Having read Leaf's post earlier I was concerned as I had saved the game at sea just east of the Labrador coast. Don't need any troubles out there. But it all went fine, so far. No patch related issues I can see.
Thanks wormfood. Sailors are notoriously superstitious, are we not? So I don't want to say too much about survival until it comes to an end one way or another. Being so far ahead of the tech curve is a massive lift no doubt. Like having a radar detector a year before the enemy has radar gives me a bit of a jump. I'll say too that the VIIC/41 is exceptional as things stand in this game. This career is on medium enemy difficulty. We've taken damage during this career, a few depth charges sprung leaks and smashed some machinery. The worst was when we rammed the tanker. Taking the naval gun round from our surprise "Q-ship" haha, should have been worse than it was.
We've been bombed or depth charged by planes quite a lot, but have until now either dived the boat in time, or since getting the Turm IV on the VIIC/41, shot them down. A team would change my tune, say a pair of planes like the jeep carriers used to do. A Wildcat and an Avenger. The fighter would strafe to kill or suppress the flak gunners and the Avenger would drop charges. At the first sign of strafing in this game I'll stop manning the guns. VLR Liberators will probably do the same. Radar detectors give ample warning and bearing so we have time to choose our course of action. The planes that have come the closest to sinking us were ones without radar that could get closer in lower visibility conditions.
Anyway, carriers must be with some convoys in the game so who knows what might be seen as the war gets on? I have yet to see any battleships or carriers outside of Scapa Flow.
On the way back from setting up the weather station we stopped off at U-492 to top off with fuel again and headed east in to the Black Pit stomping grounds of the past year. Found an inbound convoy and went to look it over. My determination to survive is making me more selective in what I take on. There are some very big convoys heavily escorted and solo attacks are perilous. If another U-Boat is in contact I will look to go in. This convoy though looked rather small, maybe 16 merchants and a ring of escorts including three destroyers. We had all torpedoes, six of which are acoustic. With full fuel we bent on the speed and ran an end-around, and pulled the plug for a dawn periscope attack. Came in front just abaft the lead destroyer's beam on the convoy's port flank. Fired two acoustics, one at the lead destroyer and one at the corvette on our flank from several thousand meters, which gives them a long run and me time to set up on some other ships. But the one fired at the lead destroyer instead peeled off in a different direction and eventually stopped a big freighter. The corvette had her screws blown off and was dead in the water. That let us get in to the center and we shot all torpedoes plus a few reloads.
Slipped off to the south, while a second convoy nearly ran us over. Waited for the warships to go over the hill and then put down six stopped ships with torpedo and gun. About 60k from this attack, and 80k on the patrol, not counting a number of warships. 42 days at sea. Refueled three times, and took torpedoes twice, but just six total. The convoy battle was so close to U-492 that I went back and grabbed four torpedoes and used one to sink an American T2 tanker sailing alone at 14 knots half way home. The T5s are great, but are a bit unpredictable where they will go in a convoy attack. There's no say straight run for 500m and then it turns. Immediately does so out of the tube if it sniffs anything. In one convoy attack in an earlier patrol I had one left in the stern tube and fired it off before turning and heading deep. Bad move. The torpedo turned and came back at us, and must have passed very close over the stern. Control room was about 30m deep at the point it passed overhead. What a way to go!
