View Full Version : I cant report contacts ?!
SteamWake
04-21-07, 07:29 PM
Maybe I just dont know how.
Ive tried having them selected on nav map
Ive tried having them "locked" in periscope.
Ive tried having them in the binocs
Ive tried having them in the UZO
I hit the "report contacts" button and nothing happens.
leeclose
04-21-07, 07:33 PM
Hmm im getting the same steam tried a few diffrent things including restarting my game it may be yet another bug fire it on the 1.2 bug patch list:up:
NEON DEON
04-21-07, 07:34 PM
Maybe I just dont know how.
Ive tried having them selected on nav map
Ive tried having them "locked" in periscope.
Ive tried having them in the binocs
Ive tried having them in the UZO
I hit the "report contacts" button and nothing happens.
Are you underwater?:ping:
SteamWake
04-21-07, 07:35 PM
Oh yea I made sure I was surfaced too :p forgot that part.
I can file mission reports just fine.
NEON DEON
04-21-07, 07:39 PM
Oh yea I made sure I was surfaced too :p forgot that part.
I can file mission reports just fine.
Are all messages or sent messages selected when you go to check if the contact had been sent?
SteamWake
04-21-07, 07:40 PM
I checked the "sent messages" page. Only the patrol reports went through.
Iceberg
04-21-07, 08:13 PM
I've noticed that when I make contact with a convoy, my crew have to spot at least 2 merchants before I can send a contact report. Just 1 merchant or spotting the escorts won't do.
And by the time my blind crew spots 2 merchants, I end up very close to the escorts! A couple of times I ordered a dive and kept pressing the send contact button and the message went through just before the antenna went underwater!
And that was with patch 1.1. I don't think I sent a contact report since 1.2!
SteamWake
04-21-07, 09:21 PM
I've noticed that when I make contact with a convoy, my crew have to spot at least 2 merchants before I can send a contact report. Just 1 merchant or spotting the escorts won't do.
Booo :down:
DirtyHarry3033
04-21-07, 09:40 PM
I dunno, after completing a patrol in the Celebes last night I got a radio msg stating the Japs were invading Borneo, and all units in the area should assist. My orders were to patrol off Borneo, which I did.
Within a day, I ran on a Jap task force of about 4 cruisers and 8 or so destroyers, and following several miles behind (???) about 8 merchantmen.
I radioed off a contact report, and within minutes I got new orders to engage the task force I'd just reported.
Strange that it works for me, but don't work for you...
DH
AVGWarhawk
04-21-07, 09:45 PM
I've noticed that when I make contact with a convoy, my crew have to spot at least 2 merchants before I can send a contact report. Just 1 merchant or spotting the escorts won't do.
Booo :down:
This is correct. Single contacts they could not give a hoot about. If you see a convoy your watch needs to say ship spotted 2-3 times meaning the have spotted individual ships in a convoy. Send you report and get your atta'boy;)
akdavis
04-21-07, 10:47 PM
However, I don't believe a message is recorded in "sent messages" which is a problem and likely a bug.
SteamWake
04-22-07, 06:56 PM
However, I don't believe a message is recorded in "sent messages" which is a problem and likely a bug.
Is this true ? Maybe Ive been sending the reports all along.
mookiemookie
04-22-07, 08:09 PM
However, I don't believe a message is recorded in "sent messages" which is a problem and likely a bug.
Is this true ? Maybe Ive been sending the reports all along.
No this is not true. My sent contact reports show up in the "sent messages" screen just fine.
Do you have to be surfaced and in visual sight of a convoy/task force in order to send? Because if I see either, especially a bunch of warships, I'm not going to be standing around on the surface, I'm going dive and either evade or engage. In fact, I'm probably going to dive when I see them on radar, way before I have a visual, so I can try to ID them from the screw sounds with passive sonar.
My impression is that, in real-life, most contact messages were sent after either an unsuccessful pursuit (the convoy got away) or a successful evasion, when the sub surfaced once again in the clear. Can you do this in SH4, since by that time you would no longer be "in contact" (although the info would presumably interest Subcom)?
Another question: Does sending a contact report run any risk of giving away your presence and/or location? The last thing I want to do when I'm "in contact" is say "Hey, look, over here! Please commence zig-zagging and depth charge runs!"
Seadogs
04-23-07, 04:45 AM
Another question: Does sending a contact report run any risk of giving away your presence and/or location?
Yes, but it only increases the chance of airstrikes I believe.
When I am following a convoy at periscope depth I will set depth to 30 ft to get the tower and antenna up, then send the report, then dip back below. Works pretty well.
Do you have to be surfaced and in visual sight of a convoy/task force in order to send? Because if I see either, especially a bunch of warships, I'm not going to be standing around on the surface, I'm going dive and either evade or engage. In fact, I'm probably going to dive when I see them on radar, way before I have a visual, so I can try to ID them from the screw sounds with passive sonar.
My impression is that, in real-life, most contact messages were sent after either an unsuccessful pursuit (the convoy got away) or a successful evasion, when the sub surfaced once again in the clear. Can you do this in SH4, since by that time you would no longer be "in contact" (although the info would presumably interest Subcom)?
Another question: Does sending a contact report run any risk of giving away your presence and/or location? The last thing I want to do when I'm "in contact" is say "Hey, look, over here! Please commence zig-zagging and depth charge runs!"
I feel the same way! No way am I going to surface to send in a frackin' contact report before I engage. :roll: You should be able to send in a report for a set time after you make contact so you can attack, evade, and then report.
Here are the qualifications for a contact report:
1) Surfaced.
2) TARGET LOCKED on a non-escort ship within 4750 range.
3) Click the Contact Report icon.
As mentioned, there are reasons you should and should not file a contact report. You have to weigh the benefits against the risks.
Benefits:
It may help you fulfill your mission requirements. As a result, HQ might ask you to engage the contacts and/or call you back to base. Filing a contact report when out of torpedos might be that call to base you're been waiting for.
Risk:
1) You have to be very skillful to thread the needle between sighting and being sighted. It IS possible to do, not easy.
2) Later in the war, the enemy will use the radio transmission to vector interceptors. They can be avoided.
3) Because it might cause your mission to end when you don't want it to, or you might be requested to attack the contact when you have other goals in mind for your few remaining torpedos, you might not want to be forced to commit to action against this contact.
As in the real war, commanders had to decide to remain silent for their own survival against assisting in the big picture war effort.
-Pv-
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