Harbour Infiltration Tutorial

TarJak · 08-12-06, 09:08 PM

Depending on whether you play SH3 with or without harbour defences, there are a number of things you should know before venturing into a harbour that will make your visit much more interesting and memorable. (i.e.; you live to remember it). I play with defences on simply because it makes it a little more challenging than if there are no nets or minefields.

I’ve broken the tutorial into the 5 main parts of the mission. I’m not saying these are hard and fast rules, I’m just letting people know what works for me. I have been consistently able to sneak into harbours and rack up a number of capital ships to give me a much needed renown lift on quiet patrols and lived to tell the tale. (not always though)!

I’m not going to comment on which harbours are better or worse than others, (don’t want to spoil all the fun now do I?), nor will I discuss when capital ships are in or out of harbours, (there are plenty of threads on this forum that get into these details).

1. The approach
Nothing messes up a good harbour hunt than a bad approach. I guess I’m stating the obvious when I say the two cardinal rules are stay quiet and stay out of site. Charging straight into a harbour on the surface all guns blazing in the daylight is simply going to get you and your men killed. Only attempt harbour infiltrations at night or in poor visibility, but not too poor or you will have to get too close too your targets to fire torpedoes at them. Above all be patient. Hurrying the approach is the surest way to get detected.

Before going near the harbour have a look at the lie of the land and work out where you think the choke points are and therefore the most likely positioning of the defences. (Yes you could use SH3Gen to find out where they really are, but I like my Abwher a little less competent, again I prefer the challenge of find out these things for myself). Plot a course that is likely to give you some deeper water under your keel and starting moving in.

As you approach make sure you drop your TC to at most 128 as you will find that aircraft or DD’s etc will get a jump on you in shallow water, this is not good and ideally you need to stay undetected almost all the way through a harbour infiltration. It’s also a good idea to do a hydrophone check every hour of so on the approach, unless you are forced to do the approach underwater.

When you spot your first defender, slow down and work out whether he’s a real threat or just a tug boat. (Don’t forget they have radios and will bring the fleet or aircraft down on your head if he spots you). If they are tracking away from you, you may be able to proceed on the surface.

I tend to drop my profile by running decks awash so you can keep some speed up on the approach. If they look like they might be a threat and are heading towards your course drop to periscope depth and go silent. Depending on how persistent they are you may have to dive a bit more or manoeuvre but if you get under early enough and stay quiet you should be able to avoid detection.

If not, then standard shallow water evasion is the order of the day. Keep some momentum up and keep changing course speeding up and slowing down as you need to. Remember though the longer this goes on, the shorter of breath and battery you will become and the less time you’ll have to do some damage in the harbour. Depending on how close you are you may also alert the inner defences and the whole thing may go pear shaped and you’ll just have to abort.

If you are able to get to the harbour entrance without being seen or heard your are ready for the next much more delicate part of the approach…

2. The harbour entrance; Nets and Minefields
Firstly never approach a harbour entrance under TC! You will most likely hit something and get badly damaged or worse. Stay at TC1 and SLOW DOWN! I never approach enemy harbour entrances at more than 3kts.

There are some simple rules you need to know about both nets and mines. Rule 1; don’t go near mines! Rule 2; don’t try to crash through nets.

Usually the first time you know about these is when you hit one. Mostly the first you’ll hear about it will be you’ll get a report that you are taking damage or hear either an explosion or a screeching metallic sound.

If you do hear this don’t panic. Firstly engage reverse and don’t turn the rudder! Do that slowly and until you think you are clear. If you use the external camera you could always have a peek and see what’s going on or if your water visibility is good you can pop your scope up a little without breaking the surface to see what you can see. (Some people call that cheating though).

If you hit mines you should back off a way and plot a safer course on the other side of the harbour entrance Remember the gaps are usually close to the centre of the harbour (not always dead centre and the approach angle can be important in some harbours). Really the only way to deal with minefields is to avoid them.

If you hit a net, chances are you are running a little too deep. You can usually get over a net by running at 9m, remember that this means your conning tower will break the surface so do not attempt this if there are patrolling defenders in spotting distance. This is also dangerous in rough weather as you cannot stop the wave action bringing you crashing down onto the net as you pass over it. Mind you if you are lucky a wave can lift you over the last section as you pass over it also, bit my advice is don't attempt this when in rough weather.

