Your first officer gives you the key to the mission - sink the destroyers - that's all you have to do to win - there are 2 of them.
Briefing Room United States of America
Post a replyUsn - Sub Mission #8 (lionfish Sink The...)
16 posts
East,
Roger.... see my post under General Topics RE: Patches and more Patches
Jaeden
Roger.... see my post under General Topics RE: Patches and more Patches
Jaeden
Ahoy there mates,
Fleet Commander was right, misson #9 in US Submarine Campaign can be defeated by his tactics even though 8 Destroyers reign down upon you in a firestorm. After 22 tries on this mission and pulling out half my hair, I finally beat it with the advice from EAST. Thanks! My log is as follows:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is not necessary to sink all the destroys to move on to the next level. However, you need only to sink the destroyers which their names start with (DD Alliance Class) and there are only 2 of them. The other ones that start with DE are irrelevant and are only agitations in your quest to finish this mission. The reason why this is important is because of who is onboard these ships. A Commodore and and a Captain. The heads of their fleet command vessels. All other vessels have junior grade officers and the AI does not coordinate sub attacks very well if the haed commanders are dead or sunk. Which makes the evasion easier.
My strategy was to immediately press the pause key upon entering the play mode. Now hit your crash dive, then set your speed to full ahead flank and set direction on the compass to exact opposite (going away from) the Destroyers. Now set your depth to 12-15 meters. Now un-pause the game. While you are rigging to dive your sub will be moving and about 80% of the time you can dive without receiving any hits from the destroyers, but you have to be moving and diving at the same time.
Once submerged, while your vessel is steering to its bearing (away, fleeing), pull back on the throttle to ahead 1/3 to preserve your batteries and allow the destroyers to catch up to you. In this case, this is a good thing, you want them to catch up to you. That makes it easier to blow them out of the water. If you take pop shots at them from a distance (stern tubes) while they are persuing, you are wasting your torps, 90% of the time they will avoid them at over 1000 meters even if send a good spread at them.
Now pull up your tac display and find the DD vessels in the formation and memorize thier locations. Most of the time, the DD boats will be on the North side of the formation. Here is something you need to be aware of, once you send a spread of stern torps toward either of the DD boats, then the AI tells the other DE boats to run screens for them. They adjust bearing to absorb your torps to avoid damage to the intended targets. So make sure the DE boats do not get into the way when you are targeting the DD boats. Simply, the DE boats will run in front of the DD boats to protect them. You know there is a commodore and a Captain on them.
Now wait until the nearest DD boat is about 500-750 meters behind you, increase throttle to full ahead flank again and bring your depth up to 10 meters just in case the waters are choppy, we want to avoid water comming up over the periscope while we are configuring the stern shots. Most times you only get one good opportunity to sink the first DD boat before the other boats are dropping depth charges on you. Throttling up is not for speed, but instead to make your sub turn faster when the DD Boat makes his turn. Set your periscope magnification to 1 and line up the periscope on the DD and fire only 1 torp at it to get it to turn to avoid the hit. As soon as you see which direction he turns, then immediately turn your sub in the opposite direction. If he turns port, you turn starboard. This turns your stern tubes into his turn and allows you plant several fish into his belly. Do not allow more than 3 seconds before firing the 2,3 and 4 tubes at it, If you wait longer then he will correct course again and you first shot was a wasted torp. Most time it takes 3 fish to sink an Alliance Class Destroyer. The US Sub (lionfish) only has 4 stern tubes and 4 bow tubes, and you will need all 4 shots to sink the approaching DD Destroyer.
Now things get a little hairy. AS SOON as you fire the last torp on the stern tube don't wait to see him sink. Immediately pull down persicope and set depth for 15-18 meters. Those Destroyers will make a turn and plant torps into you if you don't dive below them. Change course to the South about 75-90% full ahead flank. This will cause the closing DE Destroyers to overshot your position and drop their charges in the wrong place. DO NOT PULL UP YOUR PERISCOPE while close to the surface, this will cause many torps to be fired at you. The Destroyers will fire their deck guns at you, but at a depth of 15-18 meters it is in-effective, but they make for pretty spalses in the water. Now hit your F5 key to view the outside of you vessel. Use this view to see the vessels passing overhead. If you were lucky enough to sink the first DD boat, then the Ai will adjust their strategy and now try coming in from you side. This is good for you because they have to target you based upon your speed. Switch back and forth between the F5 view and the 500 meter tac display to keep up with incoming vessels, this is the approach that cause you to sink them. Keep your bearing straight while they approach, but when they get 250-300 meters from the front of your vessel, then reverse throttle to full reverse and set your depth to 10-12 meters. This will tilt the front of your sub upward and allow for a closer shot. This also causes the destroyer to drop his charges ahead of you, but it won't matter to you, because your reverse engines are causing you to retreat away from the depth charges. Hit the F5 key and estimate manually how long it will take your torps to hit the Destroyer passing in front of you. When you feel the time is right, fire 3 torps in rapid succession while your bow is pointed upward. If you time it right, the boat falls to the bottom faster than you can say "Peter Pan". Now immediately set your throttle back to ahead 1/3 and adjust course away from the remaining vessels. This is the duck and roll technique for subs at it's finest.
