If you come across a uboat doing donuts at flank speed in grid AN52, that'll be us.

I got tired of my type II

I was on my 2nd patrol as a my new IID and hit a small merchant head on with a torpedo and after hours in VERY rough waters it didn't sink.

I was waiting there for it to go under but many hours passed and eventually a warship came over and started firing, I left and survived pretty much unscathed then somehow while diving to persicope depth I must have pressed a different key and it went 20m,30m,50m,70m poof I died.

I decided to "retire" it instead of loading a save game and put my career as "surrendered at sea".

I seriously can't play without a deck gun. I won't stand for this crap.

I'll probably go with a IXB in 1940 now.

I hate it when ships won't seem to sink when they should,ie: you can clearly SEE the gaping hole in its hull and there may even be fires on deck,yet somehow,it manages to stay afloat?and at the same speed? Type II's are crap for their lack of a deck gun and atrocious speeds,their only real use is good dive times,ideal for tight coastal areas where a military presence may be high,like in the Med.
As soon as I have the renown I will probably sink my IIA in the north sea somewhere then return home in rubber dingies,I will just say we ran into a mine somewhere and was unable to radio our position in time before it sank :nope:;)

Tonights report

Finally entered the Dover Strait
1528
AN85 patrol craft (PC) spotted bearing 98,dived to PD to evade,will surface when PC has gone
1615
surfaced,47 mins submerged (smd)
1710
AN85,passed 2 Dutch fishing vessels,flashed morse light indicating UBoat friendly passage and not to cause undue alarm
1947
second radio report on previous task force now in AN47,heading NW,25kts.As predicted the TF has changed course and is heading back through the Orkney/Shetland passage

27th Sept
day 2 at sea
0158
ship spotted AN87,moved in to 300m to inspect,vessel confirmed as Romanian large merchant,a good 7000 tonner too
0635
AN87,PC spotted heading out of Dunkirk,evaded to PD
1130
small PC task force spotted,2 vessels heading into Dover Strait ahead of us,dived to PD behind them,moved ahead slow until threat has gone
1200
surfaced (sfd) ,submerged 30mins
1250
PC spotted,AN79,dived to evade,appears to be small ASW trawler at 10kts
1308
all clear,sfd
1343
Calais finally in sight,8.5km from land,vis moderate,officially now entered the Channel
1410
another PC spotted heading out of Boulogne,dived to evade
1518
BF33
PC spotted heading our way,may have been spotted,dived to 10m silent
1700
undetected,all clear,sfd ,2hrs 50mins smd
1929
merchant spotted,course 47 ,9kts ,moved in fast to approx 5000m ,vessel ID French,allowed to pass...for now
2101
Warsaw officially surrenders,German forces now in control of Poland
2214
PC spotted heading east through channel,swung boat round north and evaded at high speed,return to course when threat has gone

28th Sept
day 3 at sea
0700
sunrise,will keep accurate notes of both sunrise and sunset,mainly when dealing with air attacks which have not occured so far
1250
BF36,granville spotted heading 110 at 6kts.Appears we were spotted at 7000m in med vis,vessel zig zagging wildly.moved in hard to about 5000m to ID vessel,ship ID French,proceeded back to course
1707
small fishing vessel sighted,they spotted us and panicked heading north to nearest port along English coast.we have a strict code on my UBoat not to attack fishing vessels,they are civilians and pose no military threat.
1750
PC spotted out of Cherbourg,evaded to PD
1845
sfd,55mins smd
2155
PC spotted ,headed NNW to evade at high speed,return to course when threat has gone
2157
radio report,AN68,UBoat attack on S class submarine,fired 3 no hits
2236
BF55,shadow spotted on far horizon heading east,ID'd as a Granville type,most likely French,no need to waste fuel so proceeded back to course

29th Sept
day 4 at sea
BF31,passing Portland,weather still clear,wind 4
1200
BF26,passing Plymouth,10hrs until we break out of the channel

end of report

Kpt.Franz Weber
U-16
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry about all the technical details,gives me something to do ;)
As you can see,the channel has been lively so far,I expect we may see some good action in or around the Celtic Sea :up:
How far will my 5 torpedoes go though.

U-35, 2 Flotilla Saltzwedel
ObltzS Peter Schmidt, Commander

Departed Wilhelmshaven on Feb 17 1939 10:51 with orders to patrol grid AN52. Reached assigned grid near midday on Feb 19 and began 24 hour patrol.

Received hydrophone report late that evening of ship heading roughly SSE through patrol area; plotted intercept course and came within range of target at approximately 02:00; target confirmed as large enemy merchant. First torpedo was fired at periscope depth from 1100m out and appeared to stay on target but failed to detonate. Second shot successful from 900m distance. Took up parallel course to slowing merchant and surfaced boat. Opened fire with deck gun; ship sank at 02:42. Estimated tonnage: 4700 GRT.

Proceeded west in hopes of tracking British task force that was reported heading SSW just off the Scottish coast. One enemy aircraft sighted just after dawn; opened fire with flak gun. Was unable to down aircraft but after two attack runs the plane left the area and did not return. Minimal damage to flak gun, repaired in good time. Some damage to hull also reported, but have since made test dives to 50m without incident. Unable to test boat's performance beyond 50-55m until we reach deeper waters. No contact made with task force, however made visual contact with small Polish freighter, late morning of Feb 21. Sank target with one torpedo. Estimated tonnage: 2200 GRT.

