For the love of 100% realism!

[nattydread]

Something needs to be done, the Ace's Board has the #2 and #3 skippers with 6500 and +5000 tons credited to them. Im #1 with 101,000 tons...:nope: In a S-Boat:damn: ...in only 3 patrols! :huh: ...on 100% realism:shifty:

Its so easy, its not even fun. I refuse to exploit DDs, I avoid convoys on purpose, I get 90% of all my tonnage through individual and 2 ship mini-convoys. My deck-gun is like some evil plasma cannon o' death...if torps fail, I can become a surface raider..granted thats reasonable.

Maybe the deck-gun needs to be toned down, made less effective. Ships slow to crawl when attacked, merchants with machine gun mounts basically seem useless at inflicting casualties on my deck crew. Its just shooting fish in a barrel. I sunk 8 ships for over 34k tons in a relativly short patrol period of 3 wks. For the love of 100% Realism the Devs have to do something!

I shouldnt have to consider letting ships go to keep my tonnage down.

[Camaero]

I agree. Although I have not gotten quite that high of tonnage, I have gotten way too much for my taste. I really want every kill to be hard earned and appreciated. There needs to be far less contacts spotted. From what I have read, the Pacific was not nearly such a target rich environment! The Sea of Japan on the other hand... should be full of juicy targets. I am not the kind of gamer who needs to sink a ship every 5 minutes. I get my jollys off on simulating a real life combat experience. Even the long drawn out search for contacts.

I never expected stock SHIV to cover this though. I bought the game full well knowing there would be early bugs and all kinds of messed up stuff. SHIII was no different. UBI has given us a damned good base in which modders can build upon and turn this game into the sparkling diamond I know it is deep down inside. :up:

[Reyern]

Try this in your contacts.cfg I guess that should bring your tonnage down to a more realistic number.

Display Range To Opportunity Radio Contacts=5;[>0] kilometers
Display Range To Important Radio Contacts=10 ;[>0] kilometers

Have fun :P

[U56]

Stock SH3 was the same. This is where the modders come into their own. As we speak, some realism enhancement mods are already out, and being improved almost daily with new versions. Look for RFB (real fleet boat), now at V1.12, by Beery, and FTT (flavoured to taste), by Ducimus. Both mods are in early stages, and will need more tweaking, but have already enhanced the realism experience. Reduced traffic, and a less effective deck gun are no doubt on the way soon. (SOON, Neal's favourite word!!)

Regards

[Dustyboats]

LOL!!!!! You should be so lucky....4 patrols 3 fishing boats! If you really, really want 100% realism....try your local recruiting office....LOL!!!!!

[Ultraboy]

Yeah, must admit the tonnage totals are high, and I already tweaked the contacts file and basically eliminated radio contacts. It's just me and my sensors but I'm still sinking way too much. Although, I should give COMSUBPAC some credit, after all he keeps sending me to patrol half a mile off the Japanese coast because he knows their ASW is useless.

I expect my next patrol will say, "Just go and surface in Tokyo harbour and see how much you get." :roll:

[AVGWarhawk]

I do not know where you guys are hunting but at 100% and very hard clicked in the options(I do not know if this make a difference) I have patrolled for days and seen nothing. Not even an occassional plane or two. After a week I get a contact in the Luzon area and it is the friggin ghost frigate:o. I finally get blasted out of the water by a plane. I start a career in 44 to see how the radar works. I have been patrolling the Solomans for a week with no ship contact. I get planes but no ships. It is like the Japanese packed up and went home.

[BlackSpot]

I agree with you Hawk. I play on "hard" settings (not to be confused with realism settings). I've had the same. Very few ships. In fact, I found I have to dive to periscope depth and listen to the sonar to find a contact. I've found single merchants this way. They were not displayed on the map as contacts. Makes a much more enjoyable game. When you get a contact you make sure it isn't going to get away. I becomes precious. (Gollum)

[AVGWarhawk]

I agree with you Hawk. I play on "hard" settings (not to be confused with realism settings). I've had the same. Very few ships. In fact, I found I have to dive to periscope depth and listen to the sonar to find a contact. I've found single merchants this way. They were not displayed on the map as contacts. Makes a much more enjoyable game. When you get a contact you make sure it isn't going to get away. I becomes precious. (Gollum)

Ahhh....so I'm not the only one!!! Three patrols and 6 ships sunk. I do not know if clicking on the very hard creates this but finding ships becomes very hard....man.....I actually have to hunt:roll:. I played 3 hours last night (with TC of course) and came up with the ghost ship:shifty:

[BlackSpot]

No it's not just you :D I chased sonar contacts, sufaced and crept up to the ship in the dark only to get a strong smell of fish on the breeze. Another fishing boat :cry:

[AVGWarhawk]

No it's not just you :D I chased sonar contacts, sufaced and crept up to the ship in the dark only to get a strong smell of fish on the breeze. Another fishing boat :cry:

Roger that man. Same here....friggin shrimping boat that has Bubba Gump on the fantail.

