Returning from 1st mission in GWX my observations

[Paulverisor64]

It has taken me a long time to get under way. Between basement flooding, vacations and a computer freeze issue I spent much time without any progress.

My 1st mission from Kiel was to patrol AN18 for at least 24 hours and return to base.

I guess my 1st observation was that besides the ships in the bay on the other side of the Kiel canal I did not see a single ship. I traveled all the way to AN18 and patroled for several days when I arrived there. The only thing I observed was heavy seas which didn't seem to let off.

The 1st question that comes to my mind is whether I have done things optimally to receive information of a ship or ships in the area. Excuse me for not knowing but does the Hydrophone only work when on surface or under water? When I'm on the surface I see the Hydrophone rotating as the sonar crew is automatically putting this to use. When I am submerged however is the only time I can inquire with the Hydrophone operator to do a sweep or pick other icons which are greyed out on the surface.

My other observation is that it was difficult to combat fatigue with the crew. I discovered that I needed to remove the Weapons officer right away from his alloted duties and rotate rest in and out between the officers. I also had difficulty keeping the U-boat moving as it was tough to have enough crew to keep it going. I ended up using the watch officer in the engine room and there was a lot of rotating in and out. I left the torpedo room completely unattended. With those type of adjustments I could stay ahead of fatigue.

Another thing I noticed was that the submerged time didn't last for very long. The battery would run low in very short order.

I also observed that even though there were bouts of bad weather there never was any rain. Does Silent Hunter not model patterns of rain?

Even with a lot of questions I have enjoyed the 1st patrol. I know that war hasn't broke out yet so I haven't been very much on edge. I should be able to return to port and receive my 2nd mission prior to the outbreak of the war.

[Kielhauler1961]

Bad weather is the norm in SH3 and unless you install the "stop the rain" mod fix you'll just have to live with it. Try submerging every two hours and conductng a sonar sweep for 5 minutes, while turning through 360 degrees. You'll be able to "hear" a lot further than you can "see".

Crew fatigue can be worked-around if you install the SH3 Commander v3.1 "super-mod". You can turn-off crew fatigue completely. NO RL Kapitan had those micro-management details to worry about.

Hydrophones are underwater sound detectors. You will get the occasional contact report from your SO when in rough sea as the boat will dip below 10 metres now and then and the hydrophones might register a contact.

Battery goes flat quickly? When you dive reduce speed to "ahead slow". With a low speed setting your CO2 levels will force you to the surface long before the battery gives out.

Keep as many crew at rest when not actually in combat. The torpedo rooms only need to be crewed when firing or re-loading is taking place. As your crew gain experience, make sure you have at least two PO's (preferably 3 or 4 on big boats) with the "machinist" qualification, plus an officer with the same for emergencies. The engine room crew are the heart of the boat. The last thing you want to hear when trying to run from an angry destroyer is "Not enough crew in diesel/electric engines compartment, sir!":damn:

Hope this helps, KH.

[meduza]

The 1st question that comes to my mind is whether I have done things optimally to receive information of a ship or ships in the area. Excuse me for not knowing but does the Hydrophone only work when on surface or under water? When I'm on the surface I see the Hydrophone rotating as the sonar crew is automatically putting this to use. When I am submerged however is the only time I can inquire with the Hydrophone operator to do a sweep or pick other icons which are greyed out on the surface.

Install 16km Atmosphere (included with the GWX). It will give you more realistic visibility, and a higher chance you spot a ship. As Kielhauler1961 already mentioned, make frequent dives to perform a hydrophone check, and do it yourself. Efficient sonar officer can hear propeler noise within 20-25km, but you will be able to hear it form 30km! Turn up the hydrophones volume (click on the top of the Ambient volume knob), and the volume of your PC speakers. Slowly turn the needle around.

Usually, patroling your assigned grid, you won't find many contacts. That's why we all have oour favorite hunting grounds we visit befor, after, or instead of assigned patrol area. Check the map provided with the game to see where are the convoy routes and areas with dence traffic.

My other observation is that it was difficult to combat fatigue with the crew. I discovered that I needed to remove the Weapons officer right away from his alloted duties and rotate rest in and out between the officers. I also had difficulty keeping the U-boat moving as it was tough to have enough crew to keep it going. I ended up using the watch officer in the engine room and there was a lot of rotating in and out. I left the torpedo room completely unattended. With those type of adjustments I could stay ahead of fatigue.
Your crew will improve with time. Giviing medals and promotions seams to make more resiliant to fatigue. In the meantime, keep only necesary man on stations, and rest the others. Note that when you're at 64x TC and above, your men don't get tired, nor they recouperate, if in quarters. Fatigue only "works" in lower TC.

