Elysion
06-22-07, 07:52 AM
There is a long and inane post ahead, but apparantly persons here are fond of reading these things, if you don't care to hear how i fought a sea monster or saved imperial institute of cheese sandwiches association's annual 'quilt for a cure' mundane awareness day food race drive, then simply skip ahead to the QUESTION spam and read thereafter.
I may not know a whole lot, but there is one thing i have learned very quickly - the north atlantic sucks. At first i though i could track things down fairly competently, after all they gave me a type VIIB... i must be good at something! but after spending ages chasing ships i never see based off of radio reports, my hydrophone, and that nifty tutorial which explains how to find things in the newbie sticky, i finally found one. And i didn't even see it until it was 400m in front of me.
That kind of explains my past experiences looking back. On three occasions i listened to the sonar man call out that something had just passed right in front of me, changing bearing much more quickly than something thats too far away to spot should have. 050 closing, 042 closing, 035 closing, 029 closing, 024 closing, 015 closing, 005 constant distance, 354 moving away....
The fourth time was the charm. I encountered a C2. Boy was i excited, i was worried i would run out of fuel on my first patrol with out even seeing something! What was better, it was fairly close and almost square in line for my front tubes. (79% realism, im not going to tinker with more math than adding a meter or two onto the draft of my prey).
The sea was pretty rough, on several occasions the top of my periscope went under. I should have known better, I was at almost a perfect angle to just go for an impact detonation, but no. Those aren't fancy enough for me. I just HAVE to get them form beneath, open em up real good... and even in such terrible conditions i went for it.
So i shot two torpedoes.
I figured one would miss, after all - if my common sense is working properly a perfect 90 degree angle is actualy the worst to go for magnetic detonation. But they BOTH missed, totally. One blew up before it got there, and the other one apparently passed right under her.
Thankfully the conditions where so bad (it was also raining) that i don't think the failed attack was noticed. Great! I would try again. Readying my other two front tubes and bringing myself around some (i was at a slightly more advantageous angle for this attack) I shot the other two. This time i tried something smart (well... i thought it was smart anyway) i set one for 9 meter depth and one for 6, thinking maybe the problem with the last one was due to a nasty wave sticking its nose where it shouldn't aught to be and screwing the whole tonnage liberation (giving back to nature) process.
Again one exploded before it even got there (Maybe i shouldn't have checked that realism option...) but the other one (i like to think it was the 6m one) hit! KERBLAM!
Unfortunately this seemed to have little actual effect as the C2 steamed on merrily as if nothing had happened. Far from being even wounded, it actually increased speed by 1 knot.
Well, I had already invested 4 torpedoes into this, and there was little point in stopping then, so i brought myself around to shoot it with my ass.
By the time the stern tube was lined up it was getting kind of hard to see the target, it had moved to about 700m away. I shot, and it hit! But nothing spectacular had happened, it didn't sink, it didn't slow, it just kept going. - What was worse, it and me where now traveling in opposite directions, and if it was not for a tiny fire which the last torpedoes started i would have lost it completely in the fog by then.
But thanks to that fire, i did not lose it until i was about half way through my turn.
I may not know a whole lot, but there is one thing i have learned very quickly - the north atlantic sucks. There i was, just having shot 5 torpedoes at that stupid C2 with out sinking it, or even damaging it, and to top it all off it had eluded me and was in a real position to actually GET AWAY.
After probably spinning in circles a few times looking for that camp fire to show up somewhere, i decided to submerge and listen. After finding the bearing and surfacing (it was going too fast for me to catch under water) a few times i finally caught back up to it. I had apparently passed it and then doubled back, because we where both pointed at each other when i found it. It emerged from the fog about 560m out, heading straight for me at high speeds. I suddenly became terrified.
What a way to go. U-99, killed on first patrol. Rammed by a C2. :rock:
Thankfully i had a very good crew, and i was able to get out of the way. However i was now passing it again. I would have to make another attempt with my aft tube.
Going again for my favored 9m depth fast running magnetic trigger, i got out to just 300m and fired, there was no evading for the big ship this time, and the sea cooperated and placed its keel directly above my righteous fury, and all hands where lost.
