Kapetein, Where da boats?

[TerrorBeneathUs]

Greetings,
I have spent a lot of time zig-zagging ocean and I have never found merchants that belongs to enemies. It's All axis and Neutral country for most part. The Game has become more like "Go to ANXX", "Patrol 24 Hours ANXX" and come back and get little renown or....crash sub on kiel canal bridge like bafoon or If Somehow you miss hitting it, Tell Navigator to to "Follow the course" and watch your Uboat 180 itself and go back to hit the bridge towers.

What Can I do in my config files so I get a lot of merchants of enemy nations in my game. Even Enemy ships. So I can have fun.

That would be all.

[vanjast]

Have a look at the convoy route maps. You'll find 'bottleneck' points... hang out around these areas, just beyond aircover range.

Also don't be a slave to BDU.. finish your first assigned location (don't ask for more locations), then bugger off elsewhere where you see fit.

[TerrorBeneathUs]

@Vanjast I mostly Hang around AN18, AN26, AN5X. Still Not much action even on course to enemy ports. Did see 4 Destroyers though of which I sank two and Hightailed with Damage. I was hoping for More Merchant Ships around a Grid I Select via SH3 Commander. Is there no config setting to make lone merchant contact more likely.

[bstanko6]

The boats you say?

As you travel to your hunting grounds, you have to stop periodically and dive about 30 meters and listen for them. If you do not do this consistently, you might as well just be looking for a needle in a haystack.

[TerrorBeneathUs]

@bstanko6 Admiral, I do this, I Just get warships, Sloop and other useless Junk. (Dec, 1939). Could Using Time Dilation at Periscope Depth Be The Culprit?

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by vanjast

Have a look at the convoy route maps. You'll find 'bottleneck' points... hang out around these areas, just beyond aircover range.

Also don't be a slave to BDU.. finish your first assigned location (don't ask for more locations), then bugger off elsewhere where you see fit.

Precisely! Ignore BDU and get somewhere 'twixt Iceland and Newfoundland, awaiting the inevitable convoys. Or, opt to turn left at the Outer Hebrides and head South for Gibraltar, lingering off Trafalgar, awaiting convoys exiting or inbound to the Mediterranean.

[Shadowblade]

just follow convoy routes and listen on hydrophones.

I was hunting on western convoy routes to England and had no problems to find ships to sink.

[TerrorBeneathUs]

@Shadowblade & @Aktungbby, I Think I found My Problem, I usually hang around ANXX, Except the Routes Shown in GWX Map, What Other Grid Might Be of Great Value?

[Shadowblade]

ANXX - I usually only travel there between harbours on south of England and Scapa Flow, but I do regular hydrophone checks because I travel across that large grey area of high naval traffic on the east - so I often meet some merchants or convoys there. There are task forces too, but I dont actively hunt them because they are very fast.

AMXX - I prefer this area around Ireland because of main western convoy routes and that large high naval traffic area on the west. Irish sea is also good area for hunting the traffic because of its bottlenecks where you can just listen and wait for merchants to come.

[TerrorBeneathUs]

@Shadowblade I did what you said and results are of night and day, Though, The Merchant ships are always distant and I'm unable to catch up to them as U-boat VII Goes 7 Knots max but I go slow as I think Going Ahead full might attract warships.

[Hooston]

For all its flaws SH3 is a simulation and usually doing the historically accurate thing is the best approach.
Until late 1943 uboats operated on the surface whenever possible, even in daylight. As you have found, a submerged boat is so slow it is often just a spectator. To attack a target the boat would do an "end around" at full speed on the surface just at the edge of visual detection to position itself ahead, whilst establishing the target's speed and heading. It would then lie in wait slightly to one side of the target track.
During the night the attack would be carried out surfaced with torpedoes. it was very possible to fire torpedoes and escape on the surface without being detected at all. In daytime a submerged attack would be used if the target was able to defend itself.
The game is a lot better if you wind up the "realism" and turn off the auto targeting. Sinking escorts becomes very difficult and rarely worth it. Take a look at Tonci87's series on Youtube to see how much more complicated things get.

[Shadowblade]

Originally Posted by TerrorBeneathUs

@Shadowblade I did what you said and results are of night and day, Though, The Merchant ships are always distant and I'm unable to catch up to them as U-boat VII Goes 7 Knots max but I go slow as I think Going Ahead full might attract warships.

Save your batteries - you need to go full speed (with diesel) on surface but outside of visual detection range of the merchant. Go around it, go ahead of target and then go submerged near the point of ambush and wait.
It is good to use the map for planning the ambush - draw the course of merchant + its visual detect range on its course. Then calculate the range of ship and range of your uboat and add your course around the ship's detect range and select the ambush point.

Then you just wait for unsuspecting ship coming closer to you (dont forget for brief checking in case of any course changes).

[JP48]

Originally Posted by Shadowblade

It is good to use the map for planning the ambush - draw the course of merchant + its visual detect range on its course. Then calculate the range of ship and range of your uboat and add your course around the ship's detect range and select the ambush point.

Then you just wait for unsuspecting ship coming closer to you (dont forget for brief checking in case of any course changes).

Is there a tutorial on doing this?

[Gautske]

How much of time is 'a lot of time'? Sometimes you just need to have some patience. Even coastal waters, while they have a lot of traffic, still don't have that much traffic and you can't be everywhere so some ships will slip through.

In addition to the convoy map, maybe check out the campaign RND layer in the sh3 mission editor? This can give you some info about the disposition of the ships the game throws at you. Looking at AN 18 and AN 26, it seems like you'd expect maybe 3-5 single merchants passing by each day, not a lot of convoys, and plenty of warship patrols. Makes sense - that area is sort of the RN's backyard grill patio in 1939 and you're the annoying wasp that wants to have a taste of the steak that's being marinaded. (except that the steak is 2800 tonnes of bauxite and the marinade is aviation gasoline)

And remember that as a WW2 uboat your main means of movement is on the surface. Stay on the surface for as long as you can, that's where you are fast, your diesel oil is plentiful and your battery power is scarce. Of course, as the war goes on this modus operandi becomes more and more difficult, but that's not something you should worry about in 1939.

If you really are desperate for enemy merchants you can try visiting a harbour. But that's not exactly a walk in the park, not even in 1939, not with GWX or Onealex at least. In vanilla you can, but that's another story, basically another game.

Oh, and hydrophone is better for detection than visual, so remember to do hydro checks when hunting. You can pick up sounds from further away than the hydrophonist, but I tend to not use that, as I find it tedious and the hydrophonist's range is pretty realistic, IIRC, as a max range for the GHG/KDB.

[TerrorBeneathUs]

How too Know the range by listening to hydrophone? What's the range for visual detection in general? What is the range of UZO, Periscope, Watch Deck and Hydrophone?