Another thing I noticed was that the submerged time didn't last for very long. The battery would run low in very short order.
Indeed. On higher speed, your batteries will last about 50-100km, before they start loosing power. On ahead slow, you can run for days.

I also observed that even though there were bouts of bad weather there never was any rain. Does Silent Hunter not model patterns of rain?
Don't worry, you'll see enough rain. :D
There will be patrols with rain and poor visibility from beginning to end. I was lucky in my two last patrols, having sunny weather and no wind all the time.
Weather is a bit wierd in SH3, but the GWX improved it greatly.

[TarJak]

Another question would be were you using high time compression? (>128x). If so then you are less likely to see targets because of the way that TC is handled in game.

I find that when on the search for ships 128x is as high as you would want to go otherwise you run the risk of getting jumped by DD's and completely missing whole convoys of targets.

[Jimbuna]

Another thing to bear in mind....your crew will not fatigue when in tc 32 or higher.

[dalton74]

Another thing to bear in mind....your crew will not fatigue when in tc 32 or higher.

Hi all, i'm loving this game! But a few questions:

I'm having the same problem as Paulversisor64 the topic starter. (I don't see a single ship, it's very lonely).

Ok you say, when you speed up the time more than 32x you will miss ships?? Oef then the game will take ours to finish a career mission. Are you sure?

Explain me: why are the harbours empty? I don't see a single ship. In the SHIII without GWX, you will see "schnell boats" I don't see them. I have SHIII with GWX 2.1.

Can you help?
Thx

[Reise]

Have you enabled Black Sea or Indian Ocean campaign files in mods ?
ONLY use those if playing in the area

List installed mods pls

[danlisa]

Explain me: why are the harbours empty? I don't see a single ship. In the SHIII without GWX, you will see "schnell boats" I don't see them. I have SHIII with GWX 2.1.

Can you help?
Thx
What additional mods do you have enabled?:hmm:

If you are not getting any harbour traffic, I'll guess that you have enabled the optional Black Sea or Indian Ocean mods. If so, you have overwritten the Atlantic/Med campaign, so there will be no ships.

Edit - Crossed post!

Playing the game at anything under 256 TC (around traffic areas) is fine and you'll not miss many contacts. Only use higher TC to transit the Atlantic to the US, for example.

[Chisum]

Another thing to bear in mind....your crew will not fatigue when in tc 32 or higher.
128 perhaps ??
On mine at 32 and 64 crew is very quickly tired.
Must make strong coffee !

[Drakken]

Another thing to bear in mind....your crew will not fatigue when in tc 32 or higher.
128 perhaps ??
On mine at 32 and 64 crew is very quickly tired.
Must make strong coffee !

With SH3Commander you can indirectly change the max TC at which crew fatigue decrease and increase, by increasing the TC for 3d textures.

I increased it to 256 and now the crew fatigue fluctuates at that speed. :up:

[Chisum]

Hum, I did not know.

Is it here ??

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4142/clipboard01db1.jpg

[Paulverisor64]

Thank you for giving me a better understanding of how things work on the U-boat.

I've manually used the hydrophone but not very successfully in the early going. I appreciate the advice of how best to use this.

When I was submerged I was travelling at standard speed which obviously was my problem. I was wondering how a person would have a prayer in the later war years if it wasn't possible to stay submerged much more than an hour.

I do have the 16KM atmosphere upgrade installed. I think the weather itself is knocking down the visability.

I didn't know that you could eliminate fatigue by travelling at higher speeds. The highest TC I used was 32. I'm not completely annoyed with the personel turnover it's sometimes just hard to keep up with. Even though I could eliminate fatigue I think most of the time I will be travelling at slower TC.

I did notice the improvement in efficiency when the machinist occupyed the diesel room. That is a good point to look for qualified machinists for the crew.

I am glad that I asked my questions. I wish you all success!

[Paulverisor64]

Turn up the hydrophones volume (click on the top of the Ambient volume knob), and the volume of your PC speakers. Slowly turn the needle around.

