A comprehensive SH4 guide (repost)

[Dr. Merc]

This is a repeat of a post I made a few years ago, but I've just added something pretty special to the guide, so I thought it deserved a re-posting.

This is a fairly comprehensive manual (16,759 words) for this wonderful sim. While I don't think I added anything particularly new when it comes to game play, the guide does have a few features that some people might be interested in.

This includes:

— A thorough review of the 'Replay' feature

— Tips and tests if the game plays sluggishly

— How to get a full batch of torpedoes when doing a 'Refit'

— The 'trick' to bringing down escorting destroyers

— The revelation of what I call 'Liner Lane', a hot spot for troop carriers

— Ten saved scenarios for your steel carnage enjoyment. Some involve troop carriers, some involve warships. One of them features a Jap harbor with two heavy cruisers, two battleships and two aircraft carriers. Fun for the whole family!

— How to change single voice files, plus a download that changes every voice to the 'whispered' Silent Running voices. It also lowers the volume of some of the sound effects, like that loud, obnoxious klaxon horn when it dives or surfaces.

— How to automatically store your saved games on a different partition in case your C Drive melts down.

— And a recent addition: the location of the magazine in large enemy warships, where one torp can bring 'em down.

The manual is here. Any critiques, corrections or additions are welcome, of course.

[Michel78]

When you have started your career you state it's not possible to change career settings.

Actually you can, when in your office you can do that with clicking on the radio to the left.

Otherwise very nice guide.

[Rockin Robbins]

Wow. How do I put this. As soon as I read, "be forewarned that, in the ones I've checked out, the guy is playing in 'Iron Man Mode', doing all the plotting by hand rather than using the automatic targeting system, the TDC. While more accurate for the times, it's an exacting, tedious process which eliminates a lot of fun from the game." and then encountered your fetish for spamming the + key (what on God's green and blue earth is that supposed to accomplish?), I knew this guide was going nowhere good.

You don't understand the game. Writing a users guide is not something someone who doesn't understand that SH4 is not Borderlands 2 should do. Disclaimer: I LIKE Borderlands 2 and play it almost daily. Much of your advice, like going into high time compression when encountering a DD on the surface, will just get you inexplicably killed. Same for using the same "mash the plus button" strategy for airplanes.

Time compression does nothing to the enemy while it eliminates your ability to react to their movements. You advised people to just put on a blindfold when encountering the enemy and claim they'll escape every time.

Folks, don't try this at home. And manual targeting, while decidedly not tedius, not particularly exacting, adds A LOT to the enjoyment of the game. I've taught hundreds to do it and they are having a blast.

On mods, "You're welcome to look over whatever lists you stumble across, but I didn't see anything interesting. I asked in the two forums if there was any 'standard' enhancement mod that everyone put in, but there doesn't appear to be." Sigh...... And then it gets worse as you show that you don't understand how to use JSGME and manually make a shambles of your game files while blaming the mods for game crashes that result. It's like posting the following advice for a computer virus: "Open a command window and type "Format C:" Sure your virus will be gone and so will your data, programs and operating system.

Even a small amount of time on Subsim would have kept you from making eggregious errors. I hope no new players are led down the path you tried to blaze. I like to make people successful by leading them the right way. Sure wish you felt the same.

Some people shouldn't write "guides."

[Dr. Merc]

Rob -

1. If you want to play in Iron Man mode, you go right ahead. I wrote the guide for newbies, and jumping straight into Iron Man mode from the get-go would be a bit much, given how much else there is to learn.

2. I have no idea what you mean by "spamming" the + key.

3. As for "advising people to put on a blindfold", you need to improve your reading skills a bit. That's only when trying to get from Point A to Point B and don't want to be bothered dealing with those pesky planes. I gave them three options, the 'blindfold' method being just one of them.

4. As for the mods, I asked both here and on the UBI site if there was any 'standard' mod that everyone put in to enhance the game and no one had one to offer. As for other mods, I certainly encouraged the readers to look around.

Best regards,
Doc

[Dr. Merc]

Michel -

Ah, you mean the Gameplay Settings. Thanks for the tip. I'd never clicked on the radio before -- didn't even know it was clickable. Odd that they'd put the Audio and Graphic Settings in the actual game, but not the Gameplay Settings, eh?

The one thing that bugs me about 'Normal' mode is that it turns off "Realistic repair time", so that should take care of that pesky detail. Much thanks!

