[Nachoen]

Hello everybody, im new to this game and was wandering what the best way of patrolling an assigned grid is, surfaced or submerged? Which one will give the highest chance of detecting enemy ships?

[kptn_kaiserhof]

u get a good chance of being spotting by the enemy surfaced

but after 1939 and 1940 u get a better chance of being spotted by a british southerland or catalina flying boat / aircraft
if your on the surface



GOOD LUCK

[Nachoen]

Thanks, really having a hard time finding targets, but i guess its just practice like with everything else:)

[Perilscope]

My advice, every so many kilometers (~20km) dive at periscope dept and slow down to 1 knot. Listen on the hydrophone for any screw sounds in the area. If no sound is present, continue your patrol above the waters and seek smoke trails. Repeat the step all along your patrols, you will find more ships then you whished for…

Good Luck and welcome to subsim!

[slow_n_ez]

I'll add too and didn't know for a long time.... when using the hydrophone ... make sure the volume is turned up all the way .... I am in the year 1943 right now ... have to stay submergred most of the patrol since when first leaving port my flak gunners run out of ammo after splashing about 35 air craft ... Welcome aboard captain .... good hunting

[U-73]

Stay surfaced as much as possible with the exception of using your hydrophones to hear for enemy contacts far off.

Cons for submerged:
1. Seeing enemy targets limited to your periscope.
2. Waste on your fuel.
3. Batteries drained rapidly. Once low you have to surface and are at the mercy of enemy.
4. Speed is cut down to max of 7 knots, which means huge amount of fuel and battery charge used, and small area of operation covered.

Mind you all this info is for early war patrols, later on you have no choice but to stay submerged for long times.

[Ducimus]

[Heibges]

If you just are looking to find and sink the maximum amount of enemy ships, you should patrol submerged. Hydrophones, in every subsim dating back 20yrs to Silent Service, have always made it very easy to find targets. Hydrophones are better at finding targets than surface search radar. You will have twice the tonnage from patrolling submerged as opposed to patrolling surfaced.

But if you want to play historically, Submarines, both German and American patrolled on the surface. Hydrophones were generally only used in periods of poor visibility for safety. I would suggest the following

1939 to 1941 Surfaced as much as possible.
1942 Submerged by day, Surface by night
1943 Surfaced by day, Submerged at night
1944 to 1945 Submerged as much as possible.

The more uboats had to stay submerged the less successful they became. Due to their slow underwater speed, they had to rely on the enemy to practically steam right over them, once they were forced from the surface.

[Keelbuster]

Whether you are surfaced, or submerged, your own eyes and ears are usually superior to that of the AI. Even with a great bridge crew, sometimes they'll spot a PT boat when it's 1500m from your boat when you could have, with a careful turn of the UZO, spotted it at a safe range. You can detect ships via hydrophone at ~2X the distance that the AI (perfectly trained) will. Get the 16km visibility mod. It's essential. Surface visuals are pathetic without it. At 8k visibility (stock game) you might as well always run submerged.

So, every once and a while, drop from time compression, grab the uzo and scan the horizon, then drop to 60m, go to hydrophone, make sure the volume is maxed, _stop_ the engines and do a slow 360 scan. You'll find something. It's amazing how much is out there that the AI misses. I've been in the midst of 3 distant contacts with no report from my sonar man.



Kb

[Dimitrius07]

I totaly agree with Heibges tactics

[tbarak]

I'm on patrol 19 and I've never seen an enemy ship within my assigned patrol grid. Reaching that grid is usually done simply to get the renown, and I usually just sit in it for 24 hours, submerged and still to conserve fuel. Although you could I suppose patrol it submerged to conserve diesel.

Check the literature that came with the game, it has a map that shows the lanes the enemy ships and convoys take to and from England. It's then a simple matter of lurking near those lanes until the juicy merchants and convoys arrive. Otherwise look at the map, if you know your history then you know supplies moved back and forth from the US and Canada to Europe, and it's not hard to get a sense of where they would travel. There are only a couple of bottlenecks near England where they can travel to the various ports, and those are great hunting grounds.

And yes, the hydrophones are your best means of finding them from afar. GL Kaleun.