Pop your scope up for a quick look and see whether or not there are any prying eyes and if not get to 9m then make you run over the top of the net. If you can see nobody at all including shore units then you may be able to make a brave surface run over the nets. Keep your decks awash though so you can quickly and quietly slip under the surface the moment you see a defender! Mark where you crossed so you stay away from mines!

Another way of dealing with them is to find the end of then and sneak around that. This takes a great deal of patience and can still get you nowhere as nets don’t always run in straight lines. Again pop you scope underwater so you can see the net then run parallel to it until you can see the end of it. Then make a slow and not too sharp turn towards it. If you see more net keep running until you find the end. Remember here you should be heading towards the middle of the harbour entrance not towards the shore! If you find the end of the net and a clear channel into the harbour mark it on your map so you can find it on the way out.

Once you are clear of the harbour defences you can them start your target spotting and shooting fun…

3. The attack run
Remember where you are! Keep quite and keep out of sight. You will need to pop your scope up to have a look around. Pick out the biggest and best target you can find and plot an approach that gives you a nice beam on view. Get as close as you dare to line her up and pop as many eels as you think you need into her.

Depending on the size I tend to use four tubes on a capital ship fired at 10 sec intervals at strategic positions; engine room, ammo magazines, fuel compartments etc. I then mark a hard turn to bring the stern tube to bear in case it’s needed.

This usually gets things going a little.

Normally after the first torpedo hit you’ll get everyone mad and they’ll start looking for you. Remember that you are in shallow water and their home. They tend to get annoyed at that particularly if you’ve just messed up one of their carriers or battleships!

Keep your head and stay as quite as possible. If you are out of torps go silent again and plot a course for the harbour entrance. If not keep your torpedo rooms at maximum possible efficiency and get the tubes loaded again in case you need to have pop at a patrolling destroyer or armed trawler. Sometimes it will be necessary to go find a quite spot in the harbour to do this so if there are patrols around, get to a nice cuite cove, hunker down and get your reload done before going back for another shot.

4. The escape I (in the harbour)
One technique I’ve used a couple of times if I get detected in a harbour is to run parallel and close to the harbour walls. Whilst not very accurate historically in the game it can save your bacon as the defenders have real problems avoiding collision with the walls and even other ships.

In another thread I’ve described how a group of four DD’s hit the walls in Gibraltar and allowed me to make my escape in peace at ahead standard!

If no one has found you yet, and you’ve got torpedoes loaded you could also have another crack at targets in the area. If you think that’s too risky then simply head for the entrance where you marked your infiltration point. Basically the same rules apply. Keep you scope low keep looking and listening for defenders and slowly and quietly get out of there.

5. The escape II (outside the harbour)
It may not be over outside. If you are really unlucky the inner harbour patrols may have followed you out and you might a few more patrols to avoid that on the way in. Gradually sneak out and head for deeper waters. I’ve found that staying at periscope depth and following the coast line (within about 1km) usually makes it hard for them to follow you, but not always. Standard shallow water avoidance works most of the time.

Above all stay slow stay quiet and you should be able to get in and out again in one piece more than once or twice. Most of the times I've been killed on a harbour infiltration it's because I've made a noise by being in too much of a hurry, so take your time and you will be rewarded.

andy_311 · 08-13-06, 06:06 AM

Sound advice, I usually do as discribed above apart from 1 exception I tend to forget to lower my scope (I do a lot of harbour bashing).
However there is one port the above will not work and that's Portsmouth harbour you got harbour defence guns in place on the Isle of White pointing to the harbour entrance defence guns at the harbour entrance,scores of dd's patrolling outside the entrance,and the depth into the harbour being only 4m.rendering a sneak infiltratration of the harbour impossible.

enaceo · 08-13-06, 06:10 AM

Good advice!I also do many of those things .I tend to harbour-raid a lot ,although that's not really what real U-boot captains did...oh well

GlobalExplorer · 08-13-06, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TarJak

(Yes you could use SH3Gen to find out where they really are, but I like my Abwher a little less competent, again I prefer the challenge of find out these things for myself).

