Depth Charges -- DC -- Whenever a small ship passes near you, you should consider critical dive. It takes longer for a DC to explode then it takes you to reach max crit dive. Unless you are asleep, you should always be able to dodge them.

HedgeHogs -- HH -- are much more problematic. You will not be able to dive beneath them and a tight HH hit will almost certainly kill you.

Couple of things you should always consider.

#1 Never let a FF or DD which appears as ASW get near you. I often forgo an immediate BB attack to destroy a FF or DD charging me. Use the same tactic as a sub, launching the torpedoes early enough to have them explode near the ship. At a minimum, I shoot three shots, one where I think he is going to be and one on either side of this track. A good ship driver will dodge a one shot. If he is fast or I don't have a good shot, I will shoot more than one.
You want to hit these not because they will kill you, but because they will provide sighting for the BBs with the large groupings of HHs. They will be the ones to kill you.

#2 After launching a torpedo strike against a BB it is good to either change course or crit dive. When a BB sees your torpedo launch, he will assume where you sub is and then launch HHs to that point. Either one of these tactics will reduce the damage you take. If after your first shot, no one retaliates, you will no that the ships in your area are not armed with HHs.

#3 Don't be afraid to stay in crit dive beyond the initial attack. When in crit dive, the ASW ship can not see you. If you stay down long enough, they will assume they killed you.
I had one time I was in the middle of the southern BB group with lots of air. An ASW ship got the jump on me and dropped four DCs on top. Luckily, I was fast enough with the crit dive and he did no damage. Well, there was a Nebby I really wanted, but knew that ASW ship would get me, so I stayed in crit dive for what seemed to be a long time. Eventually, the ASW turned north, probably to kill another one of my team's subs. After he was out of his sonar range I came back up and pumped 14 torps into the BB6. I can just imagine how frustrated that ASW ship captain must have been!

Having a high SD really helps.

Some General Tactic Thoughts:

At the start of a game, I will pick one of several tactics depending upon the number and quality of subs, ASW, BBs, and clouds. 

Stealth mode:  Go under before enemey scouts see me.  + Can surprise the enemy great and ASW doesn't know where I am  - Loss of Air more quickly.

ASW mode:  I stay back and guard my BBs from enemy SS.  Good to do with Stealth Mode.  +BBs love you, stay alive longer in the game  - Have less influence on team winning (sometimes) as you can't get that prime BB5/6 early to help your BBs. 

I am too good, just try to get me (IATGJTOGM) Mode:  In this case, you stay on the surface as much as possible, to perserve your air until you really want it.  this is good with the higher subs and a high SD as you can take a lot of hits before slowing down.  This tactic is good when there is less enemy ASW as they will hunt you down if they know where you are.

A good tactic with this is the Porpoise mode where you go under and then come up for short periods of time, limiting the number of BB shells taken, while perserving air and frustrating the enemy.  Especially effective with a high Planesman.  

Rush Mode:  In this case you are rushing the BBs.  If you want to help your team win the game, this is the probably the best strategy, given little ASW defense.  The more ASW, the less effective you will be.  The more enemy subs, the more likely the BBs will be alert to your attack.  The key here is to destroy a high level BB before he can take out your team.  If you do this, you have a high likelihood of winning the game for your team.  Typically, you will rush North or South aiming for the best point to intercept the BBs with the least amount of turns.  Some effective options to this strategy when doing this:

    Fake out:  Typically done when using the IATGJTOGM or Porpoise mode.  Show yourself as going one way on the surface, and then as soon as you dive, make a course correction.  Then the BBs and ASW will be expecting you in one place, but you will not be there. 

   Support attack mode:  If you have good BBs who seem to be able to take on the main enemy BB, cut this BB off from support.  This is most effective if you can kill any lower level BBs coming to support him.  For example, there is a BB5 in the south.  A couple of BB3/4's move from the north, southward to help in the fight.  You stay nearer to the center of the board (dodging ASW support with BB5 or rushing enemy subs to the south).  As the other BBs move south, you take them out.  Then, as your air supply dies, you either move to try to take out CVs or return to your line (good, if your team is losing on the opposite side of the board.

    Scout mode:  Often you may match up with a great BB player on your side of the board.  In this case, just being able to see the enemy BBs might be enough to win the game.  Never discount the scouting you can do, when the enemy has a high level FW CV.      

what the crew for ss?

i know it suppose to have
1 BO
2 torpedo man
1 planesman
1 sonarman

?? engie
?? reps
?? rest

whats the difference between the spc torpman (60) and fast torpman (64) classing? is one generally considered better than the other?