Once you adjust depth back to 10 meters, raise your periscope to allow the destroyers to turn broadside to shoot at you. Once this happens, they make nice targets for your bow and stern tubes. Sometimes you can take out 2 at a time as they have you surrounded by now. Use the periscope display to concentarte on the last DD boat. When your crosshairs cross over the DD boat then you will know it because the boat name appears in the LCD at the bottom of the tac.. That is the vessel you need to concentarte your torps on (REMEMBER it takes 3 hits to sink it). Don't stay too long with your pericope up as the destroyers will only shoot torps at you when they see your periscope out of the water. If they can't see your periscope then all they shoot at you are deck guns or drop charges.
Now ensues the cat and mouse game, keep adjusting your bearing and depth to stay one step ahead of the approaching destroyers. If they try to flank you again, remember to use your F5 exterior view to fire your stern tubes on their approach. Don't waste your torps, make sure of your shots before you make them. You only have 32 torps in the mission. NEVER EVER come to a complete stop, if you do you are dead. Never ever keep the same bearing for more than 3 minutes after they have you surrounded. Most times you can use your tac display to find the holes in their strabglehold. Use those holes to bust out at 8 knots.
With this strategy, you can sink surface ships no matter which class they are until you run out of torps. Under no circumstances should you surface in this mission if you want to survive. However, the destroyers make for faster game play and allows for minimal mistakes. Keep ducking and rolling until you have eliminated BOTH DD Dsetroyers. However, in the process, you may have to take out some other ships in the process to free up the path for your torps to hit the desired DD boats, as you can see from my log above, I took out 2 of them before finishing off the mission.
You may have to switch between the pop-up to periscope depth and fire 4 AND bow tilting fire 4 to succeed. If you are an experienced sub commander then you will know when to do each respectively based upon the circumstances.
In this mission you are on the ropes, and there is only just a few ways to fight your way out. Your technique for finishing this mission may differ from mine, but mine works just as well to proceed on in the campaign.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
CMDR Black Eagle
Commander US LionFish
Fleet Commander was right, misson #9 in US Submarine Campaign can be defeated by his tactics even though 8 Destroyers reign down upon you in a firestorm. After 22 tries on this mission and pulling out half my hair, I finally beat it with the advice from EAST. Thanks! My log is as follows:
Code: Select all
USA Submarine Mission 8
(USS LIONFISH) Sink the freighters. Have fun.
15:00:35 - Mission started at 39.30.2N, 15.8.23W
15:00:39 - Spotted a League destroyer escort at 39.28.55N, 15.6.48W
15:11:14 - Destroyed DE3 with a torpedo WSW at 147 meters.
15:13:37 - Destroyed DD1 with a torpedo NNW at 335 meters.
15:17:26 - Destroyed DE8 with a torpedo NE at 157 meters.
15:23:49 - Destroyed DD2 with a torpedo ENE at 435 meters.
15:23:58 - Mission completed at 39.30.34N, 15.9.37W
Planes Destroyed: 0
Ships Sunk: 4
Total Tonnage Sunk: 10440
Good work, Lionfish. You're to be commended. That's a close shave if we've ever heard of one. Only the best captains and crews beat the odds in those situations.It is not necessary to sink all the destroys to move on to the next level. However, you need only to sink the destroyers which their names start with (DD Alliance Class) and there are only 2 of them. The other ones that start with DE are irrelevant and are only agitations in your quest to finish this mission. The reason why this is important is because of who is onboard these ships. A Commodore and and a Captain. The heads of their fleet command vessels. All other vessels have junior grade officers and the AI does not coordinate sub attacks very well if the haed commanders are dead or sunk. Which makes the evasion easier.