I am curious about how the hydrophone volume gets adjusted. I found the volume knob. What I have noticed is that I hear the U-boat motor when I hold the left mouse button down and move it accross the knob the sound is gone when I move it back. I'm assuming that when I hear the motor that the hydrophone ambient level is turned on.

If this is the case I am assuming that I would want to turn the U-boat off during the time I want to listen on the hydrophone to remove the background noise.

Are my assumptions correct?

[Chisum]

More simple: stop engines.

;)

PS: don't forget that normaly, hydrophone can't not earing on 360°. Read in SH3 windows, when you are on 'equipment'.

[meduza]

The knob has only two positions, up and down. Clicking on the upper part turns it up, and this is the position in which you want it to be. During the hydrophone check, completely stop your engines!

I'm not sure, but I think that your engine noise doesn't bother the sonar man, as it seems that he can detect a contact regardless of your speed. Does anyone has any info on this? :hmm:

Be noted that the volume knob returns to its "down" position each time you reload the game, so you have to turn it up again.

Hope this helps.

[Paulverisor64]

I now understand how the ambient switch works. I would not have even known about this switch were not the fact that you mentioned it to me.

Thanks a lot!

[Jimbuna]

Hydrophones were 'deaf' at 360 and 180 degree bearings.

[meduza]

Hydrophones were 'deaf' at 360 and 180 degree bearings.
How is this modeled in the game, especially in GWX?
I know that I can hear at all bearings, and the SO skips 180 +-20. Can he hear at 360?

[Chisum]

If you watch your contact on the map, you can see it gonna be 'blind' when passing in the sector 175°-185°
The same to the front, between 355° and 005°.

[dalton74]

Explain me: why are the harbours empty? I don't see a single ship. In the SHIII without GWX, you will see "schnell boats" I don't see them. I have SHIII with GWX 2.1.

Can you help?
Thx
What additional mods do you have enabled?:hmm:

If you are not getting any harbour traffic, I'll guess that you have enabled the optional Black Sea or Indian Ocean mods. If so, you have overwritten the Atlantic/Med campaign, so there will be no ships.

Edit - Crossed post!

Playing the game at anything under 256 TC (around traffic areas) is fine and you'll not miss many contacts. Only use higher TC to transit the Atlantic to the US, for example.

sorry for breaking in this threat:

Maybe i'm wrong but when I installed, GWX 2.0 and patch 2.1 the mod JSGME 2.0 came with it! When I click JSGME 2.0 I saw a lot of mods. I add them all. Is that wrong? :damn: Ill check to night. If I had the Black Sea or Indian Ocean mod enabled. Be continued.

[TarJak]

Welcome aboard. Yes if you enabled everything you have some conflicting mods that will change your experience significantly from what it should be.

That's what the manual is for. Give it a read so you know what mod in the GWX2.1 pack does what and which ones work together.

If you've added other mods on top of that then there may be other incompatibilities. They should all come with read mes to let you knwo what they do. If not I don't install them.

[Jimbuna]

@meduza

You should not get a bearing at 0 degrees.

@dalton74

If you have the merged campaign file enabled, there is no need to enable the Indian Ocean or Black Sea mods.

[Paulverisor64]

I have made it back from the 1st patrol in one piece. It is helpful that nobody was shooting at me. :)

On the way back I made several ship contacts. As some of these were made at a distance I tried tracking them down. I lost 2 of these ships before it dawned on me that the compass heading and bearing of the ship are 2 seperate things. :cry: I have a feeling that I'll have a slow start when the war begins. The tutorials set up a couple shooting at fish in a bowl scenarios; when the true to life type situations occur it will be very challenging.

On my way back it finally rained for the 1st time, and as a matter of fact it never stopped. Early on I thought the game didn't model rain because the thunder and lightning didn't include rain.

Perhaps I didn't do something correctly but on my way in the Kiel canal I chose the "Kiel Canal In" option and it layed out a pattern that most of the flags were not in the water in the canal. I thought that the button was going to be an automatic to the dock button. I ended up deleting all the waypoints and manually set them up.

When I arrived at Kiel it was past midnight and raining. The brass band earned their money as they played on while I fumbled around in confusion. I'm surprised they didn't A) get tired waiting and go home B) Stop playing and roll on the ground laughing C) Head for cover every band member for themself. I managed to get most of the compartments damaged and needing repairs. I don't know how close to sinking the U-boat I was but I played a considerable amount of bumper pool.