I am aware that there is some cheesieness with the way Sh3Gen marks out docked ships, and I am thinking about providing a reduced intelligence level.

I can still recommend trying the current version, which has a new option to switch off all map markings.

This would allow you to see that there are targets of a certain category in a port, but without Sh3Gen marking them in your map.

Like:

Marine intelligence has information about the following enemy units:

ScapaFlow

- Warships
- Merchants

but nothing more, no map markings that show the exact positions of ships.

GT182 · 08-13-06, 10:24 AM

:hmm: I know you said "stay quiet" TarJak. So hopefully I think you meant Silent Running.

TarJak · 08-13-06, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

Quote:

Originally Posted by TarJak

(Yes you could use SH3Gen to find out where they really are, but I like my Abwher a little less competent, again I prefer the challenge of find out these things for myself).

I am aware that there is some cheesieness with the way Sh3Gen marks out docked ships, and I am thinking about providing a reduced intelligence level.

I can still recommend trying the current version, which has a new option to switch off all map markings.

This would allow you to see that there are targets of a certain category in a port, but without Sh3Gen marking them in your map.

Like:

Marine intelligence has information about the following enemy units:

ScapaFlow

- Warships
- Merchants

but nothing more, no map markings that show the exact positions of ships.

GE,

I think this looks pretty good. I haven't been using SH3Gen but given the ability to turn on or off the level of detail i think I might now gie it a try. Nice work!

TarJak · 08-13-06, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GT182

:hmm: I know you said "stay quiet" TarJak. So hopefully I think you meant Silent Running.

I meant that most of the time Silent Running is best, but obviously if you want your tubes reloaded in a hurry you can't do that. I guess I'm saying don;t expect to go motoring about the enemy's harbours at any kind of speed. Slow and quiet is the only way you can survive.

Also does anyone know if Silent Running works on the surface at ahead slow? Is this the developers way of compensating for not having electric motors on the surface??:hmm:

I once read an account attributed to Prien of the Scapa action and according to it he used his electrics on the surface for much of the mission because of the shallow waters. The fact you can't replicate this behaviour would be my number one gripe with SH3, aside from the weird AI and other bugs that it comes with.

Fat Bhoy Tim · 08-13-06, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TarJak

Quote:

Originally Posted by GT182

:hmm: I know you said "stay quiet" TarJak. So hopefully I think you meant Silent Running.

Also does anyone know if Silent Running works on the surface at ahead slow? Is this the developers way of compensating for not having electric motors on the surface??:hmm:

I once read an account attributed to Prien of the Scapa action and according to it he used his electrics on the surface for much of the mission because of the shallow waters. The fact you can't replicate this behaviour would be my number one gripe with SH3, aside from the weird AI and other bugs that it comes with.

You can do it, but I have no idea how much it really works. I hate not being able to use my electrics on the surface.

GlobalExplorer · 08-14-06, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TarJak

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

..blabla..

GE,

I think this looks pretty good. I haven't been using SH3Gen but given the ability to turn on or off the level of detail i think I might now gie it a try. Nice work!

I am looking for player input for an additional "higher realism" setting.

The default setup gives too much information. This is only to cater for the beginners.

You should set Map Markings to "off" in the General settings menu so you don't see where ships are docked, or even switch "Write Map" completely off to see nothing in the map at all.

You should also reduce intelligence amount and reliability to your taste.

You can run the program several times until you get the most basic information for the war diary. If you have followed the tip about switching off map output, this will be all information you will get.

Contact me please if have wishes.

GE

TarJak · 08-16-06, 05:55 AM

GE

I think for greater realism you should put partial info on the map say even one or two actual ship positions. This would replicate fairly typical intelligence information that might get transimitted to a U-boat during the course of a patrol. A humint report on harbour movements might indicate convoy preparations but would almost certainly give some information on capital ship movements

A bit of randomness on what information about what port/position would lend some realism. How about aging information to give some realism around movement reports that might take a day or two to reach the Kaleuns.

When I finish the patrol I'm on I'l load SH3Gen and have a look and see if I can come up with any other ideas.

