[REL] We Dive at Dawn

[keltos01]

Very good site on the Italian Navy, lots of pictures :


Bordeaux 1943

http://piombino-storia.blogspot.com/...tografica.html

torpedo tube :



http://www.sommergibili.com/ww2.htm

[keltos01]

Galatea

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galatea_%28sommergibile%29

[keltos01]

who said clear waters ? I'll take the north sea any day over this !!!!



I got tired of trying the missions from Trincomalee in 44.. always to the same spot in the adaman sea.. and no traffic there.

started in 1945, have to go from Freemantle to Singapore (near), passing by Xmas Island's harbor : empty

next harbor : ships !

I sneaked by an Asashio destroyer, left it south of me, crept on the harbor : boy is it shallow !

I found a large tanker and a couple ships at anchor, sank one ship in the mouth of the harbor, kindo a blockage wreck now , and another freighter.

I then saw a trawler, thought it was AS, and got so focused on it that I didn't see the Asashio, which obviously had seen or hear the torpedoes, bearing down on me..

got sunk



80 feet deep


reloaded and attacked from 5000 y : sank the one at the harbor's mouth, missed the tanker, now escaping to the north.




keltos

Hi

I was trying to complete a series of 1940 mediterranian missions based out of Malta. Unfortunatly I only managed 4 for the time being and hope to get back to them someday soon. These missions are intended as an Introduction to a campaign out of Malta, this would open SH4 up to futher possibilties including the Western Approaches.


http://www.filefront.com/17882205/WD...ions-1940.rar/


sid

Hi Subsim folks,

this is my first post in these forums in a long time (I used to play with SH2 and Destroyer Command, got SH4 a month ago), and I'd like to express my admiration for the guys who did this campaign, from lurker_hlb3 and keltos01 to all the chaps listed in the credits section (I noticed a couple of well-known names in my SH2 times).

An amazing piece of work that brought me great memories of the old SH2 times, when I used to play with an U-Class sub from Malta using a mission editor called Kriegstanz (which, for what I can see, was very similar to the SH4 mission editor) and the impressive Italian ships and subs that were then created. Hopefully someone will create a similar ship pack for SH4 and allow us to recreate the Mediterranean Theater from both sides in all its glory.

Originally Posted by sidslotm

Hi

I was trying to complete a series of 1940 mediterranian missions based out of Malta. Unfortunatly I only managed 4 for the time being and hope to get back to them someday soon. These missions are intended as an Introduction to a campaign out of Malta, this would open SH4 up to futher possibilties including the Western Approaches.


http://www.filefront.com/17882205/WD...ions-1940.rar/


sid

Hi sid,

I just played one of your missions, the Benghasi convoy one .

After receiving the message re-routing my interception point and acting accordingly, I got an hydrophone contact to the North of my position early in the morning. After some surface maneuvering my lookouts spot two destroyers coming right to my position. Dive! dive! dive!.

Fortunately, they seem to be useless as ASW units, but that forced me down too far away from the convoy. Maneuvering under the thermal layer I finally get closer to the convoy eluding a lot of escorts... Periscope depth.

I see some of the convoy merchants, but far away, almost at the limit of the range of my torpedoes. As the escorts are all around, no chance of surfacing and look for a new position ahead of the convoy, so I decide to shoot a long-distance 4 torpedo spread (I'm using the U-class instead of the T-Class).

These British torpedoes with no gyro-angle are a PITA, so I'm using Auto-targeting and fire when the TDT shows a 0º gyroangle shot (well, more or less from 2º to 358º). Incredibly, after a while my crew and I hear 4 impacts out of 4 torpedoes!. I had never had such a rate with this British system!. I check the Log a bit later and see that I have been credited with a 8000t tanker (not the ship I had targeted, but very good anyway).

Down again and leave the area without any interference from the escorts. When no sound contacts are around, I surface to recharge batteries and compressed air. Later in the day another contact with another convoy. Lots of almost blind escorts (DD's and armed trawlers) but the same thing again: forced to go down, I have to shoot from a long distance, two torpedoes this time. Both miss their mark. At one particular moment, when I went to periscope depth to check the merchants position, I found myself less than 300 yards from a stopped Italian destroyer!. Still they didn't see or hear me.

