RSRDC_TMO_V502 career question

[p.jakub88]

Hello everyone,

i just started my Pacific career using the RSRDC_TMO_V502 mod, i am currently on my 3rd patrol.

However, i received an objective that i don't fully understand:

"Deploy to position 2830N 1273E by 150 nm (130 nm NNW of Okinawa) for 96 hours. Conduct anti-shipping operations in the East China Sea shipping lines. Make reports to higher authority as necessary".

I reached the position 2830N 1273E and i sunk 3 fishing boats (600 tons total) using deck gun in the area named East China Sea. Does this mean that i need to patrol/wait 96 hours within 150 nm of my current position?

I am running out of fuel and i don't want to stay in enemy waters longer than absolutely necessary. The nearest allied port is Darwin in Australia (i started patrol at Midway), so maybe i will manage to reach it at 1/3 speed.

English is not my native language (i am living in Poland), but those objectives are unclear for me. Could anyone explain it to me? Thank You in advance for reply and sorry for such dumb question.


Jakub

[propbeanie]

Stay within the boundary set (150nm) for 96 hours straight, which is four days. You can draw yourself a circle with the compass on your Nav Map to help out with that. I do not recall off the top of my head what the most fuel efficient speed in RSRDC is, but usually somewhere between Ahead 2/3 and Ahead Standard...

[p.jakub88]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Stay within the boundary set for 96 hours straight, which is four days. I do not recall off the top of my head what the most fuel efficient speed in RSRDC is, but usually somewhere between Ahead 2/3 and Ahead Standard...

Hello,

Thank You for the Quick answer. Meantime i figured it out - they should write objectives more clearly (like within x nm).

I am using Ahead Standard in friendly Waters or when chasing lone merchant ships.

I am using Ahead 2/3 on enemy Waters or when low on fuel.

So far it fitted well for the gameplay. There are some enormous distances in the Pacific Ocean

[propbeanie]

Look at lurker's ReadMe files in the mod, and see if he mentions anything about "efficient speed" or anything of that nature. Else, be bound by what ducimus has in the TMO ReadMe files...

When lurker says things like that "... position 2830N 1273E by 150 nm ...", he is defining the size for the patrol area, with the position being the center of a circle that is 150nm in size.

[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by p.jakub88

Hello everyone,

i just started my Pacific career using the RSRDC_TMO_V502 mod, i am currently on my 3rd patrol.

However, i received an objective that i don't fully understand:

"Deploy to position 2830N 1273E by 150 nm (130 nm NNW of Okinawa) for 96 hours. Conduct anti-shipping operations in the East China Sea shipping lines. Make reports to higher authority as necessary".

I reached the position 2830N 1273E and i sunk 3 fishing boats (600 tons total) using deck gun in the area named East China Sea. Does this mean that i need to patrol/wait 96 hours within 150 nm of my current position?

I am running out of fuel and i don't want to stay in enemy waters longer than absolutely necessary. The nearest allied port is Darwin in Australia (i started patrol at Midway), so maybe i will manage to reach it at 1/3 speed.

English is not my native language (i am living in Poland), but those objectives are unclear for me. Could anyone explain it to me? Thank You in advance for reply and sorry for such dumb question.


Jakub

Draw a circle circle 150 NM around the "star" on the map, stay within that circle for 96 hours, the star should change to colors to black/light gray and your lob will say objective complete. Also, must sink shipping and the tonnage requirement is usually that of one mid sized freighter. Few fishing boats wont get it.

Youre running TMO also, so ahead 2/3 will get you the most range. Use bridge tool bar which has "range to end" "max range at speed" use this at various speeds and youll get your best range.


Sometime I patrol different areas than RSRD assigned because I've learned for whatever reason you are often assigned to dead areas, esp in later war. Assigned to some areas, will look in the traffic files and seebarely any traffic. I am working on an upgrade and its one of the things I plan to change.


Also, not sure if are aware but you can't end patrol at Darwin, only get fuel, then will have to travel all way back to homeport(Midway or Pearl?)

May be worth it to just head home, end patrol and begin a new one.