The "Hyper Torpedo" operator allows you to use one special surface torpedo, which is slow but does a lot of damage. Typically, everyone goes the other route and gets the extra bonuses for the Torpedo skill. For subs, the hyper torpedo operator is worthless.

SS5 discussion.

This sub changes game play big time! It is probably the hardest ship to play in Navy Field (if played right). Alot of players treat it like an HEI, but if you are going to do that, you will more fun in an HEI. If you can use the TBs to your advantage you will have a blast.

First a couple of highlights:
- Very cool looking sub.
- Carries 7 support slots plus a gun slot and has lots of weight. I can now play with a SD900, using 1 repair, 1 restore, 2 engies, 1 seaman, a pilot, a planes, a sonar, a BO, and a torpedo man.   (a year later, using 4 (with TB) or 5 engies -- still have 900SD and great repair)
- Level 98 needed for BO and Torpedo man.
- Carries 10 TBs and you can launch 3 with one pilot. They load fast for launching. Only 8 TB3's
- Will be outmanuevered by every SS4 or SS5 in the game.

The best way this sub plays ASW warfare is to use its TBs. To use its TBs best, you need to be on the surface (can't launch or receive underwater). SO, this sub stays behind the BB line until all other high level subs are destroyed; otherwise it is going to be tough against other ss's. This sub can be very effective end game sub, as you can scout and attack the flag with your TBs, then try to chase it down with your SS. Also, the sub can take a lot of damage.

This is what happened my first game. I was on the surface behind my BBs in the South. I knew a KM SS4 (?) was coming and then saw a BB get hit with torps. At this time, I launched a flight of 3 TBs, dove under and approached the BBs. Soon my Sonar picked up the sub. A friendly sub was with me and hit the enemy with his back torps as he left the area. As the BBs ran, the enemy SS turned against me. He fired and I crit dived. While under, I brought my TBs in close and launched torpedos. The enemy sub sunk!
Who ever thought you could sink an enemy sub in critical dive! Now, if I hadn't of sunk him, I would have had to surface to launch and/or recover other planes (I don't know if you can ready planes while under water -- will need to see).

I can see doing the same thing in every game, until I know the area in front of my sub is clear of enemy high level subs. Then I would go under and charge the BBs in classic SS style. Given only 10 TBs, I'm not going to launch them at the BB line, unless its an early strike to get some points. The good thing about waiting out behind your lines is there is a lot less chance of your TBs being shot down. I would always save a couple until the end game play. They could be very useful for scouting out the flag or hitting the flag from long range.

That is an early report. I will try to give you more info as time permits.

After much use, couple of comments:

1) The IJN TBs get shot down way too easily when attacking high level BBs.  Be aware its a suicide mission.

2)  There is another very effective way to fight ASW (though not as rewarding).  Team up your sub with either a BB with HHs or a lower level SS.  Stay back and use your long range sonar to pick up incoming subs, then tag team them to kill.  I like this especially with KM SS5's.  They will come in and think they can repair beyond any attacks on them.  A good hit with the IJN torpedos will knock down their SD, but you need the additional player to overcome his speed and turning ability.  My son plays an O and S type and we have been REALLY effective using these wolfpack techniques. 

3) HARBOR ASSAULT -- I really like this sub for HA.  Two reasons, if you are saving it for the final battle, it will be really effective with #2 above in combo with a BB with HHs.  You will basically stop every incoming sub and keep yours healthy.  THEN, I wait to launch my TBs until the other side has run out of fighters.  I can provide really good scouting with them.  Finally, if your line starts to lose, you can take out a BB or two.

    You can also really use this sub effectively for the decoy force.  Launch TB early to scout, then you can choose the appropriate line of action -- attack or retreat.  Also, because of your long underwater time, you can wait out alot of forces.

 

I am also experimenting using an escort with this sub! Since I'm not trying to hide at the beginning of the game and I will be on the surface a lot, I am using an Emden escort armed with AA and HHs. It gives me some decent AA defense and another way to attack an enemy sub while in crit dive.

When I charge into battle, typically the BBs will sink him. If not, I can either lose him in the rocks on the side of the board or go in reverse and torpedo him when he crosses my bow. Still need to upgrade my Torpedo man two more levels before I will know really how I like this sub.

Be aware on the component tree, your torpedo operators need to be specific classes to launch torps:

For SS1/2 -- just a regular torpedo man
SS3/4 -- Heavy Torpedo
SS5 -- Special or Hyper Torpedoman. .

