UBOAT – Advanced Tips & Tricks (Food, Inventory, Resupply, Crew, Research)

An advanced guide covering food, crew & u-boat inventory management, faster warehouse resupply, crew morale, HQ research, crew skills and dodging aircraft depth charges.

Food: Galley, Storage Room & Consumption

Please note: all credit goes to No Toilet Paper | Boy!

Galley Storage

To make food stored in your galley longer it is better to have a large amount of 1x item than having multiple items of different food types. The galley has 4x slots and can hold 600kg (each food item is 5kg).

Galley Storage Example 1:

  • 30x Potatoes
  • 30x Canned Meat
  • 30x Sausage
  • 30x Exotic Fruits

Galley Storage Example 2:

  • 100x Potatoes (stack limit 100x)
  • 20x Potatoes

See example 1 & 2 above. While example 1 contains the same total amount of food as example 2 at every ‘meal time’ the game will consume more food items from example 1 than example 2. The only positive to having multiple food items is to get the variety meals morale boost. The negative is that your food supply will deplete multiple times faster.

Likewise in the case of example 2 when your 100x stack of potatoes diminished over time to say 96x then you can transfer some potatoes from the smaller stack into the larger stack. Also despite it being the same food you will still get a +4 varied meal bonus by having food in a 2nd slot.

Storage Room

As of B125 you can get away with only having 3x places in the storage room taken by food (with a fully stacked galley) if you stack them up to high amounts. In most patrols you could probably get away with less.

Galley:

  • 100x Potatoes
  • 20x Potatoes

Storage:

  • 100x Preserved Pork
  • 86x Sausage (being replenished)
  • 72x Fish (being replenished)

Deck Storage:

  • 17x Cheese (picked up from past patrol and left)

Early on in the game when money is low you might have to make use of what you can take from wooden crates so you will have small amounts of different amounts. However later on in the game with more money and by replenishing from the warehouse every 24hrs (see resupply section) you can get stacks of 100x food.

Rate of Food Consumption:

While this is more on observation and I have not done extensive testing I would say that the Uboat crew will consume a quantity of 5-6x units of each food item in the galley per day. Thus 100x units of 1x food used correctly will last 16-20 days.

Thus in example 1 earlier a Uboat will consume 5x-6x potatoes, 5x-6x Canned meat, 5x-6x Sausage and 5x-6x exotic fruits; a total of 20x-24x units per day. Note that there is some randomisation on what items are picked. Meanwhile in example 2 early on in the patrol the crew will consume 10x-12x units daily. Later on in the patrol as the smaller potatoes stack is diminished through consumption and you transferring them to the larger potato stack only 5x-6x units will be eaten per day.

Inventory Management: Uboat Storage

When faced with the storage options available the first thought is that you have very few storage options. However with smart management you will actually find you have more than enough slots.

Uboat storage items slots number and weight

As a rule of thumb try to place the low weight items in storage areas where you have free slots but limited weight.

For example the flak gun has 4x storage slots but if you load only load 1x ammo then you have 2x slots spare. Thus rather than having these spaces spare you should put low weight stacks in here which would normally go in the storage room e.g. replacement parts, sonar decoys. These spare slots in the storage room (where the weight limit is 8,000kg) you can place ammunition.

Galley:

  • 100x Food (500kg)
  • 18x Food (90kg)
  • 5x Replacement Parts (5kg)
  • 5x Sonar Decoys (5kg)

Deck Gun:

  • 40x AP Shells
  • 40x AP Shells
  • 2x AP Shells*
  • 5x Replacement Parts

Flak Gun:

  • 4000x AP Rounds
  • 2250x AP Rounds (amount off memory)
  • Spare Slot
  • Spare Slot

Storage:

  • Food 1
  • Food 2
  • Food 3
  • 40x AP Shells
  • 4000x AP Rounds
  • 4000x AP Rounds
  • Salvaged Parts
  • 5x Replacement Parts
  • 5x Sonar Decoys
  • 5x Medikits

Ventilator:

  • 40x Potassium Carbonate**

*You could remove these 2x AP Shells and add another low weight item

**When the ventilator is on it goes through these very quickly. Thus you might want to use a officer with an item spot spare to hold some of these.