[p.jakub88]

Hello Bubblehead1980 and propbeanie,

first of all thank You for Your replies, those info provided was very helpful!


I read both readmes (from TMO and RSRDC) few times to learn about mods features, changes, etc.

OK, so i fulfilled the previous objective on East China See (beside 3 fishing boats i sunk also 1 merchant ship of almost 4000 tons - so in total 4600 tons).

Then i sailed to Darwin where i re-fueled and re-armed my submarine.


Suddenly i received another objective to sail to Molucca Sea:

"Deploy to the Molucca Sea..." (i completed this part of the objective - i got a confirmation message)


However, i don't understand the second part of the message:

"...and conduct anti-shipping operations within 50 nm of 01S 1126E for 36 hrs".

The problem is that in this location (0'1S and 112'6E) is located BORNEO.

I must understand it wrongly or there is some typing errors in that order.


EDIT:

OK, i figured it out. The location coordinates are as follows: 1S 126E (so there was a typing error).
As suggested by Bubblehead1980 i sunk 1 ship (tonnage ~4200 tons) and i completed the objective .

Then i received another objective to go to 0130N 11930E, that means 1'30 N 1930E and perform anti-shipping patrol within 80 nm during 72 hrs.

I wonder, why those map coordinates given in objectives messages were written in such confusing manner?

I wonder also, if those new objectives ever finished, so i could finally return to my home base at Midway?

Thank You in advance for reply!

[propbeanie]

Especially in RSRDC, but also most other mods, and the stock game, when you radio a Status Report or Contact Report, there's a little "chance" routine that the game runs. it checks to see where you are located and if there are any Dynamic Campaign missions nearby, and what their "probability" percentage is set at. So if a mission has "within 2000km" for a parameter, and you're within 1500km, and the percentage chance says 50%, you stand a one in two chance of being assigned another mission. Some of those missions are set to 100%, some to 10%, and all the numbers between, so if you don't want to get another assignment, don't make radio contact. Either that, or just go home. I don't know of any mods that penalize you for skipping these "extra" missions.

You will find typos in the stock game, as well as all the mods. It's human nature to make mistakes. I wouldn't doubt if there weren't some erroneous assignments give with bad co-ordinates it real life also... Follow the stars, and hope for the best

[p.jakub88]

Hello propbeanie,

thank You for the detailed and comprehensive answer i will keep this info in mind for future when playing career in Sh 4.

If i could i would give You and Bubblehead1980 +REP, both of You were very helpful to me.

This is so far the best sim game that i played with excellent mods like TMO and RDRSC .


During my Pacific career i had some funny engagements with enemy merchant ships: for example when i failed to sink a 4000 tons merchant ship with 6 torpedoes (all of them missed the ship by few meters; i know i am a terrible gunner ) i engaged him with my deck gun and fired into him dozen of armor piercing and HE shells slowing him down and converting into Swiss cheese . Finally the poor bastard was sunk by a single torpedo, while the other was a dud.

I also cut another merchant ship in half by an underwater torpedo explosion under his keel, that was quite a sight to see . However, i am still in 1942 year in my career (i started in June 1942 after Midway battle), so the torpedoes are highly unreliable. To be honest, i scored most of my kills so far using deck gun, lol . I watched a video on Youtube about the "Torpedo Scandal" in US Navy during the Pacific war and i was shocked about all those facts. Earlier i thought, that the torpedoes malfunction rate represented in SH4 mods are too high, now i know that it is historically accurate.

[propbeanie]

ducimus did a lot of research for TMO. lurker probably even more for RSRDC. However, as has been mentioned by many SubSimmers, TMO is more of a "difficulty" mod, making the game more challenging. RSRDC tried to model the merchant traffic of the time period, based on historical data. Bubblehead1980 is trying to add his own flavor to the TMO / RSRDC mix, so watch for him to have his idea of the "perfect mix" shortly, and Bleiente has already released his idea of such in "Ralles RealModPack for TMO_RSRDC_OTC". This is the great thing about SubSim: If you don't quite like a given mod, and don't feel you have the skill to mod, wait a while and someone will come along with a change for you...

