UBOAT: How To Locate & Intercept Ships!

[@altostratus9342]

What an amazing video. I love how methodical this method is. Subbed. I share your love of games that cover periods of history. Looking forward to watching more of your content now that I've discovered your channel 😍. Cheers, and keep the great videos coming. It's criminal that you have +194,000 views on 44 videos but, so few subscribers!

[@RoboCharged]

Such a nice comment thank you I appreciate it! I'm glad you liked the video and my channel! I have Medieval Dynasty to thank for most of those views. I spent around 300 hrs building a village and it was what launched the channel. The lack of subs is likely due to poor video and audio quality and me taking a year off realizing I needed to save and invest in proper equipment. And finally take the plunge from console to the world of pc gaming. Also I was uploading some sports gaming videos as well so the channel had no clear focus. I had no clue how to edit videos and didn't even have a mic (just talked into my laptop one) or any way of capturing footage from my xbox at the time except streaming on twitch and then downloading it on my laptop haha. Now I have a full set up gaming pc, usb mic, dual monitors, proper software and have learned a lot! I'm really just now truly getting started so I'm excited! It's great to have you on board! Any suggestions for games to cover or ideas are welcome!

[@altostratus9342]

​@@RoboCharged lol ... I replied to your msg yesterday but, I got distracted and think I might not have posted it since I don't see it here. Let me try this again 🤪 Exciting to be at the beginning of a new endeavour with the right equipment. I'll be looking forward to seeing how your channel develops and grows 👍 As far as suggestions go for titles, all I can think of off the top of my head is Burden of Command which released a free playable demo on Stream with tutorials; it's scheduled for release in 1Q2025. It is a hex based WW2 RPG that focuses on platoon/squad leadership (trust, respect, morale and experience). There's another downloadable demo called "Scramble: Battle of Britain" that is a tactical WW2 turn based aerial battle in 3D space game. People are always searching for content on emerging or releasing games so if you can get on free to play alphas and betas where there is no NDA, you might have some current content that is in demand. Many have Discord channels and have a channel for content creators to post. I'm following an FPS on Discord that is just getting started called "Combat Journals - Vietnam" - they have a website and a Discord. Also checkout Steamcharts and see what, within the scope of what you like to cover, has a large and consistent player base and make content around those games. I'm not a content creator but, if I was that's what I would do. But, again, I have no experience and really, not even a clue, as to what works and doesn't ... lol.

[@RoboCharged]

@@altostratus9342 Cool thanks for the advice and ideas.! I actually wishlisted Scramble: Battle Of Britain when I came across it recently but I never saw those other two titles before. They look interesting I'll have to keep them on my radar! I got discord not that long ago but haven't been using it much yet like I should. I have spent time going over Steam charts on SteamDB and it is definitely a great resource! It helped me start a list of upcoming games ranked by the number of wishlists. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is at the top of that list right now. I like the alpha and beta suggestion, I'll have to look into that!

[@Mak10z]

Subbed! heh heh :)

[@Zammyfan_Gaming]

picked up the game last night, almost deleted it in frustration at this part, so glad i found this guide. Thanks very much.

[@RoboCharged]

No problem! I hope it helps make finding targets less frustrating for you!

[@saureco]

The game is worth more than its sale price.

[@RoboCharged]

@@saureco No doubt! Amazing value for such a good game that is a very recent full release.

[@dodg1988]

The uboatopedia just needs a direct link to this video. I want to love the game but I have been relying on AI and luck for everything and struggling. Thanks for this!

[@RoboCharged]

Thank you for the comment and for watching! Yeah this game has a pretty steep learning curve, especially if you are like me and have never played a subsim before. But it is a lot of fun for sure once you start to break through if you stick with it. Good luck!

[@detleffegers3780]

Most professional and straight-to-the-point videos I´ve seen so far about Uboat! Thank you

[@RoboCharged]

Thanks so much! I appreciate the comment! I'm glad you enjoyed them!

[@Yoda300YearsAgo]

Wonderful tutorial, many thanks. The fact I had to select 'dive schedule' for example or how you manually set an intercept course is invaluable.

[@syukrir.robert8994]

Amazing guide for those that didnt play hardcore. Makes my ship searching easier

[@JaySimmo]

Straight to the point, covered everything I was looking for. Thanks for a good video.

[@RoboCharged]

No problem! Thank you I'm happy it was able to help out!

[@user-tq3tc1rv6x]

great vid, totally simplified what was becoming an onerous game. Thanks.

[@RoboCharged]

That's great to hear so happy it helped!

[@jamesd688]

Great video, perfect level of detail to keep the advice concise and on point

[@RoboCharged]

Thanks!

