules to tone it all down will be in order. The pace slows as we get later in the war, with more distant patrol or mission areas, and more time spent at sea. Being ahead of the tech curve gives us an edge, so there's a chance to see out the war I reckon. Hard battles await. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit? Last edited by Threadfin; 08-10-24 at 09:39 AM.

08-12-24, 09:09 AM	#6
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	U-292 has entered 1943. Playing dead is dead so this is encouraging lol. Finished the Black Pit series of objectives, rewarding us with a milk cow. The milk cow is a headquarters project. By default it is in the northwest Atlantic, but you can send an officer to HQ to convince Control that it should be shifted to a new location. Our next patrol was another Southern Routes to the west coast of Africa. After choosing the mission, I went to HQ and requested it shift to DF9 grid south of the Azores. This takes 12 days. I could burn more fuel on the way to our patrol area, and the milk cow should be in place when we are ready to head home. Found very little aside from Spanish and Argentinian neutrals in our patrol area. Upon mission complete we swung out to sea and looked for the supply boat. Found her and topped off the tanks. The milk cow works like the quartermaster in port. You can take on as many as four torpedoes, sell and buy food and other supplies, top off the tanks. He will take your prisoners as well. Type XIV boats were not torpedo resupply boats, that was the VIIF. So this milk cow in the game is sort of a hybrid since you can take on torpedoes, fair enough. We resupplied and headed home by way of the mid-Atlantic, getting in on a convoy west of the Azores. The Torch landings happened while we were in refit and the mid-Atlantic is now busier It all worked so well that I decided to do the Labrador weather station mission next. Went back to HQ and requested the milk cow shift to BD1, putting her along our route so we could top off outbound and inbound. Reached the rendezvous in one week, so patrolled the area for another week waiting for the resupply boat to arrive. Bedeviled by the weather and fog, we managed to put under one American liberty ship sailing alone while waiting. When the milk cow arrived we met her, topped off the tanks and filled those two torpedo slots, and headed for the Canadian coast. Got there and went though the procedure. Had to put three officers and six ratings in the shore party, and it all took quite a bit longer than most of these sorts of events. While they were ashore a number of enemy patrol boats and destroyers appeared on the scene. Dropped to periscope depth and escaped their direct attention. When the weather station was complete, the party re-embarked and we got out of there at high speed. We are now enroute back to BD1 to top off for the trip home. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit?

08-14-24, 10:11 AM	#7
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	U-292 and her stout crew have lived to Christmas 1943. In June the Battle of the Atlantic shifted to the Last Stand phase, at which point it seems the Allies got a big shot in the arm tech-wise. Rocket-firing ASW aircraft (I guess, saw one with stovepipes and didn't hang around to see if they work), modern destroyers like Sims and Tribal class. Probably VLR Liberators out there. Hedgehogs I'd reckon. Fido? UBOAT features a number of campaigns within the campaign, and rather than spend this first career jumping around to sample it all, I decided that since I love this game so much I will do many careers, so we've ignored some theaters, saving them for subsequent careers so that each one will have its own mojo. Those are things like Drumbeat, Norway/Arctic and the Mediterranean. Instead, our boats (U-49, U-410 and U-292) have been North Atlantic hunters. Moved to France in June of 1940 and have spent most of the career grinding tonnage in the mid-Atlantic (BE, BD, AL AK grids) for the Black Pit and Last Stand objectives. We have done a few peripheral missions, one to Canada to establish a weather station after getting a milk cow. A couple to west Africa and a couple of agent insertions. But the main business has been anti-shipping patrols on the convoy routes in the North Atlantic. The VIIC/41 is exceptional. Sailors are famously superstitious, so I don't want to jinx anything, but this boat's diving capabilities have been key to our survival as the war enters 1944. Playing this career on 71% difficulty and I'll bump some stuff for career number two, whenever that arrives. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit?

08-15-24, 09:34 AM	#9
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	Thanks mate. It is expected that the implementation in the game mirrors real life specs, but no guarantee. Anecdotally I can only say that so far we have not been hit below 200 meters, and according to the above information that is expected. The VIIC/41 is the way to go in dead is dead careers no doubt. The key is to use that capability and not hang about near the surface too long lol. U-292 has reached January of 1944 if you can believe it. We have had our close calls, and got lucky a few times too. Didn't expect to live so long if I'm honest, but there ya go. We have completed both Black Pit and Last Stand, each of which required 250k in trade shipping in the square comprised of BE, BD, AL and AK grids. That's a lot of sinkings. Warships do not count toward the total. There are not a lot of different merchant ships in the game yet. Largest we have seen are T2 tankers, which come in around 14,000 GRT. Mostly though, at this stage of the war, it is C3 freighters and Liberty ships, 7800 and 7200 tons respectively. We have seen no liners, merchant cruisers, big troopships. Nor have I seen any battleships or carriers outside of Scapa Flow. The milk cow has proven valuable, allowing refueling and rearming and turning some patrols in to double-barreled affairs. I can shift it around as needed and it all works beautifully Our tonnage totals are exorbitant. Some higher difficulty settings and house rules for tech are in order for the next career I think. This first career is to get a feel for what needs to be done to get the game where I want it. Making it a little harder is needed. The alternative technology timeline has given us a big advantage I think. The Cross (and upgrades) are the most important installation on the boat. T5s I'd rate as next. Having these things years early makes a big difference in the campaign. Slowing things down will help to even the playing field I think. Great game. If we are able to make it to the end I'll be pleased. And then I'll start immediately on career number 2 with some revised settings and rules and mods. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit? Last edited by Threadfin; 08-15-24 at 09:56 AM.