SS5 in particular can be overlooked.  Had other players complain they couldn't fire its torpedos. Come to find out, they forgot to upgrade their torpedoman. 

Some more thoughts from my original guide.

Speed vs SD: Saw a Hei moving 38 knots on the surface -- was I jealous of him (I go 32).
And he was hard to kill, too, probably had a high SD. Capora (?) has a SS5 which goes 40 knots -- it is awesome.  He is using level 120 engies.

But if you don't have the high level engys to support, for IJN, I recommend SD. Why? Two reasons:

1) The IJN boats tend to have some of the highest DP. Thus the high SD compliment this
making us a lot harder to kill compared to most SS.

2) Speed is nice in the games with only a few SS and FF/DD/CLs. In these cases you are
going to rush to take out the BBs quickly. But in the bigger games, where there are a lot
of ASW resources, being the first one to the other side usually means you will kill less
as you are the biggest target for everyone. Instead, I think it is more effective to stay
back, kill off the speedy subs, get some air, and then kill the BB5 or 6 who is pummeling
your team. Of course if your team is winning you won't get many points, but if your team
is losing, you will get a lot of points and can likely change the game. Once you have a
good crew, you will be surprised how often you can change the game.


Special or Hyper Torp thread applies with SS, too.

Always go Special for its increased ability. Basically, Hyper was designed for a
special type of torpedo which were proximity charged, but NF has never
implemented the torpedos in the game.

Couple of points brought up by other players:

1) Air supply does increase with higher level SS's. The Vickers has a 2 minute air
supply, the HEI has roughly 3 minutes 15 seconds.
All a planesman does is allow you to replenish faster. If you are short a full complement
with the planesman, you have a chance of starting the game with empty air tanks.

2) Engy's -- D3m3nt3d made a great comment about starting a good engy right away. The
engy is the most important support personnel for the game as the IJN subs are slow. The
players with multiple high level engy's typically put 2 or 3 on the sub. I don't because
I don't have them.

3) CoolestGuy mentioned 2 noob mistakes.
Reload --When picking Torp personnel, reload has nothing to do with the position. This is
strictly a gun attribute. The Torpedo attribute only impact on the player is it
decreases your reload speed. Good torps with a seaman should have high reload by SS3's.

BO- He says to run the BO personnel down to as low as possible, freeing up more space on the SS. There is no detriment to sighting range as when you are submerged the sonar
operator determines this range. I personally like keeping my BO recruits full as it helps my SD. 

4) Armor -- Whenever possible, I put on bulge as the increase weight never seems to
impact speed. I have been experimenting with .2" of side armor instead. According to the
BB threads, this will halve torp damage. Seems to help, but haven't decided which I like
better.

Another key post from the first guide. This was at the top of the guide -- much of this is repeated. Post 7/18/2010:

Now that the new SS rules have been in practice for a while (increasing shell
damage for SS on the surface), I thought a comprehensive guide for SS would be
nice to write. I currently have a level 89 SS BO.

It is my favorite ship to drive. It fits my personality. BBs are generally more
challenging game play -- SS fighting is a lot of patience packed with moments of
excitement. I like it, because played well you can impact most games and in a
moment change a losing game to a winner for your team.

It is much more difficult to bring up a IJN SS crew in the current rules. The grind out
of SS1 is unbearably bad. You are generally too slow to chase any ships down and
you are too vulnerable on the surface. There are only two ways to gain good exp at
this level. If you are on the weak side of your team, you wait for your line to
collapse and then attack any rushing ships. If you are on the strong side of the line,
you wait for attacking SS's. Try to take them out while they are trying to attack the
BBs. If you do damage on the enemy before dying, your team will appreciate your
contribution. Many players will charge the middle. For a SS1 this is a suicide tactic.
Otherwise, wait till your BO is at least high enough for SS2 and then do a ship tree
reset.

Be aware of scouts. Often I will go under water when enemy pilots are above
so the other team doesn't know I am in the area.

Early on, check where clouds are in the game. Clouds are nice for hiding while taking on
air. Also, if you fire torps through clouds, the enemy will most likely not see them.

For crew, don't become a SS driver until you have two support which can convert to
sonar and planesman. I started without a planesman and it takes forever for your
O2 tanks to fill. I also play with a Seaman -- he is GREAT. He makes up for the lack
of crew slots.

