even more newbie questions! :P

[astat333]

1) sunrise, sunset, moon conditions?
i remotely remember seeing some sort of useful calendar somewhere, but now i can't seem to find these infos anymore! :(

2) imagine every single console on a german u-boat having, among other stuff, generally 2 large buttons - both of which will instantly launch a torpedo if pressed for any reason whatsoever. that's what the 2 ENTER buttons on my keyboard are. i hate it.
i'm in my first patrol now, doing nothing but evading constant aircraft raids in the mediterranean, have yet to see my first enemy ship - nevertheless i've already lost 2 torpedos to the accidental enter-pushing. i really expected GWX to fix this idiotic feature - what did i miss? do i have to install another mod, or fix another setting? :-?

3) back in my old SH3 days, i always hated it when i was cruising around in like x512 - and the timescale wouldn't properly go down to x1 when sth important happened, like new radio message or contact report... (it appears to be sometimes going down to 8x, sometimes not.. have yet to find a pattern. but 8x is still a stupid idea, why not 1x?)
more than once did i look up from my book only to see an hour-old contact report that would have been perfect for my past position.
again: is there any setting or mod to address this issue?


thanks in advance! :ping:

[3Jane]

Are you using SHIII Commander

[johnno74]

1) sunrise, sunset, moon conditions?
i remotely remember seeing some sort of useful calendar somewhere, but now i can't seem to find these infos anymore! :(
No idea sorry

2) imagine every single console on a german u-boat having, among other stuff, generally 2 large buttons - both of which will instantly launch a torpedo if pressed for any reason whatsoever. that's what the 2 ENTER buttons on my keyboard are. i hate it.
i'm in my first patrol now, doing nothing but evading constant aircraft raids in the mediterranean, have yet to see my first enemy ship - nevertheless i've already lost 2 torpedos to the accidental enter-pushing. i really expected GWX to fix this idiotic feature - what did i miss? do i have to install another mod, or fix another setting? :-? There is an app floating around called SetKeys.exe that lets you re-map all the keyboard commands. Alternatively, open data\cfg\commands_en.cfg in notepad and find the command for fire torpedo - cmd313. replace it with this to set it to control-enter. (as usual, backup the file first...)
[Cmd313]
Name=Fire_torpedo
Ctxt=1
Key0=0x0D,c,"Enter"


3) back in my old SH3 days, i always hated it when i was cruising around in like x512 - and the timescale wouldn't properly go down to x1 when sth important happened, like new radio message or contact report... (it appears to be sometimes going down to 8x, sometimes not.. have yet to find a pattern. but 8x is still a stupid idea, why not 1x?)
more than once did i look up from my book only to see an hour-old contact report that would have been perfect for my past position.
again: is there any setting or mod to address this issue?
SH3 commander lets you tweak the TC settings for all sorts of events. :up:


thanks in advance! :ping:

No probs... enjoy your time here, its an awesome community.

[dmlavan]

Originally Posted by astat333
1) sunrise, sunset, moon conditions?
i remotely remember seeing some sort of useful calendar somewhere, but now i can't seem to find these infos anymore! :(


Go to the Subsim downloads page. On the SH3 section, near the bottom is a download by Andy Pratt called "Moon Phases". That lists the sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset times.

[Canovaro]

1) sunrise, sunset, moon conditions?
i remotely remember seeing some sort of useful calendar somewhere, but now i can't seem to find these infos anymore! :(

Like dmlavan said


2) imagine every single console on a german u-boat having, among other stuff, generally 2 large buttons - both of which will instantly launch a torpedo if pressed for any reason whatsoever. that's what the 2 ENTER buttons on my keyboard are. i hate it.
i'm in my first patrol now, doing nothing but evading constant aircraft raids in the mediterranean, have yet to see my first enemy ship - nevertheless i've already lost 2 torpedos to the accidental enter-pushing. i really expected GWX to fix this idiotic feature - what did i miss? do i have to install another mod, or fix another setting? :-?

aside from the setkey app, GWX also fixes this (ctrl+enter)


3) back in my old SH3 days, i always hated it when i was cruising around in like x512 - and the timescale wouldn't properly go down to x1 when sth important happened, like new radio message or contact report... (it appears to be sometimes going down to 8x, sometimes not.. have yet to find a pattern. but 8x is still a stupid idea, why not 1x?)
more than once did i look up from my book only to see an hour-old contact report that would have been perfect for my past position.
again: is there any setting or mod to address this issue?


thanks in advance! :ping: aside from SH3commander, you can also edit the main.cfg file manually. It is in the "sh3" folder. I recommend making a backup though ;)

[TarJak]

IIRC there was a calendar that showed sunrise and moonrise and phases in the Captains cabin in the Original Silent Hunter. Can't recall whether it was there or not in SHII but it was long gone in SHIII and never has existed.

