Fuel in Rub1.43

[antidotos]

Well,
here is my problem which may have nothing to do with Rub.....
I am commanding a type II in 1939, first campaign with RUb1.43 (previously I conducted one ot two campaigns with each RUb release, never able to pass march 1940....) and I m in trouble with fuel consumption, my grid destination was at the extreme range limit (from Kiel). I trid to manage cautiously fuel consumption by frequently reducing to one third but despite what my nav officer declared I ran out of fuel about 50 kms from Kiel (I suppose the machinist declared that). What surprises me is that after a quick dive I was able to resurface and again go ahead standard. I finally managed to reach the pit amid a frightening storm (strangely it was raining inside the pit.... another quirk).
So what is happening with the fuel consumption model? The gauges are very imprecise so I have to listen to my crew.....
Can you really be dead in the water or is it just a message and you go on ?
Who should you trust concerning available range : your ops officer, the f5 map, the machinist... ?
Anyone has got a similar experience (note I had the same problem with Rub1.3 but it was my first mission so....) ?
thanks for your opinions.

[BladeHeart]

I remember once running out of fuel and being able to continue on surface back to port. The C/Engineer reported me running out of fuel, but the navigator told me I had sufficent for the distance and speed involved.

When the patrol ended I disovered that I was penalsed for not completing the patrol correctly; being the same as if i ended the patrol whilst at sea.

hope it helps.

[Beery]

The game will tell you you're out of fuel well before you actually run out. Whether this is a bug or not is hard to tell.

It's often best to cruise at 1/3rd or even less when the destination is far.

It does rain inside the U-boat bunkers.

All these things are SH3 problems. Nothing to do with RUb.

[baxter]

I've had the same experience a few times...the "out of fuel" message isn't accurate but the navigator's information so far has always proved to be correct.

[HEMISENT]

I've experienced just the opposite with my nav and his fuel guesstimates.
I generally cruise at real time for around 3-5 minutes at a set speed then ask nav to compute distance. if I wait another few minutes at real time and request once again I'll get a completely different answer with a huge difference from the first. If I do this repeatedly no two answers will ever be the same or even close to the same. I'm convinced this is just another game bug. Don't know if this has anything to do with his qualifications or stress/fatigue level. Have RUB/Ops + a host of other mods.
BTW when I do run out of fuel the boat is dead in the water and stays dead in the water unless I warp to base.

[jeronimoh]

Originally Posted by BladeHeart

I remember once running out of fuel and being able to continue on surface back to port. The C/Engineer reported me running out of fuel, but the navigator told me I had sufficent for the distance and speed involved.

When the patrol ended I disovered that I was penalsed for not completing the patrol correctly; being the same as if i ended the patrol whilst at sea.

hope it helps.

This is something I do not understand completely. Does one have to end the patrol in home port or it is absolutely OK to end it in the middle of the Atlantic ocean using the menu button "end patrol " (or "exit patrol", I don't remember the right name of the button). Are you penalised somehow while ending the patrol far from the base?

[jeronimoh]

And there is another thing related to my previous post in this thread. I don't know if OPS mod or any other mod in RUB altered the patrol destinations. I'm using type IXB in 1941. BdU almost sends me from Lorient to ET sector or even more distant sectors. I'm able to reach them, thats absolutely OK, but I NEVER have enough fuel to return to base or even close to it. That looks strange if someone is sailing to places without hope for homecoming. I usually end these patrols (24h patrol at specific sector) with 10 or 20 percent of fuel. Thats really strange. Is that the natural behavior of the game or RUB has something to do with that?

[Beery]

You are penalised in terms of points if you end a patrol far from your base. RUb does alter some patrol destinations, but they're usually closer to base than the original settings. If you cruise at standard speed (halbe fahrt) or higher it will be hard to return to base on longer patrols. If you have a long way to go, go slower to conserve fuel.

[jeronimoh]

Originally Posted by Beery

You are penalised in terms of points if you end a patrol far from your base. RUb does alter some patrol destinations, but they're usually closer to base than the original settings. If you cruise at standard speed (halbe fahrt) or higher it will be hard to return to base on longer patrols. If you have a long way to go, go slower to conserve fuel.

