About to start playing for the first time.. anything I should know?

[Pal_080]

Well I've known about this game for a long time but have avoided it because I've never played any type of sim other than the flight sim games and much of those goes way over my head. I figured the same thing would happen with this game, but finally I decided to give it a try, since it's much slower pace than flying I might have more time to figure things out, but I've also heard that sometimes there's too little action so it might get boring....

Anyway I was just wondering if there are any tips you people can give me to help me get the most out of this game when I first start playing. I've already dowloaded the RGSE or whatever it's called mod that changes the whole campaign and a mod that improves the visual quality so I think I'm good on mods.

[medic375th]

Welcome Aboard!

First off, make sure you install the v1.4 patch...this eliminates a lot of bugs that are in the stock game.

I would suggest playing for awhile with out any mods just to get comfortable with the game. Next take the manual that came with the game and use it as a beverage coaster while reading the tips and tutorials found Here. (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=108931) The SH4 forum at Ubi.com also has some good tips. Also, if you can not find an answer to your question by searching the forum don't be afraid ask. Unlike a lot of forums, the Silent Hunter Community are a very friendly and helpful bunch.

[Pal_080]

Thanks I love how everyone here gets a friendly "welcome aboard" etc, etc. haha.

I've also got the Expansion pack so that automatically updates me to v1.4 doesn't it? I already installed that RSRDC mod. I guess I could uninstall it before I play but I've after reading the forums only a bit, it seems everyone here reccomends it.

[ekempey]

The expansion pack upgrades you to version 1.5, so you are as current as they get. :) RSRDC is great for gamers who want realism in traffic, so if you don't mind not being able to find targets for weeks at end (unless you find a shipping lane, think choke points), the mod is great. I would suggest starting stock, so therefore you get used to setting up approches and firing solutions on almost unlimited shipping. When you feel comfortable, try the mods, they add so much!

[Doolan]

Welcome aboard! :arrgh!:

ekempey speaks the truth.

In a nutshell, RSRDC changes campaign layers so, instead of having random lonely Japanese merchants showing up in the most unexpected places, shipping actually sticks to historical, believable patterns.

While I find this to be greatly intuitive (they generally are where you think they would be) it does ultimately reduce the number of ships you find. The bad thing about this is that, as a newcomer to the sim, you get less practice setting up approaches or fiddling about with the torpedo settings.

The reason why most people recommend RSRDC is that, provided you already know how to hunt for merchants, there is nothing to lose installing it. The game becomes more challenging but does so in an "objective" way. There's no multiple interpretations of reality or personal flavor here, just shipping lines as they were and where they were. Still, be warned: it will make the game more challenging, with several days of no contacts and a possibility of a complete no-joy patrol here and there.

The way I did it back in SH3 was playing the stock game with map contact update and auto TDC, then disabling map contact update, then switching to manual TDC and then installing mods to make it even more of a masochistic experience :D

I suppose the same approach would work for you. Still, the two golden rules of the Subsim forums apply: first, practice. Second, feel free to pester us 24/7 with any questions you have. This is an awesome place and people will fight each other to help you out!

[peterloo]

First, I would recommend playing the stock (patched to v1.4) for a while so to increase your understanding and experience in the mechanics of the game, like how to launch torpedoes or how to avoid getting sunk. In this stage, you should play at low realism levels to make everything easier to you

Then you can progressively increase the realism.

After playing it for 1 or 2 months, you can add some mods to further enhance realism. You can try some supermods which overhauls your game at once, or you can install some "eye-candy" mods to improve the outlook of your boat

Some tips for beginners:
***Use auto targetting instead of manual targetting for you at first. You may want to do the targetting yourself later once you've mastered everything (I still don't know how to do it well)
***Approach your foe at periscope depth, and target them with your periscope. For each merchant ships, delieve 2 torpedoes to ensure the kill, or at least disable the ship in case they got luck
***DON'T be tempted to attack destroyers. Destroyers are your bane. Their depth charge may deal you great damage
***Keep your periscope low and keep your speed LOW when a destroyer is near you. This will reduce the risk of your detection
***Don't be tempted to a desk gun deal. (use desk gun to attack merchants) In the war, many merchants are armed with SEVERAL naval guns. Despite your agility, your armor is much less than that of a merchant ship (You = several cm, merchant = more), and you will suffer once your hull got pierced. The AI fires their gun unrealistically fast and accurate. Your odds of winning is much lower than the Japanese merchant ship. Most ships carry armarment which cannot be seen easily from periscope or your binoculus. However, the crews are determined to use them even when their ship is on fire and sinking

p.s. you can attack fishing boats and sampans safely, they don't carry armaments. You can easily kill them with your anti aircraft gun. However, this is not advised if you don't want to waste your time.


