TM1.6 and finding things to sink

[mortis1967]

started a new career and and headed upto my mission in Luzon straight , and came across a task force. Made a mess of the force and headed back for a rearm encounterd another task force on the way home, avoided it and made it safe back to port.

that i think took me upto dec 11. Since then and its now jan 20th i havent encounted a single target. Ive been traveling the shipping lanes as pictured on the map and setting search patterns along those routes but havnt seen or heard a thing apart from planes, and radio traffic about islands being taken over.

so the question is . Is this how its supposed to be? am i missing something , are the shipping lanes on the map correct or is it just not worth bothering with them.

how regular should i be getting targets. and any tips on finding targets.(not really interested in sailing into enemy harbours to shoot sitting ducks)

any help or adivce in this area of the game would be most gratefull

[cali03boss]

Did you make birth at port or did you just refit?

There was another thread here talking about how if you just refit constantly eventually the convoys stop appearing...this is to stop people from doing this action specifically.

[John Channing]

Try this...

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=629517&postcount=3

JCC

[tater]

You modded or stock?

tater

[mortis1967]

modded with tm1.6

didnt dock was just a refit/rearm

just some other info ,asiatic fleet 1941

[tater]

Duh, I forgot the thread title, lol.

Early war the contact reports are VERY thin. It gets better starting in March.

The shipping routes are NOT what's on the map anymore.

Major routes were:

Empire<-->Singapore, but only after the fall of Singapore (unlike the stock game where jap shipping is coming from ports owned by the allies).

Empire<-->Palau. Traffic right from the start. (branches east and south date dependant)

Empire<-->Truk. Traffic from the start (branches east and south date dependant)

Empire<-->China(and other mainland in their control). From the start.

Empire coastal traffic.

All the routes are a little towards land from the map you have (in both directions) since ships would frequently be in and out of multiple ports.

tater

[Rockin Robbins]

Notice:

You have been reported by tater's modified campaign layer for cheating, to wit: illegally returning to port for a refit, attempting against Admiral Lockwood's orders, and contrary to reality, to pile on illegitimate tonage during the present patrol. Do you not want the collect the upgraded equipment, crew medals and promotions and perhaps a shiny new submarine you would get from not cheating? Hmmmmmmm? This behavior is most puzzling. So long as you fulfil your goals properly, there is no danger of premature retirement. Now you are in trouble with the Admiral. We will be waiting outside his door when you emerge from his office. Pardon us if we laugh a little. You should not be looking forward to this meeting.:oops:

[mortis1967]

so its bad form to rearm / refit for more fish.
your saying i should dock after running out of fish?

id only been out of port for like 5-6 days , on route to my mission, didnt even get to the mission, because i came across a taskforce. Im sure the admiral would of loved my explanation of why i continued on my mission with no fish


so is there an updated map anywhere to download /print out

[Snuffy]

Ummm you don't have to sink everything you come across. :)

I just ran my first mission with TM 1.6 and made it from Pearl to Honshu and then the China Sea and back to Pearl and only fired two torpedos. The sinking mechanics are great! I sat there idle for the better part of an hour waiting for the ship to finally give it up and sink.

Most of the time was spent motoring from point A to point B in open ocean, then evading aircraft once I got near enough to their bases.

All in all! I apprecaite all the work done by those whose work was incorporated into TM!

This was by far one of my better missions even though I only sunk one ship.

[tater]

The first few months most jap shipping is busy conquering a large chunk of the world ;)
. Look where the invasions are. Also, regular shipping will come and go from places they conquer as they conquer it. Looking for tons of shipping in the south china sea before they secure places to send the shipping won't get you much.

BTW, the refit "problem" is not just my campaign/TM, it's in the STOCK game. 41a goes to end of Feb, 42a is March to August, 42b is Sept to Aug '43, and so forth. That's the stock layer system which i didn't change.

If you want to play realistically, you only "refit" (awful word choice, what it is is refueling and rearming, a refit alters the sub physically) when it is available CLOSE TO THE FRONT.

Acceptable (IMO) times to make a double patrol:

1. Asiatic out of Manila. You shoot all your fish and have only been out a short while.

2. Asiatic out of Surabaya, same rules, short time after starting, out of fish.

3. Late war when there are forward refueling and rearming stations (stripped anchors)--ONCE per patrol (a "double barreled patrol"), then home.

