When do you call it quits?
 

While approaching a convoy Northwest of Ireland I lost my AA gun, radio antenna and both periscopes in a depth charge attack. After escaping the fight without taking further damage I surfaced and had to make a decision: press on and take my boat to my patrol area off of Spain or head home to Kiel. I pretty quickly decided to bring the patrol to a close and made haste back to port. It's earlier in the war and did not want to risk my career in Nov. '39. I assume many captains would have done the same historically.

At what point do you turn for home, and what parts of the boat, if destroyed/damaged, are you willing/unwilling to continue a patrol with?

Let's see: You're totally blind, you have no AA defense (not that it does much good anyway, but still...), you can't call home.

I don't see how you can not end it right there.

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You as Captain are responsible for your boat and crew.
Returning to port you can live to fight another day.

My thoughts exactly.

By the way, Bdu seems to be punishing me for damaging their sub. My next patrol is in the Irish Sea.

To which you do NOT need to attend, fun fact about SH....you can ignore mission orders and go w/e you want w/o penalty :D.

if I was you I'd recomment AM 50-51-52 and AM 02, some of the richest grounds early-mid war and (depending on game difficulty) many will be unescorted. :har:

For a 1939 patrol I would call it quits, mainly due to having no periscopes.

Historically, U-Boat captains had a little more leeway to end a patrol earlier in the war. By 1943, they were expected to remain on station despite very serious difficulties.

I like SH3's freedom to go anywhere, but it would also be nice to get a penalty for completely ignoring patrol orders (example - going to the Med when you're stationed in France, or attacking ships where the KM does not want to alert the enemy). In the old "Sub Battle" sim, ignoring patrol area would always get you fired.