Notes on Storage Room:

1) Replacement Parts: If a crew member needs to repair something then a replacement part needs to be either in the storage room or equipped on the person. Replacement parts in your galley or deck gun will not be automatically used.

2) Salvaged Parts: Salvaged parts should always be kept in the storage room. If you have no salvaged parts always leave a slot empty in your storage room so that they can go there. This is because if repairs are made the salvaged parts will automatically be placed in the storage room. If no spots are available in the storage room they will be put to other areas like the deck gun. When they are placed here they are extremely difficult to remove (likely a bug). When it happened to me I was able to get rid of them by selling them in the warehouse (but strangely only worked on my 5th attempt randomly).

As salvaged parts stack to 50x while replacement parts only stack to 5x I would recommend that you only get an engineer to salvage them if you desperately need them. If not you can accumulate 50x salvaged parts which if processed provide a reserve of 25x replacement parts while only taking up 1x storage slot.

Inventory Management: Officer Storage

Officer item & equipment slots

One trick to hold more things is to equip your officers at port with items and equipment rather than only holding them in storage areas. An example load out would be (7x Officers unlocked):

  • Captain: 5x Sonar Decoys, Helmet
  • Leader: None (can billage water or move ammo), Helmet
  • Leader: None (can billage water or move ammo), Helmet
  • Radioman: 5x Med Kits, Helmet
  • Radioman: 5x Med Kits, Helmet
  • Engineer: 5x Replacement Parts, Respirator
  • Engineer: 5x Replacement Parts, Respirator

Thus by equipping officers with these we have saved 5x item slots and 7x equipment slots which would of otherwise taken up storage space in the Uboat. As officers can only carry 30kg it is better to carry the low weight items on them. Also as your officers already have equipment on you can stack the equipment cupboard with spare helmets and respirators (I do keep a diving suit and 1-2x stacks of coffee as well).

You can keep a space spare in the equipment locker to allow you to swap items. Alternatively this potential spare spot you could store coffee in and if you do need to swap equipment then just drink the stack of coffee to free up a slot.

Officer items and equipment lost

If you deselect officers from your Uboat (while speaking to the recruitment officer) then reassign them then any items or equipment held on them will be lost. Also be aware that this could also potentially happen when they go away on vacation (one time it did not happen to me but another time I got the impression it did).

Faster Warehouse Resupply

When first starting out when you go to the warehouse you will generally buy all your supplies in 1x or 2x goes. However as the warehouse supply (generally) replenishes every 24x hours then if you buy enough items for the time to progress by 24hrs then you will have a fully replenished warehouse next time you visit.

For example with food at the U-boat base they will only sell 8x different items of food in quanties of 6 to 16. However if you buy some food and some other items then come back 24hrs later the food on sale will be replenished. This also applies to equipment, ammunition and torpedo’s (espically T5 Torpedos.

Skip time by buying and selling

If you do not have enough stuff to buy for 24hrs to pass then sell a part or full stack of items in your storage area (I use AP shells) then buy the quantity you just sold up again.

Remove Crew Morale Problems (No Cheating, Mods or Bugs)

Sea Wolf Personality Trait

If all your crew have this then it does not matter if crew morale is 0% forever as none of them will have a breakdown. It also means that leadership skills like the ability to knockout a crewman having a breakdown are unnecessary and can be spent on something else.

Identifying strong and weak crew

On the earlier missions (would recommend from the 3rd onwards) you want to have a period in the middle of the mission where you allow the morale to continue falling to 0% to force a crewmen to potentially have a breakdown. After a while at 0% either the following happen:

  • 1) Heart Attack: A radioman can then heal them and get XP, something they rarely get.
  • 2) Panic Attack.
  • 3) Sea Wold Trait earned.

After one of these three things happen morale will reset to 33%. At this point let it fall again and rinse and repeat.

