100% Realism

[AVGWarhawk]

Ok, I took the plung into 100% realism set in very hard yadda yadda yadda. Contacts are a bit harder to find and when you do sometimes you have spent an hour chasing down some Borneo fishing trawler:damn: . Perhaps it is my assigned patrol area or pehaps I need a better patrol pattern. Who knows. Whatever the case, it is quite difficult. I would have to say this, my game does not lag as much because I do not have the ability to look at the eye candy when the sinking of vessels is slow. Therefore, my computer is doing less work generating eye candy picture after eye candy picture, screenshots, zooming in and out, watching the propellors turn oooooo...ahhhhh ;) .

Anyway, I do not think I will be any tonnage king.... I spend some time in the command room and one planesman looks like my WO. I think they are twins:shifty: . I'm busy in the Celebus sea burning up the diesel at 1/3. I'm thinking of using the cannon on a fishing trawler....because I can:yep:

Back to the conning tower for a craps game until I spot another trawler. When I do see a Japanese merchant I'll be so frustrated I send everything I got just to see it blow up:dead:

[duelen]

watching the propellors turn oooooo...ahhhhh ;) .



lol, I have heard that ppl sank some ships just using the hydrophone/ or was it radar? is that possible?

[nattydread]

Even on Very Hard, the seas seem a lot more crowed than i expected. So far in my current mission I have 5 sinkings in a S-Boat and 1 fish left, at +23k tons Im looking at an exceptional tally based on real life results. There are way too many targets and way too many COMSUBPAC sightings out there.

Im was an ace on my second mission and had like 4-5 times anyone else's real time numbers...much to easy! Atleast too easy for Very Hard!!!

[Mooncatt]

well after actually managing to get through my first patrol without ctd i didnt see a single ship :nope:
im almost tempted to start attracking waves im that bored

[DeePsix501]

100% realism is brave stuff! I love manual TDC and the limits of air battery and gas. I do play with external cameras to take sweet screenshots and such that you see in my patrol reports but other than that I run realisticly :ping:

[Boris]

What's with the set realism settings for campaign? Is there a way to have a custom difficulty in career mode?

[raduz]

lol, I have heard that ppl sank some ships just using the hydrophone/ or was it radar? is that possible?

it is possible in SH3 and most likely, it would be possible in SH4, too.

[SKurj]

Think there maybe a book in the room on your left before you leave for your first patrol

[AVGWarhawk]

Think there maybe a book in the room on your left before you leave for your first patrol

Actually my kids parrots sits on my desk so I teach it things to say while in transit or patrolling. Right now he is learn "Rudder, Rudder". "We are taking damage, Sir". We get to hear that alot;)

[AVGWarhawk]

Even on Very Hard, the seas seem a lot more crowed than i expected. So far in my current mission I have 5 sinkings in a S-Boat and 1 fish left, at +23k tons Im looking at an exceptional tally based on real life results. There are way too many targets and way too many COMSUBPAC sightings out there.

Im was an ace on my second mission and had like 4-5 times anyone else's real time numbers...much to easy! Atleast too easy for Very Hard!!!

I use the reduced radio traffic mod so I do not get contact reports 500nm away. Also, it keeps the clipboard getting full of lagging junk. Right now I'm in the Celebus Sea and probably not in a good shipping lane to Borneo. Thus far, two contacts and both trawlers plying the waters for fish.

[Banquet]

have spent an hour chasing down some Borneo fishing trawler:damn: .
hehe, I spent hours chasing a contact that turned out to be a US TF.. didn't help that it was a foggy day! Overall I'm finding 100% more satisfying though. With ext camera I couldn't help myself just checking what those DD's were doing after I had dived.. even though I promised myself I'd only use it for screenshots.

No external cam really adds to the suspense and no map updates mean you have to take more time setting up the approach and actually looking through the periscope, rather than just raising it and then looking at the map to see where every thing is.. it becomes a more thoughtful game of cat and mouse.

