please help me with this | Forums

[chinch123]

i started a campaign yesterday and did two missions already, in the first i torpedoed down one large uk cargo ship and in the next i went home again without having found a target, instead i had a short fight with a uk bomber who attacked me all alone, my crew tried to shoot him with flak until his bombs hit the water only a few feet away from us, so we crash dived and hit the dirt.
uh, now my question concerns the fuel management, because my fuel ALWAYS is empty after im on my way home... what am i doing wrong?

[chinch123]

i started a campaign yesterday and did two missions already, in the first i torpedoed down one large uk cargo ship and in the next i went home again without having found a target, instead i had a short fight with a uk bomber who attacked me all alone, my crew tried to shoot him with flak until his bombs hit the water only a few feet away from us, so we crash dived and hit the dirt.
uh, now my question concerns the fuel management, because my fuel ALWAYS is empty after im on my way home... what am i doing wrong?

[GoldenEagle8]

try slowing down, you use less fule that way.

[wm4668]

How fast are you going to your patrol area? Remember that when you set off from port, if you hit "Resume Plotted Course", the NO will set you off at Ahead Standard. Maybe if you cruise to your patrol area @ Ahead 1/3 (Approx 10kt in a Type VII), you should have ample fuel for your outbound trip, search and destroy and then RTB. For longer trips, reduce speed to conserve fuel. I frequently check the NO reports on Distance to Course End and Max Range at Current Speed.. Tinkering with speed by a Knot or 2 can increase range quite dramatically.

[Swampy1961]

I have found that the best fuel consumption figures seem to come from setting 7 knots in the type II boats and 9 knots in the VII and IX. Can take an age to get to your patrol zone though.

[froschman]

At what speed do you run to/from the patrol area? If you run at full speed, you will use up the diesel fuel pretty quick. Use 7-10 knots (ahead slow or ahead 1/3) when you are just travelling on the surface. Use the higher speeds only when needed for catching something, or for getting away quickly.

The navigator can tell you the maximum range at the current speed, check different speeds! If you plot your way home, he can also tell you the range to course end, so you can check which speed you may use on your way home.

[geoffwessex]

This Forum is amazing! Four replies within 17 minutes! I expect Chinch will be waiting until tomorrow before checking again.

[bf2player2006]

when i went on patrol to am18 i went at ahead flank all times and before i even got there my fuel was already less than half and going back to port i chose to go north of scapa flow cause the eng ch. is a pain with alot of DD's and i was all times using the battery then recharge with diesel and battery again and i almost made it i was about
40 miles away from kiel and the kiel canal didnt exist by then (running vanilla sh3) i ended up ending the mission and i dind get a **** of renown i gots during the patrol. very frustrating.
P.S. sry for long post

[hueywolf123]

Before you leave port, roughly plot your course there and back, this can be erased once you get going.
You the, once under way, click your navigators head, then use the pop-up menu. With this you will be told your maximum range at current speed etc, if it will be close, then slow down as you will need extra for charging into convoys or speeding away from danger etc

[tuddley3]

I also stay submerged 85% of the time(From 6am to 12 Midnight), and only surface to charge batteries, plus being submerged helps to get more contacts.