These are my imressions after a first patrol in the asiatic fleet in my s-boat starting Dec of '41. I'm liking this new version so far.
Destroyers seem to be much better at locating me, though I have yet to try my flank speed at 100' experiment in this version. From what I've gathered, there will be no getting away with that anymore.
The thermocline is very powerful from what I can see. I was able to run at full speed while reloading torpedoes at 200'.
The highlight of the patrol was sinking a Kongo class battleship. I was patrolling Lingayen Gulf and had already let one convoy of warships get away due to their changes in direction and my boats pitiful speed. A lone destroyer patrolling the area didnt help matters, but a couple days of hunting and I removed him from the picture.
Then another batch of warships showed up. This group was moving quite slowly compared to the last maybe 6 or 7 knots on average. This was great for me since, once again, I'd get into position only for the group to make a turn, putting me out of range for my mk 10 torpedoes. This time I had the speed to intercept them again.
A few times of this and I was able to get myself in position for an attack. The enemy group, presumably from getting out of the gulf and back to open sea, had picked up speed. If i didn't get something this time, they'd be gone for good.
I could only fire 4 mk 10's at once so I wasn't aiming for the battleship, since I knew that would probably not be enough to take it out. Instead, I picked out a nice European oiler in the back of the formation, made the calculations, waited till it was as.close as it would get (2000 yards), rechecked, and let all four fishes loose.
In a stroke of pure luck, the battleship steamed right into the path of the torpedoes, getting hit by all four. Knowing it wouldnt be enough, I dived to 200' and began to reload while getting closer to the now wounded target. I continued to track the target on hydrophones and quickly noticed that it had slowed to a crawl, allowing me to slow down as well.
I got 3 of my last four fish reloaded and noticed the escorts were far enough away for me to take another shot. After ordering a full stop, and a pause on loading the final torpedo, it was back to periscope depth. After quick calculations on a much closer and slower moving target, i fired. All three hit, but alas, the monster still lived. Well, time to get back down and load that last fish.
On the way back down, I'm hearing these little explosions. I figured it must be those destroyers depth charging some phantom contact, although it doesn't quite sound like that.
Before I can puzzle it out, there is a massive KABOOM! That was quickly followed by the message confirming the ship is going down. The little explosions must've been a chain of sympathetic detonations going off until something really big went up. From there it was a pretty easy escape.
That might have been the most satisfying sinking I've ever pulled off in this game. I have to thank all those who made this mod for breathing new life into this game and making the aforementioned experience possible.
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