[Hitman]

I play on "hard" settings (not to be confused with realism settings)

Can someone state exactly that? I have already been wondering about it....what's the difference between realism settings and difficulty settings in campaign? Granted, "Very hard" sets you already with all difficulty settings enabled already, but is there another difference?

I'm playing 100% realism and very hard in difficulty on my Porpoise 1942 off Pearl Harbor, and east of Okinawa I'm meeting much traffic, though I have only managed yet to damage one transport. But certainly there are many opportunites of doing some more.:hmm:

[BlackSpot]

Roger that man. Same here....friggin shrimping boat that has Bubba Gump on the fantail.

Bubba Gump? I had do Google this. Lol :D
Not known here in Blighty. Obviously only known to our colonial cousins.
(or "Spetics" as we call you ;) )


I've also found fishing boats in pairs, so watch out. You may think, as I did, it's two merchants. DOH!

[BlackSpot]

I play on "hard" settings (not to be confused with realism settings)

Can someone state exactly that? I have already been wondering about it....what's the difference between realism settings and difficulty settings in campaign? Granted, "Very hard" sets you already with all difficulty settings enabled already, but is there another difference?

I'm playing 100% realism and very hard in difficulty on my Porpoise 1942 off Pearl Harbor, and east of Okinawa I'm meeting much traffic, though I have only managed yet to damage one transport. But certainly there are many opportunites of doing some more.:hmm:

I don't know what differences this setting makes. It APPEARS to make finding contacts harder - either that or it sends you to the back of beyond to patrol :p

[Kweli]

Cant believe you guys are complaining with the amount of 'contact'

I guess i wouldnt mind if 'time compression' wasnt so laggy past 1000.....but at its current state i still think theres not enough...

History/Realism/Whatever... How do you enjoy sitting at a map screen for 10+ minutes looking at your little circle with nothing happening???

[BlackSpot]

Cant believe you guys are complaining with the amount of 'contact'

I guess i wouldnt mind if 'time compression' wasnt so laggy past 1000.....but at its current state i still think theres not enough...

History/Realism/Whatever... How do you enjoy sitting at a map screen for 10+ minutes looking at your little circle with nothing happening???

Yeah, part of the challenge is to find them. It's pretty boring if all contacts are handed to you on a plate. Maybe that's what the "Hunter" bit refers to in the game title...;)

[kiwi_2005]

I was having a hard time sinking this tanker already put 3 torps into her, so i decided to surface i heard that the destroyer AI is pretty lame so i thought okay I'll surface and attack the tanker with my deckgun, im practically in the middle of the convoy, i sink the tanker then let the AI choose the next target, they target the Destroyer which is happily running around in circles probably got a very pissed skipper thats drank to much Saki, anyways the destroyer takes about 3 hits from my deckgun and then turns and does a runner :rotfl: So i chase it while firing my deckgun at it, after about 5min this got boring so i turned around and headed away from the convoy as i did not want an easy kill, that was too easy!

The convoy and partly destroyed destroyer happily sailed on.... :88)

On my way back to base i come across a huge passenger ship escorted by two destroyers, i had only 10rounds left for the deckgun & Zero torps. so i let her pass by. I sent a contact message and was surprise i recieved one back saying "Good Find" then going on about they're going to send in ships to intercept it and i'll be noted for the sighting.:)

[AVGWarhawk]

Cant believe you guys are complaining with the amount of 'contact'
Not a complaint...an observation when 'very hard' is selected

I guess i wouldnt mind if 'time compression' wasnt so laggy past 1000.....but at its current state i still think theres not enough...

My TC is not laggy at all. I can got to the fastest offered without issue. In 'easy' mode there are ships stopping me on TC every 10 seconds. Gets tiresome after a while.

History/Realism/Whatever... How do you enjoy sitting at a map screen for 10+ minutes looking at your little circle with nothing happening???
I do not look for 10+ minutes at the map. Time spent in TC until contact made, real time for follow up attack.

[mookiemookie]

Cant believe you guys are complaining with the amount of 'contact'

I guess i wouldnt mind if 'time compression' wasnt so laggy past 1000.....but at its current state i still think theres not enough...

History/Realism/Whatever... How do you enjoy sitting at a map screen for 10+ minutes looking at your little circle with nothing happening???

I can run full TC without lag, but I usually don't. 256 max for me.

