Suicide Destroyers and self-sinking merchants.

[starvingartist507]

Ok, well I installed that nifty mod manager, installed real fleet with no problem, installed the Horsepower fix with no problem, and on my first patrol, came across a convoy, 5 destoyers, something like 8 merchies, and 3 light cruisers.

They were all going about .7 knots. thats Point-Seven as in one seventh of a knot. Is that the bug Horsepower was supposed to fix? I looked around, and most of the merchies were "loaded down." The perfectly calm sea was almost washing over the decks. This sounds like a bug, anyone know any fix?

Later, I put a few torps into a troop ship escorted by a few sub-mashers. sure enough, one of them sunk himself with depth charges.

So far I can't go through a patrol without running straight into a game-ruining bug. :damn:

Everyone lauds the subsim community.
So ... A little honest advice would be great, I tried looking for fixes, and found the above mods, which didnt seem to help much.

So far, this game is unplayable, even after two patches and some player created fixes. After about 50 hours of gameplay (no exageration, thats just enough to be an honest try), I've been happy with my purchase about once, and that was when I saw the "cool intro."

I'm not trying to be a jerk about it, I'm just frustrated (as it seems everyone here is occasionally) and I'd like a little guidance since my searches have been fruitless. I'm hoping that 1.3 will be the game-changer that fixes all this garbage. But I'm guessing had I bought the game on release day, I would have hoped the same thing for 1.1 and 1.2. So far that didnt work out, so I can't hold my breath for 1.3.

That said, I'm a huge supporter of the silent hunter series. After all, it takes a real fan to buy a game you know is bugged, just because you trust the company. I'm hoping this is the last time I have to buy a game on trust.

Edit: fixed half-post.

[Wayne Dryden]

I can't speak for the merchants but have a thought on the destroyers . When playing SH-3 previously had the same problem with DEs blowing off the stern and sinking or killing stern crew at the DC rack . The DEs were in shwllow water causing the charges to explod while the ship was still in the blast radius causing self damage . AI just did not consider its own crews safety and presses the attack . Makes sence if this is the case with you situation and easier to live with than thinking gee another bug . No fix known just an AI short coming .

[starvingartist507]

I've posted this in the bug list. How did all those listed bugs get past two patches? I'm uninstalling until this game is fixed.

[Roadsweeper]

This may not be of any use... but heres a few suggestions....

As far as Ive seen the convoys move at the speed of the slowest ship (if an attack hasnt been triggered and they know you are in the area).

Ok assuming one of the freighters has had an accident, or been under attack from AI controlled units, or collided etc just outside your visual range it would be well down in the water and almost stopped, hence the rest of the convoy "may" be moving at the speed of said ship... but this wouldnt account for them all being decks awash.

The horsepower bug could be an issue here, you didnt mention if you've attacked them or not yet, if they havent turned due to the evasion being triggered, the HP bug shouldnt have happened... all the lack of HP does is slows them to a crawl when they turn, and makes them take a lot longer to regain top speed.

It could be whats known as a "lost leader", sometimes if the leading destroyer goes on a wander, the rest of the convoy stops (I think they are programmed to follow it as long as its afloat and not in combat, from what Ive observed).

Another posibility is position... Were they all in the right position? If one of the central ships in a small convoy turns for some reason into the path of a a following ship, I have seen it bring the entire convoy to a halt as they all try to avoid one another.

Personally though I think the slow speed is related to the ships being decks awash, and maybe damaged, although I am at a loss as to why all of them would have been damaged. Ive seen one or two ships on fire or well down due to damage but never an entire convoy.

Have you been able to reproduce this set of bugs or has it only happened once?

Have you tried reinstalling a fresh copy of SH? Ive played SH4 daily since it came out and never come accross this before...

[FAdmiral]

Is this problem occuring all the time when you play SH4? If it is, do you use
the disk in drive to play or do you use a no-disk crack? If you use the disk
to play and still get this problem all the time, it could be a bad install. My
first install was bad and I had to do a complete reinstall to play the game
the way it should be played...

JIM