Need HELP! Cant run sub properly

[Nuker22110]

Hello,
I have just gotten Silent hunter 4. This is my first subsim. After reading the manuel, and playing the tutorial,there are still many features that i cannot grasp.(I'll forget about the TDC for awhile). So can any experienced skippers guide me along, so i can take the fight to the IJN?
Questions:
1)Time compression.Every time i start time compression, hoping to reach my patrol area quickly, or to get back to port, a contact would appear, causing the time compression to go back to x1 again. Is there any way to make to tie compression ignore the contacts and continue?
2)I have read some books on submarine warfare. It seems that a submarine could fire the torpedoes, using only the sonar returns, and not surface and shoot,which is the only way that i could get done.
3)During the supply mission, after i launched the dinghy, do i need to recover it? And how ,long must i wait before i will receive a new directive from command?
4)How do you set an intercept course for a convoy?
5)Is the savegame automatic? Or do i have to return to port to be able to save game? If not, how do i do so?
6)Back at port, what part is for what?(SD improved radar?What is it for?)
7)How do i run from a depth charge attack?

There are many other questions, but i would try to find the answer myself.
Any help would be appreciated.:damn:

[wetwarev7]

1. Take everyone off deck watch and empty the sensors room. You don't need those sissys freaking out everytime they see a potential collision hazard or enemy anyways.

2. Yes, that's correct. You need to not surface in order to launch torpedoes from a submerged position.

3. You won't be able to recover the dingy or the men. They've gone native.
3a. Command will notify you of your new orders when they are darn good and ready. You aren't the only sub in the fleet, ya know!

4. Figure out which way they are headed. Get there before they do. Wait.

5. Escape. The key, not panicking and opening the hatch while submerged in an effort to.

6. The little squre thingy is called a desk. It's for placing your medals and pictures on.

7. As fast as you can. Turning helps.

Hope this helps! (Or at least makes you smile :D )

[dcb]

Hope this helps! (Or at least makes you smile :D )

Not just smile. It';s been a while since I've laughed that much.
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Good thing to see people still keep their humor. Thanks for the good laugh, Wet.:up:

[Quillan]

First, make sure you are fully patched up. This is 1.4 if you only have SH4, or if you bought the U-boat Missions expansion that'll take you to 1.5.

Time compression drops by default to different settings, depending on what was spotted and how. Enemy air contacts, either visual or radar, drop time compression to x1. Trust me, you DO NOT want to ignore these. Enemy vessels will drop the TC to x1 also if they're spotted by your watch crew, but only to x8 if they are picked up on radar or through a radio report. Friendly ships/planes will also drop TC if picked up on radar, so I make a habit of turning off the surface search radar when near a friendly port.

Forget sonar-only targeting for a while. It's possible, but only when using manual targeting.

After the inflatable boat has been launched and you've completed that objective, radio in a status report. If your fuel and torpedo reserves are high enough, you'll be assigned a new mission.

Going to skip the intercept part, because there are a couple of good tutorials around here you can find in the sticky threads. The save game has already been covered.

SD radar is air search radar. It only picks up aircraft. It is always on whenever you are surfaced. SJ radar is surface search radar. It picks up ships. In version 1.4, you have to manually turn it on every time you surface. In 1.5 it turns on automatically when you surface, but in both cases you can turn it off. The improved version of both are just that, improved. They have better range and better detection. For the guns, never switch mounts. If your boat has a fore mount, you can upgrade the caliber but do not switch to aft mount; it screws up the crew positions. You'll want the largest deck gun you can get. 5"/25 > 4"/50 > 3"/50 in gun terms. For anti aircraft guns, I'm partial to the twin 20mm. In the later towers I normally put one 40mm and one dual 20mm. Almost nothing else in the boat can be upgraded.

[-Pv-]

"... 3a. Command will notify you of your new orders when they are darn good and ready. You aren't the only sub in the fleet, ya know!..."