I just didn't know what I was supposed to do when I got there. I tried parking by another submarine. I tried docking at the far and near side of the dock. I tried manuevering my U-boat on top of the Kiel on the map. I didn't see a lit up motel like sign that said park it here. I finally stumbled on my way out of the situation as I was in the process of saving and exiting.

On to the next exciting adventure!

[Kielhauler1961]

Perhaps I didn't do something correctly but on my way in the Kiel canal I chose the "Kiel Canal In" option and it layed out a pattern that most of the flags were not in the water in the canal. I thought that the button was going to be an automatic to the dock button. I ended up deleting all the waypoints and manually set them up.

If you don't click exactly on the centre of the "Kiel Canal In" point, it can give you a run-aground course. Same when you're leaving the dock going the other way, plot the course before you even start the engines. Remember that German beer is quite strong...

[Paulverisor64]

OK, so if my U-boat is exactly on the correct marked in or out point the plotted course should be good to go.

I'll keep the german beer under lock and key until we clear the canal the next time.

[dalton74]

I played a while with the mods in JSGME. Now I have traffic in the harbours. And the sees are not empty anymore. Thx!

An other question: how about the colours of the ships later on in the game. Are they included with gwx 2.1 ? So ships are more camouflage to U boats? Or the mislett them.

Can you use external torpedeos only by good wetter? I tried to load them to my tubes. But they won't move. Maybe to slipy to move the torpedos?;)

[meduza]

Can you use external torpedeos only by good wetter? I tried to load them to my tubes. But they won't move. Maybe to slipy to move the torpedos?;)
You can access the external reserves in any weather (which was not possible in real life), but you can't directly load them into the tubes. You have to move them to the internal reserves first (the slots below the sub in the weapon management screen).

[Leandros]

One thing to consider if you sense a lack of obvious sonar contacts is the personell presently at job at the the sonar/radio stations. If these are tired, or not specialists, they might not give you a feedback at all. Even when you request it specifically. It is a good thing to designate special sonar operators. My priority for these designations (only one additional per performed mission) is torpedo (reloading time), machinist (to move at all) and sonar. You get better performance if you let the officers qualify first. Of course, in SH3 Commander you can get around this by adding such specialities freely to the whole crew. Which some might find a little "cheety".....:oops:

Also, to designate repair specialists can be very rewarding. It makes wonders when you get hit to have a good repair crew. Has saved me a lot of times.....

[Jimbuna]

Also remember that Officers can have 3 qualifications, Petty Officers 1 (giving any more will make no difference) and crew get no benefit at all from qualifications.

[Paulverisor64]

Thank you for the advice concerning specialists. There were many times that I had the sonar position filled by a crew member with no experience. When I docked I gave out the machinist qualification to one of my crew. Hopefully this will minimize the go and stop situations.

Another note. This time out of the Kiel I used the preset Out of Kiel icon and I didn't have a course that ran aground. The starting spot was definately critical.

I had a bad surprize when I saved the game after the Kiel Canal. I discovered that the date was well beyond the start of WWII. So much for getting set ahead of time for hunting. I did not factor in the amount of time that gets added when at dock.

[Drakken]

Hum, I did not know.

Is it here ??

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4142/clipboard01db1.jpg

No, it is under "Time Compression". Just click on "Particle rendering" and "When in 3d views", set both of them to 256, and voilà! :up:

[Pisces]

On the way back I made several ship contacts. As some of these were made at a distance I tried tracking them down. I lost 2 of these ships before it dawned on me that the compass heading and bearing of the ship are 2 seperate things. :cry: I have a feeling that I'll have a slow start when the war begins. The tutorials set up a couple shooting at fish in a bowl scenarios; when the true to life type situations occur it will be very challenging.Yup, add your course and the hydrophone/periscope bearing together and subtract 360 degrees if over 360 degrees, that is the course ("true bearing") towards the contact. But you want to lead that direction a bit (trial and error) as he moves sideways. Increase your lead until he appears to stay on the same true bearing. That means you must do "sprint-listen-adjust course" every 15 min/halve hour or longer.

Also, you DON'T want to intercept him submerged, your electric engines are far to slow. Surface and flank or better "all ahead" (almost as fast but better mileage).