08-15-24, 06:42 PM	#10
Rockstar In the Brig Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Zendia Bar & Grill Posts: 12,614 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	I always thought if the boat and crew makes to the end. A last mission should be created to pick up a shadowy figure and his entourage navigate past an extensive ASW dragnet and Escape to Argentina. Last edited by Rockstar; 08-16-24 at 06:47 AM.

08-16-24, 07:19 AM	#11
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	There's an achievement for sinking your boat off the Argentinian coast at the end of the war. Not exactly sure how that is done, can't scuttle I don't think. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit?

08-17-24, 08:50 AM	#12
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	U-292 has made it to June of 1944. We had one close affair with a determined escort group out in the mid-Atlantic and had to go very deep. Our boat did in fact take damage at 235 meters from DCs, but all topside and superstructure (AA guns, radar detector, bow caps) suggesting the charges were exploding some distance above us. No leaks or breaches but the boat, she was a-rockin'! Usually I feel safe and stealthy below 200 meters, but this group was good. Went on for hours. But we made it. I don't think I would have survived without one, the VIIC/41 and two, the little blue hydrophone contact lines on the map which let me con the boat reactively and accurately to counter every move and eventually slip away. But it was a very close thing. Thought the jig was up, and playing dead is dead it would have been disappointing to come this far (over 40 patrols) and have it all end, but that's the appeal of playing this way. It is all hanging out there. In my next career I'll slow down the tech arc a bit, so we are not so far out in front. But I might make an exception and get the VIIC/41 as early as possible again. This thing is fantastic, and the reason we have made it this far I reckon. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit?

08-19-24, 09:22 AM	#13
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	U-292 set sail from Bergen on March 5, 1945, with the boat stuffed to the overheads, and headed south. We re-arranged the milk cows along our route, attacking a convoy in the Pit along the way to make this mission an honorable one. Met a cow south of the Azores, refueled and took on provisions and then kept shifting them to new locations. By early April we were off the coast of Brazil and kept going south. Passing Uruguay we ran the radio out of range, so hung about, awaiting a message announcing the end of the war. On May 2, Donitz instructed all warships to prevent capture. U-292 closed the coast of Argentina in the early dawn hours of May 6. A few years before, Donitz had sent us a bottle of champagne which was put in a locker and forgotten about. But now we pulled it out and drank a toast to our survival (this was dead is dead), to the fallen kameraden and to the good boat U-292 which never failed us. U-292 was then scuttled to prevent capture. Most fun I've had a in a sub sim career. I had known how much trade ship tonnage we had put under, since Tonnage War tracks it to the end. But I didn't know how many ships that was. So this summary screen was nice to see. Played this career dead is dead at 71% difficulty. I'll bump some stuff for the next career. I'll start in U-96 in France, January 1941 and take the first mission to transit Gibraltar Strait, redeploy to La Spezia and become a Med boat. I fully credit the VIIC/41 with our survival, the depth capability allowing us to evade the worst of the poundings. Nice work devs, most fun I've ever had a in a sub sim career. In order to approximate a semi-realistic operational rate, we took a vacation between every patrol, and then quarreled with the quartermaster for days on end to get our refits out to about 30 days each. Even so we did 29 patrols, and 15 special missions for 44 total over the course of the career. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit? Last edited by Threadfin; 08-19-24 at 09:34 AM.

08-21-24, 08:19 AM	#14
Threadfin Ace of the Deep Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,163 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	Started a new career, this one in U-96, January 1941 out of La Rochelle. My plan was to take the first available mission to pass through Gibraltar and transfer to the 29th at La Spezia. Did one Happy Times patrol, and hoped to get the interned officer mission before transferring. That came up next so we did it, which is key for research. Ran the strait in early March and went to La Spezia. After just two Battle of the Med patrols, we tripped the second phase (100k), earning a blueprint and taking command of another VIIC/41, U-327 (I re-rolled the boat number a lot until I got this one). In the first career the first /41 patrol was January 1942, so we accelerated this by six months with this plan. In career 1, I got the second blueprint form Black Pit, not knowing at the time that Atlantic Theater Operations also rewards a blueprint, or we could have done so earlier. But Black Pit is my style, anti-shipping patrols in the middle Atlantic, where Atlantic Theater Operations are special missions like agent insertion and weather station deployment. Took a few months longer, perhaps, but more in my wheelhouse. I like special missions just fine, by the way, but hunting on the convoy routes is where its at. So far in the Med we have run wild, not seeing a single enemy warship or aircraft after making it through the strait. Three patrols, for 66, 53 and 53k. All singles, all British-flagged, no neutrals at all. All three patrols were hunting in the chokepoint between Sardinia and Tunisia, which was one of the best spots in Silent Hunter. The superb range of the hydrophones in UBOAT means we can sit in the middle and cover to both coasts. Not much can slip past. We will enjoy this time, as the Torch landings will turn the Med in to a Allied lake. In the war, around 62 boats entered the Mediterranean, all Type VII. None left. Maybe we can be the first. __________________ What? Behind the rabbit?