GWX 2.1 Weather observation

[i_b_spectre]

I departed Wilhelmshaven on 9-October with decent weather and 6m/s wind. Within 24 hours the weather had gone to overcast, no precipitation and 15m/s wind...it stayed that way until 22-October when the wind decreased to 13m/s albeit with the same overcast and no precipitation. By 24-October, the wind had gone back to 15m/s and stayed that way until 28-October. I noticed the wind velocity decreased incrementally as I neared Wilhelmshaven. At 75km out, wind dropped to 12m/s, 10m/s @ 72km out, 9m/s @ 69km, 8m/s @ 66km, 7m/s @ 59km, 6m/s @ 55km, 5m/s @ 46km and back to 6m/s for the remainder of the mission. Throughout the voyage, only the wind velocity and direction changed while the other attributes stayed the same.

IIRC, GWX 2.1 incorporated Stiebler and SubType Zero's excellent Real Weather Fix, which I used with GWX 2.0 with satisfying results. Real Weather Fix with 2.0 gave relief from incessant rain, poor visibility and 15m/s winds that could dog a two week mission from start to finish and my recollection is that I had more varied weather. I understand autumn in the North Atlantic can be very inhospitable, so I'm not expecting glassy-smooth seas and cloudless skies. Still, I am a bit surprised at having almost exactly the same weather and sea state without variation for almost the entire 20 day voyage. I suppose the randomness of RWF could allow such persistent weather, but I also know combining software can have unpredictable results. In any case, this is not a complaint, but an observation to help me understand weather effects.

Anyone else care to share observations on their 2.1 weather experience for comparison?

[Murr44]

I've experienced over a week (Dec. 24, 1941 to Jan. 1, 1942) of atrocious weather while patrolling of the US. Unending heavy rain, fog & 15 m/s winds. The rain & fog finally let up on the morning of the 2nd. The wind speed remained the same. By that time I was getting low on fuel so it was time to go home. The most frustrating thing was that on the 2 week trip out there I couldn't have asked for better weather: predominantly clear skies without any precip & the wind never rose above 7m/s. Apart from a lone small merchant that I sank about 2-3 days into the voyage there wasn't a ship or aircraft to be seen. That was pretty maddening.:damn:

I will say though, that GWX has gone a long way to correct the crazy weather that is present in the stock game. I no longer see rain pouring down out of a cloudless sky; this was present on many occasions in stock SH III. Another good thing is that you're able to use the deck gun in wind speeds over 7m/s (it's isn't easy but it's possible). When I played stock SH III I don't know how many ships that I had to let go because I didn't have any more torpedoes & it was a little too windy (7 to 9 m/s) for the deck gun.

[difool2]

One thing to note: weather changes occur much more seldomly in the winter than they do in the summer. In the winter, running GWX 2.1 (w/ the Weather Fix), I get changes every 4 days, and of course there's the bug where the reset timer for the weather change is reset back to zero when you reload a saved game. So if you are running 3 day patrols, then save, and reload the next time you run the sim, changes will indeed be few and far between. In the summer I can get changes at least once a day (14-20 hours), and in the fall/spring once every 2 days or thereabouts. Pretty sure it's 4x as long in the winter than in summer, and 2x as long in the fall/spring. Now I only need to nail down what the sim considers to be its "weather seasons".

YMMV of course depending on mods installed, acts of God/Fate, and I even hear that the flotilla you're in affects the change rate too. If you like try changing "weather random interval" in the campaign files from 5 (GWX default) to one, or even lower (yes the sim will accept non-integer values!).