Creating low morale conditions

The best way to cause low morale amongst the crew is to dive the submarine. The deeper the depth the lower the morale bonuses. Your officers should not be doing morale improving activities like playing cards and cooking food. Likewise you should only have 1x type of item (food or non-food) stored in one storage spot in the galley during this time so no “Varied meals” morale boost is gained. At the time of writing there is a bug where you can get “Varied Meals” bonus by storing non-food items in the Galley.

Depth morale penalties:

  • Low (green) depth: -1 morale
  • Medium (orange) Depth: -3 morale
  • Large depth (red): -5 morale

You should do this in your patrol zone when you have covered about 1/2 the mileage and/or have met the tonnage and target objectives given to you. The reason being your crew (through breakdowns & heart attacks) and potentially submarine (if you go to deep depths) will take a battering so you won’t be in as a effective state as before doing this. Also if you do this after you have done the objectives and are close to the base then you can get a ‘Base’ morale bonus of between 1+ to 10+ which makes the fall in morale take longer.

Changing Crew at port

Once you have returned to port the crew members who have had heart attacks or panic attacks you want to remove and replace them with new recruits. Rinse and repeat and after 5+ missions you will have a near perfect crew.

Note: Water leakages

If you decide to do this at a large depth I would recommend putting the Uboat at just above 160m (start of the red area). This is deep enough to get the morale penalty and cause some minor leaks which engineers can repair and get XP (it’s one of the few ways they can get it). It also will allow you to create a stack of salvaged parts.

If you go deeper you can get some heavy leakages. While you could manage 1x or 2x leaks if you are not or have 3x leaks you will not be able to come up to the surface as you have negative buoyancy from all the water you have taken on and you are too deep for the pump to be of use.

Likewise if you dive in an area where the depth is about 170m then if you do encounter too much problems the Uboat will just rest on the bottom of the see and not keep plunging down to depths which will instant destroy the Uboat.

Faster HQ Research Through Multiple Crew Vacations

The crew vacations for the Salzburg Alpes and Eagles Nest give a 100% speed boost to HQ research for the full 14 days of vacation. These only cost 3,000 for each one. Thus a research project that would normally take 24 days will take 12 days.

After about 5+ missions money is not an issue so while in base you can take multiple vacations to quicken research, allowing you to get all the submarine updates by early to mid 1942 (when starting the U-96 scenario). When in port the process to go through is:

  • 14 days vacation with 100% HQ research boost
  • Resupply/upgrade/Waste 7 days until vacation available again
  • 14 days vacation with 100% HQ research boost
  • Resupply/upgrade/Waste 7 days until vacation available again

Ways to waste 7x days between vacation

1) Supplies & submarine updates: Do not buy supplies and submarine upgrades at the same time. Buy your supplies then when you have skipped the amount of days buy the submarine upgrades then skip those days.

2) Buying and selling ammunition: 40x 88mm shells take 29hrs and 59mins to fully transfer. Buy 40x shells, skip a day, sells those 40x shells then buy another 40x shells. Repeat until 7x days have passed. To sell in the warehouse right click the item you want to sell.

HQ Research Summary

What you research depends on your play style.

Snorkel:

Unlocks: Allows you to use a diesel engine and get oxygen when at periscope depth.

The best single upgrade to get. Allows you to travel long distances at periscope depth which mean you can avoid aircraft. Good in espionage missions or when crossing the straits of Gibraltar as without it the only way to get fresh oxygen (after the ventilator has doen what it can) would be to surface.

Conning Tower (all tiers):

Unlocks: More and better anti-aircraft guns.

If you like to play on the surface and engage aircraft this is great. The top tier one does take 3x researches where you get the quad 20mm AA and 2x extra 20mm cannons. These make easy work of an aircraft in just one pass and can do serious damage to Corvettes, Motor Speed Boats and merchant vessels in the 2,000 ton range. However for ships larger it’s impact is drastically less. While the quad 20mm AA can destroy an aircraft in one pass for an average AA gunner you will probably only 50% of the time destroy the aircraft before they drop their depth charges. Thus you need to still take avoiding action.

Ammunition Production:

Unlocks: Warehouse sells more AP shells and starts selling HE, AA and SS (Star Shell).

