What a Rush!!

[Dogfish40]

I have to say that this is THE MOST awesome game I've ever played. Other computer games usually lead you down some kind of laid down path that you must follow, leaving nothing to chance.
Does anyone else's heart pound as hard as mine when I decide to stalk a target.
Sure, there is a lot of searching and plotting which is fun but a lot of empty ocean, THEN, BOOM. "Contact, Warship (or Merchant) Closing medium".
I close on a convoy from ahead and keep raising the periscope for no more than 20 secs at a time. I close to 2000yds, 1020yrds for the DD protecting the front and fire six torpedoes, "Hard to port, flank speed, dive to 200ft". Miss the merchants but hit the DD and it sinks like a rock. I lose the rest of the DD's. Disappointed, I later run into two unguarded merchants headed north and close, "Fire one, fire two, fire three, fire four..." My Heart is POUNDING!! I hit both with all four. The secondary explosions are magnificent! Elated, I head west...
This is the best game I've ever played!!:yeah:
D40
USS DRUM, Philippine sea 1942

[NoGoodLandLubber]

Good job!! :salute:

Be sure to hit CTRL+F11 and post some screen captures of your kills!

I love it when I hit a merchant ship that musta been hauling a shipment of C-4!! They go BOOM! so purrrrty!!

Another thing I like to do is make unscheduled visits to hostile ports, especially at night! I went into Itoman harbor on the west side of Okinawa and found nearly every berth had a target in it. All that stood in the way was one subchaser and one auxiliary gunboat.


FLASH TRAFFIC!! I just slipped into Shanghai harbor to find four tankers and three freighters tied up alongside a minelayer and three auxiliary gunboats. It's a shame all I've got left is four torpedoes in my stern tubes with no re-loads. I took out the minelayer and one gunboat but then things got a little too hot 'n' heavy (kinda like my ex-wife) so I hiked up my skirt and ran like a little girl. Gonna go to Pearl and refit then see if I can get back to finish the job. Hull damage is 96%. If Free Willy bumps into me I'm headed straight to the bottom!

[WernherVonTrapp]

I have to say that this is THE MOST awesome game I've ever played. Other computer games usually lead you down some kind of laid down path that you must follow, leaving nothing to chance.
Does anyone else's heart pound as hard as mine when I decide to stalk a target.
Yeah, it's quite addicting, isn't it? The rapid heart rate, increased respirations, spike in blood pressure. Almost like participating in some type of extreme sport. BTW, the SHIV Support Group meets once a week. It usually involves an hour of intense therapy followed by a mild debriefing session, and then comes coffee and social hour.:D

[Bubblehead1980]

Wait until you try out some of the mods , then you'll really feel your heart rate go up lol

[RodBorza]

Or to fight against Ducimus DD's. That 's a rush!

[Bubblehead1980]

Or to fight against Ducimus DD's. That 's a rush!

Well I did not specift TMO but that is what I meant lol

[Dogfish40]

I will say that even playing with the stock game with some mods, I've got my hands full when there are more than four DD's. I'm taking this nice and slow, using the stock game to really hone my timing and maneuvering skill. I read about all you blokes playing TMO and RFB ect and my hats completely off to you, especially using manual firing. I'm just now getting good at getting to my attack point and using the Hydrophones without any external aid (except an occasional peek w' the camera), setting up the boat to attack and my shipmates help me out with the firing solutions.
I'm just glad I don't have any heart problems because I STILL wouldn't be able to stay away from this game. (I have an understanding wife thankfully).
I will be going to RFB soon, then on to TMO, but like I said, I am biding my time to get as good as I can with stock and reading all the posts by all of you that are way ahead of me. Great stuff.:salute:
D40, USS Drum/ Heading for Midway to get some torpedoes and steaks.
Good Hunting
And yes, I will be posting some pics when I can get some good shots.

[Jack Cutter]

Lol it's true about how addicting this game is. I too can't get enough of it. I play Vanilla with auto targeting and cams on, but everything else I run realistically.

I think it's a good reflection of how war must've been ( I assume the horror and terror are magnified a thousand fold, but hence why I said a reflection) because you do have those long boring periods of nothingness while you cross the vastness of the pacific. But then, bingo you run into a task force or an escorted convoy and all hell breaks loose. You're thinking, plotting making intercepts, holding your breath as a destroyer buzzes angrily over head, and then you're in the middle and able to prey on the helpless merchants.

