Hoss1193
11-18-08, 04:23 PM
Picked up SH4 a few weeks ago and am hooked. Not a complete stranger to subsims; Played SH3 a bit before, also Aces of the Deep back in the day. Also not a complete stranger to submarine warfare - am in the USN and have done my share of subhunting and sub-avoiding in my day. Wouldn't consider myself an expert, but am familiar with the subject.
So I've been playing the stock game - I've greatly enjoyed it but would like to try one of the major mods. Before I ask the obvious question, just a few notes on how I like to play the game...
I try to play as realistically as I can...regarding the challenges/decisions/tasks facing the skipper. As an example, I don't shoot the guns myself (I don't often use them anyway). This is the main reason I've yet to make the leap to manual targeting...I find the "shoot the green triangle" unrealistically easy, but my sense is that switching to manual targeting involves having to the tasks of multiple folks during an attack...I'm not terribly interested in that either.
I don't try to fight airplanes, I just submerge. This in spite of the fact that the AA guns are unrealistically effective and usually the plane is shot down with the sub taking little or no damage.
I don't tangle with task forces or convoy escorts - the US put those subs out there to sink merchant shipping, so that's what I do. OTOH, I *am* interested in trying to figure a way to use the Cutie effectively during evasion...I've been experimenting with the things during last couple of patrols, with mixed success (will post separate topic on that).
I keep the auto-targeting feature on, but try to rely on it little. I mark radar contacts at regular intervals to verify course and speed, I use periscope sightings in conjunction with the PK to update solution, and during the torpedo launch, I unlock the target and deactivate the PK in order to try to hit a specific hull location. While I havent' figured out the exact "sweet spot" on all shiptypes, I *have* deduced that it often isn't exactly in the center...I usually try to put the torpedo just forward of the pilothouse on tankers (cargo fuel tanks), and right under the stack on freighters (to flood the relatively large engineroom). I'd like to find the mod or option set which forces all of the actions required by the skipper...without adding in extra tasks that would have been handled by other watchstations.
While not interested in unnecesarily frustrating myself, am interested in playing with more realistic torpedo dud rates. Am well aware of the torpedo malfunction issues during the war, seems I don't have those problems myself in the stock game, (and yes, I do have "dud torpedoes" enabled in the options). Perhaps a big part of it is that I already a) use about a 70deg AOB, run the torpedo shallow (usually about half of the target draft), use contact-only detonation, and spend the renown to deploy with a full bag of Mk23's. Even so...I haven't had a dud torpedo over the last four or five patrols...which seems unrealistic.
Makes perfect sense to me for TC to dial back down to 8 or 1 upon sensor contact or visual sighting. That said, one of the most annoying things in the game is the way I have to clack away at the TC key repeatedly just trying to get in and out of homeport or refit base...when all the contacts are BLUE. I've even tried turning the radar off...for whatever reason, the radar guy keeps reporting contacts anyway even though I've turned his dang scope off (and obtw...why isn't that option available for hydrophones?). Would be interested in a mod that lets me ignore contacts close to base.
I don't try to maximize the number of missions I can do in a patrol...in fact, I often try to minimize the number of different follow-on missions I get. I've got way more renown than I know what to do with (haven't really had anything to spend it on since early '44 except a few Cuties that I'm not sure I would buy again), so I don't feel compelled to gray-out 5 or 6 missions in a patrol. Instead, I prefer to just deploy to my spot, fulfill the requirement, and empty my torpedo tubes into merchants quickly. Transit time mission-to-mission cuts into that and burns gas. The dreaded photo-recon mission cuts WAY into that.
I generally like the crew management system as an improvement over SH3...at least at sea. Inport is another story. I understand and agree with the limitations on officers and POs - after all, why would Subpac let a sub deploy with 15 officers sorely needed elsewhere. What I'd like to see, however, is a *forced* turnover...because that's how it would have actually gone. Say, like, every patrol 20-30% of the crew turns over, transferred by ComSubPac - and you don't get to pick who goes. Or guys that were wounded below, say, 75 are tranferred for longterm recuperation. Or an officer can only do a max of 3 patrols; after that they're promoted to LCDR and go off to command their own boat. That would force a little more realistic crew management challenge. (yes, I know people will say "well, just impose that on yourself!"...heh, maybe so, but I'm not going to get rid of my long-serving Chief Engineer with the extra-speed boost unless the game MAKES me!).
Okay, sorry that was a bit long-winded, but I wanted to provide some background on the way I play before asking....
All you veterans out there who've played both, what mod is likely to be better/more realistic for my style of play? RFB or TMO? I *think* the answer is probably RFB, just looking for opinions out there. I *have* looked through quite a few threads about these mods...but have yet to run across one that directly compares the two on an even-handed objective basis.
