Where do you start?

[Alice]

Ok, so I've been spending way too much time on uboat.net and I decided to get SH3. I know I'm in way over my head but I would like to eventually learn how to play with 100% realism and GWX and all that good stuff. But right now I'm still at rank HN 3 (Hardcore Noob, 3rd class).
I've mostly been playing the naval academy and trying to get used to stuff.

So my question is how did everyone start out? Did you just jump right into a career and learn from trial and error? Did you turn the realism settings down until you figured things out? Did you play the naval academy over and over again?

Yes, I have been reading the newbie guides and the community manual, but I'm wondering how different people approached the game when they started out. Also what settings are considered "standard"? I kind of assume that most people play with 100% realism as sort of the way to play. Is that right?

[SeaWolf U-57]

yes i kept playing the naval academy untill i passed all the tests :yep:

[richardphat]

Yup i did training and exam but im still a noob. I cant believe i havent progress at all since 1 year and half:nope: :nope: :nope:

[headcase]

I started the acadamy. Got aggravated, and jumped into a career. Died a few times without hitting anything. Pulled out pencil, paper, compass and protractor. Went back to the Acad. missions and slowly figured out what I was doing. And I still get crews killed more often than I would like. But not as often, and with much better tonnage to show for it.

[melnibonian]

I never bothered with the academy. I just got a boat and hit the high seas. Especially in the begining of the war you can try different tactics without much danger and get to know the potential of your boat.

[HW3]

I hate to say it but, I still do not play at 100% realism. I like the external view for watching my victims going down, and to just admire the graphics in GWX 2.1. If I were you, I would start a campaign with the realism settings you want to try and then adjust them till you find the setting that suits you. Remember, there is no one set correct setting to play this sim, just what works for you.

[KeptinCranky]

I learned watching a friend try to play 100% realism right away, he did use tutorials and such but after 5 patrols he still wasn't able to identify a C3 cargo at 5km at night where I could....

so then I started playing SH3 myself, started out with all the realism on, except for manual targeting and external camera (for screenies ;) )

[bookworm_020]

Naval Acadamy was the go for me, so I could learn the basics and learn all the commands that I needed to survive. I then tried a couple of the single missions to give me experience in dealing with escorts and air patrols.

I then moved on to a career, but starting with the stock version for awhile and then moving on to GWX (that will sort the men from the boys:D)

Have a look at the FAQ sticky at the top of the page for more help and suggestions.:yep:

BTW Alice, Welcome aboard!:up:

[rifleman13]

First the Naval Academy to get the 1500 renown.:up:

THEN install GWX. I found out the hard way when I tried the FlaK Training. Dead in the Water!:dead:

Darn those planes, in stock they were like mindless drones. In GWX, they actually put the pilots inside!:huh:

[Sailor Steve]

Learn at the Academy, then play some single missions. 'Happy Times' is good for convoy attack practice.

Don't install any supermod until you're comfortable with what you're doing.

[downunder]

Like all things the best place to start is at the beggining, the Acadamy is a good place to learn the basics and build confidence with the controls. As for realisim i wouldnt try and start playing at 100% straight off, its not much fun being killed in the first 5 min of every game, the novelty wears off fast. I play at 54% and that is real enough for me. Live a little, Die a little.

Cheers

Downunder

[Red Heat]

The Naval academy its a a very good start for the first "touch" to play SH3...specialy for those with never play games as "Ace of the Deep", or "SH1" and dont understand as a submarine works yeath.
I start to play "SH1"...some years a go and i never stop since, and all this years playing i only can play with 84% of realism only. One of the main reason its only a game (its not a really U-boat and im not commanding a human crew) so i try to put the things between a good play and fun and good graphics, BECAUSE ITS ONLY A GAME! :cool:

[danurve]

Well, if you plan to roll with GWX I recomend starting by reading the manual.
At least the parts on understanding how the ASW works in the game.