Doc

[cloadmcally]

Listen, don't get us wrong but, most of what you are saying in the guide is very arguable, I'll explain better:
You say that one should just put in the settings you suggest, not even trying to explain what each does, not to mention the fact that you hardcore more about your lovely + button and the ''shortcuts'' than anything else.
Getting back to the options, you say that one should start in pearl beacuse ''you get a better sub, and you can just move to australia later on''. That really isn't an explanation to me. You should improve your skills and have good results in order to AFFORD new subs, And for god sakes, S boats will provide you the most challenging experience of the game, that's just my humble opinion though.
But, hey! You even suggest to try and ram a japanese sub just for fun, you say that if you find a lonely destroyer you should dive and increase the time compression.
You are really just playing SH4 to find easy merchants and click a big red button when under 1000 yards...
Oh, I almost forgot the fact that you say one should stick his hand either on the + and backspace buttons or on the arrow keys when you are raiding a harbour..
that's really not the way to go, and many other things sound very weird to me.
I'm sorry, I don't want to be rude or to offend you, but just try to play the game in a different way, with mods since we got plenty, and use the manual TDC, you'll find yourself in a completely different scenario, not just spamming the + key, sitting on a comfortable chair with a mug on your belly

Here is a little post I wrote if you wish to check out some of the mods that are available, None of the megamods is compatible with one another except from RSRD and OTC wich can go with RFB, FOTRS and TMO.
Traveller's is a TMO exclusive.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...21&postcount=3

[Dr. Merc]

Cload -

It sounds like you just kinda skimmed over things. As for starting in Pearl, that's the only way you can get a sub with 6 forward tubes, which I elaborate on later. It's not just a matter of getting them to begin with, but holding onto them when the game tries to force an update on you later on.

As for explaining the settings, I presume they have the PDF guide that came with the game, and most of them are self-explanatory.

As for running over the Sent-Toku sub, that was just done in fun as a last-ditch effort to sink the rascal, after six torps and half a magazine of shells failed to scratch it.

Increasing the time for a destroyer is when he's on a pre-plotted course and you're waiting for him to come back around so you can nail his worthless butt.

As for only playing it to take our merchants, actually, I have a penchant for small task forces and troop carriers. The game's just not the same without a handful of blood-in-their-eyes destroyers bearing down on you.

When raiding a harbor, I advise the right hand be on the + key and the left hand hovering over the three steering keys. But, obviously, nothing is set in stone. Some might be uncomfortable with the steering keys and prefer to click on the compass. I cover both methods of steering in the guide.

Your list of mods look great! I'll give them a spin tomorrow. I'll be quite interested in what bugs the first one fixes, and thanks for the link.

Doc

[cloadmcally]

I get your point, you're welcome for the list of mods but I'll have to specify that what I wanted to say is that ''raiding harbours'' is just not a very fair thing, I read quite a few books about the second world war in the pacific and never heard of any sub raids on a japanese harbour.
Also in the game, they are left completely un-guarded or with just a gunboat in the later war, and that's neither realistic nore ''fun'' if you ask me

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Dr. Merc

Rob -

1. If you want to play in Iron Man mode, you go right ahead. I wrote the guide for newbies, and jumping straight into Iron Man mode from the get-go would be a bit much, given how much else there is to learn.

I write MY guides for newbies. That's what the Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks thread is all about and I've had people frustrated even with automatic targeting taking up manual targteting and suddenly start having fun and sinking the enemy. Calling it "Iron Man Mode" is just silliness. It's nothing of the kind and is even more error tolerant than manual targeting. You ought to learn the game and see that I'm more than 100% right on this one.

Originally Posted by Dr. Merc

2. I have no idea what you mean by "spamming" the + key.

I quoth from the "manual." Assuming you're on the move, when one is coming more-or-less directly at you, hit the 'P' key, start madly hitting the + key ..." Another, "When you're out on patrol, your basic hand position will be your right hand on the + key, frantically hitting it over and over and over again..." and "as well as the game not responding to the + key being hit quickly..." and "Save the game, then blast to your destination, madly hitting the + key as the planes buzz frantically around you." and "when one is coming more-or-less directly at you, hit the 'P' key, start madly hitting the + key and..." and "If you've blundered your way into a busy flight zone and they're showing up every damn minute, just stop the boat, bring it down to periscope depth, start hitting the + key" and "With it up, you'll spot more planes and be hitting the + key more than you ever dreamed imaginable..." and "One of the great perils when playing SH4 is developing UbiSoft Repetitive Finger Syndrome (URFS) from hitting the + key so many zillions of times"

I believe that taken as a whole that qualifies as a fetish for spamming the plus key. Spamming is a gamer term for "madly hitting the + key."

