Quote:
Originally Posted by SirCory
I've always wondered: in open waters en route to any destination, what's the speed you should be traveling at? I know that 10 knots is considered "economical," but should you travel faster and then patrol at the economical pace?
I know this is more of an opinion question. I'm trying to see what others do here.
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A lot of considerations...
What variant of SH 4 are you running? Stock or mod? If so mod, which mod? FOTRS? TMO? etc.
In stock, you have to tool around at basically harbor speed to get fuel economy, which is absent of reality as most boats cruised to and from patrol areas at standard speed, roughly 15.5 knots. Once in area, adjusted accordingly. Something we do not have to worry about in the sim is food and other supplies, crew morale (for most part) , meaning while fuel economy is important, it had to be balanced with other factors If move at such a slow speed it takes 30 days to get somewhere, how effective will vessel actually be on patrol. If were going to areas further away such as Yellow Sea, after a stop for fuel at Midway, may cruise at 12 knots or so to stretch fuel out, but still a decent rate of advance.
In TMO, you can cruise to and from most patrol areas at standard speed of 15.5 knots or lower it to 14 to save a little extra, to and from most patrol areas, patrol for weeks,, then return to port without fueling in most cases. This is because of the additional fuel added to reflect the fact that in real life, fuel was added to ballast tanks to give extra range.
I typically cruised at standard speed (again in TMO, brings to 15.5 knots) on surface during day to patrol area, slow to 11.5 at night en route. I have usually used 20-25 percent of fuel by time get to area, then around 25-30, depending on distance to port, will head home. This is to save fuel and not such an easy target for submerged marauding submarines, which can torpedo you in both FOTRS and TMO. Rarely do I have to head home due to fuel exhaustion.