I do miss tracking my torps with the external cam though as it helped analyse where my TDC solution might have had errors.. I can't see where the torps are from the periscope.

[SKurj]

I'd like to make the step to 100% but...

I'd miss the external view though granted I do use it to cheat abit...

No Map updates.. I am using manual TDC now but until I can get my solutions right without having to consult the attack map ... Usually my solutions are waaay out and it is only by consulting the map that I can even come close, and even then I often miss 2 out of 3 torps. I just don't understand the PK as yet

Other than that I have everything else on, perhaps if I forced myself... but! hey its a game..

[AVGWarhawk]

100% realism is brave stuff! I love manual TDC and the limits of air battery and gas. I do play with external cameras to take sweet screenshots and such that you see in my patrol reports but other than that I run realisticly :ping:

I shut off the outside view. I always say I will not look at my contacts, etc. but I alway do. Poor self control I guess:oops:

[AVGWarhawk]

have spent an hour chasing down some Borneo fishing trawler:damn: .
hehe, I spent hours chasing a contact that turned out to be a US TF.. didn't help that it was a foggy day! Overall I'm finding 100% more satisfying though. With ext camera I couldn't help myself just checking what those DD's were doing after I had dived.. even though I promised myself I'd only use it for screenshots.

No external cam really adds to the suspense and no map updates mean you have to take more time setting up the approach and actually looking through the periscope, rather than just raising it and then looking at the map to see where every thing is.. it becomes a more thoughtful game of cat and mouse.

I do miss tracking my torps with the external cam though as it helped analyse where my TDC solution might have had errors.. I can't see where the torps are from the periscope.

Yes! I play much like you....outside view to watch my torps, see where I went wrong or did it right. As far as no outside view, instead of hitting the '.' key to see if it is friend or foe, I have to go find the contact and get close enought to see the flag. Some what of a cheat of mine also;). What does all this amount too? Longer patrols for sure, more suspense and overall satisfaction when you do some major butt kicking. Currently in a bad area as not much traffic to sink. No problem....patrol and they will come:yep:

[Banquet]

I must say I'm glad the flags are bigger in SH4! Maybe not realistically sized but at least you can see what nationality ships are before getting too close.

As you say, with less sinkings the one's we get will feel all the more satisfying.. and it will make the top aces board look a bit more balanced.. in fact, at this rate, rather than being top ace all the time, I doubt I'll even see my name mentioned! :lol:

[AVGWarhawk]

I must say I'm glad the flags are bigger in SH4! Maybe not realistically sized but at least you can see what nationality ships are before getting too close.

As you say, with less sinkings the one's we get will feel all the more satisfying.. and it will make the top aces board look a bit more balanced.. in fact, at this rate, rather than being top ace all the time, I doubt I'll even see my name mentioned! :lol:

Me either. I'm satisfied if I get 2-4 sunk.

[GT182]

AVG, has yer parrot learned all those cuss words from you being sunk on your first patrols in GWX? LOL

[AVGWarhawk]

AVG, has yer parrot learned all those cuss words from you being sunk on your first patrols in GWX? LOL


I have to use Golly gee whizzy around my house....I have impressonable 12 and 9 year olds:yep:

[OddjobXL]

I do miss tracking my torps with the external cam though as it helped analyse where my TDC solution might have had errors.. I can't see where the torps are from the periscope.

One practice I read about often is that captains would have the sonar (or hydrophones?) trained on the torps to see what they were doing. The famous cry of "Hot, straight and normal!" doesn't refer to the ideal girlfriend but to the course a fish is on and they know that because they're following the things. I wonder if that works in SH4 too? Hmm, now I think about it I wonder if the phrase "cold fish" doesn't refer to actual sea creatures but a dud torpedo? She's a real cold fish meaning she's a real dud? And that makes me wonder if I have too much free time to ponder things like this...

