[Drakomis]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

The stock game has some issues, even with all the patching they did to it... Webster's GFO takes on a lot of those issues, and does seem to calm things down. Now, I have been attempting to see how much would be involved in moving the Narwhal Bonus Mod over into being compatible with Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate (LOTS of issues!!!), and while doing so, I have found a couple of files out of place in the mod, though it looks like they're just duplicates, but I'll get back with you on that... in the meantime, there are a couple of threads around the site here about about getting the game to run its best for you.

Some of those are to have your Windows display set to the "native" resolution of your monitor. As an example, my old LCD here does 1280 x 1024 @ 70Hz as it's "native" resolution, which just means, that's what the LCD monitor is built for, and is most efficient at displaying. Therefore, I have my video card set to that resolution in Windows. I also have Silent Hunter set to that in the Options screen, Display settings off the main menu in the game. Also, once you're in the game, it's generally best not to <Alt> <Tab> out of the game. Some portions of the game on certain computers get "confused", such as the weather, sounds, and other things. While the game allows the use of 8096, try to stay away from anything over 2048, although that can make for a ~long~ session. TC (Time Compression) doesn't always cause trouble, but when it does, it's like the <Alt> <Tab>, in that it can be difficult to get re-set. Last but not least, when you go to Save your game, create a new save point, don't overwrite a previous save. Some of us just do like Patrol1Save2, Patrol1Save3, or whatever. Get to a certain point, and you "Delete" some of the old in-between saves.

A few last things about those "glitches" that you notice - when you're close to a base or close to a land mass, you'll see it. When an airplane is nearby, you'll see it. When a convoy is getting generated, or spawned, you'll see it, etc., so oftentimes, when you see the game "hiccup" like that, something is happening somewhere close-by in the game. Some folks use those little hiccups when they're in "enemy territory" to tell when something has spawned, and they'll quickly drop back to 1x TC and go to the sonar station to see if they can "hear" anything, then go hunt it down... my luck, I usually find a Hunter / Killer group... Also, later in the game, there is a LOT going on, and a LOT for the game to keep track of, and that causes those hiccups.

Thanks Propbeanie! I'll do the resolution fix, but ever since I restarted and took things easy, I've been having a ball in the Narwhal. I'll share with you my patrol reports. I write them out as I play, and I want your take on them if you could?

 

USS Narwhal (SS-167) 1ST PATROL LOG


Tiberius Johnson, Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander
Lucas P. Hills, Executive Officer, 1st Lieutenant


Log Starts:
December 10th, 1941, Pearl assigned me the USS Narwhal, an old submarine in the fleet and an oddball in design. I had heard plenty in regard to her construction, along with her odd arrangement of twin-mounted cannons (because that's what they are, by God) on her deck. There was slight difficultly in getting her running, but once dry was done with her,
I met my XO and the crew. We started not long after.


We had plenty of time on this patrol to meet and greet, and I had plenty of time to perform drills with the crew. The Narwhal is a unique submarine, a unique ship. I thought hard on the ways I could take advantage of her in this new war. It was obvious the limited amount of torpedo tubes would hamper our attempts at attacking. I would need a new tactic, one employed carefully, to succeed. I drilled my crew on using the deck guns as our main weapons, and torpedoes as our secondaries.


By the 14th of December, my drills were paying off. We bagged our first several ships just south of Kobe, keeping to the deep reaches of the waters for the most part. I found my crew not only quite capable of repelling air attacks, but also destroyers.


We spotted a large fleet on the 26th of December after several attempts to find any shipping failed. The fleet was large, comprising of 3 destroyers and 8 merchant ships. The Narwhal was at periscope depth. I had to be careful because of the limited amount of munitions I had for my deck guns, so I swapped my tactics and brought my torps into the fore.
Mostly, everything missed (as expected), but we bagged one merchant. The destroyer escorts were alerted and exactly where we wanted them, so we surfaced and engaged with guns.
After a long chase, the entire fleet of ships was gone.


I brought the Narwhal into Pearl on the 9th of January, 1942. We had Christmas at sea, and the crew and I celebrated robustly our victories. I awared three bronze stars, and one silver star to the gun crew. I was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor (huge surprise there!) and a Purple Heart for my injuries sustained during the patrol.


We managed to bag around a total of 80,142 tons for this patrol.