THX, thats clear. How significant is that point penalization you speak about? (I hope I understand well that you speak about REWARD points) I have read somewhere that it should be 100 points penalization if patrol is ended far from the base, but I don't know if it's true. Do you END your patrols back at home base BEERY?

[Beery]

Originally Posted by jeronimoh

I have read somewhere that it should be 100 points penalization if patrol is ended far from the base, but I don't know if it's true. Do you END your patrols back at home base BEERY?

I've never ended a patrol away from base (that I can recall), so I'm not sure what the penalization is. I'm usually obsessed with fuel consumption, so if I get a 50% fuel report I turn around even if I haven't reached my patrol area.

[jeronimoh]

Originally Posted by Beery

I've never ended a patrol away from base (that I can recall), so I'm not sure what the penalization is. I'm usually obsessed with fuel consumption, so if I get a 50% fuel report I turn around even if I haven't reached my patrol area.

You are either an orthodox U-BOAT commander or very very patient man I'm usually lazy to return 4000 KM(or more) to base without torpedoes (which are often depleted at this moment) to make a small U-BOAT home trip I Love HI-realism in this game but this is one of details (Maybe not details for you) I don't play according to the rules of reality.

[antidotos]

Tthanks for all your contributions, it confirms my doubts....
Even if I can accept some departure from reality I consider that an accurate fuel/range model is indispensable for SH3 to be called a simulation (especially with all these mods making the game far better). I always finish my patrols in port but after long patrols I have difficulty figuring my REAL fuel level (I admit I am less conservative than Beery, it seems I should go more slowly, in fact on my first patrol I was always receiving the "be more aggressive" message that I supposed the game was assessing my speed and branding me a "camper" as I was so cautious with long periods at one third... note that would have been quite realist, normally positionning is time-dependent). NOW it seems that I was penalized in my last patrol despite reaching the pit (after being declared out of fuel) , I got no medals or enhancements for my crew and the final report gave me 0 reward points BUT my genral total for the campaign was adjusted by 500 points.... There must be a problem somewhere (some conflict between Rub and stock game).
I remember an other mission (in an other life) where I had not enough fuel to go back to Kiel, so I managed to reach Wilhelmshavn, I got rewards and medals only after a second mission from W to Kiel (no patrol), I do not remember exactly if i got points at W and nothing at K or the reverse.
My conclusion it that one must absolutely try to reach the base of his flotilla, it should be good if this fuel question was clarified.

[jeronimoh]

Originally Posted by antidotos

Tthanks for all your contributions, it confirms my doubts....

As far as I can remember, there was some problem in previous game patch versions. And I do not know if it has been repaired in 1.4b. If my memory doesn't deceive me, there was a problem with first mission of each career. If you SAVE during mission, you will get neither reward points nor promotions/medals for that mission. But total REWARD is increased. But it was related to the first MISSION of the career only. And I don't know if it is related to the problem you described and/or if it's still in game version 1.4b with RUB or without it.

[Beery]

Originally Posted by jeronimoh

As far as I can remember, there was some problem in previous game patch versions. And I do not know if it has been repaired in 1.4b. If my memory doesn't deceive me, there was a problem with first mission of each career. If you SAVE during mission, you will get neither reward points nor promotions/medals for that mission. But total REWARD is increased. But it was related to the first MISSION of the career only. And I don't know if it is related to the problem you described and/or if it's still in game version 1.4b with RUB or without it.

That is a fundamental problem with the standard game. It has not been fixed as far as I know. As I understand it, it occurs if you save in mid-patrol, and if you add stuff (guns, conning towers, etc.) to your boat before the first patrol.

[jeronimoh]

Originally Posted by Beery

That is a fundamental problem with the standard game. It has not been fixed as far as I know. As I understand it, it occurs if you save in mid-patrol, and if you add stuff (guns, conning towers, etc.) to your boat before the first patrol.

That's very very strange that something so easily noticeable have never been repaired in any of the four released patches. I haven't done so, but I think a lot of players had to write to DEVs about this problem. And I think there will be no more patches, am I right?