As for the Kiel canal, I remember somebody said to place a waypoint on the Kiel inbound point (before pressing the "Kiel inbound" order) instead of physically moving over it. Haven't tried it yet though.

[dalton74]

[quote]

As for the Kiel canal, I remember somebody said to place a waypoint on the Kiel inbound point (before pressing the "Kiel inbound" order) instead of physically moving over it. Haven't tried it yet though.

I have a question about the kiel Canal. When I go through I cannot set time compression, because there is so many traffic. Due to that the trip through the canal takes hours! (real ours). What do I wrong?

[KeptinCranky]

The trick to speedrunning the Kiel Canal (and other places too) is to set the "when near land" TC setting in sh3 commander to 128 or 256x.

I think GWX does this without sh3 commander too, but it has happened to me repeatedly with the first time I run a newly installed game that this doesn't work..

The second time, and after that ,work as intended.

It pays to start up and run a quick test patrol then exit the game completely before beginning a for real campaign. just to let the game get all the config settings right

[Sailor Steve]

I don't think his problem isn't 'When Near Land', it's being kicked back to 1x because of sighting ships over and over. Dalton74, I have the same problem. I was told to remove the Watch Officer. If he can't call out "Ship Spotted!" then it won't slow down. For some reason I still get knocked back to 1x. Good think I like taking my time.

Maybe it will work for you, though.

[Jimbuna]

Based on Steve's post above....has anyone tried the obvious and tweaked the 'ship sighted' value in Commander :hmm:

[Murr44]

Can you use external torpedeos only by good wetter? I tried to load them to my tubes. But they won't move. Maybe to slipy to move the torpedos?;)
You can access the external reserves in any weather (which was not possible in real life), but you can't directly load them into the tubes. You have to move them to the internal reserves first (the slots below the sub in the weapon management screen).

Like some other people I've made it a rule (self-imposed) not to load external torpedos in wind speeds above 6 & to load them with decks awash (setting the u-boat's depth to 6-7 meters). This self-imposed rule can cost some tonnage if I get nothing but rough seas during a patrol but I think that it adds some realism.

[meduza]

Based on Steve's post above....has anyone tried the obvious and tweaked the 'ship sighted' value in Commander :hmm:
I set it to 4x. It's a bit pain in the port, but adds a few precious seconds when you most need them.

[Jimbuna]

Based on Steve's post above....has anyone tried the obvious and tweaked the 'ship sighted' value in Commander :hmm:
I set it to 4x. It's a bit pain in the port, but adds a few precious seconds when you most need them.

I was thinking you might raise it to x64 or whatever, then change it back to your preferred setting when you exit the canal.

[Reise]

Only drop to 8x for ship spotted
1x for aircraft
Take WO out and still drop to 8 just no shout

Not tried lifting TC for ship spotted as at high tc might be problem when it enemy warship :hmm:

[Sailor Steve]

Only drop to 8x for ship spotted
1x for aircraft
Take WO out and still drop to 8 just no shout

Not tried lifting TC for ship spotted as at high tc might be problem when it enemy warship :hmm:
What Jim was suggesting was setting it for high TC until you leave the Canal, then exit the game and reset it to 8 or 1. I might try that, but I'm afraid I'll forget.:88)

[Jimbuna]

Only drop to 8x for ship spotted
1x for aircraft
Take WO out and still drop to 8 just no shout

Not tried lifting TC for ship spotted as at high tc might be problem when it enemy warship :hmm:
What Jim was suggesting was setting it for high TC until you leave the Canal, then exit the game and reset it to 8 or 1. I might try that, but I'm afraid I'll forget.:88)

Impeccable and precise as always sir :up:

[Pisces]

I set the "ship sighted" value to 1, to prevent situations with me being off-guard from developing into "shells flying"/"merchant zigzag" situations. Very important! Or in the Kiel canal situations of the "close encounters of the really unpleasant kind". Even more important!! Sure, you need to crank up the TC again every time and then every time again a second later. But the canal doesn't take that long compared to the rest of the patrol. It saves your bacon and ensures a steady flow of renown.

[KeptinCranky]

Yep, I follow Pisces' method, just crank it right back up again after every ship spotted in the Kiel canal :up:

[Steeltrap]

The fatigue is one of the most annoying parts of SHIII. It's one area in which SH4 is a vast improvement (having a watch bill where your crew 'rotates' automatically is realistic and removes all the highly annoying moving of crew).

