Help A Newbie

[neon_black88]

Hey guys I just bought Silent Hunter 4 today and patched it up to 1.4.

I know I could get alot of fun out of this game (sim) but its going to take some work and time. I was wondering if there was a definitive "Newbie" guide, I had a bit of a look around but I thought I'd introduce myself and say hello anyway.

I first noticed these games when I was looking for something a bit different and these games seemed like a bit of fun, then, admittedly, I watched "Das Boot" (the 4 hour one) and that proppelled my interest to greater hights. What better way to extend my knowledge on the subject than to have fun playing a game like this while doing it (and admiring the pretty visuals).

When I say Noobie I mean NOOB. I have a basic (very basic) grasp of some of the concepts of submarine warfare, but am very lacking in my technical knowledge, and math is probably my absolute weakest subject. So before propelling myself into manually launching torpeado's, Id like some advice on the basics (navigation, controlling the sub ect.), besides the obvious click here to turn right and here to turn left kind of stuff. How do I aproach a convoy for instance? After they are plotted on the map, what do I do next? How do I read and use the Sonar(?) system.

Anyway there is no point in going through everything Id like to know because it's endless, so a newbie guide would be good and I could just ask questions when I dont know something. Actually I have one quick question, after completing some of the tutorial missions its meant to give me a rating but the rating spot is always blank, and when I click next it just takes me to the menu.

Whats the general consensus on the U-Boat missions? Is there a dynamic campaingn for that expansion pack aswell, because the sandbox nature Is where I find the fun in these sort of games, and I was admittedly a bit dissapointed to see SH4 got the good graphics but you play on the winning team, and SH3 got the bad graphics and the loosing team (I want to as the germans play probably exclusively to feed my "das boot" imagination).

Anyway hope that was mostly understandable and I look forward to sinking some convoys with the help of you guys. :up:

[Torplexed]

Hey guys I just bought Silent Hunter 4 today and patched it up to 1.4.


Whats the general consensus on the U-Boat missions? Is there a dynamic campaingn for that expansion pack aswell, because the sandbox nature Is where I find the fun in these sort of games, and I was admittedly a bit dissapointed to see SH4 got the good graphics but you play on the winning team, and SH3 got the bad graphics and the loosing team (I want to as the germans play probably exclusively to feed my "das boot" imagination).

Anyway hope that was mostly understandable and I look forward to sinking some convoys with the help of you guys. :up:

Welcome aboard! If you want to feed your das boot imagination, you can still buy SH3. It's graphics aren't so dated that it's unplayable and the manual is far superior to SH4s. Since it's been out longer some of the mods are excellent and well established. GWX in particular. I can't feel too disappointed for the U-Boat aficionados as they haven't done badly in the WW2 sim department. In the past ten years there have 2 U-Boat based sims and now one expansion. There's been only one US sub-based sim and every other nationality has been overlooked. :cool:


It's possible that there is some sort of newbie guide about. My advice would be to just jump in and get my feet wet and see what happens. ;)

[Sailor Steve]

First, WELCOME ABOARD!:sunny:

The only reason SH4 got the "good" graphics is that it's two years newer. While I love them all, I agree with Torplexed that the Pacific War has gotten short shrift of late. I would like to see SH3 brought up to current standards, but I'll play both until something better comes along, which I may not be around to see. And, still agreeing, I would say that after three years the German version is still getting better every day, with new immersion mods constantly adding to the feel. There are two great GUI mods making manual targetting much more realistic, and I'm rather impatiently waiting for part two of the 'Kiel Canal Locks' mod, so I can waste even more time just watching the scenery.

As for what and how to play, these sims are now so advanced that you can have fun doing anything you like, from good old-fashioned 'just going and killing something' to having to use manual navigation, including taking sun-sightings with the sextant.

Please, ask all the questions you like. But not right now - this has me so excited I have to go play.

[neon_black88]

The reason I chose SH4 over 3 is pretty much because I'd rather have the better looking game, I mean Idealy i'd like the better gameplay, but mods arn't going to make much a difference to me untill I get a handle on the game. I could't tell the difference in realism between them yet anyway. I mean im alreaddy overwhelmed in the Realism department (in a good way) and the immersion department.

The furthest ive goten in terms of getting my feet wet so far is the convoy attack in the tutorial, what I'd love is a step by step guide and explanation based on that tutorial (I'm not suggesting someone here does, I mean if you do great, but im not holding my breath is what I mean).

Ok heres my first question, where do I start in that tutorial... I can see the ships on the sonar, after setting the range to the midle knob, but I dont really know how that translates into what direction to go in, exept that that in turn puts it on my map. So theres a bunch of markers for the ships so I head in that direction not knowing how long it will take, I do this on the surface (its best to do long distance travel on the surface yes? I dont know if that was right in this circumstance though). Eventually I see a plane, submerge periscope depth, get completely lost, try to head in the general direction of ships. I surface again, an escort starts shooting at me. I lost all sense of doing anything right there, but I did manage to sink and escort (with auto-targeting ofcourse, im not going that far into the deep end yet).