HunterICX · 08-16-06, 06:07 AM

Great Tutorial,

I,m going to try it out when I feel like hitting an Port

TarJak · 08-20-06, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HunterICX

Great Tutorial,

I,m going to try it out when I feel like hitting an Port

Thanks HunterICX. Hope it helps you out, let me know if you find it useful.

TarJak · 10-26-06, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

I am looking for player input for an additional "higher realism" setting.

The default setup gives too much information. This is only to cater for the beginners.

You should set Map Markings to "off" in the General settings menu so you don't see where ships are docked, or even switch "Write Map" completely off to see nothing in the map at all.

You should also reduce intelligence amount and reliability to your taste.

You can run the program several times until you get the most basic information for the war diary. If you have followed the tip about switching off map output, this will be all information you will get.

Contact me please if have wishes.

GE

I've now been using SH3Gen for a littel while and am liking it a lot. My only problem is right now for some reason since my most recent reinstallation of SH3 I can;t minimise the game or go to another application without the game overwriting the screen with what ever it is doing even when paused. Not real flash but I'm just stopping and restarting SH3 to run the Gen files after starting a new partrol.

For more realism I reckon a change in orders radio message would be great for immersion. I love the "secondary" mission objective but I'd like to get an interruption from BDU occasionally to change the orders to some other objective via a randomly timed radio message. Not every patrol mind you but just occasionally.

R1fl3M4n · 10-26-06, 06:56 AM

im gonna try this out

TarJak · 10-26-06, 09:26 AM

Good luck! Hope you get some tonnage!

One thing I neglected to mention in this is the stock bug with SH3 in which large ships with deep drafts in shallow waters sometimes settle on the bottom without "sinking" and the poor Kaluen gets no renown.

There is no way to predict when this will happen but you can reduce your chances of it impacting you by aiming for weak points such as ammo magazines or fuel bunkers on your targets.

Gute Jagd!