(btw...my user handle here is a combination of my shipmate-given nickname when I was an Ensign, and the hull number of my first ship...USS FAIRFAX COUNTY (LST 1193)). :)
So I've been playing the stock game - I've greatly enjoyed it but would like to try one of the major mods. Before I ask the obvious question, just a few notes on how I like to play the game...
I try to play as realistically as I can...regarding the challenges/decisions/tasks facing the skipper. As an example, I don't shoot the guns myself (I don't often use them anyway). This is the main reason I've yet to make the leap to manual targeting...I find the "shoot the green triangle" unrealistically easy, but my sense is that switching to manual targeting involves having to the tasks of multiple folks during an attack...I'm not terribly interested in that either.
I don't try to fight airplanes, I just submerge. This in spite of the fact that the AA guns are unrealistically effective and usually the plane is shot down with the sub taking little or no damage.
I don't tangle with task forces or convoy escorts - the US put those subs out there to sink merchant shipping, so that's what I do. OTOH, I *am* interested in trying to figure a way to use the Cutie effectively during evasion...I've been experimenting with the things during last couple of patrols, with mixed success (will post separate topic on that).
I keep the auto-targeting feature on, but try to rely on it little. I mark radar contacts at regular intervals to verify course and speed, I use periscope sightings in conjunction with the PK to update solution, and during the torpedo launch, I unlock the target and deactivate the PK in order to try to hit a specific hull location. While I havent' figured out the exact "sweet spot" on all shiptypes, I *have* deduced that it often isn't exactly in the center...I usually try to put the torpedo just forward of the pilothouse on tankers (cargo fuel tanks), and right under the stack on freighters (to flood the relatively large engineroom). I'd like to find the mod or option set which forces all of the actions required by the skipper...without adding in extra tasks that would have been handled by other watchstations.
While not interested in unnecesarily frustrating myself, am interested in playing with more realistic torpedo dud rates. Am well aware of the torpedo malfunction issues during the war, seems I don't have those problems myself in the stock game, (and yes, I do have "dud torpedoes" enabled in the options). Perhaps a big part of it is that I already a) use about a 70deg AOB, run the torpedo shallow (usually about half of the target draft), use contact-only detonation, and spend the renown to deploy with a full bag of Mk23's. Even so...I haven't had a dud torpedo over the last four or five patrols...which seems unrealistic.
Makes perfect sense to me for TC to dial back down to 8 or 1 upon sensor contact or visual sighting. That said, one of the most annoying things in the game is the way I have to clack away at the TC key repeatedly just trying to get in and out of homeport or refit base...when all the contacts are BLUE. I've even tried turning the radar off...for whatever reason, the radar guy keeps reporting contacts anyway even though I've turned his dang scope off (and obtw...why isn't that option available for hydrophones?). Would be interested in a mod that lets me ignore contacts close to base.
I don't try to maximize the number of missions I can do in a patrol...in fact, I often try to minimize the number of different follow-on missions I get. I've got way more renown than I know what to do with (haven't really had anything to spend it on since early '44 except a few Cuties that I'm not sure I would buy again), so I don't feel compelled to gray-out 5 or 6 missions in a patrol. Instead, I prefer to just deploy to my spot, fulfill the requirement, and empty my torpedo tubes into merchants quickly. Transit time mission-to-mission cuts into that and burns gas. The dreaded photo-recon mission cuts WAY into that.
I generally like the crew management system as an improvement over SH3...at least at sea. Inport is another story. I understand and agree with the limitations on officers and POs - after all, why would Subpac let a sub deploy with 15 officers sorely needed elsewhere. What I'd like to see, however, is a *forced* turnover...because that's how it would have actually gone. Say, like, every patrol 20-30% of the crew turns over, transferred by ComSubPac - and you don't get to pick who goes. Or guys that were wounded below, say, 75 are tranferred for longterm recuperation. Or an officer can only do a max of 3 patrols; after that they're promoted to LCDR and go off to command their own boat. That would force a little more realistic crew management challenge. (yes, I know people will say "well, just impose that on yourself!"...heh, maybe so, but I'm not going to get rid of my long-serving Chief Engineer with the extra-speed boost unless the game MAKES me!).
Okay, sorry that was a bit long-winded, but I wanted to provide some background on the way I play before asking....
All you veterans out there who've played both, what mod is likely to be better/more realistic for my style of play? RFB or TMO? I *think* the answer is probably RFB, just looking for opinions out there. I *have* looked through quite a few threads about these mods...but have yet to run across one that directly compares the two on an even-handed objective basis.
(btw...my user handle here is a combination of my shipmate-given nickname when I was an Ensign, and the hull number of my first ship...USS FAIRFAX COUNTY (LST 1193)). :)