My strategy was to immediately press the pause key upon entering the play mode. Now hit your crash dive, then set your speed to full ahead flank and set direction on the compass to exact opposite (going away from) the Destroyers. Now set your depth to 12-15 meters. Now un-pause the game. While you are rigging to dive your sub will be moving and about 80% of the time you can dive without receiving any hits from the destroyers, but you have to be moving and diving at the same time.
Once submerged, while your vessel is steering to its bearing (away, fleeing), pull back on the throttle to ahead 1/3 to preserve your batteries and allow the destroyers to catch up to you. In this case, this is a good thing, you want them to catch up to you. That makes it easier to blow them out of the water. If you take pop shots at them from a distance (stern tubes) while they are persuing, you are wasting your torps, 90% of the time they will avoid them at over 1000 meters even if send a good spread at them.
Now pull up your tac display and find the DD vessels in the formation and memorize thier locations. Most of the time, the DD boats will be on the North side of the formation. Here is something you need to be aware of, once you send a spread of stern torps toward either of the DD boats, then the AI tells the other DE boats to run screens for them. They adjust bearing to absorb your torps to avoid damage to the intended targets. So make sure the DE boats do not get into the way when you are targeting the DD boats. Simply, the DE boats will run in front of the DD boats to protect them. You know there is a commodore and a Captain on them.
Now wait until the nearest DD boat is about 500-750 meters behind you, increase throttle to full ahead flank again and bring your depth up to 10 meters just in case the waters are choppy, we want to avoid water comming up over the periscope while we are configuring the stern shots. Most times you only get one good opportunity to sink the first DD boat before the other boats are dropping depth charges on you. Throttling up is not for speed, but instead to make your sub turn faster when the DD Boat makes his turn. Set your periscope magnification to 1 and line up the periscope on the DD and fire only 1 torp at it to get it to turn to avoid the hit. As soon as you see which direction he turns, then immediately turn your sub in the opposite direction. If he turns port, you turn starboard. This turns your stern tubes into his turn and allows you plant several fish into his belly. Do not allow more than 3 seconds before firing the 2,3 and 4 tubes at it, If you wait longer then he will correct course again and you first shot was a wasted torp. Most time it takes 3 fish to sink an Alliance Class Destroyer. The US Sub (lionfish) only has 4 stern tubes and 4 bow tubes, and you will need all 4 shots to sink the approaching DD Destroyer.
Now things get a little hairy. AS SOON as you fire the last torp on the stern tube don't wait to see him sink. Immediately pull down persicope and set depth for 15-18 meters. Those Destroyers will make a turn and plant torps into you if you don't dive below them. Change course to the South about 75-90% full ahead flank. This will cause the closing DE Destroyers to overshot your position and drop their charges in the wrong place. DO NOT PULL UP YOUR PERISCOPE while close to the surface, this will cause many torps to be fired at you. The Destroyers will fire their deck guns at you, but at a depth of 15-18 meters it is in-effective, but they make for pretty spalses in the water. Now hit your F5 key to view the outside of you vessel. Use this view to see the vessels passing overhead. If you were lucky enough to sink the first DD boat, then the Ai will adjust their strategy and now try coming in from you side. This is good for you because they have to target you based upon your speed. Switch back and forth between the F5 view and the 500 meter tac display to keep up with incoming vessels, this is the approach that cause you to sink them. Keep your bearing straight while they approach, but when they get 250-300 meters from the front of your vessel, then reverse throttle to full reverse and set your depth to 10-12 meters. This will tilt the front of your sub upward and allow for a closer shot. This also causes the destroyer to drop his charges ahead of you, but it won't matter to you, because your reverse engines are causing you to retreat away from the depth charges. Hit the F5 key and estimate manually how long it will take your torps to hit the Destroyer passing in front of you. When you feel the time is right, fire 3 torps in rapid succession while your bow is pointed upward. If you time it right, the boat falls to the bottom faster than you can say "Peter Pan". Now immediately set your throttle back to ahead 1/3 and adjust course away from the remaining vessels. This is the duck and roll technique for subs at it's finest.
Once you adjust depth back to 10 meters, raise your periscope to allow the destroyers to turn broadside to shoot at you. Once this happens, they make nice targets for your bow and stern tubes. Sometimes you can take out 2 at a time as they have you surrounded by now. Use the periscope display to concentarte on the last DD boat. When your crosshairs cross over the DD boat then you will know it because the boat name appears in the LCD at the bottom of the tac.. That is the vessel you need to concentarte your torps on (REMEMBER it takes 3 hits to sink it). Don't stay too long with your pericope up as the destroyers will only shoot torps at you when they see your periscope out of the water. If they can't see your periscope then all they shoot at you are deck guns or drop charges.