[looney]

I started with the Naval academy (I read you got reknown for it) then started a patrol in a Type VII no convoy's just loners wich where easy pickings either with gun or torps. Then got into GWX

[Murr44]

I played enough of the Naval Academy tutorials to get 1500 points then I moved on to the "Happy Times" mission & finally started playing in campaign mode. I've had the game for over a year & still don't play at full realism; my math just isn't that good.:oops: Got GWX a month or so ago & I haven't looked back since.

Play it at whatever realism scale that you're comfortable with. Remember that it's just a game & there is no sense in making it so hard for yourself that it puts you off.:down:

Hope that you have many hours enjoying your SH III experience.:) I can almost guarantee that you will quickly lose track of time, stay up all night & end up always late for appointments, school, work, etc...:D

P.S. When or if you decide to get the GWX add-on, be sure to read the 600-odd page manual. It's very well done & will definitely answer many of your SH III questions.

[Brer Rabbit]

I started with Stock SH3, did the academy and he "happy times and gibraltar" single missions - - never made it through the straits. Then i began a career in 39 at 60% realism, and upgraded the realism after each patrol. I am in early 1941 at 80+% realism. In April I downleaded GWX and began a career in 39, 80+% realism amd am now completing my 3rd partol. I may go 100% at some time, but I need to get a lot better before I do.

Hope this helps -- good luck on your careers:up:

[u-212]

I as most ppl started at the academy, however cos im not the brightest spark, i dont use the tdc:oops: , i get the weapons officer to do the calculations, i would love to learn how to use it tho. After the academy i did a few missions then started a career.

[Brag]

Welcome aboard!
The recomendations of doing the Academy in stock are good, then a few single missions for further training. Then go GWX. I play at 84% realism and DID. That is good enough for me.

[Jimbuna]

Welcome aboard Kaleun.

I remember about 3 years back playing the academy, but since then and my involvement with GW then GWX i've obviously never felt the need.

You start at the level you feel comfortable at then progress to a higher realism setting when you feel the need for a more challenging experience. http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

[Alice]

Thanks for all the responses, people. I would eventually like to get into some multiplayer wolfpacking ("HOT Rudeltaktik Action!" or something) and I just wanted to get a feel for what level most people play so I don't show up to a multiplayer game all underskilled.

The most daunting thing seems to be manual targeting with the TDC. I read all the tutorials and guides and I don't know if I'll ever be able to pull that off.
"l0l, y00 suXX0rZ @ maths n00b!" Yes, yes I do.

I think I'll just drive the boat around and let the weapons officer do all the work for a while. Anyway, thanks for the help.

-A

[Murr44]

Thanks for all the responses, people. I would eventually like to get into some multiplayer wolfpacking ("HOT Rudeltaktik Action!" or something) and I just wanted to get a feel for what level most people play so I don't show up to a multiplayer game all underskilled.

The most daunting thing seems to be manual targeting with the TDC. I read all the tutorials and guides and I don't know if I'll ever be able to pull that off.
"l0l, y00 suXX0rZ @ maths n00b!" Yes, yes I do.

I think I'll just drive the boat around and let the weapons officer do all the work for a while. Anyway, thanks for the help.

-A

No problems.:)

These are probably the biggest bugs in the game that you need to be mindful of.

1) Don't save your game while submerged. It may lead to instability & a CTD (crash to desktop) when you try to reload that saved game. Bug exists in all versions of the game; no one was ever able to fix it.

2) Don't upgrade your boat before going out on your first patrol. You may not be credited with any tonnage that you've sunk during that patrol. Wait until you've completed that first patrol (returned to home port) then exit SH III. Restart the game & then you can do any upgrading that you want. Again, the bug exists in all versions.

3) Don't save within 50km of the last ship that you sank. You'll be credited for it but the ship may respawn and if you sink it again you won't receive any additional renown for it.

4) Avoid using the crew configuration screen to man stations, ie. surface attack mode, etc. Move people around manually. I never experienced it while playing stock but many people report game crashes when they used that crew config screen.