Not really worth it as AP shells are generally better. AA shells do not air burst (currently) so are basically just HE shells with less anti ship capability. The lower amount of shells in the warehouse are not too much of an issue if you buy the full stock every 24x hours (as per the section above about faster warehouse resupply).

Radar (all tiers):

Unlocks: Unlocks surface radar.

This is somewhat useful for early detection of aircraft, espically at night if you are operating on the surface. However from my experience it does not do much for ship detection. The best form of surface detection remains the lookout spotting for chiney smoke. If it worked as intended for surface ships it would be useful at night. At periscope depth there is also a +5 visibility penalty to your submarine from the radar antennas. In comparison the visibility penalty from the Snorkel is +10 (albeit ignoring the smoke plume it emits).

Torpedoes (all tiers):

Unlocks: T3 Electric then T5 Accoustic Homing Torpedos.

T3 torpedoes are like T2 torpedoes but with less chance of being duds. T5 are accoustic homing torpedos which will change their path when they are close to the ship and home onto the rear of the ship. Close misses are no more as they adjust their path for the target when close to the ship.

A drawback with the T5 torpedos is that they will change their path towards any ship that is closer by. In some cases they can even make turns of 90′ or 180′ degrees towards a different target further away. I have also had one case whereby I fired the torpedo with my engines running and when it was close to the target it did a 180′ degree turn and went directly towards my submraine. With the submarine engines on it did not hit so it is unknown if it is possible for you to be hit by your own ‘homing’ torpedo!

HQ Research Recommended Sequence

Recommended HQ research path:

As of version B125 from completing all of the HQ researches and influenced by my personal playstyle, I would recommend the following HQ upgrades sequence:

  • 1) Snorkel: Tier 1
  • 2) Torpedo: T3
  • 3) Torpedo: T5
  • 4) Hydrophone: Tier 1
  • 5) Hydrophone: Tier 2
  • 6) Sonar Decoy
  • 7) Snorkel: Tier 2 (radar coating)
  • 8) Equipment production
  • 9) Armoured Conning Towers: Tier 1
  • 10) Armoured Conning Towers: Tier 2
  • 11) Armoured Conning Towers: Tier 3
  • 12) Accumulators: Tier 1
  • 13) Accumulators: Tier 2
  • 14) Accumulators: Tier 3
  • 15) Radar: Tier 1
  • 16) Radar: Tier 2
  • 17) Radar: Tier 3
  • 18) Radar: Tier 4
  • 19) Ammunition production
  • 20) Improved toilets
  • 21) Military Stash Nantes/Bergen
  • 22) Military Stash Nantes/Bergen

Air Reconnaissance:

If you want to do missions in Cardiff or Scapa Flow it is recommended that you complete the air reconnaissance missions before you attempt missions there.

Personal playstyle:

In relation to my playstyle influencing my choice of HQ research my playstyle can be described as:

  • Avoid aircraft by travelling at periscope depth with snorkel
  • Complete a lot of easy and medium missions to upgrade my Uboat and level up my crew. Only then do I play the hard missions
  • Generally avoid contact with warships (unless it’s 1-2 corvettes)
  • Prefer to spot contacts through the hydrophone

Thus if you have a differing playstyle it might be beneficial to do researches in a different sequence.

Crew Skill Points

The following are tips on what to choose when leveling up your character. At levels 3 & 5 you only have a choice of 1x random skill upgrade.

Leader-Level 2 (‘Gunner’ or ‘Focus’)

Choose: Focus

Reason: The accuracy boost ‘Gunner’ gives is only when the AI is firing. The recoil bonus on AA guns is little on lower tiers and practically non existent on the quad 20mm AA gun (unlocked with final armoured conning tower upgrade). The 25% faster torpedo targeting from ‘Focus’ is better in battle situations when you have limited time to get the highest target percentage on multiple ships, especially when you have a Corvette or Destroyer charging right at you.

Leader-Level 4 (‘Iron Fist’ or ‘Management’):

Choose: Management

Reason: If you follow the section earlier in the guide you can make crew morale not an issue by deliberately allowing crew morale to drop in controlled environments. The crew which are revealed to have the Seawolf personality and kick out the crewmen who have panic or heart attacks. The extra man ‘Management’ gives allows you to reload the deck gun faster or billage water faster.