I'm going to have to do some digging to find them again, but if you like the Quick Mission idea in the game, cdrsubron7 has a set of them for TMO/RSRDC in the download section. Excellent stuff. I have a tendency to lose track of time in them... That was easy enough: tambor198's TMO+RSRDC missions pack...

[p.jakub88]

This is the actual mod list enabled in my SH4 (see attached picture).

Those mods work well together in the career mode as far as i played and i am satisfied of them.

TMO makes the game more challenging by i.e increasing torpedoes malfunction and ship sinking times.

I am enjoying my RSRDC career as well - being currently on my 3rd patrol.

[p.jakub88]

I finally returned from my 3rd patrol in my career. It was a very long one: i leaved Midway on 23 August 1942 and returned back on 18 October 1942 sinking 30000 tons of enemy merchant shipping. Of course i re-fueled and re-armed my submarine few times. I fulfilled 1 main objective and 3 others received from high command. For my achievements i received the Navy Cross.

However, i received only about 2000 renown points - is that normal in RSRDC?
I am playing on 100% difficulty level. I am asking, because i want to recruit new crew member with special ability which costs 3000 renown. Is there possible to accumulate renown points through various patrols or this won't sum up?
How can i check the ratings of my finished patrols? To be promoted, the player need to finish certain numbers of patrols on certain ratings (i.e Good).

I noticed also, that some enemy merchant ships were armed, so engaging them on surface was dangerous - does this feature comes with RSRDC mod or is already present in stock game?

Thank You in advance for response.

[propbeanie]

There is always an element of "danger" in surface engagements, that gets worse as the war progresses, including stock. It is advisable to avoid surface engagements...

Most of the primary mission will earn 150-300 points, and ships sunk earn similar. The game sometimes mis-counts though... You can check the record in the office at the end of the patrol.

[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

There is always an element of "danger" in surface engagements, that gets worse as the war progresses, including stock. It is advisable to avoid surface engagements...

Most of the primary mission will earn 150-300 points, and ships sunk earn similar. The game sometimes mis-counts though... You can check the record in the office at the end of the patrol.

Something I am adjusting at some point(already have on some important targets such as tankers), renown awarded is pretty low.

[p.jakub88]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Most of the primary mission will earn 150-300 points, and ships sunk earn similar. The game sometimes mis-counts though... You can check the record in the office at the end of the patrol.

I am just before starting my 4th war patrol in my career.

However, i wasn't able to find the ratings of my finished patrols - maybe i looked in wrong places? I checked the Career History (Captain's Log) which shows all the ships that i sunk with details (tonnage, length, etc), but nothing about the patrol ratings (no words like "Good", etc.).

Does the renown points accumulates through career or it is not transferable to the next patrol?

How to lock the target (ship) for the crew of the deck gun? Is there any key shortcut for it?
The game refers to "binoculars" to use for locking the target for the deck gun crew - does it mean TBT?

Quote: "LOCKS THE SELECTED TARGET FOR THE DECK GUN CREW IN THE BINOCULAR VIEW. IF CREWED, THE GUNNERS WILL BEGIN TO ENGAGE THE TARGET WITH THE PROPER WEAPON".
I have always "SET AS TARGET FOR DECK GUN OR AA CREW" button grey (inactive) even when looking directly at enemy ship through TBT.

Sorry for the numbers of questions, but i wasn't able to find my answer in the game's manual or TMO and RSRDC readmes.

Thank You in advance for the response!

[propbeanie]

Generally, use your mouse scroll wheel while on the bridge in a normal view mode, or hit the tab key while there, and you'll get the binoculars. You'll see a little crosshair in it. Point that at the target by either moving around with the mouse or the arrow keys, and press your space bar while "on target" and it has turned red. This is also part of the technique you will use to "pick-up" downed pilots in the Life Guard missions. Be careful what you're pointing at when you hit that space bar... You do it while looking at the Mighty Mo and you're liable to instigate a friendly fire incident...

The renown points are supposed to stay with you for your entire career. I'm not sure if the Captain's Log Book in the base office has anything other than a running total of your total tonnage sunk, along with the ship names divided by patrol... it's been a while since I paid much attention to those details...