GOOD LUCK :D

[Pal_080]

Well I'm starting to warm up to the tactics now after a few hours of playing but I find whenever I mark out the lines to predict where a ship will end up they always change their heading and I have to readjust everything. No biggie though.

I'm fairly terrible at remaining undetected and even when I set myself up far in advance I have some troubles lining myself up at 90 degrees (mostly because the boats always change direction... probably because they see me? lol)

So far i've just been attacking everything I see that I can position myself somewhat correctly for. My first victory was awesome. I spotted a boat on my map and got to work lining myself up with it. I was in a fairly good position when I noticed another ship comming from the opposite direction. This boat cruised right over top of me and dropped a few depth charges only dealing minor damage. Then she starting turning around for another pass I presume, but in doing so she gave me a perfect shot, 2 torpedoes and *boom* my first kill.

After that the initial ship I had my sights on starting firing at me with its deck guns. I let it float nicely into position and *boom* another clean 2 torpedoes. I then finished off a thrid ship which I guess was being protected by the other two because it was a civilian ship. Good stuff, but it's worth mentioning I had it saved once I spotted the first ship and had to load about 4 times before I was sucessful -.-

I haven't had much luck since due to a lack of boats or difficulties lining myself up for a proper shot but I'll be practicing more.

[Pal_080]

Oh I got a few questions since I didn't really ask anything in the last post.

Is here an easy way to keep track of torpedos? I try to follow them with the outside freecam but lose them when I fire a few. I'm not sure what happened to my minicam thingy, it wasn't that great anyway.

How do I open the torpedo bays before I launch a torpedo? I read this earlier but can't remember it now, the few seconds it takes is really killing me.

Any way to simply turn the sub left or right manually? That would really help me out because it's hard to align yourself properly using the map/chart sometimes and I find myself getting confused when I turn using the compass bearings (turning the wrong what and such because half the time I can't really tell which way is what).

Thanks a million in advance!

[FIREWALL]

Maybe this will help.
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll316/NO1TOPGUN/SH4_Q-Ref_Card_Front.jpg

[buddha95]

hi swabbie

1...i dont know how to track, on commodore 64 they were on the screen, you do have a stopwatch, if they are more than 5 secs late, they missed, when they run out of fuel it will tell you they missed.

2... "q" opend the door to the torp youhave clicked

3... i asked alot of starting questions, so do a search of my name "buddha95" and all my questions with thier answers will come up. that is an advanced search.

good luck and good hunting

i am here 3 times a day and will be on the lookout for you . I dont know alot, but i will try.

[peabody]

Oh I got a few questions since I didn't really ask anything in the last post.

Is here an easy way to keep track of torpedos? I try to follow them with the outside freecam but lose them when I fire a few. I'm not sure what happened to my minicam thingy, it wasn't that great anyway.

How do I open the torpedo bays before I launch a torpedo? I read this earlier but can't remember it now, the few seconds it takes is really killing me.

Any way to simply turn the sub left or right manually? That would really help me out because it's hard to align yourself properly using the map/chart sometimes and I find myself getting confused when I turn using the compass bearings (turning the wrong what and such because half the time I can't really tell which way is what).

Thanks a million in advance!

The "minicam thingy" is in the options setting for gameplay. It is called the Event Camera.

To get aligned, you don't really need to know your heading just 'do I need to turn left or right' (port or starboard) If you need to turn right, click on the right of the compass. (unless you are going backwards then it's a bit more confusing:lol:). After a while you can worry about actual headings and get more realistic on your intercepts.

One thing that got me in a lot of messes when I first started (which wasn't long ago) was being impatient. DONT use time compression when the enemy is near, the destroyers will be on you immediately!!! I think it was built into the game, but I know if you do any TC with a destroyer around he will instantly detect you.

Welcome aboard

Peabody

[mookiemookie]

Oh I got a few questions since I didn't really ask anything in the last post.

Is here an easy way to keep track of torpedos? I try to follow them with the outside freecam but lose them when I fire a few. I'm not sure what happened to my minicam thingy, it wasn't that great anyway.
Use the attack map (I believe the key is F6) and you'll see your fish moving on it. Also use the stopwatch to see how long they have to go before they're scheduled to hit.


How do I open the torpedo bays before I launch a torpedo? I read this earlier but can't remember it now, the few seconds it takes is really killing me.
Select a tube, then use the "Q" key to open it.