There are other bugs & nitpicks but I can't remember them right now. Use the forum search button & I'm sure that you will find other things to avoid doing & solutions/workarounds.

Hope that this was helpful...

[Alice]

A couple questions:

I've heard of the 1st patrol renown/tonnage bug. Does the bug still occur if you add things that don't cost any renown? IE: adding the extra crewmen that cost 0.

I've noticed in a lot of posts that people seem to save when submerged quite often. Or that's what it sounds like. Is the CTD occur very often or can you get away with submerged saving sometimes?

[Bosje]

I never encountered the renown bug myself but I stick to the basic 1 day-shakedown for my first patrol, get a full crew to my satisfaction, load the first patrol, sail around a bit and check whose voice i want for my sonar guy, whether i have 2 officers looking exactly the same (in which case i want to change their faces) etc etc. dock in base, get promoted to Oberleutnant due to the 1500 renown I still have, use SH3 to fiddle with the staff (faces etc), get the improved hydrophone on the VII and then the hunt begins :)

I save my patrols every once in a while when I am not in contact with anything, on the surface, out in the open seas. that seems to keep things nice and stable, I rarely get CTDs with GWX2.1, except when I overstretch my system by having some other programs running (word, msn, browser with subsim etc) and do a bit of taskswitching.

savegame has 1 purpose: keep frustration down to a minimum should you get a CTD halfway through a patrol which was otherwise going well

hope this helps :)

[Murr44]

A couple questions:

I've heard of the 1st patrol renown/tonnage bug. Does the bug still occur if you add things that don't cost any renown? IE: adding the extra crewmen that cost 0.

I've noticed in a lot of posts that people seem to save when submerged quite often. Or that's what it sounds like. Is the CTD occur very often or can you get away with submerged saving sometimes?

Hi Alice:

I've never had any problems adding "free" crewmen or changing the torpedo loadout, provided the torpedos that I swap my default ones for don't cost extra. If you make your 1st patrol a "shakedown" cruise you can avoid the bug altogether. Leave the harbor like as you would on any other patrol. Stop and do a few maneuvers(sp?) & then go back home. You won't get any renown (you won't lose any either) but you don't have to deal with the f-ing bug in that career.

I always play it safe & never save while submerged. At some point in time you will experience a CTD. I think just about everyone here has.

Hope this helps you out a bit.:) I got to get to bed now as I'm making far too many spelling errors.:eek:

[Alice]

Hey,
I have some more questions so rather than start a new thread I figured I'd just necro my old one.

1. I've been playing under the assumption that the wind direction given in weather reports is the direction it's coming FROM as in, "Wind 15 m/s Direction 90" means it's blowing FROM the east TO the west. Then I realized I don't actually know. Is this correct or is it the other way around?

2. (Stock SH3) Does the game take changing weight into account when calculating how the boat behaves? For example, does a boat that has emptied all its torpedos use less fuel than a boat with a full load? Or does it make no difference?

3. Just out of curiosity, is there a mod or a small hack to allow you to run electric on the surface? Or for that matter, have more engine control in general like only running on one diesel, etc.

4. Are there any crew control mods? I know this is going to sound pretty lazy but is there any way to assign crews to groups and move them as such? Rather than dragging them one at a time? I generally have my crew divided up into "shifts" so that when one whole section gets fatigued I just exchange them for the other "shift". It would be nice to be able to move and exchange a whole section at once rather than have to drag and drop one at a time. I know this is kind of ridiculous but if there is some mod that can do this I'd like to know about it.

That's all I can think of right now.

BTW I've settled on 82% realism. I still use weap officer assistance to hit anything and I like map contact updates.

-Alice

[Task Force]

Myself I never did do the academy stuff, I just got my boat and putted out to sea, and now look how succesfil I am.:D

[Sledgehammer427]

1. either way, wind will piss you off the most in sh3
2.no diff as far as i can tell...blast away...
3.no, but it would be fun.
4.to move ENTIRE crew from one compartment to another, right click the compartment name (the name should highlight) then left click on the compartment you want to send them to...my clicks might be messed up, but it works.

hope i helped!

