Back to sea once again...

[Kaleun Volk]

Just now getting back into SHIII after too long away. I had the urge to play SH for a while now, and when I got the chance I was confronted by the dreaded StarForce shenanigans that haunts the DVD, like an angry sea maiden when you promise to be home by 5pm for dinner, but you choose not to return on time, knowing that no excuse will make up for the fact you forgot her anniversary...

And there it was, like sun bursting through the clouds after a raging storm, the SHIII fix. After downloading GWX3 (good lord, the final version is a masterpiece), I put on my pea coat, grabbed my wheel cap, and made for port with all due haste.

After assuring that the boat was in good order, I looked over the orders for my new command, U-53, a Type VIIB. AM41, off the Rockall Bank. I let out a long sigh. Sure, the grid was thematically nice, playing into many a submarine trope, but I craved tonnage. With just short of 34k km of range and a requirement of only 24hrs to patrol the grid, I decided like any captain worth his salt to seek out glory and tonnage for the Kreigsmarine.

With a favorable wind, and a full brass band playing off our farewell at 0200 for some reason obfuscated to me, we left port, and returned to the sea, to where home was always supposed to be: amongst good comrades, in those moments of quiet desperation, those stretches of boredom where differences and annoyances flare into conflict even amongst the closest of brothers, and a bond shared between all digital submariners is forged, stronger than the most formidable of pressure hulls.

tl;dr I installed SHIII and I came back after a few years to bug you guys with questions and stories.

[Aktungbby]

Kaleun Volk! after a four year silent run!

[UKönig]

Who can explain the allure and appeal of the submarine?

Especially a game in which the player is the historical enemy? Personally, I tend to side with the underdog in most situations, and these guys were just that. You're on the ropes right from the get-go. The odds are stacked heavily against you. Your equipment is obsolete. And yet, you try. You try not to die, but as the numbers show, most of the boats and crews never made it back.

[u crank]

Originally Posted by UKönig

Especially a game in which the player is the historical enemy? Personally, I tend to side with the underdog in most situations, and these guys were just that. You're on the ropes right from the get-go. The odds are stacked heavily against you. Your equipment is obsolete. And yet, you try. You try not to die, but as the numbers show, most of the boats and crews never made it back.

That was always the reason I play SH3/GWX. And no starting in '39. I usually liked the Das Boot start....fall 1941, just when things start to get hot.

[THEBERBSTER]

A Warm Welcome Back > Kaleun Volk
You Will Always Find Someone Here To Help You
New To Silent Hunter <> Need Help <> Click On My Thread Link.
Subsim <> How To Donate <> See The Benefits <> Support The Community

[Kpt. Lehmann]

Cheers, Kaleun Volk and company.

You've inspired me a bit. It has been a long time since I've smelled the sea salt myself. Hopefully I can dust off the diesels and cast off again soon.

Good hunting, gentlemen.

Sink'em ALL!

[Rambler241]

It has been a long time since I've smelled the sea salt myself.

It's not sea salt you're smelling, it's the remains of last night's beef stew, lovingly prepared by Otto in the sparkling, pristine galley, and still lurking deep in your week-long beard. Otto was a pig farmer, BTW, and I don't think he's washed his hands since he left to join the KM. Beef stew - not much beef, or what passes for beef in these austere times, and too much stewing (give it another full Watch or so). The family of rats in the forward torpedo room hasn't been seen for two days, either.

[UKönig]

Like the Bomber crew that roasted their lucky bird mascot, in the mistaken impression that they were retired, and then got handed One. Last. Mission...

[Rambler241]

and then got handed One. Last. Mission...

Meaning "last" in the sense that the lucky mascot "worked" for all preceding missions? I wonder what sort of bird mascot would be worth roasting?

[UKönig]

Well, bomber crews had their own superstitions (who wouldn't). And like the U-boats they would be slotted only X number of patrols before they would be retired, protest though they might. With U-boats it was 12 patrols, with bombers it was 30 sorties. After 1943, it became a major accomplishment for a U-boat to survive past its 3rd patrol. Getting up to that magic number for a bomber crew must have been similar. I saw it in a war movie once, so it may not have been wholly accurate, the bit with the Lancaster crew that barbequed their 'lucky' mascot, in the mistaken belief that they were done with it. Oops.

[Rambler241]

BTW, we had the unexpected delight of dumplings in the beef stew last night. Unfortunately they were green, and tasted what might be described as "funny". When pressed (which means two stokers sat on him until they got an answer), Otto revealed the source of the green blobs. He'd pared off the mouldy outsides of our remaining loaves, looking for any white bits lurking within. There were none, so he lighted on the brilliant wheeze of using the green parings to make the dumplings. The only reason he's still cook is that no one else wants to spend all their time (except for fag breaks on the casing) in a tiny, foetid, hot galley with only steaming pans and dirty plates for company. However, to give him his due, after 5 days in heavy seas south of Iceland, the crew would moan about the food if it was expertly prepared by a Michelin chef.

The watch crew had their eye on a circling albatross, and one even requested permission to take a pistol up top, in case it got close enough. I pointed out that a plucked albatross is a lot smaller than one might think, and as I'm much better read than they are (the crew, not the seabirds), there are ominous precedents for shooting an albatross.