I just bought the game a few days ago and I won't be able to play it for awhile. In the interim I have been reading some of the AARs posted by various players. In these AARs I am reading about taking out destroyers with deck guns, taking out multiple escort ships and annihilating waves of aircraft. Is it a matter of settings or are the sub hunters too easy to kill?


Thanks.

Hi Pat,
I think a lot has to do with your difficulty settings, I play my campaigns at 100% DID, and find most to be pesky fellows running patterns around the convoys. There are lone destroyers the pop up at some of the worst times. I posted about a destroyer I ran across on a moonless night, and stalked from astern matching him in course, and speed until I went to periscope depth, and put a fish in him.
Others have pinged me and gave me a pretty good drumming. I play my single missions, and generated missions at various settings to use the event camera, to take screenshots. I have also d/l, and installed the excellent World Expansion Mod Ver 2.0, so a lot of these settings, and mods will depend on what you prefer. Puts

PatWilson,
Due to the fact that your 'Tiger Tank' U-Boat cannot be holed and can take over a dozen close range 5" gun hits and still be able to submerge will be a large contributing factor to the escort AAR's.

The deck gun is a distant relation of 'Big Bertha' and the AA gun I am sure is also somehow related as well.

The aim of your AA crew is nothing short of legendary.

These factors go a long way way to turning a intended simulation into "Quake on Water"

I know it was not the Devs intentions. I assume it is the result of Ubisoft releasing this product 2-3 months ahead of it being finished.

Yes, it is too easy in many ways. In a one-on-one with an escort, it's really better to fight than dive. "Improved escorts" are said to be in the next patch. We shall see.

Furthermore:

Deckgun is too powerful and too easy to use.

There are huge numbers of unescorted ships and convoys.

Merchants sole defensive measure is to zig-zag along original course. They seldom (if ever?) attempt to ram. They do not turn and run. Enescorted convoys don't disperse.

Damage received from direct fire on surface is superficial. Repairs happen very quickly.

Torpedos are far more reliable than in real life.

Weather is not seasonal and can often be, for days on end, unusually calm for the open North Atlantic.

Underwater visibility allows visual escape and evasion from escorts.

Constant supply of single ship radio contacts means you never need to hunt for targets or think out your course and endurance during a patrol.

All convoys in game would be classified as "slow convoys" during the war. Normal convoys (through '41) should travel at 9-12 knots, leaving slower ships to travel in slower convoys (or alone) and faster ships to travel alone. This of course makes interception of a convoy, even underwater, rather simple.

That being said, the game is still incredibly challenging. That should give you an idea of what hell it would have been to be on a real boat.

Hey Pat,

Get a few mods and play. It really the only way to get a feel for it.

I agree with a lot, but not all said so far. been rammed by a merchant, may have been by accident but it seemed like he was trying.

I used mostly texture mods, the G7e range fix and the campaign 1.1 fix. Also the crush depth mod and gauges as the original crush depths are way too shallow. I'm also trying the world 2.0 mod but havent seen any differences yet(other than the friendly mine filed which I disabled)

Havent tried Beery's mod yet, though


kail

Thanks for the tips Kail. My new computer is in pieces a few towns over. I expect it to arrive today and then it is a matter of putting it together. Then I get to play .

I am pretty good about not using game loopholes. To some extent this issue can be solved by limiting the use of the deck and AA guns. What's going through my head right now is to limit deck gun use to small, single freighters and limit AA gun use to not more than one AC shot down. In general I want to dive when under attack rather than fight it out. Not ideal by any means, but it will do in the interim.

There also a key binding that changes the default fire key. Too close to the accel + key on the keypad and its all too easy to fire your limited supply of torps at nothing. Do that a few(or five) times

I usually use the deck gun on small merchants or on larger C2, C3 if they're still floating after a 2nd torp hit. But then my last 2 patrols, the weather didnt let me use the deckgun at all.

So far I've shot down 1 sunderland which attacked me about 100km out of Brest. I had to shoot it down myself as my guys just fire a couple of shots while bullets splashed around their feet. I hadnt "built up" my flak gunner as I usually just dived. I havent gotten the wintergardens that we've seen in the screen shot. I plan on getting into a IX so maybe I'll find out.

BTW, Plan ahead to get a good chunk of time to play, though. :p

kail

I used to think the merchants were trying to ram also, but after additional experience, I don't believe they are. They zig-zag at 45 degree angles to their original course at a constant rate. When you are in the middle of a convoy at night and a ship on one side of you makes a 90 degree turn in your direction, it certainly does appear aggressive, but the reality is the ship would have made the same turn at the same moment if you were 5000m away.

My experience so far is limited to early-War, so perhaps the merchants become more aggressive later, but I've certainly presented even the most cowardly of merchant captain some perfect opportunities to ram and seen no change in the constant zig-zag pattern. Once you learn this pattern, it's quite simple to get right in with unarmed merchants and maneuver at will. I'm fairly certain the only times I've been rammed have been when I lost situational awareness of the ships around me and simply got run over.

Pat... Watch out if you`re `inside` a convoy in bad weather(15+ wind and heavy fog), once the merchants start to zig-zag it becomes interesting. (left me with a sore neck, nervous twitch and a hefty laundry bill !!)

Oh yes, I forgot to mention another factor that simplifies your job as a U-boat captain: your enemy has a nasty habit of killing themselves and killing eachother, although it is frustrating to see the British stealing your tonnage.

Salute Fellow Mariners!
I also thought the game was abit easy intill i tried to invade some of the enemy ports. You want some excitment forget those convoys. Try sneaking into Bristol. You have to stay submerged all the time to keep the planes from attacking your sub in the day light hours. Plus I had two M&W destroyers trying to get a ping on me at same time. LOL i destroyed both of them. Also i got rammed by a small tanker while i was setting up for a kill on a Cargo Ship. All of a sudden i hear my sonar man say, SIR WERE BEING RAMMED.
This game Rocks!
One thing i found is you really want to save your Sub from being destroyed. Kinda get attached to your crew members.
I think it might take a person a life time just to explore the whole map of this game.
This game is great for a Sub game. I buy alot games and this one is staying in my computer for a long time.
You only need two games that i can see in your puter, they are Silent Hunter 3 and IL2FB AEP PF.
I`am a Happy Camper!
Take Care