[@DreadX10]

Good tutorial! The only things I do different is using the compass to draw the 7knots and 16 knots circles to plot the intercept course and besides using a standard 1-2 hours, I also keep in mind of daylight hours as I want to avoid them when attacking. So I would plot 3 hours ahead for the target if that is the time until sunset; then plot a course to that point using a reasonable speed to conserve fuel. Usually also plot two extra heading lines for the target if it is far away; mostly use +/- 10 degrees for heading-inaccuracy and this helps to if the target zig-zag's as you aim for an area and not a fixed point.

[@RoboCharged]

Thanks and good stuff! I really like the idea of taking into account day/night time when plotting your interception course. I've just always tried to get close enough to spot my target as fast as possible regardless of when it is day/night wise. And then from there if the timing isn't favorable I shadow it and have to wait and burn extra fuel as well haha.

[@paladinlv1]

This was awesome and what I needed, thanks!

[@RoboCharged]

So happy to hear it was able to help!

[@maverick290177]

Great video, thank you.

[@RoboCharged]

No problem thanks for watching!

[@Arthurmorgan99-rdr]

Sir you are a legend you earned a like and subscribe!!!

[@RoboCharged]

Thanks much appreciated!

[@food7479]

The fact that you can just get into a port and destroy several ships without having 12 Speedboats, 8 destroyers and 30 planes on you triggers me massively. They gotta make it high risk high reward.

[@RoboCharged]

Completely agree, I'd like to see it be much harder to pull off in general.

[@stump182]

Best video yet. Thank you.

[@MeabyDriver]

I believe another way to further mazimize your listening range is to have your boat go on alarm and your captain or another officer with the "Leader" skill go on their command station duty, with assigned crew members. I'm unsure if the range increase is equal to that of the periscope increase which you can boost by up to 30% this way with 3 assigned officers to just one Leader. If you edit your crewmen's shifts and have more crew members to assign officers, more officers with the leader skill and on command station you could further increase your range to a ridiculous amount. I believe the maximum is having 3 Leaders on command station with 3 sailors attached each for a potential cumulative: 1.3 x 1.3 x 1.3 = 2.197 = 220% range increase

[@syukrir.robert8994]

Autocheck hydro is useful for detecting any hidden ships around you, especially in enemy territory.

[@chaserk2185]

Can you do a tutorial video using the attack disk in game and show some examples of how to use it?

[@RoboCharged]

To my knowledge there is no attack disk in the game. I know there is a mod for it but I've never tried it yet or used one.

[@chaserk2185]

@ I’m referring to the mod

[@molybdaen11]

I just make 15 min hydrophone checks every 2h or so until I find a target. Observing ships is quite important especially when they have the wrong flag and you have to know where they are going to. By doing a check every 1-2h you also know the speed of thr convoi which can save some time later.

[@nidhalsadfi7984]

Deserve a subscribe and a like and a share perfect video we need you more than you imagine hero!

[@RoboCharged]

Thanks so much that's all very appreciated!

[@M0N0K0I]

Ausgezeichnet! This guide covered just what I was looking for. o7

[@RoboCharged]

Awesome I'm glad it was useful!

[@Yoda300YearsAgo]

How do you manage your radio guy not to go to sleep in order not to loose your target? Just adapt in the schedule or set an alarm?

[@RoboCharged]

I pretty much always get a 2nd one asap. When you earn your first reputation point which doesn't take long you can then ask the guy you get your missions from for a favor and then unlock Specialized Crew I. That will increase your officer limit to 6 and allow you to recruit or promote a 2nd radio man who you can keep on the opposite shift as the first one to ensure you always have one good to go.

[@Mak10z]

THATS why they wern't following the dive sched. Thanks much :) they need yo hire you to do their in game tutorials!

[@barcotics1880]

alternatively (and what i prefer) is i dive and listen for 30 minutes to an hour to determine course and then eyeball an intercept course

[@ToreDL87]

Obviously best if you go to the shipping lanes, so get to those, then start a routine where you dive every 1-2 hours, you'll find them. Then you'll also learn how to take 2 bearings and figure out course and speed (fk if I'mma write the whole thing here). Early war there's ships everywhere, I've made a carpet of wrecks littering the oceanfloor between England and everywhere else. But you gotta wait for upwards of 1-2 weeks before it explodes. Mid-late war get to the shipping lanes, and again, I think you have to wait a week or two for them to get fully populated.

[@erlantzml7135]

Alarm status, captain with 3 sailors, and an officer with 2 also add to the range.

[@RoboCharged]

Thanks I wasn't aware of that! How do you give the captain 3 sailors? I've always thought 2 was the max.

[@erlantzml7135]

@@RoboCharged it is a leader skill you can choose while leveling; "management"

[@bads197]

First mission.. fired all torpedoes and missed.. chose to do second mission and forgot to get torpedoes in port.. third mission fired all torpedoes and missed.. surfaced and tried to use gun.. couldnt figure out how to do it.. got sunk. Almost put fist through my monitor while yelling at it. Started watching your videos and grabbed a beer..