With only two torpedoes left (U-class has only 4+4), I set sail for the original interception point. Fog gives me a surprise and an enemy DD apears only about 4000 yards away from me shooting its guns. Crash dive! The U-class really dives fast, and the enemy ships must be very low-level crews because the shots never hit me. Again they never knew where I was once underwater, so I left again the area. I decided to return to Malta and on the way back, another contact takes me to waste the last two torpedoes on a slow two ship convoy with two destroyers as escort. Finally reach La Valetta, but the game won't let me dock, so I finish the mission.

=============================

I enjoyed it all a lot, but I have a couple of things to point out: the first is that the convoys were a tad too big. I don't know how many ships were there in them, but I noticed more than 15 contacts through hydrophones in the first one. That seems way too big for a Med Italian convoy.

Another one would be that in the interception area after engaging the convoy, I had too many contacts with enemy forces, including another big convoy. Too many ships at the same time in the same area, I think. Maybe you could tone down the % chances so not all the ship groups always spawn.

And then I guess that most escorts were of poor quality or their sensors don't work. I never heard any pings, which may be something real as the Italians probably didn't have anything similar to ASDIC (at least in 1940), but their hydrophones should work in some way. They never seemed to have any idea about where I was. Could someone with the right knowledge check the NDD_Soldati ASW equipment?.

I enjoyed it all a lot, but I have a couple of things to point out: the first is that the convoys were a tad too big. I don't know how many ships were there in them, but I noticed more than 15 contacts through hydrophones in the first one. That seems way too big for a Med Italian convoy.

Thanks JapLance: To big, I have to confess to not thinking of that one, but in my clients defence I have to point out your honour, we believe the Italian army was drasticly ill equiped for war against the Allies, hence the large supply convoy

Another one would be that in the interception area after engaging the convoy, I had too many contacts with enemy forces, including another big convoy. Too many ships at the same time in the same area, I think. Maybe you could tone down the % chances so not all the ship groups always spawn.

I recon thats a good point

And then I guess that most escorts were of poor quality or their sensors don't work. I never heard any pings, which may be something real as the Italians probably didn't have anything similar to ASDIC (at least in 1940), but their hydrophones should work in some way. They never seemed to have any idea about where I was. Could someone with the right knowledge check the NDD_Soldati ASW equipment?.

This is where It get harder for me as a noob to mission designer, I noticed the lack of depth charge racks on the Soldati's as well.

There is no doubt in my mind that modding combined with mission design are very skillful persuits and when you think about the scale of the mods by Lurker and commitment it must take to get them completed, my mind boggles.

The idea behind these basic missions, was towards a British campaign that would run the length of the war and start at Gosport. But having the idea is one thing. The knowledge and commitment to build a British campaign is at a higher level than four simple missions. But a year ago, four simple missions would have seemed like a mountain to me, then all at once you see it and there done. Cracking the campaign trail seems like a mountain to me right now, but who knows. Keltos has a mission where you hunt a submerged boat of Japan, how cool would that be in the bay of Biscay with Uboats everywhere, heh.

I recon Ubi missed a big chance here with SH4, "the T Class missions", this would have been a cool coarse to set and lift SH4 to whole new level.

sid

Originally Posted by sidslotm

There is no doubt in my mind that modding combined with mission design are very skillful persuits and when you think about the scale of the mods by Lurker and commitment it must take to get them completed, my mind boggles.

I share the same idea. Anybody doing the smallest mod for any game is a hero. When you talk about those Super-mega-mods that change so many things... it's unbelievable that one person can do so much for free on his leisure time.

The idea behind these basic missions, was towards a British campaign that would run the length of the war and start at Gosport. But having the idea is one thing. The knowledge and commitment to build a British campaign is at a higher level than four simple missions. But a year ago, four simple missions would have seemed like a mountain to me, then all at once you see it and there done. Cracking the campaign trail seems like a mountain to me right now, but who knows. Keltos has a mission where you hunt a submerged boat of Japan, how cool would that be in the bay of Biscay with Uboats everywhere, heh.

And seems like you're on the right path, the mission was nice. I was just giving my opinion, because I know first hand that when you offer something to the public, the first thing you want to know is "well, how is it going?". I've been through this for other games, and hate it when you see the download counter move but nobody says a word. I'd rather have a bad opinion than none at all.

I was checking the files in the campaign Lurker did, and there are files for the Mediterranean, so not all is lost. A new .mis file for the Italian Regia Marina operations would be needed, but the main problem is Italian warships. Apart from the Soldati, I could find none. I've seen references to some ships done for SH3, but couldn't find them, and even if I could, I have no idea on what to do with them for using in SH4.