Now ensues the cat and mouse game, keep adjusting your bearing and depth to stay one step ahead of the approaching destroyers. If they try to flank you again, remember to use your F5 exterior view to fire your stern tubes on their approach. Don't waste your torps, make sure of your shots before you make them. You only have 32 torps in the mission. NEVER EVER come to a complete stop, if you do you are dead. Never ever keep the same bearing for more than 3 minutes after they have you surrounded. Most times you can use your tac display to find the holes in their strabglehold. Use those holes to bust out at 8 knots.
With this strategy, you can sink surface ships no matter which class they are until you run out of torps. Under no circumstances should you surface in this mission if you want to survive. However, the destroyers make for faster game play and allows for minimal mistakes. Keep ducking and rolling until you have eliminated BOTH DD Dsetroyers. However, in the process, you may have to take out some other ships in the process to free up the path for your torps to hit the desired DD boats, as you can see from my log above, I took out 2 of them before finishing off the mission.
You may have to switch between the pop-up to periscope depth and fire 4 AND bow tilting fire 4 to succeed. If you are an experienced sub commander then you will know when to do each respectively based upon the circumstances.
In this mission you are on the ropes, and there is only just a few ways to fight your way out. Your technique for finishing this mission may differ from mine, but mine works just as well to proceed on in the campaign.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
CMDR Black Eagle
Commander US LionFish
Really excellent description.
EAST, Thank You! I have the mission memorized after 22 attempts. Really excellent Sim on your part. I enjoy it very much. As soon as high speed access is available in my area, I intend on accessing online multiplayer games and really show what I can do in real time. Looking forward to that. 
However, I made an error in the first paragragh, I stated Mission #9, In essence it is mission #8. Sorry for the mistake. It won't happen again.
CMDR Black Eagle
Commander US LionFish
However, I made an error in the first paragragh, I stated Mission #9, In essence it is mission #8. Sorry for the mistake. It won't happen again.
CMDR Black Eagle
Commander US LionFish
I nailed it on my 7th try.
---
The difficulty I had with this one in the beginning was that my stradegy for sinking destroyers was wrong. I had been applying my stradegy for sinking corvettes. Didn't work for me.
I got my butt kicked, read the post here, and returned to "sea". I took an offensive stance and attacked first, launching torpedoes I knew would miss. I've noticed the destroyers' firing solution is to get parallel with you and send a torp your way. As it's been mentioned time and time again, at 15 meters they miss. My stradegy was to keep changing speed and rudder position and focus only on the two Alliance classes. I used a lot of pivots. Be wary of other ships as well. Once you fire torps, go to Periscope so you can see the sonar scope and look out for bastards willing to ram you.
Playing On Patrol Submarine is a good training exercise. You only have 26 torps in Difficult mode and plenty of enemy. If you can sink one DD on this mission, Mission 8 will be a breeze.
Code: Select all
USA Submarine Mission 8
(USS LIONFISH) Sink the freighters. Have fun.
15:45:38 - Mission started at 39.30.51N, 15.7.9W
15:56:26 - Destroyed DD50 with a torpedo SSW at 260 meters.
16:04:40 - Destroyed DD51 with a torpedo E at 182 meters.
16:04:48 - Mission completed at 39.31.56N, 15.7.19W
Planes Destroyed: 0
Ships Sunk: 2
Total Tonnage Sunk: 5220
Good work, Lionfish. You're to be commended. That's a close shave if we've ever heard of one. Only the best captains and crews beat the odds in those situations.The difficulty I had with this one in the beginning was that my stradegy for sinking destroyers was wrong. I had been applying my stradegy for sinking corvettes. Didn't work for me.
I got my butt kicked, read the post here, and returned to "sea". I took an offensive stance and attacked first, launching torpedoes I knew would miss. I've noticed the destroyers' firing solution is to get parallel with you and send a torp your way. As it's been mentioned time and time again, at 15 meters they miss. My stradegy was to keep changing speed and rudder position and focus only on the two Alliance classes. I used a lot of pivots. Be wary of other ships as well. Once you fire torps, go to Periscope so you can see the sonar scope and look out for bastards willing to ram you.
Playing On Patrol Submarine is a good training exercise. You only have 26 torps in Difficult mode and plenty of enemy. If you can sink one DD on this mission, Mission 8 will be a breeze.