Some basic questions

[vassock]

If I buy a homing torpedo, do I have to pay 170 (or however much it costs) for every torpedo, or is it like purchasing a place on the boat that will always be reserved for that torpedo? For example, if I buy 4 homing torpedoes before mission 1 and fire them during mission 1, when I end the mission and am back at the office, will that torpedo still be there or do I have to buy it again if I want it? If I buy all homing torpedoes, fire them, and then refit, will my torpedo slots be replaced with those homing torpedoes or with generic T1/T2 torpedoes regardless of what used to be there?




Is sneaking into enemy ports and sinking ships there considered cheating/exploiting?




How do I turn off radio contact reports? I want to travel at 8000x time compression without being interrupted and bumped down to 8x time compression. How do I turn off the radio or better yet stop the game from reducing my time compression when this happens? Same for spotting ships. Sometimes I know they're friendlies and don't care. Just let me play at 8000x time compression while I'm leaving friendly waters.



Is there a tutorial for using manual TDC (I'm playing at 100% realism) for the GERMAN side? I am playing the German side, but most tutorials seem to be for the American side.

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD! :sunny:

If I buy a homing torpedo, do I have to pay 170 (or however much it costs) for every torpedo, or is it like purchasing a place on the boat that will always be reserved for that torpedo?
I suspect the cost is for every torpedo until they become common, but I never buy anything with renown so take my answer with a grain of salt.

Is sneaking into enemy ports and sinking ships there considered cheating/exploiting?
The only consideration is yours. Some American subs did raid minor merchant ports. Major naval bases were very well protected. The game will always let you get away with things impossible, or at least impractical, in real life. It comes down to how you feel about it. The community has too many members to ever have a real consensus.

How do I turn off radio contact reports? I want to travel at 8000x time compression without being interrupted and bumped down to 8x time compression. How do I turn off the radio or better yet stop the game from reducing my time compression when this happens? Same for spotting ships. Sometimes I know they're friendlies and don't care. Just let me play at 8000x time compression while I'm leaving friendly waters.
Good question, and one I don't have an answer for, as I like the reports.

Is there a tutorial for using manual TDC (I'm playing at 100% realism) for the GERMAN side? I am playing the German side, but most tutorials seem to be for the American side.
Don't know the answer to that one. I'm so bad at manual targetting I probably should be prohibited from playing the game at all. :dead:

[vassock]

My only success with using torpedoes against moving targets has been against destroyers that are chasing me. After I sunk 2 battleships and a carrier in a port (docked), I escaped but 3 destroyers wanted my head for sinking their ships. I sunk all 3. The first two were killed as they were chasing me. I sunk each with one torpedo. The other one was smarter and approached at an angle. So I estimated his angle using the periscope and launched a salvo of 4 torpedoes. One of them hit and destroyed him. It was the last destroyed I faced which is good since I had no more internal torpedoes.

So I guess it's not completely unrealistic to sneak into enemy ports since I had to fight it out with destroyers in shallow waters.

[Sailor Steve]

Naval bases were protected by minefields and subnets. The nets didn't have gaps in them like they do in the game. They had 'gates' which were towed open and closed by a service vessel. Getting through them into the harbor was pretty much impossible. The only naval base raid that succeeded was Prien's raid on Scapa Flow, and he only made it because Admiral Doenitz did some very careful planning after a thorough examination of aerial photography. After that the British closed up the gaps, and then started moving ships to even more protected areas.

I'd say raiding a naval base is 99.9% unrealistic.

Of course that's just my opinion. :sunny:

[merc4ulfate]

I am playing with tmo 2.7 and I have been in Tokyo and hiroshima harbors. No mine fields or nets ... whats up with that?

[jgf]

I don't consider anything a game allows "off the shelf" (no hacks, patches, or cheat codes) to be cheating; but agree harbor raiding is unrealistic. It was my major source of tonnage in SH1 and is proving equally lucrative in SH4; though at least now the IJN fights back. Also agree it would be nice to slip the radar operator some knockout drops when leaving Pearl; I don't need non-stop notifications of every friendly blip on the screen. Have yet to encounter any nets, but it's only 1943 in my career (7th patrol).