I'm at 70 something realism until I get more comfortable. Everything's set on realistic except for map updates and targeting. I know, I know - the biggest compromises! Once things start becoming more second nature, and I'm sure we're patched up to speed, I'll head for 100%. On my first serious, non-crash prone, patrol. Starting with an S-boat out of Manilla which beats the pants off a Type II U-boat as a newbie vessel. To the guy who's having bad crashing problems: try uninstalling SH4, restarting the computer, reinstall SH4 and /then immediately/ patch it up to 1.1 before playing. So far (fingers crossed) I haven't had the same CTD problems.

[AVGWarhawk]

I do miss tracking my torps with the external cam though as it helped analyse where my TDC solution might have had errors.. I can't see where the torps are from the periscope.
One practice I read about often is that captains would have the sonar (or hydrophones?) trained on the torps to see what they were doing. The famous cry of "Hot, straight and normal!" doesn't refer to the ideal girlfriend but to the course a fish is on and they know that because they're following the things. I wonder if that works in SH4 too? Hmm, now I think about it I wonder if the phrase "cold fish" doesn't refer to actual sea creatures but a dud torpedo? She's a real cold fish meaning she's a real dud? And that makes me wonder if I have too much free time to ponder things like this...

I'm at 70 something realism until I get more comfortable. Everything's set on realistic except for map updates and targeting. I know, I know - the biggest compromises! Once things start becoming more second nature, and I'm sure we're patched up to speed, I'll head for 100%. On my first serious, non-crash prone, patrol. Starting with an S-boat out of Manilla which beats the pants off a Type II U-boat as a newbie vessel. To the guy who's having bad crashing problems: try uninstalling SH4, restarting the computer, reinstall SH4 and /then immediately/ patch it up to 1.1 before playing. So far (fingers crossed) I haven't had the same CTD problems.


Yes, you can do this as far as hot, straight, normal (good joke BTW). If you get your TDC dead on (AOB, speed, range) there is no need to keep the scope up. Reason being the PK is doing just that, keeping the position of you and the target. The TDC feeds the torps information as the attack progresses. Keep an eye on the range on the TDC, once you are in 1500 yards or closer, your TDC was dead on, the target has not changed course or speed on you, you can fire torpedoes with not having to watch in the scope. Your solution does not need a watchful eye although I take a quick peek to insure the target has not done something different than what the PK is showing. Unfortuante the sonar man is not hot, straight or normal and can not say this after the torps go. :roll:

[E.Hartmann]

HAHA!! I am the terror of the Solomon Islands! Since the Japanese are hiding their merchant fleet from me I have spent the last few weeks running from my assigned patrol area to Truk and Midway to stock back up on cannon and torps.

I think ComSub's plan is for the USS Drum to so badly frustrate and deprive the Empire of fish and goods, that they sent me to destroy all the fishing fleet and Junks in this part of the world since that is all I see.

Apparently, the local populace is so upset, they decided to send a few planes after me but with my guys gunning and nailing so many Junks, fishing boats, and sea gulls, he has a 120 rating on gunnery and enemy planes fall before they even begin their attack run.

Oh well, gotta go, my watchtower crew is so damn good they see sails at 8,000 yrds so I'm going after more makral and tuna. Thos battleships and carriers will stop attacking due to a lack of fish!!!! :rock:

[akdavis]

have spent an hour chasing down some Borneo fishing trawler:damn: .
hehe, I spent hours chasing a contact that turned out to be a US TF.. didn't help that it was a foggy day! Overall I'm finding 100% more satisfying though. With ext camera I couldn't help myself just checking what those DD's were doing after I had dived.. even though I promised myself I'd only use it for screenshots.

No external cam really adds to the suspense and no map updates mean you have to take more time setting up the approach and actually looking through the periscope, rather than just raising it and then looking at the map to see where every thing is.. it becomes a more thoughtful game of cat and mouse.