Not quite. Once you have completed your initial mission, use the radio and report in. HQ will give you a new mission. If you don't request a mission, you have play freelancer without a mission until you run out of fuel and torps. You will do better in the game if you don't spend all your time freelancing.
-Pv-

[Nuker22110]

Ok, then is it possible to turn off the radar? If so, how?:ping:
And sometimes HQ sends u a report about a convoy. Is it nessary to intercept? If so, do i go to the point on the navigation map, with the spot that HQ has given? If not,where do i go?
And how do u adjust torpedo speed?

[Nuker22110]

And how do you change torpedo speed?

[Sailor Steve]

And not one person has told you the most important thing you need to know:

WELCOME ABOARD, Nuker22110!:sunny:

[Monica Lewinsky]

And how do you change torpedo speed?

As others have said before, over and over, again:

http://learnabit.homeserver.com/lab/read-the-manual.jpg

noob[s]

[Nuker22110]

I don't think the manuel helps a lot.The descriptions are very vague. So how exactly do you change the torpedo speed?And how do u turn off the sonar/radar? And is there any tutorial on how to use the sonar?
p.sThx for the welcome

[claybirdd]

Just play the game. Most things you'll figure out by just fiddling around. It is like learning to shoot a gun. The best method is to get a gun and start shooting. You can go over grips and stance and sight picture all you want, but untill your putting rounds down range it's all academic.

[Nuker22110]

Yes. But shooting a gun is just pulling a trigger. Running a sub is much more

[claybirdd]

Fireing any weapon is much more than simply pulling a trigger. As any hunter or soldier will tell you.:down:

[tomoose]

:up: When you state 'adjusting the torpedo speed' are you looking for a 'cheat' or simply how you do it in the game? If it's the in-game function you're looking for it's simply a switch on the PK instrument, click on the Torpedo Speed button (it has 3 settings but only 2 work, an oversight by the devs which has not been corrected).

Ref the radar; you can ONLY turn off the surface-search radar (simply deselect it on your 'menu' buttons at the bottom of your screen). You CANNOT switch off the air-search radar, it's automatic and has no display, simply a crew member telling you about air contacts.

[Rockin Robbins]

Look pal. My manual works just fine. In fact, it is one of the most useful manuals I've ever encountered. You need to quit knocking it. I put it under the short leg of my desk and it's solid as a rock!:up:

[Hylander_1314]

The best bet is to use the manual, and read carefully. It makes passing those long days at sea from Hawaii to Japan a lot more bearable. On route, also perform crash dive manuevers, to keep the crew in shape, and gain some experience points. It won't seem like much, but the matter of a few seconds can mean the difference between continuing a campaign, and starting a new one.

And last but not least, don't get mad if you get sunk. The best teacher is experience. Make your mistakes, take your lumps, and learn from them. And if need be, make sure you start out on the easy settings. The game is more forgiving that way. It will help you hone your skills, so that you too can become a terror of the deep.

P.S.,

The manuel is very informative, unless you have little understanding of how they operate. Then the best thing you can do, is get into the thick of it, get pasted, and go back again with a different approach until you get a handle on it. Remember it's just a simulator, so if you tear up the docks and scratch the paint on your boat, you can always restart the mission.

[peabody]

Welcome Nuker.

Time compression is there for a reason, you do not want to ignore it. If you get a contact of an enemy destroyer at 2000X TC and you don't slow down, guess what, yup, you get depth charges dropped on you at 2000X speed. You have to remember the TC isn't making you go faster, you still go the speed of the boat it is only making the clock go faster so you are not going to fly by him because you are using TC. In fact the way the game works, if you use TC around an enemy destroyer you will actually attract him to you.
If you are using easy mode to learn then to intercept a convoy you can use the map. It will have lines pointing to the ships which are at the end of the line. (no pun intended) Pick up the Pencil and put an X at the end of a couple of the lines (towards the middle of the convoy, around the outside are destroyer escorts and they go back and forth) wait for the convoy to move and draw a line with the ruler between the X and where the ship is now and it will give you the heading of the convoy so you can intercept.
Save game: Esc key-Save-Resume (or quit). There is an automatic save when entering port and auto when exiting. You can use the enter port save if you forgot you wanted to upgrade an AA gun or things like that. But your mission is assigned to you when you enter port, so don't bother reloaded because you don't like the mission you got.