-6 torpedoes
+1 C2
Well, after that i decided i would just finish my patrol and head home. I arived at AM25, sat there for a day, and noticed i had 75% fuel left. I then noticed that there was an enemy harbor nearby.
Well, i just had to see what was over there!
It could have ended here, either with me stumbling upon countless stationary targets, getting all the kills, and then slipping away right under the DDs. Or it could have ended with my showing up and getting ran over by a battleship while i tried to figure out how to get turned around in such a close space. But neither happened because i never actually made it.
The sea became a bit calmer, and i got several merchant contacts. I decided to track one down.
All my die landed on 20, and i got a critical success and gained 52 points to my navigational skill.
It was a coastal merchant. Yeah! I should be able to kill that with one torpedo, right? Clearly a better cost to weight ratio than my last encounter.
I got to watch the hard work of my advanced mathematical skills (drawing things on the map while i pause three times to read a guide) by observing as my intercept course brought us casually together. I had plotted it so masterfully that i could watch us both following the angles of my protractor perfectly. When we where getting close i slowed some to let him pass before me and then into history.
I really shouldn't have checked that realistic torpedo box.
Thats 3 premature explosions out of 7 torpedoes!
He was now zig zagging like crazy. So i figured i would just surface to make maneuvering easier. It wasn't. He managed to evade two more before the fourth one finally landed, and as expected, i did kill him with one hit.
Ship spotted!
The last section of my account was much shorter than it could have been. Or rather, the encounter itself took much longer than what there is to say about it would suggest. Somewhere between the course corrections and attempts at predicting where to shoot before he even turns there, a C2 had showed up on the scene. I guess i had stumbled into a regular shipping lane.
By this time i had 4 torpedoes left. 3 in the front and one in the back. Now, i have killed C2s with 2 torpedoes before, i figured that now, due to the calmer seas (still not calm enough for deck gun however) i should be able to get me one last kill and some extra tonnage so i don't have to return home a disgrace.
I was not messing around this time. I resolved to fire all three of my front torpedoes at once, at close range. It was going to be spectacular! Me, and my crew, needed some instant gratification to raise our spirits from the hassle and tedium of our last two 'victories'...
Periscope depth, (it apparently never saw me, as it was keeping a straight course) and ready the attack! It slowly approached and i checked and rechecked the torpedoes settings to make sure they where properly configured. I micromanaged my rudders and speed to ensure the optimal attack angle, i kept my periscope under the water most the time to prevent detection. I did everything i could think of... except open the tubes....
000. tubes 2, 3, 4 .... I was getting ready to fire at that very moment. But instead a disastrous series of events occurred. First, i hit time compression instead of fire. Second, i realized i did not open the doors and, unaware that i had hit time compression, began frantically trying to figure out if the 3 second delay will cost me the kill. After a few seconds i realized i had hit time compression and never even shot, panicked, and then hit enter (like an idiot).
This caused me to miss entirely.
My heart sunk. There i had the perfect shot, and a sure kill. But it all vanished right before my eyes.
Now, im not one to give up, not because i hold that something marvelous will happen and save everything at the last moment, but just because it seems the proper thing to do - to keep trying even though its pretty obvious you are boned.
I still had me one aft torpedo left. :arrgh!:
I was assuming i would hit it, cripple it terribly, but not quite do enough to sink it. That would surely have been much more torturous than having it miss, or the humorous outcome of having an additional premature detonation... i could laugh at that. I could get back to base and say "These triggers blow as soon as they get out of the tube! You are lucky i managed to sink anything at all!"
I figured i would make the shot count. I lined up perfectly, set it all like i usually do. This time i figured i wouldn't use the lock on feature, but try to aim for a weak spot. I had read somewhere that there is a weak spot just behind the smoke stacks. So thats where i aimed...
Come to think of it im not sure if that is even a C2s weak spot, it could have very well been some other ships weak spot instead. But that mattered not, because i missed where i was aiming for entirely.
Im still kind of fuzzy on how that happened, as everything was set up perfectly, target moving at constant speed and heading, fired right at 000, tubes where open this time... I somehow managed to hit more towards the bow, a good deal more.
