Is ships from portugal a fair target?

[GoTT]

So I came across a portugese ship, and i though that I would experiment and sink it since I was unsure if I would get a reward for it. Turns out it was a brittish ship flying a false flag and I got big reward, so im still wondering if sinking portugese ships will reap you a reward or not. Any knowers in chat?

[The cursed Jäger]

The game will penalise you for sinking true neutrals vessels. Portugal was neutral throughout the war so you had luck in your case. It can also turn out to be a neutral ship.

Inspect them, if in doubt, sink them. Neutral ships are not always a fair target.

Note: Neutral ships travelling in convoys escorted by warships are fair game.

[Cuda]

One of the best features UBoat added was being able to board ships, search them and interrogate the crew. Make sure one crew has a weapon when you board. I will usually let em go if I cant force a confession just to be sure. If you can force a confession the game will even give you the all clear to sink her. You can order the crew to evacuate and sink the boat with no worries.

You got really lucky, lol.

[RimmerA]

You got lucky because it wasn't actually a Portugese ship, it was a smuggler flying a false flag. If it was actually a Portugese ship, it's not a legal target and you would have caused an international incident.

However, there are situations in a ship is considered fair game regardless of what flag it's flying:

-It's heading to a blockaded (British) port.
-It radios your position.
-It's part of a convoy that's escorted by enemy warships.
-You inspect it and determine that it's smuggling goods to the enemy.

[El Rushbo]

That's how I managed to sink one, I didn't have the right skill set to determine the ships status through inspection, but finding shells in the cargo hold and seeing that it was headed for England, not Vigo as their papers claimed, I made a judgement call. By telling them I intend to sink them, I then boarded the ship to grab some ammo out of the hold, then sank the vessel. For added measure, I looked through the lifeboats and took the captain and chief engineer on board, figuring as smugglers, they would make valuable prisoners.

[kangaxx]

Is there any ingame chart to see when targets become valid? because i only know the newspaper :-(

[davidt_man]

The easiest way is any ship heading toward Britain or an allied country is fair game regardless of the flag they are flying. IF it is heading towards a neutral country then leave it alone unless you send a team to inspect the ship.

[RimmerA]

Originally posted by kangaxx:

Is there any ingame chart to see when targets become valid? because i only know the newspaper :-(

Germany declared War on the US on December 11 1942 1941. When that happens, you'll get a radio message telling you that US ships are now valid targets.

[El Rushbo]

1941, not 1942. Though even before the war was officially declared, U-boats started attacking American ships, and US Destroyers were ordered to sink U-boats on sight. So while we were technically not at war, a state of war did exist between Germany and the US Navy in the summer of '41.

[RimmerA]

Originally posted by El Rushbo:

1941, not 1942

Oops.

[wolf310ii]

Originally posted by El Rushbo:

Though even before the war was officially declared, U-boats started attacking American ships,

Befor Dec '41 U-boats had the strictly order not to attack any US ship, so U-boats didnt started attacking american ships, american ships got hit by accident (missindentification, US ship run into torpede meant for another target, ect.)

[kangaxx]

Originally posted by RimmerA:

Originally posted by kangaxx:

Is there any ingame chart to see when targets become valid? because i only know the newspaper :-(

Germany declared War on the US on December 11 1942. When that happens, you'll get a radio message telling you that US ships are now valid targets.

Yes, same for russia, but other countries' ships?

[diocletianus284]

I sink every spanish ship I find, don't care for penalisation

[U_333_B]

hello,
if the ship is armed, i sink it directly without investigating first. Also in reality, all armed ships were a regular target.
During the war, neutral ships had a route assigned by the Germans ( Weg Anton ). However, darkened or armed ships were also sunk on this route. Once even a German ship ( Spreewald ) was accidentally sunk on the Weg Anton by Ali Cremer.