German Career and Uboat Type IX D2 and XXI experiences
 

Hi Comm

There are a few things i'd like to share ...

Since i started the german career in 43 i did some patrols, playing on realism 82% (Map pos. update and Outside view are enabled) - and think the gamesetup is a little too easy for the german career. Not only with having the Typ IX D2 Boat from the beginning which has a lot of firepower with 26 torpedos aboard and a dangerous deckgun. All the convoys, mostly australian, are unprotected. It is a mass slaughtery, and that without taking a risk. I get the knights cross every time i end a patrol. I engaged a american task force and sunk the three major battleships. Sneaked away from about five or six smaller destroyers on 230 meters depth without a problem. I am now in the beginning of 1944 and hope that monotony of crushing one civil ship after the other will get a change, maby with some more fancy missions. The Type IX D2 Boat is a precious boat for that time and so i have my fun with it anyway (especially when have driven a S-18 on the other side before).

The XVIII Boat has some losings in comparison to the IX-D2 as i think. There is a total of 23 torpedoes to be loaded, which is 3 less than on the Typ IX Boat. Plus, no deck gun, which i used to sink small and unarmed vessels. So there will be a less amount of BRTs to bring home with the new XVIII Boat. Besides having the great advantage of sprinting under and over water with the walther turbines. I can go down to 260 Meters without taking damage over time and run 25 Knots. Surfaced 28, with the turbine. Odd, but makes fun.

You better switch of the turbines when surfacing, otherwise you come up too fast, and fall back to periscope depth again, wich is not a very elegant way of surfacing i think.

The AA Guns have a very limited sight angle, but i dont care too much, since i dont use them manually. My crew is making more effort on them.

Snorkel, not to be mentioned, since i play without mods. And as far as i know german captains did'nt use them a lot, since there was a problem when the snorkel cut the surface (for a short time). The diesel engines swallowed air from inside the boat and caused negative pressure withing the pressure hull, not to mention serious damage that could happen to the crews ears.

Medals for my crew. Only the spange, EK2, EK1 and Knightscross all the way, there a two or three missing, dont know why i never get them. I think it was the German Cross, the submariners medal and one for the wounded. But being wounded is forbidden on my boat, so i wont get that one ...

Firing torpedoes from a german submarine in SH4 is totally different from doing so in u.s. subs. I found a workaround and became very skilled in making effective shots over the time, never the less, i think there was a different thought behind all that.

kr morph

//Edit: Or is it the XVIII boat? I cant read this numbers and therefore mess them up much too often! Sry for that.

//Edit 2: Corrected the name of the XVIII boat!

//Edit 3: The operating range of the XVIII boat is too small to patrol off south africa, neither from penang or any of the other three bases in that region (bug?).

Morpheus, you have to learn to shoot torpedoes in the U-Boat manner. You have an important advantage with the direct hookup between the periscope and TDC, which makes Fast-90 attacks devastating. They're every bit as deadly as any US style attack. After you use it you won't miss the PK or the American method of shooting any more. It is a totally different and amazingly effective way to use ingenuity instead of technology.