How to conserve fuel? | Forums

[psychp0]

So I'm stationed at Pearl, but my missions frequently take me to the west side of the Phillipines and Luzon area. With Manila out of commission that means the closest base to refit is Brisbane which is still 4500 nm from Pearl. How am I suppose to make it? The ship doesn't want to travel that far on diesel. Should I be using battery and diesel for the trip across?

What are other ways to conserve fuel?

THANKS!

[veovis39]

Travel with 2/3 speed and you should make it to Australia just fine.

[psychp0]

Didn't make it. Ran out of fuel with 700nm to go. bummer. Had to put in super-fast time and go to periscope depth (off batteris) then back up to surface to recharge. God that was frustrating with all the clocks stops for "contact..."

[veovis39]

Really? What class of boat are you commanding? And do you have the 1.1 patch?

I got a very crippled Sargo class boat back to Pearl on 2/3 after refueling in Brisbane.

[KrazyKyle84]

Well, try half speed, then. Or even 1/3 or a 1/4 speed. I don't have the game (yet ), but certain things almost always ring true when it comes to fuel mileage, with one of those tenets being vitally important for your dilemma. Slower speeds = greater fuel efficency. I seem to remember using 1/2 speed in SH4, when I'd cruise around Great Britain searching for prey. I never had many fuel problems, mind you, as I used a Type IXD2, but it did save me a considerable volume of fuel, and it is much more realistic to boot.

So, anyways, I hope I helped

[veovis39]

There is no half or quarter speed. 1/3 speed is actually less fuel efficient than 2/3.

[KrazyKyle84]

Really?

That's bad, isn't it?

[veovis39]

Well I better keep up my habit of every other reply.

That's bad, isn't it?

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying that's bad because it's a bug? It's working as it should.

In any case, with any combustion engine, traveling at the minimum speed is never going to be the most fuel efficient. Engines take a certain amount of power just to idle, and a certain amount to overcome the forces of friction that act on any vehicle - in this case, from the water. If you're only putting 1/3 of the engine's power to work, a much higher proportion of that will be wasted combating friction when compared to 2/3 power.

Here's something that won't help you at all: if you were to graph fuel efficiency, it would look very similar to a graph of net photsynthesis vs temperature! (I'm a forestry major and I'm doing homework... or I was, till I wasted even more time on these boards)

[tuddley3]

Dont forget to submerge and use batteries instead of Diesel, just surface long enough to recharge batteries and replenish your O2

[KrazyKyle84]

I was actually thinking something similiar, but for brevity's sake (and because I actually expected this very situation) I decided not to mention it.

So, where's half speed, then?