Any way to simply turn the sub left or right manually? That would really help me out because it's hard to align yourself properly using the map/chart sometimes and I find myself getting confused when I turn using the compass bearings (turning the wrong what and such because half the time I can't really tell which way is what).


Click the bottom part of the compass (the little square area) and it'll turn to a rudder control. Left rudder will turn you left and right rudder will turn you right. Use the " key to return the rudder back to the "amidships," or straight, position.

Good luck, skipper!

[Pal_080]

Thanks for all the help. Last night I came across a large convoy of 8 or so boats escorted by some destroyers. I was in perfect position but once again the bloody destroyers locked onto me and started comming for me. I knew I only had one chance so I fire all 4 torpedoes into the convoy and crash dive to get the heck out of the way.

I manage to hit two boats but only sink one, so I move around on the bottom for a little while avoiding the depth charges pouring out of the back of the two destroyers which know my exact position even though I'm down 100+ feet and runing silent.

I eventually rise to periscope level once my torpedoes are reloaded, the rest of the convoy is long gone bu,t I get very lucky and manage to fire 2 foward and 2 aft torpedoes.... 4 direct hits into the two harrassing destroyers, whooohoo!!!

All this bring me to a question though. How the *bleep* do I remain undetected by those attack ships. I started in perfectly, meanuvered myself very close to the convoy without them noticing but as soon as I get to periscope level it seems like they majically see me...?

[mookiemookie]

All this bring me to a question though. How the *bleep* do I remain undetected by those attack ships. I started in perfectly, meanuvered myself very close to the convoy without them noticing but as soon as I get to periscope level it seems like they majically see me...?

Don't go any faster than 2 knots, make sure you're in silent running, don't leave your periscope exposed for more than a couple seconds at a time, and try not to show the escorts your broadside....make sure you're either facing directly at them or away from them. Makes you a smaller target to ping off of.

[Pal_080]

Alright all these tips are comming together to make this game a whole lot more fun to play. I'll have to remember to go very slow next convoy attack

Got one more question now. Is there a simple method to find targets? I mean bacisally I just wait for a target to be radio reported in and then I try to get close to it or sometimes I'll stumble across a random ship and it will be placed on my map, but only if I'm very close to it. I'm not sure exactly how the map markers work because sometimes the dots show up well in advance when I'm getting sort of close and other times I'll accidiently plow directly into the middle of a task force and not realize it until the destroyers are teraing me a new one. I mean I'm at periscope level watching the map with time sped up as I cover large distances but sometimes ships wont appear on the map and I'll end up directly in the middle of a bad place.

Also I've been reading the guides on how to complete missions because I've been having trouble with my first objective. Deploy to Honshu and then destroy merchant ships. The flag has turned gray and the objective has updated to say "destroy ships". I've taken down 4 merchant ships and 4 war ships for nearly 20,000 tonns. I've returned to a naval dock but it only lets me "refit". The "end patrol" option is grayed out?! also, how can I check the total tonnage without ending the game? Right now I only see it when I quit and get the "mission failed" screen. Oh, and can I end a mission without actually completing it? Like just go on to the next one?

[Arclight]

I don't see how you keep winding up in the middle of a taskforce, you should at least get a sound contact before that happens. Maybe you're zoomed out too far on the map and don't see the lines indicating a contact? Also, a sonar contact should drop TC to 8x and a visual to 1x, keep a close eye on your messages and TC and if TC drops, check your surroundings to see why. An easier way to detect ships is surface radar, which should be available halfway '42 ( I think, haven't got it myself yet). Visual range is limited when looking through the scopes, stay on the surface until you get a visual and then dive.

You can only end a patrol at home port. If you send a status report after completing an objective you'll get a new one. Pressing F12 takes you to the Captains panel, at the bottom you can select 3 tabs. The last one is your log, which lists the date, time, position, type and tonnage of ships sunk.

I'm using some mods so don't yell at me if something doesn't work for you. ;)

Hope it helps. ;)

[Pal_080]

Thank you times infinity. As for driving into a task force, not looking at the map close enough could be the problem. I guess I just expected ships to be clearly marked on the map but I'll learn to follow those little black lines as well. Also, what exactly does "TC" stand for..? I've seen it used quite often.

thanks a lot for the info on missions. From now on I'll update HQ using the captains log, etc.

[Zero Niner]

Also, what exactly does "TC" stand for..?
Time compression

[Arclight]

Glad we could help.;)

If you run into any further trouble, you know where to come.:D