I find it so annoying and unrealistic that I always use 'no fatigue' via SH3 commander. Not realistic, either, but I find the issue of micro-managing my crew to be such an impediment I just couldn't be bothered with it. It's exaggerated further by the, in my opinion, unreasonably bad weather - your crew is fatigued more quickly when on the surface in bad weather.

Yes, you can change the fatigue cut in through SH3 commander (as has been explained). The trouble is your crew also won't recover from fatigue when you are at TC levels where fatigue doesn't accumulate, so you're on a downward slope once you start getting any fatigue.

As I said, I find it all so irritating I just disable fatigue. If it 'added' to the experience, or were better managed, I would leave it, but it isn't - so I don't!

[Sailor Steve]

Can't argue with that logic. But I do - not with you but with myself. I tried No Fatigue and I just kept having this nagging feeling I was cheating somehow. So I leave it on. But you're right, the SH4 crew management is much more realistic, and easier as well.

[astak9]

thnx for the ambientknob tip:know:

[Paulverisor64]

Last evening I got into the game and realized that I had way to many game saves. Not too long ago I had an issue with system freezes and I wanted to be sure my work was saved. I decided that I needed to thin out the amount of saves that there was.

When I went to delete the 1st non-necessary save I received a message saying that if I deleted the save that everything beyond that point would be lost. I thought to myself that sure is stupid, that can't possibly be. I didn't heed the warning and I ended up losing my entire game progress. :cry: That sure was an awful feeling.

Thankfully I'm not that far into the game. I have decided to do my game saves a lot more sparse to somewhat minimize the long list of saves. The bad thing is that the game automatically adds a couple saves when the U-boat is docked.

I got through the Kiel Canal last evening. Yes it is quite a slow progress to get through.

[dalton74]

I got through the Kiel Canal last evening. Yes it is quite a slow progress to get through.

I have the sollution for the Canal. Move my ship to wilhelmshaven. :doh: (kiding).

After the first mission I sank 9000 tons of ships. But most ships needed 2 or 3 torpedos to sink. I must say I did it with the weapons sollution. So the computer makes the calculations to impact. But it is not the right one. (spoiled a lot of torpedos).

When I make a kill with one torpedo, do I have to calculate everything manual? Can someone help? thx.

[Drakken]

Yes, you can change the fatigue cut in through SH3 commander (as has been explained). The trouble is your crew also won't recover from fatigue when you are at TC levels where fatigue doesn't accumulate, so you're on a downward slope once you start getting any fatigue.

Set the TC for "3D view" and "texture rendering" to 256 via SH3Commander, and the crew fatigue will fluctuate at that TC. By consensus, 256 TC is the optimal TC for time speed versus aircraft and ship contacts. :up:

[Steeltrap]

Yes, you can change the fatigue cut in through SH3 commander (as has been explained). The trouble is your crew also won't recover from fatigue when you are at TC levels where fatigue doesn't accumulate, so you're on a downward slope once you start getting any fatigue.

Set the TC for "3D view" and "texture rendering" to 256 via SH3Commander, and the crew fatigue will fluctuate at that TC. By consensus, 256 TC is the optimal TC for time speed versus aircraft and ship contacts. :up:

Wouldn't that make it worse? That would mean you'd have fatigue occurring at ANY TC up to and including 256. I'd have thought the idea would be to lower it, so you only got fatigue at, say, 1X (i.e. real-time). That would mean you'd not have to worry about fatigue unless you are running real time.

Anyway, as I said, without SH4's watch bill system for controlling crew actions, I think fatigue in SH3 is just too great a detraction from the enjoyment of the sim for me. Thank heavens for the 'no fatigue' option in Commander.....

Oh, btw, thanks for the suggestion all the same!

[baggygreen]

I got through the Kiel Canal last evening. Yes it is quite a slow progress to get through.


When I make a kill with one torpedo, do I have to calculate everything manual? Can someone help? thx.Nope :)

When you do fire, however, unlock your scope (default 'L') and then aim the crosshairs at the ships' weakspots. This is revealed when you're in a prime firing position and have your recognition book open on the correct vessel. In general, any shot under the keel, just forward of the bridge or just under a hun (on a warship) is a good spot to aim for.