SS2, SS3, SS4 are fairly similar and the tactics used are similar. The SS2 (Junsen) is
awesome -- I love all of the torpedo tubes. I stayed in it, even after my BO could
command the SS3, until my crew sizes didn't fit in the ship. SS3 (Kadei) is the best
ASW ship, though the 4 tubes up front are limiting. The SS4 (Hei) with 8 tubes up
front is awesome, but don't get caught in close with an enemy sub -- it can be very
difficult to win. It is also very hardy, even on the surface a BB5 can't sink you with
one hit.

3 Keys to beating other subs. First, use the initial scouts to determine where the
enemy subs are going and how fast they are going. You want to predict where
they are before they reach your sonar, because your torpedos are the fartherest
firing. Secondly, you know exactly where you torpedos explode. You are trying to
replicate the proximity explosions of the KM and UK torpedos. Even if you don't hit
the enemy sub, you can still kill him with 2 or 3 torpedos exploding at max range in
his vicinity. Thirdly, don't get in a close range battle with enemy subs. They will
have proximity charges, more speed, and turning. Its what I call "Flying Tiger"
fighting. Just as the Flying Tigers in WW2 never got into dogfights with the
Japanese Zero's, I never get into a dogfight with an enemy sub. As such I have a
very high kill ratio, something like 10:1.

With SS2 and 3, fire an early salvo to explode where you think the enemy sub will
appear. Then turn around and be ready to run. If you don't hit him with the first
salvo, he will probably turn to attack you. At that time you run away from his
torpedos while launching your aft ones. His will explode before they reach you and
he should die from your shots.

In SS4, I only fire 4-6 of my tubes with the first salvo and then I stop moving. At this
point, I wait to see the enemy. As he charges, I shoot my remaining torpedos AFTER
he has fired his. I then crit dive if needed. Usually, I will kill him with my shots or
force a crit dive. Because I shot my torpedos after his, I can come out of crit dive
first and pepper his position with torpedos. Almost guaranteed to win, even against
KM SS4.

But your real role is as a BB killer. I have killed more BBs than any other ship type.
To be most effective, you need to get to the enemy line as soon as possible. Decide
which direction you want to attack and move as quickly as possible to that point
without using OH. (Save OH for when you are in the BB line or closing on a high
value target) Hide in any clouds that are along the way. You can either dive
before scouts appear, thereby hiding your presence from the enemy, but reducing
your time underwater in the enemy line or you stay on the surface until you think
the enemy can hit you. I don't like taking damage from shells early on. I find having
full DP when infighting gives you significant staying power.

When attacking BBs I like to work with a BB5/6 on the enemy BB line. I can scout
enemy BBs for them with my sonar and having them lob shells in on enemy prevents
them from just focusing on me. A good teammate will take out any CLs or DDs
making you invisible to the enemy. (TY to all of those good teammates!) Multiple
times, with a good teamate or two, we have been able to wipe out one side of the
enemy.

When attacking a BB I almost always use maximum velocity mode. You don't have
many opportunities to hit BBs. You want to kill them if you do have an opportunity.
Against any other ship I use Gradual Firing and use a spread of torpedos. IF the
ships are running away from you, take advantage of the torpedos exploding at max
range to cause them damage. Rarely does it pay to run after ships unless you have
a support BB behind you. Usually you will run out of air before killing them.

If there is a particularly sweet target (BB/CV 5 or 6, or FLAG) in the area, I often hold
my fire hoping to get a full salvo off before anyone knows I am in the area.
Otherwise, they will run away. Of course, if there is a DD or CL, you have to get rid
of them or their sonar will pick you up.

If on the surface, always turn you sub toward or away from any attacking ships. Its
a lot harder for them to hit the sub's narrow profile. If you have a DD with DC's
attacking you, sometimes it is best to surface. DC's have less damage on surfaced
ships. I like surfacing when on top of CVs with the HEI. It gives my AA a chance to
shoot down their planes. Once, I had severely damaged the CV and was out of torps. I
surfaced "inside of the CV" He decided to shoot me while there and sunk himself! Every
time he hit me, he also took damage. It can be a lot of fun.

You either need to go banzai at the beginning of the game to kill as many BBs early
or you should be ready to retreat into the protection of your lines to get additional
air. It is more difficult to be effective using strategy #2, but if the battle is even
handed, you can kill the enemy subs, retreat, get a full tank of air and then go out
and get that high level BB who is pounding your team. Once you get him, your team
will probably win. I actually enjoy playing this way as it takes more skill, but when
you are the only sub remaining, you can drive the other team nuts.

Finally, remember, this is a game! Have Fun!!!