That's it, anything else is gobbling up a powerup.

tater

[Rockin Robbins]

so its bad form to rearm / refit for more fish.
your saying i should dock after running out of fish?

id only been out of port for like 5-6 days , on route to my mission, didnt even get to the mission, because i came across a taskforce. Im sure the admiral would of loved my explanation of why i continued on my mission with no fish


so is there an updated map anywhere to download /print out
Put yourself in the Admiral's place. A new captain has gone out of port, but instead of getting to his mission, 2 days out of port he encountered a Jap battle fleet and sank a couple of lousy battleships. The captain returned with a cool 40,000 tons and 2 BB's swimming with the fishies. What can you say to him? You idiot, you didn't take pictures of x harbor? You came back with your secret agent? You didn't sink a couple of merchies for 10,000 tons? No, you must smile, hand the guy his medal of honor, promotions for his crew, bronze stars and silver stars all around. Now you can chew him out if you wish.

But I think you will bite your tongue, smile, tell him he's a good dog and send somebody else out to do what he was supposed to do.

Success is the ultimate answer for under-achievement.:up:

[tater]

Yeah, the whole patrol objectives stuff needs serious work. I think it's fair to say that patrol objectives, triggers, etc is every bit as complicated as making the base traffic layers. I could see a campaign with literally hundreds of different missions built.

My new patrol objectives (still very beta) have things like bigger patrol areas set to "non continuous" (meaning you can exit the patrol area for a while and it remembers the time---all the default ones are set so that if you are 1 mile out of the zone, the clock resets!). I then tell you where to patrol, and for how long. Like, "Patrol the Slot Between the Russell Islands and Bouganville for 2 weeks upon reaching the patrol area."

tater

[Packerton]

This is why I prefer Silent hunter 3, no missions crap.

I readioed in a Task force when I had 2 torps left (its realistic for a skipper to radio anything in regardless of his position), and got an order to inflict heavy damage to the task force....I had 2 torps and the taskforce was 3 Battleships and other assorted ships.

I tried 2 on a cruiser but coulden get her to go down so I went back to base and was retired...:damn::damn::damn: :dead:

[AirborneTD]

The first few months most jap shipping is busy conquering a large chunk of the world ;)
. Look where the invasions are. Also, regular shipping will come and go from places they conquer as they conquer it. Looking for tons of shipping in the south china sea before they secure places to send the shipping won't get you much.

BTW, the refit "problem" is not just my campaign/TM, it's in the STOCK game. 41a goes to end of Feb, 42a is March to August, 42b is Sept to Aug '43, and so forth. That's the stock layer system which i didn't change.

If you want to play realistically, you only "refit" (awful word choice, what it is is refueling and rearming, a refit alters the sub physically) when it is available CLOSE TO THE FRONT.

Acceptable (IMO) times to make a double patrol:

1. Asiatic out of Manila. You shoot all your fish and have only been out a short while.

2. Asiatic out of Surabaya, same rules, short time after starting, out of fish.

3. Late war when there are forward refueling and rearming stations (stripped anchors)--ONCE per patrol (a "double barreled patrol"), then home.

I That's it, anything else is gobbling up a powerup.

tater

I agree completely, Tater. I will only double-barrel late in the war when rearming at Saipan or Guam. I just wish you could transfer (to forward bases) while in port, leave Pearl (or Brisbane/Freemantle), conduct your patrol and then end at your NEW base. I hate how you transfer to Brisbane while at Pearl and are magically transported there with no loss of time. Grrrrrr. Great game otherwise.

[WilhelmSchulz.]

I only refit coming from Pearl to empire areas. Stoping at midway.

[-Pv-]

I don't radio in a convoy contact unless:
1) I'm armed and prepaired (crew rested) to do serious damage.
2) I'm out of torps and I want HQ to send me home.

Anything else and I decide if I will attack the convoy or not and move on with no radio call. Contacting HQ could be counter-productive as you're likely to be told to attack and failure to rack up the objective will count against you. I also have to weigh the radio call against the risk of discovery.

My experience is the contact report is only good for one thing. Going home. Using it is too risky against the potential rewards.

-Pv-

[NefariousKoel]

This is why I prefer Silent hunter 3, no missions crap.

I readioed in a Task force when I had 2 torps left (its realistic for a skipper to radio anything in regardless of his position), and got an order to inflict heavy damage to the task force....I had 2 torps and the taskforce was 3 Battleships and other assorted ships.

I tried 2 on a cruiser but coulden get her to go down so I went back to base and was retired...:damn::damn::damn: :dead:

You're joking right?