I saw the explosion, and i was happy to have hit something, but i was just about to go to the navigational map and plot a course home.. maybe i could just tell them im incompetent and get a nice job filing things somewhere... when i heard one of my crew announce the most strangest thing, something i wouldn't expect to have heard at all... enemy destroyed.
Looking at the C2 through my periscope. My one aft torpedo, which hit way off the mark from where i was aiming it, who i was just about to console with "good try, at least you didn't blow yourself up on a passing school of fish, you are truly a credit to your munitions factory", somehow managed to literally split the ship in half.
I think i like those steam torpedoes. I only use steam by the way, those electric ones, they don't seem proper. You have to have the trail in the water, the trail tells the enemy its too late to do anything because im the fast kind of torpedo and not a slow electric one. Its both courteous and decisive, i like those qualities in a weapon system.
After passing out celebratory bananas and sausage to the crew i plotted a course home.
My first patrol i had sunk just over 10k tons, which would have been kind of impressive if i was in a type II. But more importantly i learned some valuable lessons.
Firstly, those bananas are made out of wax. Second and third, when its foggy out you can not see anything so i should trust my hydrophone and protractor... and that i should not have checked that realistic torpedo box because it would have been nice to be able to trust them too.
Lastly i have learned that the north atlantic sucks.
QUESTIONS QUESTIONS QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS QUESTIONS QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS QUESTIONS QUESTIONS
Now i have some questions. Just two actually.
If my watch officer has a flack qualification, and this causes the gun to have a totally full green bar, would having a crew member who also has the qualification actually sitting in the chair shooting it improved anything at all? Or can i just use any old nobody provided the green bar is full and get the exact same result? I just want to make sure that, while reload will be faster, a normal person will score as many hits with it as a specialized person provided the bar is full.
Secondly. I keep getting the exact same patrol grid. It has happened to me in 3 careers now, but strangely enough it did NOT happen to me my first career (which lasted three patrols=p). I have used SH3 commander, but only recently, this problem was happening before i installed it too. And further, if i try to use the option in SH3 commander that randomizes a grid.. it wont randomize, i always just get the same number. Its almost like my first patrol locks something in place somewhere in some file somewhere that prevents me from getting different ones.
The strange thing is, this did not happen my first career, and ive even tried reinstalling the game from scratch...
I may not know a whole lot, but there is one thing i have learned very quickly - the north atlantic sucks. At first i though i could track things down fairly competently, after all they gave me a type VIIB... i must be good at something! but after spending ages chasing ships i never see based off of radio reports, my hydrophone, and that nifty tutorial which explains how to find things in the newbie sticky, i finally found one. And i didn't even see it until it was 400m in front of me.
That kind of explains my past experiences looking back. On three occasions i listened to the sonar man call out that something had just passed right in front of me, changing bearing much more quickly than something thats too far away to spot should have. 050 closing, 042 closing, 035 closing, 029 closing, 024 closing, 015 closing, 005 constant distance, 354 moving away....
The fourth time was the charm. I encountered a C2. Boy was i excited, i was worried i would run out of fuel on my first patrol with out even seeing something! What was better, it was fairly close and almost square in line for my front tubes. (79% realism, im not going to tinker with more math than adding a meter or two onto the draft of my prey).
The sea was pretty rough, on several occasions the top of my periscope went under. I should have known better, I was at almost a perfect angle to just go for an impact detonation, but no. Those aren't fancy enough for me. I just HAVE to get them form beneath, open em up real good... and even in such terrible conditions i went for it.
So i shot two torpedoes.
I figured one would miss, after all - if my common sense is working properly a perfect 90 degree angle is actualy the worst to go for magnetic detonation. But they BOTH missed, totally. One blew up before it got there, and the other one apparently passed right under her.
Thankfully the conditions where so bad (it was also raining) that i don't think the failed attack was noticed. Great! I would try again. Readying my other two front tubes and bringing myself around some (i was at a slightly more advantageous angle for this attack) I shot the other two. This time i tried something smart (well... i thought it was smart anyway) i set one for 9 meter depth and one for 6, thinking maybe the problem with the last one was due to a nasty wave sticking its nose where it shouldn't aught to be and screwing the whole tonnage liberation (giving back to nature) process.