Well that pretty much sums up how much I dont know what im doing hahah. It might take a while, but Im going to get some kind of grasp on this game if it kills me.

[kylesplanet]

Download this video and watch it. It really helped me get started:http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=111445

There are many more training guides and videos in this thread:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=108931

Hope this helps out and good hunting!:up:

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

Ah. another Bilge Rat! Welcome! But you did not cough up the $100 entrance fee (payable to me IN CASH, of course!) So, that means you'll be thrown overboard unceremoniously.:yep::lol:

[howler93]

Welcome, Neon!

Congrats on your SH4 purchase- you're going to love it! Before SH4 I had no knowledge at all about submarine ops. in the Pacific. It inspired me to read several very good books on the subject (Silent Victory, Thunder Below, Wahoo...) and you'll find, as I did, that submarine warfare in the Pacific was every bit as fascinating as the U-boats in the Atlantic.

Regarding tips for noobs, just dive in and get your feet wet. Once you've played some, you'll have some more specific questions and the folks at this forum will jump at the chance to help you out...most of 'em anyway :rotfl:

If you'd like some very general advice I'll offer my .02 and say: Dive when you detect aircraft, don't waste torps on destroyers, listen to good WWII era music during patrols, and keep a fine bottle of scotch handy to celebrate any significant sinkings (or a good ginger ale if scotch isn't your thing). Most of all, have fun and enjoy!

Good hunting,
Howler :arrgh!:

[neon_black88]

Download this video and watch it. It really helped me get started:http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=111445

There are many more training guides and videos in this thread:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=108931

Hope this helps out and good hunting!:up:

Thanks alot! Just sank my first two ships thanks to that video. It took me long enough, I was spoted by planes a couple of times and even bombed(?) once.

I have a question though, the triangle never went green in the periscope despite the ships being on a perfect 90 degree angle, and both ships took TWO torpeedos each with seemingly no or little damage. They were frieghters of some kind, I surfaced and took both of them out with the deck gun, but neither ship had any kind of flame damage or any visual damage after the two torp hits (it was night though) and kept moving forward (how long does it take for a ship to stop after engine failure?), what could have happened?

[Torplexed]

I have a question though, the triangle never went green in the periscope despite the ships being on a perfect 90 degree angle, and both ships took TWO torpeedos each with seemingly no or little damage. They were frieghters of some kind, I surfaced and took both of them out with the deck gun, but neither ship had any kind of flame damage or any visual damage after the two torp hits (it was night though) and kept moving forward (how long does it take for a ship to stop after engine failure?), what could have happened?

Sounds like you had the same affliction which vexed so many actual US sub skippers. Duds. Or partial duds. The MK 14 torpedo was a very buggy weapon for the first two years of the war.

[steinbeck]

I want to use manual targeting and have d/l and looked at most of the guides you guys put out, all great help to me and have enhanced my experience of the game. So a big thank you to everyone for the time you have all put into making this a greater game for me.. I am now ready to try... manual targeting and it seems to be that one can only have this if 'Realistic' is chosen in Options when starting a new career. Is this correct? I can't get this option without, I have tried other options ie 'Custom' with leaving map updates selected. Doesn't work.
Any advice here will be a great help Thank you

Steinbeck....:88)

[neon_black88]

I have a question though, the triangle never went green in the periscope despite the ships being on a perfect 90 degree angle, and both ships took TWO torpeedos each with seemingly no or little damage. They were frieghters of some kind, I surfaced and took both of them out with the deck gun, but neither ship had any kind of flame damage or any visual damage after the two torp hits (it was night though) and kept moving forward (how long does it take for a ship to stop after engine failure?), what could have happened?

Sounds like you had the same affliction which vexed so many actual US sub skippers. Duds. Or partial duds. The MK 14 torpedo was a very buggy weapon for the first two years of the war.

Wow 4 dud torpedo's? Thats quite and achievement (!?). Looks like the first tweak ill be playing with is Dud torpedos off :p.

Also my second question of the day, just had another little quick session. Moved towards tokyo for patrol, the first thing that happened was the first mission objective wouldnt complete (patrol hanu island or whatever its called), I went past the mission marker and patrolled around alot but it never completed, got attacked by alot of planes though, which brings me to my second question, holy crap there is alot of planes!? I probably spotted planes about 12 times but never spotted a ship. Whats the procedure after spotting a plane? Usually there close enough to see us, so I just dive... come up again later, then the inevitable other plane comes and spots me. I ended up getting frustrated and just shooting a couple of them down. Then nudging the poor pilot in the water (no prisoners of war eh?)

[Torplexed]

Yeah, this sim tends to credit the Emperor with a few more planes than he probably had available for Home Island defense. Most Sentais & Chutais based in Japan early in the war were busy training not patrolling. Your best bet is to never let them see you. Radar is your ally. Submerge well before they come into visual contact range. If you stubbornly stay on the surface to fight it out, the Japanese AI will just vector more planes your way.