08-12-06, 09:08 PM	#1
TarJak Fleet Admiral Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 17,052 Downloads: 150 Uploads: 8	Harbour Infiltration Tutorial Depending on whether you play SH3 with or without harbour defences, there are a number of things you should know before venturing into a harbour that will make your visit much more interesting and memorable. (i.e.; you live to remember it). I play with defences on simply because it makes it a little more challenging than if there are no nets or minefields. I’ve broken the tutorial into the 5 main parts of the mission. I’m not saying these are hard and fast rules, I’m just letting people know what works for me. I have been consistently able to sneak into harbours and rack up a number of capital ships to give me a much needed renown lift on quiet patrols and lived to tell the tale. (not always though)! I’m not going to comment on which harbours are better or worse than others, (don’t want to spoil all the fun now do I?), nor will I discuss when capital ships are in or out of harbours, (there are plenty of threads on this forum that get into these details). 1. The approach Nothing messes up a good harbour hunt than a bad approach. I guess I’m stating the obvious when I say the two cardinal rules are stay quiet and stay out of site. Charging straight into a harbour on the surface all guns blazing in the daylight is simply going to get you and your men killed. Only attempt harbour infiltrations at night or in poor visibility, but not too poor or you will have to get too close too your targets to fire torpedoes at them. Above all be patient. Hurrying the approach is the surest way to get detected. Before going near the harbour have a look at the lie of the land and work out where you think the choke points are and therefore the most likely positioning of the defences. (Yes you could use SH3Gen to find out where they really are, but I like my Abwher a little less competent, again I prefer the challenge of find out these things for myself). Plot a course that is likely to give you some deeper water under your keel and starting moving in. As you approach make sure you drop your TC to at most 128 as you will find that aircraft or DD’s etc will get a jump on you in shallow water, this is not good and ideally you need to stay undetected almost all the way through a harbour infiltration. It’s also a good idea to do a hydrophone check every hour of so on the approach, unless you are forced to do the approach underwater. When you spot your first defender, slow down and work out whether he’s a real threat or just a tug boat. (Don’t forget they have radios and will bring the fleet or aircraft down on your head if he spots you). If they are tracking away from you, you may be able to proceed on the surface. I tend to drop my profile by running decks awash so you can keep some speed up on the approach. If they look like they might be a threat and are heading towards your course drop to periscope depth and go silent. Depending on how persistent they are you may have to dive a bit more or manoeuvre but if you get under early enough and stay quiet you should be able to avoid detection. If not, then standard shallow water evasion is the order of the day. Keep some momentum up and keep changing course speeding up and slowing down as you need to. Remember though the longer this goes on, the shorter of breath and battery you will become and the less time you’ll have to do some damage in the harbour. Depending on how close you are you may also alert the inner defences and the whole thing may go pear shaped and you’ll just have to abort. If you are able to get to the harbour entrance without being seen or heard your are ready for the next much more delicate part of the approach… 2. The harbour entrance; Nets and Minefields Firstly never approach a harbour entrance under TC! You will most likely hit something and get badly damaged or worse. Stay at TC1 and SLOW DOWN! I never approach enemy harbour entrances at more than 3kts. There are some simple rules you need to know about both nets and mines. Rule 1; don’t go near mines! Rule 2; don’t try to crash through nets. Usually the first time you know about these is when you hit one. Mostly the first you’ll hear about it will be you’ll get a report that you are taking damage or hear either an explosion or a screeching metallic sound. If you do hear this don’t panic. Firstly engage reverse and don’t turn the rudder! Do that slowly and until you think you are clear. If you use the external camera you could always have a peek and see what’s going on or if your water visibility is good you can pop your scope up a little without breaking the surface to see what you can see. (Some people call that cheating though). If you hit mines you should back off a way and plot a safer course on the other side of the harbour entrance Remember the gaps are usually close to the centre of the harbour (not always dead centre and the approach angle can be important in some harbours). Really the only way to deal with minefields is to avoid them. If you hit a net, chances are you are running a little too deep. You can usually get over a net by running at 9m, remember that this means your conning tower will break the surface so do not attempt this if there are patrolling defenders in spotting distance. This is also dangerous in rough weather as you cannot stop the wave action bringing you crashing down onto the net as you pass over it. Mind you if you are lucky a wave can lift you over the last section as you pass over it also, bit my advice is don't attempt this when in rough weather. Pop your scope up for a quick look and see whether or not there are any prying eyes and if not get to 9m then make you run over the top of the net. If you can see nobody at all including shore units then you may be able to make a brave surface run over the nets. Keep your decks awash though so you can quickly and quietly slip under the surface the moment you see a defender! Mark where you crossed so you stay away from mines! Another way of dealing with them is to find the end of then and sneak around that. This takes a great deal of patience and can still get you nowhere as nets don’t always run in straight lines. Again pop you scope underwater so you can see the net then run parallel to it until you can see the end of it. Then make a slow and not too sharp turn towards it. If you see more net keep running until you find the end. Remember here you should be heading towards the middle of the harbour entrance not towards the shore! If you find the end of the net and a clear channel into the harbour mark it on your map so you can find it on the way out. Once you are clear of the harbour defences you can them start your target spotting and shooting fun… 3. The attack run Remember where you are! Keep quite and keep out of sight. You will need to pop your scope up to have a look around. Pick out the biggest and best target you can find and plot an approach that gives you a nice beam on view. Get as close as you dare to line her up and pop as many eels as you think you need into her. Depending on the size I tend to use four tubes on a capital ship fired at 10 sec intervals at strategic positions; engine room, ammo magazines, fuel compartments etc. I then mark a hard turn to bring the stern tube to bear in case it’s needed. This usually gets things going a little. Normally after the first torpedo hit you’ll get everyone mad and they’ll start looking for you. Remember that you are in shallow water and their home. They tend to get annoyed at that particularly if you’ve just messed up one of their carriers or battleships! Keep your head and stay as quite as possible. If you are out of torps go silent again and plot a course for the harbour entrance. If not keep your torpedo rooms at maximum possible efficiency and get the tubes loaded again in case you need to have pop at a patrolling destroyer or armed trawler. Sometimes it will be necessary to go find a quite spot in the harbour to do this so if there are patrols around, get to a nice cuite cove, hunker down and get your reload done before going back for another shot. 4. The escape I (in the harbour) One technique I’ve used a couple of times if I get detected in a harbour is to run parallel and close to the harbour walls. Whilst not very accurate historically in the game it can save your bacon as the defenders have real problems avoiding collision with the walls and even other ships. In another thread I’ve described how a group of four DD’s hit the walls in Gibraltar and allowed me to make my escape in peace at ahead standard! If no one has found you yet, and you’ve got torpedoes loaded you could also have another crack at targets in the area. If you think that’s too risky then simply head for the entrance where you marked your infiltration point. Basically the same rules apply. Keep you scope low keep looking and listening for defenders and slowly and quietly get out of there. 5. The escape II (outside the harbour) It may not be over outside. If you are really unlucky the inner harbour patrols may have followed you out and you might a few more patrols to avoid that on the way in. Gradually sneak out and head for deeper waters. I’ve found that staying at periscope depth and following the coast line (within about 1km) usually makes it hard for them to follow you, but not always. Standard shallow water avoidance works most of the time. Above all stay slow stay quiet and you should be able to get in and out again in one piece more than once or twice. Most of the times I've been killed on a harbour infiltration it's because I've made a noise by being in too much of a hurry, so take your time and you will be rewarded. Last edited by TarJak; 02-07-07 at 02:32 AM. Reason: Just clarifying a couple of points