[@RoboCharged]

Hopefully they can help! Haha ya this game can definitely provoke the "I need a beer" feeling! To use the gun hold tab and then you can assign your captain or chief officer to it from a drop down list when hovering over them. You can then take control and fire yourself or have them attack the ship.

[@albertpietrosanu2667]

Wondefull explain.

[@RoboCharged]

Thanks I hope it was useful!

[@kawasaki3p857]

thanks for the nice explanation.. o7

[@RoboCharged]

No problem thanks for watching!

[@jeffreyestahl]

I've taken to marking every contact cone with a point like this (Convoy: c, Warship: w, Report: r) - c1 (hh:mm)[#ships or range]: c(Course), s(Speed). Then there's no need to time, though the math is a bit more complex. If D = Distance between points and M = # of minutes between the points, the speed s = the convoy becomes D/M*60/2 to get kts.

[@RoboCharged]

Nice! I like the sound of that method as well!

[@jeffreyestahl]

@@RoboCharged Math - FTW.

[@RoboCharged]

@@jeffreyestahl haha Indeed. As I'm sure you know there's some good things you can do with Trigonometry to find an interception course as well, but I've only slightly delved into that stuff myself. If the goal is to approach a ship from a 90 degree angle then you just need to find it's course line. Since you know the other 2 angles always need to add up to 90 degrees as well for a total of 180. Then you can use the protractor to find the AOB to it's position and then subtract that from 90 to find the degree you'd need to head in to intercept it. I tried that once as a way to do it without even calculating a speed and it worked out.

[@jeffreyestahl]

@@RoboCharged Of Trigonometry is wonderful. I'm a Mathematician and ex Math-Teacher!!

[@RoboCharged]

@@jeffreyestahl Damn well I'm certainly way out of my depth discussing any of this with you then lol! I just want to get to a point where I can find ships without them being shown on the map in full realism difficulty. But I took a break lately from playing this game waiting for the skipper mode to hopefully be finished.

[@Idkrlly-r7k]

Ive survived 3 years starting from 1939 in u-48 and i havent used any of these yet

[@michaelmorrigan614]

I have 2 radio officers on 12 hour shifts lol i got tired of my radioman never being available when i needed him most. Now i always have one 😅

[@RoboCharged]

haha ya good point that is so damn annoying! I get a 2nd radio man as soon as possible as well and keep them on opposite shifts.

[@michaelmorrigan614]

@@RoboCharged also since they don't need 12 hours of rest, I usually have them doing 4 hours of just helping with anything before resting. When i started learning the scheduling/priority system, I started having fun just managing the crew. Its a whole other system in the game by itself lol

[@RoboCharged]

@@michaelmorrigan614 Nice! Yeah it seems like quite an elaborate system! I honestly haven't looked into it yet all that much. I watched a video and mostly copied what was suggested with a few minor tweaks. I kind of want to start checking out some mods like the expanded crew one but I've been trying to learn the base game first. And figure most mods aren't compatible with the full release version yet.

[@kubejunkie]

Yes, I share the frustration with having only one radio man. Once I get my second, they turn into a hydrophone specialist and a radio specialist. Then they work 4hr on 2 hr off shifts corresponding to the dive schedule. Hydrophone specialist sleeps when surfaced, radioman awake for the hour on each side of the surface time. That's worked well for me and still has decent recovery time for extended alarm status. The scheduling can be pretty cool even with basic crew settings. I haven't even tried the extended crew option yet. I hope to see a video from you about it when you get a feel for it @RoboCharged.

[@michaelmorrigan614]

@@kubejunkie that actually sounds kinda interesting. I have yet to set up a dive schedule. Does it automatically do hydrophone checks? Because that would save me from clicking the button so frequently

[@quintijnnagtegaal3543]

Great tutorial, just unfortunate you use km's with knots😢

[@nolopyllo1746]

8:03 You have let an hour go by on the stopwatch, not half an hour ....

[@RoboCharged]

It was only a half hour...if you look at the in-game time up at the top left it went from 21:24 to 21:55. It's hard to see but in that small circle on the stopwatch 6 o'clock is 15 and 12 o'clock is 30.

[@bads197]

Watched a few videos.. nope 5 more torpedoes gone and missed every one of them. Wanted to like the game but my monitor i like more.

[@RoboCharged]

Haha that's understandable! Ya there is definitely a steep learning curve involved with this game. I recommend saving right before setting up a torpedo solution once you are in good position to attack a ship. Then you can just keep quickly reloading it and practicing the same shot until you feel confident in hitting it and figure things out. After doing that with a couple different looks at ships you'll start to get a better sort of feel for it.

[@mikewood4242]

Lately I cant even find any ships or convoys at all

[@RoboCharged]

Just as of late? Is that still the case?

[@saureco]

Keep your radio man at the radio to listen for reports from other uboats. You'll rarely come across them yourself unless you're doing long range listening on the hydrophones.

[@lrgege5854]

And here it is noob mode, I was thinking its proper map