[Cezbor]

Try this: Moon Phases - Sun rise and set times for 1939 to 1945 (http://www.subsim.com/subsim_files/patches05/Moon.zip) at http://www.subsim.com/subsim_files/patches2005_sh3.html

[astat333]

2) imagine every single console on a german u-boat having, among other stuff, generally 2 large buttons - both of which will instantly launch a torpedo if pressed for any reason whatsoever. that's what the 2 ENTER buttons on my keyboard are. i hate it.
i'm in my first patrol now, doing nothing but evading constant aircraft raids in the mediterranean, have yet to see my first enemy ship - nevertheless i've already lost 2 torpedos to the accidental enter-pushing. i really expected GWX to fix this idiotic feature - what did i miss? do i have to install another mod, or fix another setting? :-?

aside from the setkey app, GWX also fixes this (ctrl+enter)
not for me, for reasons unknown. i am certainly using GWX, but the torpedos still fire with mere enter. (and i did absolutely nothing to SHIII apart from installing and patching it)

well maybe they only changed your "commands_en.cfg", and since i am playing the game in german, i might have to fix this commands_de.cfg now.


but i will follow your advice, thanks folks! i take it this SH3 commander is compatible with GWX?
-> it appears so.. i will try out a new career now. i have set the time compression reductios to x1 for most events - however i do fear the crucial event "magically appearing new contact report somewhere on nav map" will not be affected. (unless radio report is just that and included even updated reports for the same vessel)



edit: yes, my Commands_en.cfg has obviously been modified by GWX while the german file wasnt. and ive read the description of SetKey 1.11 (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/../subsim_files/patches05/SetKey1_11.rar) - apparently it only updates the english config, so no use for german players..?

[Foghladh_mhara]

Calendar with the moon phases was in SH2 but not in SH3.

It was handy, dont know why it was left out of SH3 :hmm:

[astat333]

It was handy, dont know why it was left out of SH3 :hmm:the link given above is quite allright, gonna print it out and add it to my growing "SH3 folder" as soon as i get access to another printer. :cool:


hmm i just had a strange first hostile encounter in GWX: a task force of, sadly, only destroyers crossed my path. i tried to sneak at them from the side in broad daylight anyway, but one of the 4 ships must have seen/heard me. he speeded to my position, kept pinging me and threw some depth charges around. however, the other 3 destroyers preferred minding their own business and stayed on course - instead of hunting me down together.
no idea why the destroyer task force didnt act as a cohesive force after an obvious u-boat sighting..


oh and the timescale manipulation offered by SH commander apparently doesn't work the way i needed it: i just received a contact report by radio transmission while cruising at x512. even though i was sitting on front of my PC, studying the map, 27 minutes had passed until i managed to reduce time speed!
i guess the time will only reduce if i receive the special stuff which is, in most cases, eventually useless: ambiente messages such as historic reports from other boats or the infamous "Seien Sie aggressiver!"... :|

[astat333]

i am currently lying near Tobruk and have some steady targets in view.
thing is, they are far away - like 8000 meters. i am intending to shoot all torpedos at them and quickly bail out, but there's a problem: mere degree are not exact enough for such small targets - do my torpedos operate on degree measures only, or are minutes being considered as well (even though they don't show up in my attack periscope)?

[Canovaro]

i am currently lying near Tobruk and have some steady targets in view.
thing is, they are far away - like 8000 meters. i am intending to shoot all torpedos at them and quickly bail out, but there's a problem: mere degree are not exact enough for such small targets - do my torpedos operate on degree measures only, or are minutes being considered as well (even though they don't show up in my attack periscope)?

No unfortunately.
I wouldn't should from that far. :-?
Electric torpedoes don't even run that far.

You better plot their tracks and lay an ambush suberged. And fire from 700 meters or so. :D

[astat333]

You better plot their tracks and lay an ambush suberged. And fire from 700 meters or so. :D by steady i meant "not moving". they are obviously at anchor there.
and i think i haven't got much time left - there's a patrol ship which will turn around and come back soon, it will probably ping me then. anyway, i cannot give up now, will somehow try to sneak closer, and surely die...

[astat333]

allright i died.



anyway: i have been browsing through threads, wikis, FAQs and manuals, seen so much stuff about "escaping after being detected" etc. etc.

but i still don't know much about not being detected in the first place. i have seen good info about how enemy sonar is working, but i have no idea about enemy hydrophones and the noise of my own screws.
i often get tracked because i decide not to take the slowest, but the second-slowest speed. is there any info on how far the enemy can hear the noise of a sub? i suppose a sub makes less noise than the surface vessels i keep hearing from very high distances..

[KeptinCranky]

:know:
The only silent speed is slow speed, 2 or even 1 knots, if you go to the zentrale (F2), just behind your 1wo, or conning tower you can see the engine revolutions, there's 2 dials, if those are 100 or below you're silent, if not, they can and will hear you.

as to distance, depends on lots of things enemy speed, water condition weather, generally you're not safe unless silent at 6km or less, or if heavy weather and at periscope depth, maybe 3 or 4 knots.

as to targetting stationary ships, your scope is generally accurate enough even at 8km

Tobruk is a death-trap, but i guess you found out the hard way :nope:

Good luck and sink them all! :up:

[andylegate]

One thing that you could try, and I've found that it works generally well (note I said generally well, not all the time). Since you're at 8000 meters (8 km) these will be long shots.