And I can sit for 10 minutes without being twitchy because games like Halo and crap like that moves way too fast for me. I enjoy a nice, refined and strategic game of cat and mouse. Different strokes, I guess....If you can't sit still for more than 10 minutes at a time, maybe strategic submarine games aren't the ones for you? :doh:

[tater]

I should hope you found no contacts in the Solomans in '44. I already went in and deleted all of them after August '42 to Guadalcanal. After that, it would be military stuff. DDs operating as APDs, escorted merchants in a few famous forays---stuff that needs to be scripted, not random (the "Cactus Express" (called "Tokyo Express" in the period press to avoid giving away the "cactus" code word for Guadalcanal)).

The deck guns desperately need to be tied to the heaving deck like the TBT is. Anyone who plays with a desire for realism at this point should probably assign poor crew to the deck gun, and never use the gun themselves, lol. Tough to do since the deck gun is fun.

tater

[AVGWarhawk]

Cant believe you guys are complaining with the amount of 'contact'

I guess i wouldnt mind if 'time compression' wasnt so laggy past 1000.....but at its current state i still think theres not enough...

History/Realism/Whatever... How do you enjoy sitting at a map screen for 10+ minutes looking at your little circle with nothing happening???
I can run full TC without lag, but I usually don't. 256 max for me.

And I can sit for 10 minutes without being twitchy because games like Halo and crap like that moves way too fast for me. I enjoy a nice, refined and strategic game of cat and mouse. Different strokes, I guess....If you can't sit still for more than 10 minutes at a time, maybe strategic submarine games aren't the ones for you? :doh:

:up:. Much the same here Mookie. I use the higher TC in transit to and from station. Once on station 256 TC. Habit from SH3. Also, my gramaphone is loaded with music that I like so floating around for 10+ minutes getting the pinpoint on the target is relaxing.

[mookiemookie]

Also, my gramaphone is loaded with music that I like so floating around for 10+ minutes getting the pinpoint on the target is relaxing.

Here too...Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, the Dorsey Brothers...good stuff!

[SteamWake]

My deck-gun is like some evil plasma cannon o' death.

This made me laugh out loud... thanks for getting me in trouble at work ! :lol:

[nattydread]

Yeah, I only allow the crew to man the deck gun...I choose the munitions to fired its needed.

My 3 missions were in the Luzon Straits once and the Celebes Sea twice. Im currently enroute to the Celebes Sea again in my new P-class. Im interested in seeing how well I do with the Mk 14s now. But i assume I'll be ok since I only use contact fuses and know to run them a bit shallow...and slow because of the bug.

Oh yeah, Im also on very Difficult if i remember correctly...I'll double check when I get a chance.

Edit: Im not able, or I dont know how to verify my difficulty level, its possible Im not at 'Very Difficult' since I cant remember...I know I wouldnt be less than 'Normal'

I'll certianly place it at very difficult on my next career.

[kiwi_2005]

Do these Difficult settings actually work? Im playing career in normal, no wonder why the Jap destroyer did a runner when i attacked him.

So if i put this setting on hard or very hard the destroyers will attack me. I wanna be depth charge and hunted. Only depth charging i get at the moment is from aircraft.

I'm gonna start a new career set it to very hard.:yep:

[AVGWarhawk]

Do these Difficult settings actually work? Im playing career in normal, no wonder why the Jap destroyer did a runner when i attacked him.

So if i put this setting on hard or very hard the destroyers will attack me. I wanna be depth charge and hunted. Only depth charging i get at the moment is from aircraft.

I'm gonna start a new career set it to very hard.:yep:

Yes, seems to be something to this. At very hard, contacts are few and far between. You really have to hunt. Also, if you get a contact and have outside view on, you can not go see what it is. You have to go find it to identify. Tonight I played on hard with outside views. When a contact was found I could use the outside view to see what it was. I did have more contacts in this mode. So it seems placing the game on easy normal hard or very hard affects game play and ship contact. At least this is how it looks to me. The other options like unlimited fuel etc can be set to your tastes and the other modes set how good the AI are and how many ship contacts you will find. Oh yeah, I sunk a carrier and the destroyers were on me like flies to a turd...I was sunk. These boys did not run.....two got me very quickly.....

Let me know what you find Kiwi

[OS1Mac]

At very hard settings and 100% realism I sometimes go up to a week without seeing or hearing a contact. In my last patrol in the Luzon Strait I spent a month up there and it was very dry at times. But... I did sink 7 ships in the strait and another on the way home, hehe (5 with the deck gun).

The gun does seem a bit overpowered. I can blast away at the weather deck and usually cause the ship to sink with 10 to 15 rnds of HE. But I always put AP below the waterline ("for realism") and try to take out the screws. I usually let the crew try to take a target out, but I get so exasperated at their wildly inaccurate shots that I end up climbing down from the bridge, chewing them out, send them below to clean the head, and take over myself.