Radioman-Level 2 (‘Paramedic’ or ‘Sensitive Hearing’)

Choose: Sensitive Hearing

Reason: The medic upgrade gives the impression that the radioman will no longer deplete medikits when healing someone, allowing you to save inventory space. However when a radioman has medikits in their personal inventory and heal someone they (at the time of writing) do not deplete anyway even without the ‘Paramedic’ skill. Likewise even if this was changed with good inventory management you can get 15x medikits on board by equipping 5x to each radioman (assuming you have 2x) and then placing another 5x in a storage area. Likewise if you are using 10-15 medikits during a mission I doubt you would either finish the mission or likely just load up a past save.

Engineer-Level 2 (‘Salvager’ or ‘Handyman’)

Choose: Handyman

At the time of writing the Engineer can create replacement parts from salvaged parts without this skill at the same rate that engineers with this skill can. Thus the ‘skill’ currently unlocks nothing.

Engineer-Level 4 (‘Torpedo Mechanic’ or ‘Explosive Charges’)

Choose: Torpedo Mechanic

Reason: The feature for engineers to blow up ships with explosive charges does not appear to be implemented yet (at the time of writing). Thus the skill adds nothing. Even if the skill was available and (I assume) allowed you to place explosive charges on abandoned ships in most cases 2-10 deck gun AP shells at the waterline on a certain spot is enough to finish off a abandoned, damaged ship. With gun inventory management you can carry more than enough AP shells.

Airplane Attack: Avoiding Depth Charges

Uboat Speed and Turn rate

As of B125 Uboats can decelerate quite quickly from 30kmh forwards to -10kmh in reverse. Meanwhile the turn rate of the U-Boat is very slow and sharp turns shed off a lot of speed. Thus when facing an enemy plane the best way to avoid it is to:

  • 1) Watch the plane and if you believe the plane is going to start its attack run and you submarine is at a 45 degree angle turn it so the plane is attacking perpendicular to your sides (port and starboard) or your rear (stern). However weight it up against how much speed you will lose on the turn and if you have time to make it up.
  • 2) Travel straight or with a few degrees of rudder at forward 4 (I found the deceleration better at Forward 4 better than forward 5).
  • 3) When you are confident the plane has made it’s final adjustments (they do it relatively late) pause the game and switch the speed from Forward 4 to Reverse 4.
  • 4) The plane will drop the depth charges at the position you would of been if you had carried on at 30kmh for the next 10seconds. In reality you are reversing away from that area and if everything goes to plan you will miss the depth charges

Airplane attack directions

Airplanes will most often attack from 2x directions:

  • 1) From the rear (stern) at a slight angle
  • 2) From the left or right (port or starboard respectively)

Shooting at the plane

Unless you have mastered how much you need to lead and elevate your shots I would recommend you save your ammo and only shoot when the planes are on their attack run or have just finished it.

You will need to also lead your shots. While I do not know how the bullet velocity and bullet drop are modelled in the game they do feel like they are somewhat accurately modelled of the real thing. This is comparing (what I observed) of the velocity and bullet drop to that of a game called ‘WW2 Online’ which accurately modelled bullet trajectory (for which there are some AA gun guides on youtube).

88mm Deck Gun AA Shell

These shells do not airburst so in the anti-air role currently they are no different than firing a HE shell from the deck gun. While they are a 1x hit kill on a planes direct approach (extremly little chance of hits when it is circling you) you will only have 1x or 2x shots to hit it. It’s better to stick to the light AA guns.

Save game before airplane attach

It is recommended that you save the game before a plane makes an attack. This will save you the frustration of being knocked out and also give you opportunities to practice.

Volodymyr Azimoff
About Volodymyr Azimoff 15056 Articles
I love games and I live games. Video games are my passion, my hobby and my job. My experience with games started back in 1994 with the Metal Mutant game on ZX Spectrum computer. And since then, I’ve been playing on anything from consoles, to mobile devices.

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