Incompetent Newbie Needs Help

[jgbishop]

Hi guys. I'm as new as it gets to the Silent Hunter series, and to submarine simulations in general. Years ago I played a little "Aces of the Deep", but that's my only submarine gaming experience (and there wasn't much at that). I just recently picked up SH4, and I must confess that I am completely lost.

I fired up the game and tried out "Submarine School" but found it pretty cryptic and mostly unhelpful. After some guessing as to what I needed to do, I successfully navigated to the specified location (training mission 1), I shot down a bunch of planes and blew up a ship (training mission 2), and I sunk a ship with a torpedo and some blind luck (training mission 3). Now I'm on training mission 4 where I need to sink 10,000 tons of merchant ships, all of which are being escorted. For the life of me, I can't figure out what to do.

Every time I try to engage the convoy, the escorts track me down and damage my ship beyond all repair. I'm running fairly deep (90 to 110 feet) and slow (ahead 1/3), so how do they find me so easily?

Are there any reliable resources for a newbie like myself to learn how to play this game? I want to enjoy this game as much as I do everything else I play, but I'm really having a hard time learning what to do.

Any help, tips, or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
-- Jonah

[Seaman_Hornsby]

Welcome aboard Jonah! For starters, look over the sticky posts at the top of the forum, they have tutorials for everything in the game.

General stuff:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=107783

Fire control guides:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=118923


A lot of good stuff there, and if you need more help feel free to drop in with questions.

As for evading escorts, you'll want to put yourself ahead of the convoy's path as best you can, go to silent running and low speed (~2 knots) and let the enemy come up on you. Then you get yourself into firing position and let 'em have it. After that you go deep for evasion. Keep in mind that the crew won't repair damage or reload torps when silent running is activated.
Hope that helps.

[jazman]

Keeping a low profile towards the escorts helps. So when you're in front of a convoy stay generally pointed towards the escorts.

Welcome aboard. This site is a great "manual", lots of people keep asking the same questions but I've never seen anyone get snippy about it, people just keep helping out. So fire away with the questions.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Some good info from the other posters. Also, keep your realism settings low starting out, this will give you an extra boost while learning the game. After awhile when you get a little more comfortable with it, then increase the settings.

Good luck with it :yep: By the way, welcome to SUBSIM :up:


RDP

[mrbeast]

Welcome aboard Skip!:up:

Another thing to think about is your periscope. Don't leave it up for long periods, look in little peeks.

As has already been said, get into position as easrly as possible, and let the enemy come to you. That way you can go deep and even come to all stop, so you make effectively no noise.

You have to be stealthy and hit hard, seemingly from out of nowhere! Think of yourself as a sniper.

Good Hunting:arrgh!:

[jgbishop]

Thanks for all the tips guys. I'm really looking forward to giving the mission another shot tonight! :D

[odjig292]

Another tip. Go a lot deeper. You can easily go down to 250 feet where you will be under a thermal layer and the DD's can detect you as easily.

[odjig292]

Amend above post to read "where the DD's CANNOT detect you as easily"

[Dutch]

Welcome to one of the best forums on the web jgbishop!

I can promise that after about a week or two, you will be a top notch captian in the pacific, these guys here are experts and are always willing to help you out.

I also recommend that you try out some of the mods in the MOD Workshop area. They bring a new life to this game, some of these guys should do this for a living (if they don't already).

Again welcome to the forums, there are no stupid questions, you won't get flammed for it and again these guys are always willing to lend a helping hand.:D

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD!:sunny:

When the escorts are gunning for you, go deep (say 200 feet) and silent. If they find you, wait until you can hear them on an attack run. Go to flank speed, give it full rudder (direction doesn't matter) and drop at least 50 feet. This should help evade the depth charges. Once they're going off, go back to silent speed and creep back up far enough to give you room for a big depth change again.

It may take awhile, but patience is usually rewarded with survival.

[edjcox]

Some tips

Load your tubes in a mix

Have two set for high speed and 5-8 Ft depth use these on destroyers

Have four set for slow speed but running deep say 8-10 feet for merchants

Use keys w to selct tubes quickly

Use key q to open the outer doors ahead of your shots so that you save time

Sequence w to selct tube q to open the muzzle run down all the tubes you plan to use

then go back to tube 1 hit enter to fire, w to change tubes enter to fire, w enter etc

This will allow you to fire almost salvoes...

PS try to spread the offset from boresigt by 2-3 degrees ahead of the shots ths will also improve your ability to sink targets with well spread hits...

Most of all this game requires patience...

Luck be with you...:know:

[jgbishop]

So I played through the fourth training mission again last night, and I successfully sunk a giant merchant ship (which was just over the 10,000 tons that I needed)!

I then started to play through the dynamic campaign, my first mission being a photography mission (sneak in and photograph an enemy dock). I took the photos, and managed to sink three merchant ships on my way out of Japan. As I'm heading home, what should happen to cross my path but two Japanese warships! I dove to periscope depth and came to a full stop (they were literally right in front of me). I let the first one pass by, then fired four torpedoes at the second one. Needless to say it was instantly destroyed! I dove for cover and headed home. :D

Being overjoyed at my success, I made a classic rookie mistake (overconfidence). I surfaced, hightailing it for home. Turning on time compression, I was making progress. Next thing I know, however, I'm being attacked by a lone warship that had spotted me on the surface! By the time I realized what was going on, my ship sank and the game was over (with no recent save points in sight)! :oops:

I replayed the mission, this time unable to sink a warship (though I sank five merchants). Needless to say, I headed home much more cautiously.

My next mission for tonight is spy insertion: I can't wait! :D

By the way, how does one receive the "Wounded Medal"? I got it at the end of my first campaign mission, but I don't recall receiving any damage to my ship. So how was I wounded?

[SteamWake]

By the way, how does one receive the "Wounded Medal"? I got it at the end of my first campaign mission, but I don't recall receiving any damage to my ship. So how was I wounded?

Sounds like your off to a good start and learning quickly.

Have to agree with the original post the 'tutorial' missions leave alot to be desired.

Anyhow about the medals, unfortunatly there kind of random. They dont really do anything that effects gameplay either. Just think of them as 'color text' to personalize your crew a bit. Maybe Billy Bob broke his finger while loading a torpedo.

[cmdrk]

If you seem to get conflicting advice, it may be a MOD they use.
For instance, originally you could open only 1 tube at a time. The Q key would open the tube, then if you select another tube, by click or W key, and opened it, the first tube would close.

I think 1.04 stock game still behaves that way. But MODs make it possible to open several tubes as EDJCOX stated.

So if confused, ask for clarification.

Also, glad to hear things starting to click for you and you're having fun.
That's the goal.