How deep do you go to avoid Waßerbomben?
 

Hello Kaluns.


Back in my SH3 days, when the safe diving depth of the sub was fixed an reliable without clunky mods, I just took my VIIC to 242 meters every time. Nice any easy. (211 meters for IXC, I had them all memorized.)

UBoat has this lovely feature where once you go below about 155 you risk flooding and it the dive could be different every time. I like this much better. Going to 242 automatically and without a care or whatever your sub can take with 100% confidence did arcadify the simulation. But this has the consequence that I only ever go deeper than 150 when I am really pressed. At this depth, it seems, it is only a matter of time before you get flooding and it will always be serious requiring decisive action without subtlety. Also it seems your bilge pump isn't as strong as in real life.

I am wondering what kind of depths you guys normally go to and what is your experience there? How long do you stay down? If you have thoughts on the diving model of this game vs real life, I am interested in that too but I would like to first and foremost discuss this game in practical terms. The goal is that I can take what I learn here and go dive with it in the game.

In the glorious SHIII days i used SHIII Commander to launch the game which randomized crush depth with every launch, so you never really knew how deep you could go without being smushed like a grape.

in Uboat, the game has a much more dynamic approach to this IMHO

ive been so deep that my depth gauge didnt really indicate a value, it just pointed down past the end of the red band. But when you go below test depth and into the red band on the depth gauge in Uboat, things get interesting.

Hatches take water, tubes leak, pipes rupture, which are all random and of course another thing not simulated by SHIII was pump effectiveness, which Uboat does take into account. go deep enough, and i dont care how much you run the pump it simply cannot overcome the sea pressure beyond a certain depth and the water in your boat will go nowhere and all of your men are doomed to suffocation. evetually.

to your question; I usually give 150 meters a shot at evasion, then 180, then 200, then i flirt with 220 if i must but rarely deeper.

Leading up to mid 1942, most of my attacks are conducted from the surface at night.

the leading cause of my demise in Uboat has not been depth charges from escorts, (though they are dangerous) but rather bombs/depth charges dropped from airplanes. it will be interesting to see how things change when additional escort types and additional anti submarine weapons like the hedgehog are introduced. and dont even consider the addition of british subs patrolling the bay of biscay or off the north sea that could easily stalk and torpedo you! ive been torpedoed by a PT boat off the Southampton area and it didnt go well.

aircraft are all too often sighted too late to completely evade, crash diving if done properly takes 30-35 seconds and with an aircraft barrelling down on you at 200 mph thats an eternity

Early war depth charges have a maximum depth setting of 152 meters.

You can actually, if the water is deep enough (usually is, as long as you're not near a coast) simply hide at like 160 meters and just sit there and flip the destroyers off while they shower you in depth charges that detonate harmlessly above your U-boat until they run out of ammo.

150 meters is the max "safe" depth of the U-boat and you can develop leaks as shallow as 151 meters but the odds are "reasonably" safe at 160. The deeper you go the more likely leaks will occur however. (Also, you take on water faster due to pressure)

Do not try this past January 1st 1942 though. At that point they switch to better depth charges I believe that DO indeed have far deeper maximum depth settings, (First 215, then 274 meters) meaning hiding at like 160 meters is no longer safe, and the depths that would protect you from them are suicidal to descend into, as you are extremely likely to develop multiple leaks and it'll be impossible to repair them quick enough before you take on enough water you can no longer surface. I don't think it's actual crush depth of the U-boat, but it's well into "If you develop a leak you won't be able to survive" territory.

I didn't know it was 152 meters. Good to know.