[Steeltrap]

Nope :)

When you do fire, however, unlock your scope (default 'L') and then aim the crosshairs at the ships' weakspots. This is revealed when you're in a prime firing position and have your recognition book open on the correct vessel. In general, any shot under the keel, just forward of the bridge or just under a hun (on a warship) is a good spot to aim for.

In general, most merchants were most vulnerable to a hit in the engine/boiler spaces. This was for a few reasons:

- largest compartment.
- most critical equipment (no engine = no power = deep sh*t!).
- lots of vulnerable stuff: fuel lines, boilers etc. to go bang/burn.

I remember Dick O'Kane commenting that a hit in the engine spaces was the only reliable way to sink a tanker (not to say hits elsewhere couldn't sink them, but not as likely to do so).

If I'm firing one torp, I aim at the aft third. If I fire a second, I aim just forward of midships. This works almost always, provided they hit where I aim (they usually do) and explode (not much you can do about that, especially in early war and heavy seas).

Worth noting I use manual fire control - I never found how to 'aim' using auto control (besides, I think manual makes the sim infinitely better).

[dalton74]

Thanks for the comment. Sink a ship cost me a lot of torpedos. My first journey was to go to grid bf17 under the UK. I past the channel of dover and saw a lot of ships. So I torped a few. But I ran out of torps and didn't forfill my order to go to bf17. So I went back to wilhemshaven, to resupply torpedos. But when I arrived. How can I get new torpedos in my harbor? I don't want to end my mission. ( I checked the forum, but they only told about a milch cow, not to resupply at the harbor).

thx

SORRY got it. Just exit the game. dock at ship or dock in harbor :damn:

[dalton74]

so I start with my second mission. I shoot BB HMS Rodney (i think it was big BB). Later an other convoy with 2 destroyers. One destroyer down. But the other one destroyed the tower. I went home. But he followed me about 4000 miles??? BUG. How can I get rid of him?

[Jimbuna]

so I start with my second mission. I shoot BB HMS Rodney (i think it was big BB). Later an other convoy with 2 destroyers. One destroyer down. But the other one destroyed the tower. I went home. But he followed me about 4000 miles??? BUG. How can I get rid of him?

"BUG" you say :lol:

That escort will stay on your tail until you learn how to escape.....run silent, run deep.

A bit like RL http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

[OuNiS]

Bad weather is the norm in SH3 and unless you install the "stop the rain" mod fix you'll just have to live with it. Try submerging every two hours and conductng a sonar sweep for 5 minutes, while turning through 360 degrees. You'll be able to "hear" a lot further than you can "see".

Yeah!

It's a good idea mate.
I have try it many times!
It really works!

[dalton74]

so I start with my second mission. I shoot BB HMS Rodney (i think it was big BB). Later an other convoy with 2 destroyers. One destroyer down. But the other one destroyed the tower. I went home. But he followed me about 4000 miles??? BUG. How can I get rid of him?

"BUG" you say :lol:

That escort will stay on your tail until you learn how to escape.....run silent, run deep.


In the North Sea I had difficulties to go deep. (not a very deep sea). When I came a cross Denmark the sea was only 20 mtr. So every time I touch the bottom. I listen ones more to the destroyer when he came a cross and than surface. It was very bad weather, diesel at full power, and so I finaly i get rid of the destroyer.

hmmm i've to learn to get rid of the destroyer. I tried go deep and run silent. I think he smells me :doh:

[Jimbuna]

Deep water is your friend :lol:

[meduza]

so I start with my second mission. I shoot BB HMS Rodney (i think it was big BB). Later an other convoy with 2 destroyers. One destroyer down. But the other one destroyed the tower. I went home. But he followed me about 4000 miles??? BUG. How can I get rid of him?
"BUG" you say :lol:

That escort will stay on your tail until you learn how to escape.....run silent, run deep.

A bit like RL http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif You GWX folks should make another release and get rid of all of those bugs (aircrafts and destroyers, that is). It would make our lives much easier. :rotfl:

[Sag75]

If you watch your contact on the map, you can see it gonna be 'blind' when passing in the sector 175°-185°
The same to the front, between 355° and 005°.

Hi,
honestly, it's true only for GHG hydrophone system. The KDB hydrophone can hear at 360° and it's blind at 160°-200° :ping:

[dalton74]

Hi i'm having a question about the screen resolution of the game. Are there options to set the screen option to 1600x1280 ?

I saw some threads about the resoluton and DynamicShadows.

can someone help.