[magic452]

Also agree it would be nice to slip the radar operator some knockout drops when leaving Pearl; I don't need non-stop notifications of every friendly blip on the screen..

Just turn off the radar. But don't forget to turn it back on once you've cleared the port area. You still get visual contacts but it helps

Magic

[jgf]

Just turn off the radar. But don't forget to turn it back on once you've cleared the port area. You still get visual contacts but it helps

Magic

Tried that. Apparently that miscreant operator turns it back on as soon as I walk away.

[Stealhead]

You are probably getting hits on the SD air search radar then you cant turn that one off.What version are you playing?If the radar is coming back on or you are getting tons of aircraft hits that sounds like stock to me.jgf mods also vastly increase the number of nets and mines to deal with there are very few in stock.

I play TMO and when you turn the radar off (SJ) it stays off unless perhaps you dive and then surface I know that if you had the radar on then it comes back on when you surface again stock forced you to turn it on.Never looked to see what happens when it is off and you dive and resurface but I think it stays off.

If you are playing stock then you might really enjoy some of the mods that make the game much better and some greatly increase the challenge from the AI.TMO is not the only mod there are several others.

Never mind jgf you are using TMO but what version it says in your other post in another thread that you have SH4 1.4 this does not work with the newer versions of TMO that would explain your issues.You are probably not getting the full effect of TMO unless you are using a really old version.What does your loading and title screen look like? If it is just like stock you have a problem.TMO 2.2,2.5 will not work with 1.4 you would need TMO 1.5 maybe that one would but I am not sure.1.4 is the version without the added U-boat missions if you have those then you have 1.5.

[jgf]

I noticed the different versions of TMO and double checked that my d/l was for V1.4 before installing. My loading screen has a monochrome photo of a sub with "Trigger Maru Overhaul" and the loading bar.

TMO is the only mod I currently have active. Before starting my career I installed RSRD (version for V1.4 + TMO), plus the update, plus the patch, but the sim would CTD as soon as I left the office and the map appeared, so I uninstalled it (using the mod installer).

When leaving Pearl I can't even tap the "+" key enough to get 128x TC before "radar contact, sir" (tap,tap,tap,"radar contact, sir", tap,tap,tap,"radar contact, sir", tap,tap,tap,"radar contact, sir"). I give up, leave TC at 8x and go flank speed til I'm a hundred or so miles away then slow and increase TC (always stop at Midway on my way to and from Japan so the fuel use is no concern).

[Stealhead]

If you getting radar hits and have to go 100 miles from Pearl those are aircraft and that sounds like way too many for TMO they should be reduced in number over stock.I would try and remove all mods with JSGME and install just TMO again if you got the CTDs something may still be jacked up.Also if you are getting hits from surface contacts even if you have turned of the radar and it comes back on that sounds way off I have never seen this.With the radar on you should only get hits from surface contacts for around 20 miles if you have the SJ set to 40,000.

I would get the Gold edition with the added U-Boat missions very few mods support old 1.4 anymore and you will be able to get the most up to date versions of mods.Those older mods have not had errors corrected that have been ironed out in later versions.It is a few extra bucks to spend but it is well worth it I bet about 90% of SH4 players started with 1.4 and then purchased Gold Edition if you want the most refined experience that is your option.For now though i would fully remove TMO via JSGME and then install it again just to see if something is nerfing your game with all those contacts it might stop with a fresh TMO install also try a brand new career and see if you get all the contacts.Your old save may be jacked up as well.

[jgf]

I haven't measured exactly where the radar contacts stop being a problem, might be 50 miles, might be 20 miles; since 8x is the limit til I'm out of range I go do something else and return after enough time has passed that I can increase TC.

Have never looked for the U-Boat update since I was interested in a continuation of SH1, not AOD. I have noticed a complete lack of any custom missions for V1.4, while there are plenty for V1.5

After the CTDs with RSRD I did remove everything, played a few of the single patrols to make sure the default game was running OK, then reinstalled TMO and started a career.