[AVGWarhawk]

Yes, there is something behind the selection of easy, normal, hard and very hard. I see the AI are much more aggressive and contacts are few when playing hard or very hard.

[Mylander]

I agree that the sim is too easy right now. I think there are too many contacts, and they are too easy to sink. I know zip about the damage model, but sinking the Yamato with 5-6 fish is not realistic, for example. The real Yamato/Musashi took how many torps and aeriel bombs to sink?

The other thing is, the ASW seems really lame. I know the Japanese were not the best at it, but I literally ignore the escorts when attacking a convoy at periscope depth. They run right over me, may or may not even drop DCs, whent they do, they rarely hurt me. I have yet to be 'running scared' silent running, going deep, maneuvering desperately to avoid the DDs. Even on the surface, I kill fleet DDs with my deck gun, and come back for more. This should never happen. IMHO, I should be toast if 3 DDs catch me/force me to the surface in the middle of them, I should be opening the seacocks and abandoning ship. As it is, I'm ramming a round into the deck gun and blowing the hell out of the DDs! I'll have to check my difficulty settings, but the realism is at 100%.

Anyway, just my $.02 Looking for more of a realistic challenge than a shoot 'em up. I know this is totally moddable, and am looking forward to that.

I have just seen AVG's post, and will take a close look at that - but does the damage model get harder too?

Mylander

[AVGWarhawk]

@Mylander,

Switch your options to very hard and see how it plays. Let us know if you see a difference.:yep:

[Mylander]

I thought the realism settings determined the difficulty - but these are evidently two differrent transactions?

Thanks,
Mylander

[AVGWarhawk]

I thought the realism settings determined the difficulty - but these are evidently two differrent transactions?

Thanks,
Mylander


This is what I'm thinking. The boxes determine how you want your submarine to be. The difficulty determines frequency of contacts and how good the AI are. At least that is how it is looking to me.

[Snuffy]

I play on hard as I said in another thread, I don't recall what my realism settings are ATM (at work!), but most likely set to as realistic as I can get.

I usually set my TC to 128. I don't go much above that.

I also have a good book handy while the sim is pluggin along at that speed. Several times radar contact has been bogus with blue shipping and not red.

I've seen the proverbial ghost ship, but some minor adjustments in my headings usually turn them up after a few minutes of searching. (I usually go the direction of the last known good contact.)

[FT2/SS]

I'm on my fourth patrol on a normal campain and in the middle of my first on a very hard campain (I wanted to try a different class / base). I'm seeing a huge difference between the two.

On normal the DD's were hilarious, if I destroyed the majority of a convoy they were escorting they would send out a ping every once and a while... Think I got depth charged like twice maybe? I even stopped submerging for aircraft, most of them seem to just circle a few times before heading off, or they drop bombs somewhere 500 yrds away. AI started picking up a little in the 4th patrol which is the first time I was really agressively persued by a warship. I saved in the middle of the patrol to start a new game, so I have only ran into one convoy group w/ escorts, it may just be an isolated incident. As for contact frequency, convoys fall from the heavens like rain.

My very hard game is a whole other issue. Warships seem to be able to spot me easiely, and all pursue aggressively. I couldn't really get attacked steaming around on the surface in the daytime in normal, but these guys force me to go into dip-scope routine in the night. Also I'm not staying surfaced for aircraft anymore, it's pretty much a death-wish too.

[Mylander]

This is what I'm thinking. The boxes determine how you want your submarine to be. The difficulty determines frequency of contacts and how good the AI are. At least that is how it is looking to me.

Roger that. Looking forward to trying tonight after work. I still wonder if the ships will get harder to sink at higher diffficulty levels. Sounds like lots of playtesting! :D

Mylander

[AVGWarhawk]

I'm on my fourth patrol on a normal campain and in the middle of my first on a very hard campain (I wanted to try a different class / base). I'm seeing a huge difference between the two.

On normal the DD's were hilarious, if I destroyed the majority of a convoy they were escorting they would send out a ping every once and a while... Think I got depth charged like twice maybe? I even stopped submerging for aircraft, most of them seem to just circle a few times before heading off, or they drop bombs somewhere 500 yrds away. AI started picking up a little in the 4th patrol which is the first time I was really agressively persued by a warship. I saved in the middle of the patrol to start a new game, so I have only ran into one convoy group w/ escorts, it may just be an isolated incident. As for contact frequency, convoys fall from the heavens like rain.

My very hard game is a whole other issue. Warships seem to be able to spot me easiely, and all pursue aggressively. I couldn't really get attacked steaming around on the surface in the daytime in normal, but these guys force me to go into dip-scope routine in the night. Also I'm not staying surfaced for aircraft anymore, it's pretty much a death-wish too.



Another one experiencing what I'm seeing.:up: So I'm not crazy after all:doh: Thanks for posting FT!