Wow... how did i miss out on this game for so long?

[Akula4745]

Well gents... this is one helluva game you got here! Wow. And that is on my OLD machine... the gameplay is fantastic!! Had the typical (I imagine) hard time remembering where some of the more important buttons were located, and learned severals lessons about handling the crew... but wow. Loved it. Cannot believe I had never tried it or really heard anything much about till recently... amazing. I'm hooked.

On my second go-round with the convoy mission (once I figured a few things out) I had 3 kills and 1 damaged... and shelled the last kill at sunset after I waited out the escort. Allow me to share a snapshot of that balmy evening in the Pacific with you:

http://img125.imagevenue.com/loc487/th_31369_firstsunset_122_487lo.jpg (http://img125.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=31369_firstsunset_122_487lo.jpg)

One question tho - when targeting through the attack scope you get a little triangle which changes color - what is the optimum color for a shot? Red or green? Yellow seems to lead to more misses than hits.

Thanks all... and thanks for the warm welcome too. Nothing but good folks here!!

[steinbeck]

Well gents... this is one helluva game you got here! Wow. And that is on my OLD machine... the gameplay is fantastic!! Had the typical (I imagine) hard time remembering where some of the more important buttons were located, and learned severals lessons about handling the crew... but wow. Loved it. Cannot believe I had never tried it or really heard anything much about till recently... amazing. I'm hooked.

On my second go-round with the convoy mission (once I figured a few things out) I had 3 kills and 1 damaged... and shelled the last kill at sunset after I waited out the escort. Allow me to share a snapshot of that balmy evening in the Pacific with you:

http://img125.imagevenue.com/loc487/th_31369_firstsunset_122_487lo.jpg (http://img125.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=31369_firstsunset_122_487lo.jpg)

One question tho - when targeting through the attack scope you get a little triangle which changes color - what is the optimum color for a shot? Red or green? Yellow seems to lead to more misses than hits.

Thanks all... and thanks for the warm welcome too. Nothing but good folks here!!


Like always 'I think' green is 'GO' Like traffic lights I guess!

steinbeck

[Torplexed]

Yeah, submarine simulations are addictive for some of us. Not as fast or reactive as a flight sim, but you usually get the benefit of a little time to plan things out.

We get a lot of wrangling sometimes over which theater is the better game play, the Atlantic or Pacific but to me it's all good. It least they're still making subsims. :ping:

Cheers!...and sink them all.

[SteamWake]

Since it seems your using auto target, green is the best angle. But really the best indicator is the TDO.

Its a slide out tab on the uper left of the periscope screen. There are two pages. One sets depth and speed, the other is for setting AOB and apparent bearing. With auto targeting the latter (the PK) is set for you automagically, however you can watch it to see how big an angle the torp would have to veer to hit its target.

Anything within 15 degrees to port or starbort off you bow or stern (depending which tubes are selected) you should be fine.

Here is a pick its the dial at the bottom in this case the target is about 5 degrees off to port an acceptable angle.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh312/UlteriorModem/Yarr6.jpg

[MonTana_Prussian]

Yeah,it can be very addicting,but enjoyable! I remember the first day I had the game installed,played about 6-7 hours straight.....:o

[Sailor Steve]

I've been addicted to sub sims since I played Silent Service back in 1986. I've been putting off playing SH4 since I'm still working on stuff for SH3, and still enjoying playing it; also because my computer runs it very poorly.

Still, just the other day I wanted to work on some SH4 stuff, and I'm having a hard time making myself stop playing long enough to actually get anything done.

Yes, it's addictive. Welcome to the drug den.:rotfl:

[XonE:32]

Ach, all my posts sound the same, but I've been away for too long. I remember Sailor Steve and a bunch of others with great mods for SH3. I played it to death, but got bored of the repitition. It's still a great game. I've only just started SH4 even though I've had it since it basically came out. I had your issues when I first got it (pc couldn't handle it to an acceptable level) then I forgot I had it lol.

So I've just installed it basically for the first time last week. I was a master at SH3, but I suck huge at SH4 so far. I'm using 1.5 and a few of the "realism" mods so I haven't played the vanilla version. Getting better though thanks to some great tutorials by Werner S and CapnScurvy. It's slowly coming back... I think.

I've even made some amazing curved shots with the PK. Well I think they're amazing just because I never had the balls to try that in SH3. I would reinstall it, but I don't want that Starforce crap on my sys.