By now I took a German Hipper CA and added it to the Italian roster as the Zara class, and did the same with a Liner in the Japanese roster. It's a start .

I did a quick mission this morning and I can confirm that there is something wrong with the Soldati DD. It only caught my noise when running at flank speed, and the only way it could attack me was by ramming (I was always at periscope depth). It dropped no charges on me even when it was on top. Unfortunately, I don't know how to fix that.

I recon Ubi missed a big chance here with SH4, "the T Class missions", this would have been a cool coarse to set and lift SH4 to whole new level.

And also Dutch submarines in the NEI, and the British/Italian campaign in the Mediterranean... Submarine war during WW2 was much more than U-boote and Fleet Boats.

I was checking the files in the campaign Lurker did, and there are files for the Mediterranean, so not all is lost. A new .mis file for the Italian Regia Marina operations would be needed, but the main problem is Italian warships. Apart from the Soldati, I could find none. I've seen references to some ships done for SH3, but couldn't find them, and even if I could, I have no idea on what to do with them for using in SH4

Yes I know what you mean about Italian war ships, I did try a mission using German vessels but this in truth is no good. Lurker has already done most of the work for a successful WDAD campaign, the lack of Italian war ships seem to be a biggest problem . Also the aggression levels of Italian Soldarti/ armed trawler need to be looked at, reguarding the lack of depth charging. Unfortunatly my modding skills are quite limited and finding the files let alone making the right ajustments, well enough said.

If you know how to make a Italian Regia Marine operations mis file, that would be cool. I have modded the Campaign.LOC file by placing more harbours on Meditternian ports, giving more options for a campaign.

Much of the british submarine effort in WW2 was stalking the enemy ports, it creates a tension when taking a boat into shallow waters for a missions. I just wandered if the Brits had a sub in or around the port of Taranto when the bombed the BBs in1940. I read some where that all the uboats sent into the Med where sunk, I think the Med must have been a very dangerous waters for subs during WW2

Hi, sid

I've spent this afternoon reading around previous posts in these forums (lots of info here), and using the original WDAD mod as a base, I've been able to create a basic campaign from Malta beginning in January 1941.

There are no crashes by now . You can start from La Valetta harbour in either a U-Class or a T-Class, and have 14 Patrol Areas around the Central Mediterranean. The traffic is spawned by the layers created in WDAD for the Mediterranean (no new ones for the moment), with dates changed to suit the campaign.

I tried it for a while, and I can confirm that at least around Tripoli there is movement of enemy shipping .

If you want to try it send me a PM with an e-mail address.

Hi JL,

yeah this works well, good start, there me thinking 4 missions was cool, well done and more please.

sid

Thanks, sid

I'm now creating a random layer for Regia Marina traffic (using a couple of German ships, unfortunately I can't find any other Italian warships) and adding a few ASW units to the main harbors. I'm yet to learn how to spawn planes randomly.

Hi JL,

things are looking good, have'nt gone right through the campaign yet, but there's no doubt you have the whole thing is on the right track.

I'm now creating a random layer for Regia Marina traffic (using a couple of German ships, unfortunately I can't find any other Italian warships) and adding a few ASW units to the main harbors. I'm yet to learn how to spawn planes randomly.

this is cool, a couple of lend lease German cruisers, why not. There are plenty of ships that could be adapted, I believe Keltos is good at this, heh creating AI vessles.

I have made a Axis air Patrol thats being tested right now, if my health had not bit so whimsical I might have managed more.

stay good-----sid

In this thread there is a number of very interesting ships for SH3 with working links, and the modeler says this:

Originally Posted by VonDos

For everyone interested in see my ships converted for SHIV -> i don't know how to do this, but if you can do, you're allowed! Just inform me ^_^

Any takers for the Duilio (or any others)?. That would be awesome .

Well, I contacted VonDos and he gave permission to use his ships in the Mediterranean campaign I'm working on.

Conversion to SH4 has been easier than I expected. Here is the Duilio after an encounter with HMS Thunderbolt:





VonDos is also working in three different classes of Italian cruisers for SH3 at the moment, the Trento, the Condottieri I and the Condottieri III. Hopefully they will also work in SH4.

Now I need to find the creator of the Littorio class BB that is in the downloads library.