A column of water jets high into the sky as a roaring explosion shatters the silence like a thunderclap. The darkness is turned to day as an enourmous fireball erupts skyward. Alarms sound as paniked sailors scramble from their racks to get to the lifeboats. Gunners go on watch and sonar ripples through the water, and you can only sit and listen in a hushed state as they hunt you down.

The ultimate game of cat and mouse. And you have to respect what the brave men who really did it must've gone through. It's easy for me to smile my ass off as my virtual life could be snuffed out, but I can tell you, I could never hack it in the real world.

Great game! I'll never put it down for long. :yeah::salute::ping::arrgh!:

[TaipaN_]

I think I'm not there yet.

I believe now after reading the forums that I was rather silly by installing Trigger Maru, plus putting 100% realism after getting through the Torpedo submarine school manually.

But now the fourth training mission I can't do, as the destroyers just find me and mess me up royally lol.

I think I will keep TMO, but I will turn on map contacts as I have no situational awareness at all to help me get ahead for the intercept.

But I do love the explosions I've done so far on the torpedo training, I hope to get my convoy attack working soon.

Any other realism settings you guys think I should turn off when I'm learning?

[Fish40]

Sometimes it's hard to remember it's only a sim:yep: I've been there before with the anxious feelings while creeping up on a convoy, or even a lone target. Sweating out the torpedo countdown on the stopwatch. Hoping there are no duds! Wheeeew, I'm dizzy now!

@ TaipaN: I just recently started useing the Map Contacts option. I used to do all the plotting myself, but realised a real Capt. would not be doing that. Sure, you feel good when you successfully obtain all the target data yourself, but as Captn. that's not really realistic. Besides, there is no realism penalty by checking this option for the very reason I stated. The only problem I have with the map contacts option is the supreme accuracy of your plotting crew. I know in reality there were some very experienced radar/sonar operators during the war, but these guys are all experts. I would love to see some random inaccurate info thrown in sometimes just to make it interesting.

[Dogfish40]

I think I'm not there yet.

I believe now after reading the forums that I was rather silly by installing Trigger Maru, plus putting 100% realism after getting through the Torpedo submarine school manually.

But now the fourth training mission I can't do, as the destroyers just find me and mess me up royally lol.

I think I will keep TMO, but I will turn on map contacts as I have no situational awareness at all to help me get ahead for the intercept.

But I do love the explosions I've done so far on the torpedo training, I hope to get my convoy attack working soon.

Any other realism settings you guys think I should turn off when I'm learning?

It's hard to say, I am trying to play this as though I have a crew to help out, so... I have a weapon's officer assist, and I use auto-aim (for now), I will be shutting that off very soon as I need something to do while I plot my approach. I have the event cam off, BUT I need that external cam just to see some of the great explosions ect, I try not to use it for battle use unless I am going to trip on time comp. I figure I'm getting over 30 or so realism for now and I'm having a lot of fun with the game and that's the important thing. Turn on enough realism (or off) to make it fun.
:salute: D40

[ZigmundFreund]

I think I'm not there yet.

I believe now after reading the forums that I was rather silly by installing Trigger Maru, plus putting 100% realism after getting through the Torpedo submarine school manually.

But now the fourth training mission I can't do, as the destroyers just find me and mess me up royally lol.

I think I will keep TMO, but I will turn on map contacts as I have no situational awareness at all to help me get ahead for the intercept.

But I do love the explosions I've done so far on the torpedo training, I hope to get my convoy attack working soon.

Any other realism settings you guys think I should turn off when I'm learning?

I think it's a good idea to keep TMO on. This will make you get some skills faster and more importantly it will keep you from learning to play the arcade way.

Personally, I kept the outside camera on for a long while. It helps you to understand what you are messing up with your approach/firing solution. I used to save/load frequently as well to practice my technique.

more info here if you haven't found it yet:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1025180&postcount=1

If you have trouble avoiding Destroyers, read the SH3 & SH4 "Uber" AI Explained (http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/ai.htm) it's very useful.

[Ducimus]

Reguarding TMO:

It won't be nice to a new player. It was targeted towards the experienced player on the premise that eventually your skills grow to a point where the game gets dull and routine. That said, even the AI adjustments in TMO will become boring and routine in time. The more you play, the better you get, the more trivial things become as your awareness of boundries and limitations grows.

As realism options go, it was sort of designed to have map contacts on. At least, *I* leave them on, because i could never give up the position plotting. (everything else i could, just not the position plotting)