Contrary to popular belief, SH3 and GWX wasn't perfect. The majority of the time I tried to run a career I quit in disgust due to having storms starting by the time I reached British waters and lasting my whole patrol afterwards in which I couldn't see a thing much less shoot them in such high waves when I got so "lucky" as to practically run into them at the last moment due to visibility.

To mention one thing that really p!ssed me off, anyway.

[Ducimus]

This is why I prefer Silent hunter 3, no missions crap.

I readioed in a Task force when I had 2 torps left (its realistic for a skipper to radio anything in regardless of his position), and got an order to inflict heavy damage to the task force....I had 2 torps and the taskforce was 3 Battleships and other assorted ships.

I tried 2 on a cruiser but coulden get her to go down so I went back to base and was retired...:damn::damn::damn: :dead:

You're joking right?

Contrary to popular belief, SH3 and GWX wasn't perfect. The majority of the time I tried to run a career I quit in disgust due to having storms starting by the time I reached British waters and lasting my whole patrol afterwards in which I couldn't see a thing much less shoot them in such high waves when I got so "lucky" as to practically run into them at the last moment due to visibility.

To mention one thing that really p!ssed me off, anyway.

I guess being one, what i guess you could say, "well versed" in some of the game mechanics, if someone were to ask me directly, i would agree. Contrary to popular beleif, it's not perfect. But thats a discussion for another game, and of another submarine theater. But since the comparision of patrols is unavoidable, i much prefer the variety available in SH4, as compared to the same ole, "go to grid ED98, and sit there for 24 hours" type of missions.

[mortis1967]

so its bad form to rearm / refit for more fish.
your saying i should dock after running out of fish?

id only been out of port for like 5-6 days , on route to my mission, didnt even get to the mission, because i came across a taskforce. Im sure the admiral would of loved my explanation of why i continued on my mission with no fish


so is there an updated map anywhere to download /print out
Put yourself in the Admiral's place. A new captain has gone out of port, but instead of getting to his mission, 2 days out of port he encountered a Jap battle fleet and sank a couple of lousy battleships. The captain returned with a cool 40,000 tons and 2 BB's swimming with the fishies. What can you say to him? You idiot, you didn't take pictures of x harbor? You came back with your secret agent? You didn't sink a couple of merchies for 10,000 tons? No, you must smile, hand the guy his medal of honor, promotions for his crew, bronze stars and silver stars all around. Now you can chew him out if you wish.

But I think you will bite your tongue, smile, tell him he's a good dog and send somebody else out to do what he was supposed to do.

Success is the ultimate answer for under-achievement.:up:


OK , im standing here im my admirals shoes , and along comes the captain only 4 days ago i sent to patrol the Luzon straight. when i ask him this he replys that on route to the straight he ecounterd a task force so he sent a contact report.
he then recieved orders to intercept.
so he intercepted the task force and sank 2 light cruisers and 7 small passenger carriers(obviously a invaison force)
having run out of fish and quite possably saving Luzon from an early invaison this captain then returns to port to rearm to go back out and complete his main order which was to patrol the Luzon straight
id say that in my admirals shoes id say well done , give him a pat on the back and send him back out there

senario 2

OK , im standing here im my admirals shoes , and along comes the captain only 4 days ago i sent to patrol the Luzon straight. when i ask him this he replys that on route to the straight he ecounterd a task force so he sent a contact report.
he then recieved orders to intercept.
He then completely ignored the task force , continued on his mission
"MP's !!!! throw this man in the Brig"


seriously though i had 1 objective, patrol Luzon straight, after sending in the contact report i get a second objective. So i use all my fish and inflict heavy losses to and invaison force, so whats wrong with coming back to rearm to complete the first objective.
or am i to patrol with just my deck gun

[Rockin Robbins]

So i use all my fish and inflict heavy losses to and invaison force, so whats wrong with coming back to rearm to complete the first objective.
or am i to patrol with just my deck gun

Looks like you have 2 choices without penalty. You can rearm once. Or you can just return to port with no fish. In the second case you will most likely receive the same mission again next time out.

[Gunner]

When I need to head for home, send a contact report when you spot San Pans, You will got a Radio message {Great Find, disengage and forces will be sent to Intercept, RTB at your disgreation.} :lol:

[-Pv-]

Mortis,

Both the options you describe I have excercized without regret. I always try to fullfill every assigned directive regardless of what I have to do. Being creative is part of a sub commander's job. The impossible just takes a while longer.
-Pv-