1st Career mission

[PapaG39]

I started my first career mission last night after I got home from work. I made it out of port without running into anything.. & set a course to AN81 & went at standard speed. After I got up this morning I found that I haden't gone very far...lol..so I have been doing the fast forward thing & am almost there.
I sent a radio position report to command and recieved the following reply...
"Be more aggressive!"
What do they mean by that? If I go faster I will run outta fuel just before I get to home port. Or do they mean go faster in route & slower back to port?

Also, what type of things should I do on first cruise to get my crew more experience...if anything... I did a few crash dives & maneuvers, but I don't know if I really need to do anything except get there.

Also I noticed that the clock in the Boot is in 12 hour time.. Shouldn't it be in 24 hour?

[Brag]

When you don't report anything sunk, you'll get the be more agressive message. Your crew gains experience per patrol completed.
Whenever I get a new crew, I make a tour of the harbour twice. That gives my crew experience of two patrols and things are easier on the first combat patrol.

Gute Jagd!

[GoldenRivet]

when you send a patrol report as you did the AI BDU looks at your "results"

frankly - unlike real life - in SH3 BDU doesnt care where you are on the map... they just care if you have sunk anything.

The default messages for no sinkings are "Press the Attack!" and "Be More Agressive"

If you send a message after sinking a ship or a few ships the only reply you will get is "Keep up the good work!"

if you send a contact report after spotting a convoy the only reply you will get is something like "Contact report received, good work"

thats the span of your interaction with BdU in Silent Hunter 3... kinda sad, but thats it. Your almost better off not even sending reports period.

by telling you to be more agressive they just mean sink more stuff... it has nothing to do with your speed.

to increase the experience of your crew, you will just have to complete more patrols. The harbor patrol thing like Brag suggested works but it counts both of those as patrols and im to OCD to think of my third patrol as my first patrol haha.

[PapaG39]

hmmm, o.k. I'll forgo the reports after this.

BTW, it didn't give me an option to patrol the harbor. should I have just sailed out of the harbor & back in without setting up a course to follow?
Anyway, it's to late now..lol..

[PapaG39]

O.K, so should I have just sailed out of lthe harbor & then right back in?
It didn't give any option other then go to AN81.

[GoldenRivet]

well the assigned patrol area is just an assigned patrol area... you get renown for going there, and you get more renown for patrolling it for 24 hours. but you dont HAVE to go there... in fact a lot of people pick their own happy hunting grounds and head for that in nearly every mission regardless of their assignemnt.

To complete the harbor patrol just take the u-boat for a lap around the port and when you have had enough of that just stay within 25 KM of your port and hit excape and click "Dock at ____" (whatever your port is) you get credit and experience for completing a patrol because the computer sees that you left port and you came back to port... despite the fact that you didnt really do anything at all.

[PapaG39]

What! And disobey a direct order from Der Fuhrer. Can't a guy get shot for that?

Oh well, I'm right in the middle of the top half of AN81 now, so I may as well play it out to the end. I guess I just go to the far west end of AN81 & submerge & listen for a bit. I have to go to work now so it will be about ten hours before I can get back.
I can see right now that this game is going to take a lot of "actual" time to accomplish anything..

[PapaG39]

Just another quick thought while I have your attention...lol..
I installed the 1.4b patch over a clean sh3 install.
However, I don't see the 1.4b designation anywhere when I launch the game. doesn't it show up somewhere so I will know that it took?

[GoldenRivet]

Are you using GWX or any other mods?

[mowgli99]

once it sent in a convoy contact report and later BDU told several ships to shadow it. This could be a coinicidence (sp?)

[GoldenRivet]

once it sent in a convoy contact report and later BDU told several ships to shadow it. This could be a coinicidence (sp?)

The AI BDU in the game is not that complex, i would say it is a coincidence.

[PapaG39]

I finely found the very small "1.4b" in the lower right hand corner of the start up menu... its really small.

on this campaign/career start thing. I did 4 of those startup with the type IIA boat & my crew still show "0" for missions completed. I did short circuits & a couple of over 100km, but they still have no experience. Also I can't get the navigator to give me a total km round trip figure. It just says "not available"
I've tried it with a short trip & a long trip.. makes no difference..it's just not available.
Also, the mission briefer keeps giving me missions that are farther away then my boat will go round trip. I would run outta fuel about the time I would get there.
Somethings not right...

[GoldenRivet]

what kind of speed are you trying your trips at to get poor range?

[Brag]

Fuel in the II is critical tha capability of dashing after targets it close to zero. If I remember right a cruise speed of 5 knots is most economical

[PapaG39]

Ahead 1/3 is the most I can use to even get outta Wilhelshaven without runnin outta fuel..

But that is just one of the problems I'm having. I can't leave my computer on 24hr a day. I have to shut it off for other things & my saved games won't relaunch.
I finely made it to an81 after 2 days on fast forward. saved it & came back today & it just went back to that room where you get missions, crew etc. i lost it all...2 days of fast forwarding shot to hel*. I followed the Save buttons & got the "your saved" window assuring me that my place was saved...NOT!