I do miss tracking my torps with the external cam though as it helped analyse where my TDC solution might have had errors.. I can't see where the torps are from the periscope.

Yes! I play much like you....outside view to watch my torps, see where I went wrong or did it right. As far as no outside view, instead of hitting the '.' key to see if it is friend or foe, I have to go find the contact and get close enought to see the flag. Some what of a cheat of mine also;). What does all this amount too? Longer patrols for sure, more suspense and overall satisfaction when you do some major butt kicking. Currently in a bad area as not much traffic to sink. No problem....patrol and they will come:yep:

Why are y'all having to ID contacts? My time compression only drops if an enemy is sighted. For friendly vessels, I just get a message in the text box as I fly by at 4000x.

[AVGWarhawk]

I have no contacts on map. My radar will pick up any vessel. It does not tell me friend or foe. I have to go investigate. Last night I was told two contacts. It did not say friend or foe, TC dropped to 8. I had to go check it out. Unless I'm missing something. What do you have your realism set at?

[Banquet]

I'm not sure about visual sighting but radar would drop TC for friend or foe.. It makes navigating near friendly ports time consuming. As AVGWarhawk says without map contacts you don't get any info what nationality the contact is.

For visual sighting I'd be hesitant to get close enough to anything for the sighting to be called by the crew as TC might dump you too close to the target, getting you spotted.

[AVGWarhawk]

There is only one thing I do not like in the extremely rough weather....the ships look to be coming out of the water. That needs some work:yep:

[Banquet]

Agreed, it can look odd.. especially the rowing boats.. I think I'd rather swim than get in one of those in rough water! :D

[akdavis]

I'm not sure about visual sighting but radar would drop TC for friend or foe.. It makes navigating near friendly ports time consuming. As AVGWarhawk says without map contacts you don't get any info what nationality the contact is.

For visual sighting I'd be hesitant to get close enough to anything for the sighting to be called by the crew as TC might dump you too close to the target, getting you spotted.

These are visual contacts, as I am yet to get radar in my campaign sub. I am playing at 100%, so map contact updates are not on, but I always know they are enemy since TC drops on contact. It seems a little strange, but I can see how navigating out of port could be troublesome.

Are radar contacts ID'd (i.e. either red or blue) beyond visual range when map contact updates are on?

[AVGWarhawk]

I'm not sure about visual sighting but radar would drop TC for friend or foe.. It makes navigating near friendly ports time consuming. As AVGWarhawk says without map contacts you don't get any info what nationality the contact is.

For visual sighting I'd be hesitant to get close enough to anything for the sighting to be called by the crew as TC might dump you too close to the target, getting you spotted.
These are visual contacts, as I am yet to get radar in my campaign sub. I am playing at 100%, so map contact updates are not on, but I always know they are enemy since TC drops on contact. It seems a little strange, but I can see how navigating out of port could be troublesome.

Are radar contacts ID'd (i.e. either red or blue) beyond visual range when map contact updates are on?
I see no colors on my map when in 100% whether sonar or radar. At this point I know something is out there but I do not know what. The sonar heard or the radar detected...I did not physically see it to identify. Therefore, no color? That is my guess. I had seen one contact in red that was radioed in by SUBCOM and it was too far away to mean anything to me.

[partyboy]

I just started playing with no map contact updates for the first time and it's like a completely different game. I spent hours on my last career and only _saw_ 3 boats, 2 fishing and 1 merchant. I sank them all, which was satisfying, but it did get frustrating towards the end when I couldn't find a single boat.

[CCIP]

Ah, a fellow 100% brother! :D

It's a whole different bowl game with the external views disabled, I say. Certainly takes a bit of patience and discipline, but hey, now that we have replays, it's easier to let the eye candy go for a bit. I'm certainly a convert otherwise - or at least I try to run every other career in SHIII/IV at full settings.