You can go to persiscope depth and go to All Stop. Either use your hydrophones or allow your sonar operator to do this. note the sonar contact bearing of the stationary ships. You can then compare them to what you see in your scope and they should pretty much match up.

Now, hit F6 and go to your TDC. Click on the little switch that says I/O so that the Bearing, AOB, Distance dials light up. Set the depth of your torpedos for about 3 meters. Set the speed to slow (this will increase the range of your torpeados), if you are using historical torpeados (meaning you get duds) set your pistol for impact. If you're not using historical torpeados, leave them on Magnetic.

Since it appears the ships you want to sink are anchored, you won't have to worry about setting up a "Real" fire control solution (IE sending the torp where the target should be later in time, as your target is stationary, you can send it right to the target).
Set the Distance dial to maximum (no sense in setting it to 8000 meters, only to find out that the target is really at 8060!).
Then use the Bearing and AOB dials to move the fire bearing indicator to lay right on top of the sonar bearing line (or as close as possible to it!). Be aware that if the sonar lines are still moving slightly, it is because your u-boat is still drifting from your last speed. Just wait a little bit.

Once you have the solution set up like that, open your torpedo doors and fire. Go through the other sonar bearing lines and do the same thing. Hopefully, by the time you're done shooting your last torp, you're crew as realoaded your other torps. Go through and do the same thing (as in GWX one shot kills can be rare).

This worked for me at Scapaflow when the fog was so thick, I could not use my periscope. Of course my distance was a LOT shorter than yours. So it's IMPORTANT that you get the fire control solution as close to the sonar bearing line as possible. A single degree off can make the torp miss by hundreds of meters if it has to go nearly 4 miles!!!!

Remember: Always save your sim just before you do this, in case you're not happy with the results, or something goes terribly wrong. That's a nice luxury that we have that the real commanders didn't have.

[astat333]

hmm thanks for the lenghty reply, andy. it's a good read, but doesn't really answer my problem. :)

i don't need hydrophone bearings as i have visual with the targets. it's just that they're so far away, i cannot aim at the right spot. imagine this:


__A__/TTT\__/FA___
\TxTTTTTTTTTTTTT/


...359....................................000..... ...............................001................ ....


i suppose my best chance would be to just maneuver the whole boat until the target appears to be quite in the middle of a degree mark. no idea if the torpedos are that exact on such distances anyway. it would probably be wiser to take 2 fish per target to guarantee at least one hit.


oh and i play with 100% realism and impact, magnetic historically sucked. :)

[Canovaro]

I understand your question about the degrees. That's why 8000 meters is too far :)
And don't even think about using magnetics at this distance. They will blow up somewhere in their way.

Just get closer or forget about it altogether.

[astat333]

i loaded the mission once again, this time with silent running only.

i went for 2 stationary targets, distance roughly 5000 meters - 2 torpedos each. but even though i aimed carefully right under their bridges, all torpedos somehow missed.

purely in the interest of science, i'd now like to watch the scene once again with torpedo cams; is there a way to change realism during patrols?

i only found this old thread:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=119513&highlight=change+realism+patrol

:(

[TarJak]

5000m is still too far away. You need to get closer than 2000m to be a good chance of making a hit and closer still to be sure. 800m is optimal and unless you get the AOB badly wrong or there are other factors at play you will rarely miss from that distance.

[andylegate]

If you don't have your External Cam (F12) enabled, the short answer is "No." I think you'll have to wait until your next patrol to change your realism, (but I could be wrong on that).

8000 or 5000 meters with 100% realism is too far away. You have no way to set up your fire control solution properly. Except in you can try the long shot how I described above. But to get the sonar contact, you'll need to lower your periscope.

The only other advice I can offer is this:

Try it the way I described above.

Try getting closer using stealth.

If the DD's keep noticing you, take 'em out. You CAN do this, if you're willing to be a bit insane (like me). Attract their attention, one at a time, get them to come to you, set your torps for 3 meters or less, fast speed, bearing and AOB in the same direction you're looking. At less than 500 meters, cut a torp loose. It'll normally hit just fine, and will normally take them out okay.
BUT! Since you're using 100% realism, this more than likely WILL be suicide in your case, as you're using historic torps, etc, etc.

Last thing: forget about and move on. U-boats were not made for commando raids, they were used to sink as much merchant shipping as possible. Sneaking into a port to take out ships (especially warships) was something only the extremely brave and foolhardy did or do! (like me. Since I know it's a sim, I'm not brave, just confident that I can reload if things go wrong. In RL I would NEVER put my command and crew at risk like that unless directly ordered to do so by BdU!)

[astat333]

well i know, u-boat captains liked attacking from distances as close as 600m.. but they were stationary targets, kinda like hitting a barn. :88)