08-13-06, 06:10 AM	#3
enaceo XO Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 401 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	Good advice!I also do many of those things .I tend to harbour-raid a lot ,although that's not really what real U-boot captains did...oh well __________________ Came back after a long time ...ahoy mates!

08-13-06, 10:24 AM	#5
GT182 Ocean Warrior Join Date: May 2005 Location: New Castle of Delaware Posts: 3,231 Downloads: 658 Uploads: 0	:hmm: I know you said "stay quiet" TarJak. So hopefully I think you meant Silent Running. __________________ Gary No Borders, No Language, No Culture =s No Country I'm a Deplorable, and proud of it.

08-16-06, 06:07 AM	#11
HunterICX Rear Admiral Join Date: May 2006 Location: Malaga, España Posts: 10,750 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	Great Tutorial, I,m going to try it out when I feel like hitting an Port __________________

10-26-06, 06:56 AM	#14
R1fl3M4n Gunner Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Romania , Bucharest Posts: 91 Downloads: 86 Uploads: 0	im gonna try this out __________________ ----------------------- The Merchant season is open!

08-13-06, 06:06 AM	#2
andy_311 The Old Man Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Oldham, Lancs,England Posts: 1,312 Downloads: 82 Uploads: 0	Sound advice, I usually do as discribed above apart from 1 exception I tend to forget to lower my scope (I do a lot of harbour bashing). However there is one port the above will not work and that's Portsmouth harbour you got harbour defence guns in place on the Isle of White pointing to the harbour entrance defence guns at the harbour entrance,scores of dd's patrolling outside the entrance,and the depth into the harbour being only 4m.rendering a sneak infiltratration of the harbour impossible.

08-16-06, 05:55 AM	#10
TarJak Fleet Admiral Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 17,052 Downloads: 150 Uploads: 8	GE I think for greater realism you should put partial info on the map say even one or two actual ship positions. This would replicate fairly typical intelligence information that might get transimitted to a U-boat during the course of a patrol. A humint report on harbour movements might indicate convoy preparations but would almost certainly give some information on capital ship movements A bit of randomness on what information about what port/position would lend some realism. How about aging information to give some realism around movement reports that might take a day or two to reach the Kaleuns. When I finish the patrol I'm on I'l load SH3Gen and have a look and see if I can come up with any other ideas.

10-26-06, 09:26 AM	#15
TarJak Fleet Admiral Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 17,052 Downloads: 150 Uploads: 8	Good luck! Hope you get some tonnage! One thing I neglected to mention in this is the stock bug with SH3 in which large ships with deep drafts in shallow waters sometimes settle on the bottom without "sinking" and the poor Kaluen gets no renown. There is no way to predict when this will happen but you can reduce your chances of it impacting you by aiming for weak points such as ammo magazines or fuel bunkers on your targets. Gute Jagd!