Peabody

[Seminole]

Hmmmm....maybe go to sub school?...I'm pretty sure they put that in there for a purpose...:yep:


One things for sure...you ain't gonna ever become an Ace of the Deep via forum osmosis....though the forum is a tremedous asset when you are really stumped on some point.

[Nuker22110]

ok. how many ships do i need to sink on a patrol mission before i get a new mission?

[Hylander_1314]

I think just one will suffice. I tend to get greedy though, unless it's early in the war and those darn faulty torpedoes are really acting up. The last convoy I attacked, my first 6 torpedoes were faulty, and after reloading, I lined up for another attack, and out of 6 torpedoes, 5 were faulty, and the one that hit the large freighter didn't even slow her down.

[seafarer]

ok. how many ships do i need to sink on a patrol mission before i get a new mission?

On a patrol mission, you need to stay within a certain range of your assigned area (the map symbol) for a certain period of time. For stock SH4, I seem to remember it was within 50 nautical miles of the map marker, for 48 hours (or maybe 72 hours)?

If you are using any of the big mod pacs, then they will have modified it (check your orders).

[Nuker22110]

Hey. Which is the best submarine to use during the career mission?

[Sailor Steve]

Hey. Which is the best submarine to use during the career mission?
The one that turns you on the most.

Seriously. Arguably the best sub is the most modern, that being the Gato/Balao classes. But you'd be surprised how many of us love to run the old 'S' boats. They're leaky, cranky, and don't dive very deep, but they have lots of charisma. It's like all the people who chose the Type II in SH3.

The best boat is the one you like.

[MDV_4life]

I think just one will suffice. I tend to get greedy though, unless it's early in the war and those darn faulty torpedoes are really acting up. The last convoy I attacked, my first 6 torpedoes were faulty, and after reloading, I lined up for another attack, and out of 6 torpedoes, 5 were faulty, and the one that hit the large freighter didn't even slow her down.

If you are shooting at big targets, then try shooting as deep as posible.

In example if the depth of the ship is 10 then try setting your torpedoes at 8 meters or something. That should do the trick.

[Nuker22110]

How come every time i shoot a torp at enemy ships, it usually misses?

[SteamWake]

How come every time i shoot a torp at enemy ships, it usually misses?

You remembering to open the torpedoe bay doors first ? If you miss astern alot its most likely because you dident open the doors frist.

If your using autotargeting it really sucks at judging depth. 90% of the time I set my torps as shallow as they will go with our without auto target. The 'under the keel' shot while effective is hightly unreliable. If you do wish to try an under the keel shot consult the recognition manual for the draft of the ship and manually set the depth about a foot below that. Note that any time you 'lock' a target the autotargeting will change the depth of the torpedo run and you will have to set it again.

I highly recommend reading or watching some of the guides offered here at subsim. Most if not all your questions are covered in great detail there.

The manual has been the brunt of many a joke around here and frankly is best used as a coaster. :|\\

[Nuker22110]

Then usually when u use time compression *4000, what is ur FPS?


And is there any mods that greatly increase crusing speeds so i don't have to spend help my time getting to an area, or lagging when i use time compression.

And any mods that changes the sub skins to a cool sub? Like a Los-Angeles class?

[Kruger]

Nuker mate....we're at war in Pacific...ww2 remember ?...trying to sink the Japanese imperial fleet. If you want a cold era Los Angeles class, I suggest you move on to another game, or just wait for SH5. Who knows, maybe we'll get a chance to sink an Akula.