S-type challenge | Forums

[STS1Thndrb-low]

Has anybody started in an S-boat and had success, I have tried, but they are just too slow and not very sustainable. I am using a P-type(Hooyah Pike) and its pretty reliable, I think that S-type is my next venture. Maybe it will slow me down from sinking quite so much of an unrealistic one-patrol amount of tonnage(Pretty sure I am near the 100K club).

Thoughts, decisions?

Kick assery?

[fireftr18]

I like starting with the S-class. It is a challenge. You get very little tonnage and you need to be very careful. Most of the time, you can't dive below the thermal layer. It take about 5 patrols to get upgraded to a porpoise class.

[pnwdom]

I have no problem getting below the thermal layer in an s-class. In fact, its crush depth is deeper then any other boat in the basic game. I have had some good luck sailing in one. Usually just one or two ships per patrol, But one time that one ship was a Kongo BB.

[MWolfe1963]

I always start with an S boat, love them. Last battle I did with one was Coral Sea, I couldn't get ahead of the TF going 17 kts and fell behind, but they made the turn south and I got two torps in each carrier and finished them off after that.

Mods vary, but it's a slow boat on the surface and takes forever to charge batteries, but hits 10kts underwater. I don't agree with the crush depth statement being equal to other boats, I think the crush depth in TMO is around 400ft, stock would be less and I've never had a problem getting under thermal layers, the deeper TL's in the game are around 200ft.

[WernherVonTrapp]

Hmmmm, I think there's an echo in here.
Oh well, I always start with a S-Boat now. Yeah, they're a little more challenging, but they add more diversity to the game. They also help you to appreciate the slightest upgrade to a Porpoise class.

[captgeo]

​I start with the old S Class myself,every career.

[arekku255]

I start with an S-class every time.

Sure it's slow, no backwards tubes low crush depth.

But it starts right in the action, no trudging over the atlantic for months before getting to the action.
The added difficulty just adds to the fun, and the boat can stand on it's own.

Yestarday I encountered 2 destroyers moving away fast (relativly to an S-class). If I had one of the faster boats I could've easily cought up with them. But I didn't so I had to use some ingenuity, if I can't catch up with them I'll make them catch up with me. So I used the forward cannon (one of the big perks of an S-boat) to shoot at the closest destroyer trying to get its attention. I hit with several shots but eventually they caught on to me and stopped dead in their tracks, not the reaction I was hoping to but good enough.

So I nudged forwards trying to get a close range shot at the undamaged destroyer, which of course evaded

A backwards tube would've sure come in handy now but I managed to get it to drop sink bombs over me, back away from them and hit the destroyer shortly after.

Turning my attention to the remaining destroyer I noticed it had decided to make a run for it, so I decided to surface and finish it off with the deck gun. Which quickly dawned as a stupid idea when it fired back at me, back down under water. Thanks to the damage sustained at the begining of the encounter I managed to catch up with the destroyer even while submerged and another fish at close range from behind finished it off.

Continuing the game today I ran into a large task force at a bad angle, didn't manage to sink anything. Continued and ran into two more destroyers that I used my deck gun to get their attention, not scoring any hits. Submerged and managed to land a few lucky shots.

Funny thing is my mission is to destroy merchant shipping, and so far on this patrol I've sunk, if I recall correctly, 2 merchants, 2 cruisers and 8 destroyers.

[STS1Thndrb-low]

Funny thing is my mission is to destroy merchant shipping, and so far on this patrol I've sunk, if I recall correctly, 2 merchants, 2 cruisers and 8 destroyers.

I definitely noticed there are WAY more warships than merchants early in the war, my first patrol I was in the same category, if it weren't for the two transports I caught on my way back to port, I don't think I would have had any merchant tonnage. Which I guess makes sense historically, earlier in the war, their front had not been established and therefore the shipping lines were closer to home and not very stretched out. That being said, am I the only one who feels dirty going back to port to reload to go back out after more tonnage?

[weston14h]

I have played an entire career with an S-Boat using TMO/RSRDC. It gets a bit boring after you get transfered to Dutch Harbor, especially after the US retakes Kiska and Attu. When those are recaptured they just keep sending you to patrol off Paramushin...about the only place you can go with the amount of fuel the boat has.

[paulhager]

You can probably find some of my early postings on this forum starting with the S-class. Might have been my "Burt Lancaster" career - can't recall for certain. I was using TMO and RSRD. First time out I sank a couple of merchants but kept having to crash dive because of enemy aircraft. Sustained some minor damage and returned to port. On a subsequent patrol, I managed to sink a carrier in the first phases of Coral Sea and then stumbled onto and sank a second one while returning to base. Had to survive a depth charge attack from three DD's. Great fun.