Signed,
Lt. Cmndr. Tiberius Johnson

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USS Narwhal (SS-167) 2ND PATROL LOG


Tiberius Johnson, Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander
Lucas P. Hills, Executive Officer, 1st Lieutenant


Log Starts:
Departed Pearl after extensive repairs were completed on the Narwhal. She's a tough sub, but even she needs some pampering. That was around the 4th of February or so.


February 6th, 1942, made contact with a lone merchant ship (really? All alone?!) around 1002 hours. Our mission is heading towards Japan again, just southwest of our 1st patrol area. Made contact in the Philipine Sea, 641 NM south of Japan. Decided to approach contact submerged, try to test the torp crew again. Guess they were jealous of the gun crews because the Narwhal fired two torps, and both hit. Merchant was sunk at 1055. Good day, despite the boggy morning weather.


From hours 1603 to 1945, same day, tried to catch up with two possible destroyers (target practice for gun crews!). Plans failed as ships were just too fast. Gave up and went back to standard patrol around 1945. Probably due to the horrible weather, stormy and windy with squalls sucking up the sub.


Feburary 11th, made contact with merchant convoy. The raging typoon made torps a practical impossibility at the debth they'd normally be fired. Gave this one to the gun crews. I helped the fore gun as we took on destroyers and took them all down. Funny how not a single destroyer got a hit on us, but as soon as we neared the merchants, they get two hits (one when we first made contact, the second after). They split into two groups, with a 4th destroyer hiding among the second group we almost missed. Boy was that a surprise! 7 merchant ships of various models overall, all sunk over a few hours of just battle. Man they put up a fight!


Asked our Chief of the repair crew what he thought about staying out to fight another patrol. He informed me he believed the ship shouldn't dive below 60 feet. That basically made us a sitting target for the damage we already took. I decided to bring the ship back in to port for repairs. By the 23rd of February we were in port.


I was awarded the Navy Cross, and was able to award a few bronze stars to the crew (the forward torp crew this time!).


I'm thinking of a transfer now. The Narwhal is nice. Her crew is my family now. I'm just worried the tactics I'm employing could kill us if I don't tone it down. This came about with a conversations with my XO. The crew stands behind me. We get results. He's just speaking about how aggressive I am. Maybe I do need to tone it down.


Had a private conference with the Admiral at pearl. We both agreed the ship is needed at the front lines, and we talked tactics. Everything went well.


Total tonnage this patrol was around 46,800 tons. Not bad.


Signed,
Lt. Cmndr. Tiberius Johnson


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USS Narwhal (SS-167) 3RD PATROL LOG


Tiberius Johnson, Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander
Lucas P. Hills, Executive Officer, 1st Lieutenant


Log Starts:
Departed Pearl after repairs. This is starting to be a pattern. The trip to our next patrol would take a few days, so I decided to go over with the crew some ideas on tactics.


March 25th, we encountered a lone merchant ship. Torped him down. Easy pickings. 411 nm southwest of tokyo.


March 26th from hours 1606 to 1652 the Narwhal engaged a standard convoy of merchants and destroyers. 4 destroyers, 8 freighters, all sunk by guns despite clear weather. I went in cautious this time, only near misses by enemy destroyers. Didn't seem like the merchants had guns at all.


March 27th, late hours, encountered enemy battle fleet with two battleships. Attempted torp run, scored only one trop hit to disable one destroyer. After a lengthy chase, kept the Narwhal at 220 feet and evaded enemy destroyers until we could slip away back to Pearl. Man, we almost got killed that run!


March 28th from hours 1506 to 1517 the Narwhal encountered two lone destroyers. I decided to approach this tactfully and use torpedoes. Fired three fish in the fore, struck only once, but that was enough for the first. The second proved a challenged, had to manuver to fire aft, fired two fish, one struck dead center of the destroyer and split her in half. Good fight. Time to head back to Pearl.


March 30th, early hours of 0200 to 0226, encountered lone merchant. Surfaced and thought of gun attack, but revised when noted the merchant couldn't see us. Instead fired three fish, all three hit. Low fish count, and munitions. Might have enough for another loner if I find one.


Was honored with another Navy Cross at Pearl, and several bronze stars and silver stars for the crew.


Total tonnage for this run was 47,698. Not bad.


Signed,
Lt. Cmndr. Tiberius Johnson