Originally Posted by Dr. Merc

3. As for "advising people to put on a blindfold", you need to improve your reading skills a bit. That's only when trying to get from Point A to Point B and don't want to be bothered dealing with those pesky planes. I gave them three options, the 'blindfold' method being just one of them.

Putting on a blindfold is exactly what spamming the plus key does. While to the enemy time is passing at normal rate, to you it is zooming a couple thousand times faster. They buzz around you like bees, taking casual well-aimed shots that happen so fast you're just a fat sassy target that can't fight back. That plus key does nothing to help you fight the enemy. It's a blindfold so you don't see why you died and can't fight back. You use that kludge many times for diverse situations as quoted above.

Originally Posted by Dr. Merc

4. As for the mods, I asked both here and on the UBI site if there was any 'standard' mod that everyone put in to enhance the game and no one had one to offer. As for other mods, I certainly encouraged the readers to look around.

Best regards,
Doc

Doc that's like asking "is there a standard car you all drive?" and getting no answer but many many preferences. You would not then advise people not to buy a car, as you advise that mods are a waste of time. Mods are a matter of preference. None is "standard." None is essential. All of the megamods fix many defects in the stock game and introduce many new wrinkles in the AI, the mission structure, the enemy deployment, some add new ships, some tweak the periscopes.....you really have to spend some time reading the threads in the SH4 Pacific Mods forum and less time avoiding your acronym disease from spamming the plus key.

By the way, if you are really interested in airplane avoidance . And if you want to sink a lot of tonnage watch this. And remember, like you I don't say anything about surviving the experience.

[Dr. Merc]

Cload -

"'raiding harbours'' is just not a very fair thing"

We're sure in agreement there. Throw in my magazine guide and it's even less fair. I sank a battleship and two heavy cruisers just this morning in Yokosuka Harbor with just three torps. Then I created a little more carnage on the way up to Tokyo Harbor where I had a photo recon assignment. Then it took about an HOUR to get back out to open sea, what with destroyers, convoys and gun boats all over the place. So, while the harbors, themselves, are usually cupcakes, just getting out of there can be its own little challenge.

But, such is the peril of war.

[Dr. Merc]

Rob -

I prefer the term "hitting the + key more than you ever dreamed imaginable".

When one is just lying low, like waiting for daylight to pass, one has to hit the + key roughly a zillion times, assuming the scope is up so you can spot oncoming juicy tidbits. As I note in my guide, I consider this a programming fault.

As for one basic mod that everyone should install, go check out Cload's link, above, and note the first one on the list.

Well, I started watching your "avoiding airplanes" vid and it just had people doing the same thing I recommend as one of the three options. Dive, wait a while, then re-surface. I also note you hit that + key quite a bit. But when I do it, it's a "kludge"?

As for the second vid, while cute, as soon as I heard the term "nuclear shells", I bowed out. Nor did the enemy look very formidable. When it comes to the average convoy, I usually don't bother unless there are at least three or four heavy warships involved, with the one exception being task forces, which often have one of the big girls along, like the yummy Euro troop carrier. If I don't return to port with at least 100K under my belt, I'm disappointed.

But such are the horrors of war.

[Rockin Robbins]

War is not a fair thing. If you find yourself in a fair fight you just haven't prepared well enough!

[Dr. Merc]

"If you find yourself in a fair fight you just haven't prepared well enough!"

That's now my favorite quote of the week.

And, I suppose it could be said that almost any fight that's "fair" is never won. Somebody usually has an edge, and that's often all it takes. If the Japanese had (1) come back for one more bombing run at Pearl and (2) hadn't had the bad luck to have our carriers out of harm's way that day, I might be eating sushi for dinner tonight. (I say "I" because I gather from your spelling that you're British)

Assuming so, then if weren't for a huge amount of blunders on Germany's part, you might be eating sauerkraut for din-din tonight. Related article here.

BTW, I've dog-eared your "avoiding airplanes" vid to finish up later. I liked your attitude in it. I was a bit rushed earlier. We're getting two Collies ready to show at a big dog show this weekend and it was toenail-cutting time.

[Barkerov]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

War is not a fair thing. If you find yourself in a fair fight you just haven't prepared well enough!

I like an alternate version of that:
"If you're not cheating, then you're not trying"

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Dr. Merc

We're getting two Collies ready to show at a big dog show this weekend and it was toenail-cutting time.

Awesome! Knock 'em dead and let us know how you do.

You really should give the Slightly Subnuclear Weapons vs the Convoy from Hell video a fair shot. You'll find it's a fun video with a twist there.