[AVGWarhawk]

Ah, a fellow 100% brother! :D

It's a whole different bowl game with the external views disabled, I say. Certainly takes a bit of patience and discipline, but hey, now that we have replays, it's easier to let the eye candy go for a bit. I'm certainly a convert otherwise - or at least I try to run every other career in SHIII/IV at full settings.

Yes, 100%!!! The replay feature. Does the game automatically record your action? If so, were do I find the replay?

[Banquet]

I used replay for the first time last night, it's a nice feature to have in the game.

When you save click the 'save replay' box and then when you go into load you have an option for watch replay.

[RickC Sniper]

If you save a replay to find it go to load a saved game and the replay will be listed there among your other saves.

Rick



edit...opps, beaten to the draw.

[Banquet]

I'm not sure about visual sighting but radar would drop TC for friend or foe.. It makes navigating near friendly ports time consuming. As AVGWarhawk says without map contacts you don't get any info what nationality the contact is.

For visual sighting I'd be hesitant to get close enough to anything for the sighting to be called by the crew as TC might dump you too close to the target, getting you spotted.
These are visual contacts, as I am yet to get radar in my campaign sub. I am playing at 100%, so map contact updates are not on, but I always know they are enemy since TC drops on contact. It seems a little strange, but I can see how navigating out of port could be troublesome.

Are radar contacts ID'd (i.e. either red or blue) beyond visual range when map contact updates are on?
Even if a sub has no surface radar you still get the radar updates if you have air radar. The only thing that doesn't work is the actual radar set in the sub.. but the reports on the map still come from radar.

As far as I recall radar contacts show up as gray initially with map updates on. But you do see the exact location of the ship including heading and rough speed (slow/medium/fast) With map updates off you just get a bearing line out to a certain point.

[akdavis]

I'm not sure about visual sighting but radar would drop TC for friend or foe.. It makes navigating near friendly ports time consuming. As AVGWarhawk says without map contacts you don't get any info what nationality the contact is.

For visual sighting I'd be hesitant to get close enough to anything for the sighting to be called by the crew as TC might dump you too close to the target, getting you spotted.
These are visual contacts, as I am yet to get radar in my campaign sub. I am playing at 100%, so map contact updates are not on, but I always know they are enemy since TC drops on contact. It seems a little strange, but I can see how navigating out of port could be troublesome.

Are radar contacts ID'd (i.e. either red or blue) beyond visual range when map contact updates are on?
Even if a sub has no surface radar you still get the radar updates if you have air radar. The only thing that doesn't work is the actual radar set in the sub.. but the reports on the map still come from radar.

As far as I recall radar contacts show up as gray initially with map updates on. But you do see the exact location of the ship including heading and rough speed (slow/medium/fast) With map updates off you just get a bearing line out to a certain point.

Yes, I should have been more specific. I have no radar of any kind on board and do not receive any radar contact messages. My contacts are sightings.

[AVGWarhawk]

Continued my first patrol. I sunk three ships:up: The last one was a bugger. My torps missed so I surface in front of it for cannon action. The darn thing attempted a ramming:o . Scraped along side my sub. I was able to sink it. The life raft was deployed and I was so PO'd I used the cannon to blow it out of the water:nope: . Usually don't do that but I was not a happy camper. They scraped the paint on USS Porpoise;)

BTW, radar would pick up contacts and I would have to head in that direction. I get on glimps of a red square on the map. Once I was close to the the projected path I submerged to 80 feet and found the contact by sound at that point. Either I prepared for submerged attack or surface depending on time of day:yep:

[nattydread]

I can see torp wakes on 100%. Its easier to make them out and follow them if you watch them right out of the chute. At periscope station I launch, unlock, look to the bow, find the faint trail and watch it in to the target. Im on medium settings...all the graphic options to the right. Im also using mk10s.

[AVGWarhawk]

I can see them as well but it depends on what the weather is like. Frothy seas and I can not follow them.

[nattydread]

as it should :)