Again one exploded before it even got there (Maybe i shouldn't have checked that realism option...) but the other one (i like to think it was the 6m one) hit! KERBLAM!
Unfortunately this seemed to have little actual effect as the C2 steamed on merrily as if nothing had happened. Far from being even wounded, it actually increased speed by 1 knot.
Well, I had already invested 4 torpedoes into this, and there was little point in stopping then, so i brought myself around to shoot it with my ass.
By the time the stern tube was lined up it was getting kind of hard to see the target, it had moved to about 700m away. I shot, and it hit! But nothing spectacular had happened, it didn't sink, it didn't slow, it just kept going. - What was worse, it and me where now traveling in opposite directions, and if it was not for a tiny fire which the last torpedoes started i would have lost it completely in the fog by then.
But thanks to that fire, i did not lose it until i was about half way through my turn.
I may not know a whole lot, but there is one thing i have learned very quickly - the north atlantic sucks. There i was, just having shot 5 torpedoes at that stupid C2 with out sinking it, or even damaging it, and to top it all off it had eluded me and was in a real position to actually GET AWAY.
After probably spinning in circles a few times looking for that camp fire to show up somewhere, i decided to submerge and listen. After finding the bearing and surfacing (it was going too fast for me to catch under water) a few times i finally caught back up to it. I had apparently passed it and then doubled back, because we where both pointed at each other when i found it. It emerged from the fog about 560m out, heading straight for me at high speeds. I suddenly became terrified.
What a way to go. U-99, killed on first patrol. Rammed by a C2. :rock:
Thankfully i had a very good crew, and i was able to get out of the way. However i was now passing it again. I would have to make another attempt with my aft tube.
Going again for my favored 9m depth fast running magnetic trigger, i got out to just 300m and fired, there was no evading for the big ship this time, and the sea cooperated and placed its keel directly above my righteous fury, and all hands where lost.
-6 torpedoes
+1 C2
Well, after that i decided i would just finish my patrol and head home. I arived at AM25, sat there for a day, and noticed i had 75% fuel left. I then noticed that there was an enemy harbor nearby.
Well, i just had to see what was over there!
It could have ended here, either with me stumbling upon countless stationary targets, getting all the kills, and then slipping away right under the DDs. Or it could have ended with my showing up and getting ran over by a battleship while i tried to figure out how to get turned around in such a close space. But neither happened because i never actually made it.
The sea became a bit calmer, and i got several merchant contacts. I decided to track one down.
All my die landed on 20, and i got a critical success and gained 52 points to my navigational skill.
It was a coastal merchant. Yeah! I should be able to kill that with one torpedo, right? Clearly a better cost to weight ratio than my last encounter.
I got to watch the hard work of my advanced mathematical skills (drawing things on the map while i pause three times to read a guide) by observing as my intercept course brought us casually together. I had plotted it so masterfully that i could watch us both following the angles of my protractor perfectly. When we where getting close i slowed some to let him pass before me and then into history.
I really shouldn't have checked that realistic torpedo box.
Thats 3 premature explosions out of 7 torpedoes!
He was now zig zagging like crazy. So i figured i would just surface to make maneuvering easier. It wasn't. He managed to evade two more before the fourth one finally landed, and as expected, i did kill him with one hit.
Ship spotted!
The last section of my account was much shorter than it could have been. Or rather, the encounter itself took much longer than what there is to say about it would suggest. Somewhere between the course corrections and attempts at predicting where to shoot before he even turns there, a C2 had showed up on the scene. I guess i had stumbled into a regular shipping lane.
By this time i had 4 torpedoes left. 3 in the front and one in the back. Now, i have killed C2s with 2 torpedoes before, i figured that now, due to the calmer seas (still not calm enough for deck gun however) i should be able to get me one last kill and some extra tonnage so i don't have to return home a disgrace.
I was not messing around this time. I resolved to fire all three of my front torpedoes at once, at close range. It was going to be spectacular! Me, and my crew, needed some instant gratification to raise our spirits from the hassle and tedium of our last two 'victories'...