[Alice]

Thanks for the replies!

-Alice

[Murr44]

I think that it's the buggered up weather that will piss you off the most. Even with GWX installed (it incorporates the "Real Weather Fix") the weather can be extremely irritating!:damn:

Running your diesels at 1/3 on the surface is a good practice. You'll conserve fuel for when you really need it & you'll still get to where you want to go in a reasonable amount of time.

[snwcrsh]

I don' feel authorized to answer, I stumbled over SH3 not before December 2007. I played two months, stopped, now I am back.

Even though, I am not back because of SH3 as such (YASS), but because of the great community. These were my steps:

1. Acquired, installed and played stock SH3 (about 2 hours)

2. Looked for information on the Internet

3. Found Subsim, the forum and this community

4. Installed GWX + OLCGUI

5. Started a TCx1 career (3 completed patrols)

6. was delighted

7. Stopped playing SH3 cause my notebook was actually to slow to handle it (was playable until there was *major* action)

8. Got new system

9. Three months later I found the time to actually install all stuff I had before (a bitch!)

10. Here I am

11. Being delighted

12. Thanks Ubisoft, The GWX team and OLC (plus many others!)

HTH
snwcrsh

[Red Heat]

I never bothered with the academy. I just got a boat and hit the high seas. Especially in the begining of the war you can try different tactics without much danger and get to know the potential of your boat.

I make your words my words, mate...
Dont get to much close to the academy when you feel confortable with basic, chose a U-Boat and see the world...about playing at 100% its beter start with for exemple 74% or less and go up when you real fell confortable to make the change, because 100% dificulty can be frustating for a player wich is starting...and make the player give up from the game, and that its what WE dont want to happened! :up:
Good Luck!

[Jimbuna]

I don' feel authorized to answer, I stumbled over SH3 not before December 2007. I played two months, stopped, now I am back.

Even though, I am not back because of SH3 as such (YASS), but because of the great community. These were my steps:

1. Acquired, installed and played stock SH3 (about 2 hours)

2. Looked for information on the Internet

3. Found Subsim, the forum and this community

4. Installed GWX + OLCGUI

5. Started a TCx1 career (3 completed patrols)

6. was delighted

7. Stopped playing SH3 cause my notebook was actually to slow to handle it (was playable until there was *major* action)

8. Got new system

9. Three months later I found the time to actually install all stuff I had before (a bitch!)

10. Here I am

11. Being delighted

12. Thanks Ubisoft, The GWX team and OLC (plus many others!)

HTH
snwcrsh

SINK EM ALL!! http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

[Redbear]

Another thought, depending on how familiar you are with U-Boat tactics, is to get yourself a copy of the "U Boat Commander's Handbook". It's an english translation of the handbook provided to U-Boat captains during the war. It's available a lot of places, including Amazon.com. I found it helpful to get an overview of the way real Kaleun's were trained.

[JHuschke]

I have started the Academy, passed all. But in career, it is a bit more challenging and you need to use different tactics. Also, use the TOOLS that are provided for you, like plotting certain courses to a convoy, how you will hit a ship, etc. I haven't used that, and I need to get used to getting the data myself..learn the ships & how to take them down like the real captains did.

I think we all would need a step by step picture or thread from one of these extremely hardcore realism experienced Kaleuns. :arrgh!:

[Erich dem Roten]

I have started the Academy, passed all. But in career, it is a bit more challenging and you need to use different tactics. Also, use the TOOLS that are provided for you, like plotting certain courses to a convoy, how you will hit a ship, etc. I haven't used that, and I need to get used to getting the data myself..learn the ships & how to take them down like the real captains did.

I think we all would need a step by step picture or thread from one of these extremely hardcore realism experienced Kaleuns. :arrgh!:

I have found this thread to be extremely helpful:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=88961