Sent patrol report to BdU and have received orders to proceed to grid AN16, just east of Scapa Flow, and take up station there for 24 hours. Currently on route to new patrol area; fore tubes reloaded and external reserve transfered to fore reserve position.

Frau,

Just curious,do you use manual targetting at all?,if not,I highly recommend trying to get accustomed to it,your game will become even more immersive and rewarding.
If I see you out there someday we will draw up alongside for a few drinks in the sun :sunny:
Good luck on your patrol in the meantime...

Paul,

No, I have not tried manual targeting yet - still relying on Mr. Triangle. First I am working with plotting courses for contacts, plotting intercept courses, estimating time to intercept, getting myself in the best possible attack position, etc. I do watch the info the game provides with assisted targeting, things like target speed, AOB, gyroangle, etc., to try and get a better feel for them.

Eventually I would like to try going with less assistance and see how I do, but the main thing for me is to enjoy playing, so I'm not doing anything that makes it more rather than less frustrating. Baby steps, lol.

When I get to the point where it feels too easy and that makes it less enjoyable I'll start giving manual targeting a try - will probably go back to torpedo school for a while to see if I can get the hang of it.

Good idea,observe how the assisted targetting works first before diving in.You will realise when you come round to trying it that its NOT as hard as people make it out to be.Whenever you are ready I could give you a basic rundown of manual attacking? :yeah:
Its also good that you are mastering the other important things like plotting,how to intercept and put yourself and the target at the right place at a predefined time,thats just as rewarding because you can prepare for an attack you have already set up for say,12 hrs time when its dark.I'll never forget the first time I nailed a ship manually and in the spot I chose on the ship too,fantastic achievement.And,its just as disappointing to realise your torp passed harmlessly by its bow or stern,usually the speed setting is to blame here,vital you get the speed right! :nope:

How long HAVE you been playing S3 anyway? ( just curious) :yep:

I bought the game last fall but I didn't have the new rig until the end of November, so I guess I've been playing in earnest for about 4 months now.

Nice :up:
Well,keep up the good work!
Also,don't take this the wrong way either,but its great to see women taking a keen interest in UBoat warfare too,in fact warfare full stop!.You have one advantage over us grizzled men covered in months of beard hair,you don't have to shave! :O:

Update from the log of Werner Faust, U-707

12:20pm 17th December 1940 - Another hydrophone contact at 9:32pm, a merchant travelling slow and heading west toward our position. Visual identification proved it to be an armed British Ore Carrier doing 5 knots. Diving into attack position we awaited its arrival at the firing point. 2 G7a's were fired on a 5 degree spread, one missed just in front of the bow, the other hit under the forward deck near the bow.
I was about to move the boat to take a rear tube shot when I noticed the merchant's bow was pitching quite heavily under the sea and scooping up tons of water onto the deck. I suddenly realised the ships captain, in his haste to get his ship as far from us as possible, was making the situation worse. As we followed parallel to its course, it was obvious this ship was going to go down eventually, so I held off firing again and simply watched and waited.
Large amounts of smoke began to pour from the deck at an area where I would guess the engine room to be and the bow was pitching more and more into the water as the merchant vessel ploughed onward. I couldn't understand why the crew weren't abandoning the ship yet, was i the only one to see it was a doomed vessel?
Finally, the lifeboats started to fill at 10:43pm as the crew decided to get to relative safety. at 10:45pm the ships screw stopped turning and the bow pitched under the water and this time didn't rise back above it. It wasn't long after that, that the bow finally started to pull the ship down, raising the stern a good 50 feet out of the water ( one the the crew snapped a photo while we stood watching this marvel ), at 10:48pm, the merchant had gone down, on its way into the murky deep.







Grid : AM52
Fuel : 60%
Torpedo's : 4 (3 G7e and 1 G7a)
Ships Sunk : 10 (1 tanker)
Tonnage : 52,751 (unconfirmed)

Nice job :cool:

Those are the figures SH3 is set up to award.
The 100 (Return to w/i 25 KM) is bugged.
I don't think GWX awards any of that.

Mine always come out so dry and dull (sorry), but this is my favorite reading thread.

Thankfully we can edit the cfg file :D

I am glad then I started this thread many moons ago,seems to be very popular :smug:

You got it right. Nice and easy.
Saw the realism jump. Good show!
I'd definately recommend (when you feel ready) the Weapons Officer before trying to jump straight into Full Manual. He realy does a good job.
Leaving him behind was the final, and biggest step for me.
(I wasn't quick about it either.)

Hey, that's right, this IS your thread!
Many thanks.

:smug:
Youre welcome pal.

So how do I make use of the Weapons Officer? Because I'm not sure if there's something I need to set up differently in the Realism options, or do differently in the game.

Before this career I tried a couple times to use him, I mean I clicked on things asking for identification of target, solution to target, etc., but couldn't really see how that affected what I was doing. I had better luck just getting into a good position and waiting for the triangle to go green. So I'm not sure if I was supposed to have done something different because I was asking for his assistance - maybe I was not doing what was necessary to make use of it.