Periscope depth, (it apparently never saw me, as it was keeping a straight course) and ready the attack! It slowly approached and i checked and rechecked the torpedoes settings to make sure they where properly configured. I micromanaged my rudders and speed to ensure the optimal attack angle, i kept my periscope under the water most the time to prevent detection. I did everything i could think of... except open the tubes....
000. tubes 2, 3, 4 .... I was getting ready to fire at that very moment. But instead a disastrous series of events occurred. First, i hit time compression instead of fire. Second, i realized i did not open the doors and, unaware that i had hit time compression, began frantically trying to figure out if the 3 second delay will cost me the kill. After a few seconds i realized i had hit time compression and never even shot, panicked, and then hit enter (like an idiot).
This caused me to miss entirely.
My heart sunk. There i had the perfect shot, and a sure kill. But it all vanished right before my eyes.
Now, im not one to give up, not because i hold that something marvelous will happen and save everything at the last moment, but just because it seems the proper thing to do - to keep trying even though its pretty obvious you are boned.
I still had me one aft torpedo left. :arrgh!:
I was assuming i would hit it, cripple it terribly, but not quite do enough to sink it. That would surely have been much more torturous than having it miss, or the humorous outcome of having an additional premature detonation... i could laugh at that. I could get back to base and say "These triggers blow as soon as they get out of the tube! You are lucky i managed to sink anything at all!"
I figured i would make the shot count. I lined up perfectly, set it all like i usually do. This time i figured i wouldn't use the lock on feature, but try to aim for a weak spot. I had read somewhere that there is a weak spot just behind the smoke stacks. So thats where i aimed...
Come to think of it im not sure if that is even a C2s weak spot, it could have very well been some other ships weak spot instead. But that mattered not, because i missed where i was aiming for entirely.
Im still kind of fuzzy on how that happened, as everything was set up perfectly, target moving at constant speed and heading, fired right at 000, tubes where open this time... I somehow managed to hit more towards the bow, a good deal more.
I saw the explosion, and i was happy to have hit something, but i was just about to go to the navigational map and plot a course home.. maybe i could just tell them im incompetent and get a nice job filing things somewhere... when i heard one of my crew announce the most strangest thing, something i wouldn't expect to have heard at all... enemy destroyed.
Looking at the C2 through my periscope. My one aft torpedo, which hit way off the mark from where i was aiming it, who i was just about to console with "good try, at least you didn't blow yourself up on a passing school of fish, you are truly a credit to your munitions factory", somehow managed to literally split the ship in half.
I think i like those steam torpedoes. I only use steam by the way, those electric ones, they don't seem proper. You have to have the trail in the water, the trail tells the enemy its too late to do anything because im the fast kind of torpedo and not a slow electric one. Its both courteous and decisive, i like those qualities in a weapon system.
After passing out celebratory bananas and sausage to the crew i plotted a course home.
My first patrol i had sunk just over 10k tons, which would have been kind of impressive if i was in a type II. But more importantly i learned some valuable lessons.
Firstly, those bananas are made out of wax. Second and third, when its foggy out you can not see anything so i should trust my hydrophone and protractor... and that i should not have checked that realistic torpedo box because it would have been nice to be able to trust them too.
Lastly i have learned that the north atlantic sucks.
QUESTIONS QUESTIONS QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS QUESTIONS QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS QUESTIONS QUESTIONS
Now i have some questions. Just two actually.
If my watch officer has a flack qualification, and this causes the gun to have a totally full green bar, would having a crew member who also has the qualification actually sitting in the chair shooting it improved anything at all? Or can i just use any old nobody provided the green bar is full and get the exact same result? I just want to make sure that, while reload will be faster, a normal person will score as many hits with it as a specialized person provided the bar is full.
Secondly. I keep getting the exact same patrol grid. It has happened to me in 3 careers now, but strangely enough it did NOT happen to me my first career (which lasted three patrols=p). I have used SH3 commander, but only recently, this problem was happening before i installed it too. And further, if i try to use the option in SH3 commander that randomizes a grid.. it wont randomize, i always just get the same number. Its almost like my first patrol locks something in place somewhere in some file somewhere that prevents me from getting different ones.
The strange thing is, this did not happen my first career, and ive even tried reinstalling the game from scratch...