[neon_black88]

How do I get access to the radar? It wont turn on even when surfaced (or is that the Sonar?), I think I equipped an Air radar or something at the begging but never figured out how to use it, and none of the planes were spotted any way other than Visually I think, by that time they were very close.

[Torplexed]

The air search radar is kinda quirky compared to the more straight-forward PPI surface search radar. It just gives the range, not the bearing. I believe it also has to be switched on everytime you surface.

BTW are you in a S-class sub or a fleet boat? The S-Class just has a generic air detection system.

[neon_black88]

Im the defult sub well the first one on the list when you start the campaign, the radar next to the listening machine (hahah hydrophone mabye? ill learn) wont switch on even while surfaced. Oh and the observation periscope just shows black, even with raising lowering (pgup and down the same as for the combat one yes?)

[SuperCavitation]

Im the defult sub well the first one on the list when you start the campaign, the radar next to the listening machine (hahah hydrophone mabye? ill learn) wont switch on even while surfaced. Oh and the observation periscope just shows black, even with raising lowering (pgup and down the same as for the combat one yes?)

The air radar is on automatically, not something you can access. Those radar stations you see are for later when you install surface radar on your boat. I think it becomes available in mid-1942 or thereabouts. Surface radar you WILL have to turn back on every time you surface.

Not sure what the issue is with the O-scope. Can you see through the Attack Scope?

Welcome to SubSim!!! :sunny:

[neon_black88]

Yep the attack scope is working perfectly fine, two ships sunk with it. The observation scope is there, what its looking at is just black, raising it up or down makes the sound, and it stops at the top and bottom, but it doesn't see anything. I was thinking mabye its something the particular sub im using doesn't have, or something unlocked later and the black is just a way of saying I dont have it yet, strange. I'll have to figure out this plane radar because they dont seem to get detected untill they're right on top of me, sometimes im lucky and it gets detected heading in a different direction to my sub, then other times its heading straight for it and theres no way to dive in time. Then once they seem to come I assume when they know my location, they arnt detected till they're right on top of me.

Oh and I have yet another question haha. The battery's, I decided to set them to limited so I could get used to not being able to be submerged all the time, but they seem to run down extremely fast. Is this normal? What are the concequences of it hitting 0? Because I have the C02 level set to limited aswell but that drains nowhere near as fast so it hasnt made a difference to me yet.

[DickDastardly]

The O Scope is controlled by Insert/Delete, Pg up/Pg Down is purely for the attack scope.

[Keelbuster]

The reason I chose SH4 over 3 is pretty much because I'd rather have the better looking game, I mean Idealy i'd like the better gameplay, but mods arn't going to make much a difference to me untill I get a handle on the game.

S'weird - i actually like the graphics better in SH3. I've thought long and hard about it. And I do. ;)

GAMEPLAY IS EVERYTHING.

This should be tattooed on every gamer; console, PC, or even handheld. Amen.

[Powerthighs]

I want to use manual targeting and have d/l and looked at most of the guides you guys put out, all great help to me and have enhanced my experience of the game. So a big thank you to everyone for the time you have all put into making this a greater game for me.. I am now ready to try... manual targeting and it seems to be that one can only have this if 'Realistic' is chosen in Options when starting a new career. Is this correct? I can't get this option without, I have tried other options ie 'Custom' with leaving map updates selected. Doesn't work.
Any advice here will be a great help Thank you

Select whatever difficutly you want. Then, when in the office in your campagin, click the radio on the bookshelf on the left side of the screen. It will bring up the options screen. You can then configure the specific check boxes to whatever you want, including manual targeting on.

[bb-subs]

I have been deep into GWX 2.0 and loving.
But today I ran SH4 for the first time and did the navigation test. Love the graphics, there are a few other things but I do not like the crew or torp. managment.
Near the end there are the two Liberty ships and I put two torps into one of them the used the deck gun.
How do you get the range to target I did it on the map, it's not like SH3 where you had the info a the attack center.
Got a heck of a kick out of the damage model on the ships looking into them is great, love.
But it is so frustrating without my ranging and torpedo control.

Grant

[neon_black88]

S'weird - i actually like the graphics better in SH3. I've thought long and hard about it. And I do.
Not me :P, ive played SH3 and I can defenetly say without a shadow of a doubt I prefer the graphics in SH4. You must like the game so much its distorting your idea of graphics. And yeah gameplay is everything but like I said, both games play the same to me at the moment because I know so little. I can always buy SH3 later when I feel SH4 isnt offering me something that SH3 can, but I dont think that will happen to me any time soon.

Just bought the U-Boat missions today :rock:. So at least I can get some U-Boat action without having to buy SH3.

[SuperCavitation]

To answer your battery query... i usually run at 1-2kts and can go an entire evening and most of the following day without issue.