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Old 03-06-18, 11:30 AM   #1
grandpa55
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Default Torpedo tube damage. Sonar problems. Ship contacts.

Hello shipmates.

I’m relatively new to playing Silent Hunter 4, and just completed my second patrol using the RFB mod. I love this game, but I have a few issues and questions that I hope you guys can shed light on:

1st issue:

I cut short my second patrol. Although I had 4 torpedoes left when I attempted to fire at a target at 1200 meters, I was informed I couldn’t because there was too much damage to the torpedo tubes.

I took no damage during this patrol. There was no damage noted on the ship status page so nothing to fix. After returning to port there was still nothing to repair on the status page.

I’m back out on my third patrol now and haven’t had a chance to fire torpedoes. Hopefully the issue fixed itself.

2nd issue:

I ask the sonar operator to make standard sweeps and report contacts. He always replies “no contacts to report”, but when I manually sweep I pick up strong contacts on soar. The S.O. still says no contacts to report???? What’s up with this? I don’t feel I can trust the S.O. to help me out in this game.

Question:

Does anyone know if ship contacts are random or are they coded to follow limited number of tracks? In my limited experience I have gotten several contacts in a small area that appear to be following the exact same track, and virtually none when patrolling other areas (even for many days at a time).

I realize there are choke points that naturally funnel ships through narrow passages resulting in more contacts. Just curious because it will certainly change the way I play the game, the way I patrol.

Any assistance and information will be appreciated

Rick
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Old 03-06-18, 01:09 PM   #2
Pisces
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Hi, welcome.

1: Any chance you challenged your crushdepth? You'll take damage when you cross a certain depth. Which subsequently reduces your safe depth. So your hull can deteriorate quickly unless you go up quickly.

2: Yeah, don't relly on your sonar operator that much. You with your own ears can hear contacts from much further than they will report. (No offense. But I'll keep a small caveat with some one that calls himself "Grandpa". )

3: Contacts can be loners, or part of a convoy. The loner, or the entire convoy will follow a scripted path. Though there may be some forks along the journey to a secondary waypoint. Which is chosen depends on the random number god. Asside from that, there are indeed certain routes between landmasses that ships follow. Concentrate on chokepoints to deliver your fish. Keep an eye on markers that appear on the map at random times.

If you find several ships close together moving in the same direction then it is likely a convoy. You can have multiple loner ships in your vicinity but that is not all that common.
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Old 03-06-18, 04:14 PM   #3
grandpa55
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Hello Pisces.

Thanks for the quick reply.

No chance of approaching crush depth.

Real life skippers apparently remained submerged during the day when within 500 miles of occupied territory to avoid aircraft detection and surfaced mainly at night. In the game I cruise around on the surface because I don’t think I have enough battery power to stay down that long, and it takes forever to recharge the batteries. Then if I make contact at night would have no juice left to submerge for an attack. If I make contact I immediately dive to periscope depth to gather info on the target. I haven’t had to dive deeper so far. Nobody has come to investigate me… yet.

I’m hoping the “damage” to the torpedo tubes was just a game glitch. I’ll be back on patrol tonight, so I hope to put that theory to the test. I would also expect any "real" damage to show up on the status screen. It didn't.

Rather disappointing about the sonar operator. It’s challenging enough to run all submarine stations in the game and not be able to count on the computer to do some simple tasks like keep me updated about contacts!

I’ve had multiple convoy and task force reports on the radio but was never able to make contact. So far I’ve only bumped into single ships, always merchants with two exceptions. When returning to base after my last patrol I did see a single destroyer, but because I couldn’t fire torpedoes, I avoided her. On my first patrol I was bush-wacked by the Japanese when the game did not come out of 256 time acceleration after I unknowingly made contact. That was probably a convoy with destroyer escorts. The destroyers hung around for a long time looking for me. Took hours of game time before I was able to surface and limp home with my tail between my legs… lucky to tell the tale.

Interestingly, when I discovered the poor computer sonar play, I was able to distinctly identify two different screw types on sonar that the S.O. “could not detect”. I assume one was merchant, one escort. But as I never found them I’ll never know.

Rick
Yes, I’m a gaming grandpa. Have 7 grandkids.
I’ll never grow up!
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Old 03-06-18, 06:16 PM   #4
aanker
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RFB may have arbitrary damage simulating things breaking down like an engine going out, seals on torpedo doors failing etc. I read some discussion on this years ago but don't know if the team implemented these breakdowns in their final release of RFB.

I was going to suggest making a Save then exiting to Windows, then starting SH4 and loading the save to see if that fixed the torpedo issue.

Happy Hunting!
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Old 03-06-18, 10:54 PM   #5
grandpa55
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Thanks for the feedback aanker.

I went back out on patrol tonight and the torpedo tubes worked fine. It must have been a glitch in the game. Again, there was no indication of damage on the status page.

After several days without a contact, I ran into a large convoy escorted by three destroyers. I made a real nice approach on my main target, well, actually I all I had to do was wait because they came right to me. I was in the middle of their formation! With a positive ID I fired two fish; one dud, one miss. I don’t watch the torpedoes so I can’t say why one missed.

I quickly fired at a second ship and both of these missed. There were probably a multitude of errors made here; angle on the bow, ship ID resulting in inaccurate range…

This skipper need some practice (and patience).

I ran into a second large convoy on my way back to port, again escorted by three destroyers. Unfortunately I was “winchester” (no torpedoes left)! All I could do was hide.

But I had a blast. It’s an immersive game.

Appreciate all the suggestions and advice on this forum.

Oh yea, the sonar operator actually made some callouts on targets! Woo hoo!. He's still not reliable though.


Rick
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Old 03-07-18, 01:45 PM   #6
aanker
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Glad to help, the main thing is to have fun!

If you're interested, Hitman made a nice tutorial you might like, especially for those quick setup shots when everything is happening at once.... lol
Quote:
My tutorial for 100% realism manual targeting
OK here is a quick tutorial I have setup with my procedures for manual targeting while playing at 100% realism. Using it I have been having much success in my current career, so I hope it can be of some help to those who want to do it the hard way. Get it here!
Here:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=1647

If the download is not a Zip and is a 7z or RAR and you don't have a way to open these archives, I recommend www.7-zip.org/ (free) - there is WinRar too, www.win-rar.com/ to open RAR files and others. IMO, 7-zip is better and opens just about anything.

THEBERBSTER has links for everything if you haven't found him yet.
TUTORIALS <> HOW TO DO IT <> INFO <> DOWNLOAD LINKS
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=219029

Happy Hunting!
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" Bless those who serve beneath the deep,
Through lonely hours their vigil keep.
May peace their mission ever be,
Protect each one we ask of thee.
Bless those at home who wait and pray,
For their return by night and day."

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