Silent Service! Loved it. Totally takes me back to my Apple II+ with 48mb of Ram and 5 1/4 inch flopy disk drive LOL. hmm, I just dated myself...d'oh.

I think there's more computing power in my calculator now.


PS: That handling the crew thing is a good one Akula. I have NO idea what I'm doing in that respect I did RTFM, but didn't see much there. Any1 with a decent link on crew management? NOTE: I'm running 1.5 with RFB 1.52 + RSRD for RFB 1.52 and Real Environment. Any thoughts or help would be most welcome.


Cheers all

XonE:32

[Akula4745]

We get a lot of wrangling sometimes over which theater is the better game play, the Atlantic or Pacific but to me it's all good.

Ah, interesting Torp... I hadn't thought about the Atlantic. Does the SH4 U-boat add-on include the Atlantic also? Or would that have been in SH3 - or maybe a mod?

Yeehaw... even more ships to sink!

[Torplexed]

Ah, interesting Torp... I hadn't thought about the Atlantic. Does the SH4 U-boat add-on include the Atlantic also? Or would that have been in SH3 - or maybe a mod?

Yeehaw... even more ships to sink!

The SH4 U-Boat add-on only covers Indian Ocean and Pacific operations by U-Boats. The Operation Monsun mod does far more I understand, although I've yet to download it.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=134922

[Akula4745]

Since it seems your using auto target, green is the best angle. But really the best indicator is the TDO.

Anything within 15 degrees to port or starbort off you bow or stern (depending which tubes are selected) you should be fine.

Yessir SW, I had to start out using the auto targeting... too many other buttons to learn and locate on my first mission. But I have snagged every tutorial I have seen available regarding manual targeting and hope to give it a whirl as soon as I am comfortable with basic game knowledge...

So having the bow (and tubes) pointing directly at the target is not the best approach? I should work to have to target slightly off-center of my tubes? Last night I was 90 degrees off a merchant about 800-900 yards away... and couldn't even hit the dang thing with 2 fish. So I know I've got some learning to do.

[Akula4745]

Totally takes me back to my Apple II+ with 48mb of Ram and 5 1/4 inch flopy disk drive LOL. hmm, I just dated myself...d'oh.

LOL XonE - my first was an IBM PS2... and I am still not sure it even had any RAM!

[peabody]

Yessir SW, I had to start out using the auto targeting... too many other buttons to learn and locate on my first mission. But I have snagged every tutorial I have seen available regarding manual targeting and hope to give it a whirl as soon as I am comfortable with basic game knowledge...

So having the bow (and tubes) pointing directly at the target is not the best approach? I should work to have to target slightly off-center of my tubes? Last night I was 90 degrees off a merchant about 800-900 yards away... and couldn't even hit the dang thing with 2 fish. So I know I've got some learning to do.

Are you sure you missed? There are duds programmed into the game. 800 yds sounds hard to miss.

Peabody

[MonTana_Prussian]

Are you sure you missed? There are duds programmed into the game. 800 yds sounds hard to miss.

Peabody


Ahh,yes,dud torps. pretty good possibility in '41,and as was said,pretty hard to miss at 800 yards.

[Akula4745]

Are you sure you missed? There are duds programmed into the game. 800 yds sounds hard to miss.

I had a couple that were duds - the crew announced them when they happened. I actually wondered if I was so close the torpedos couldn't arm or something... and the crew announced two misses so I assumed they did.

I was dad-gum close - and they both missed. Must have been something I was doing wrong... no idea what yet tho.

[Akula4745]

...pretty hard to miss at 800 yards.

MP - if anyone could miss from 800 yards it would be a noob just like me! <G>

[AVGWarhawk]

I had a couple that were duds - the crew announced them when they happened. I actually wondered if I was so close the torpedos couldn't arm or something... and the crew announced two misses so I assumed they did.

I was dad-gum close - and they both missed. Must have been something I was doing wrong... no idea what yet tho.

I have not played with auto target but I think you still need to open the torpedo doors in auto target mode. Could be wrong, have not played auto target for a long time. If this is the case then you are losing a few seconds waiting on the doors to open. That is view to a miss for sure. Make sure your doors are open on the tubes you are firing. :D

[Akula4745]

Oops... you may have just hit the nail on the head, WH. I never opened any torpedo doors. I will have to test it but it sounds logical. My bad!

[Torplexed]

It's simple enough to do. Just hit the 'Q' key and the door will crank open on whichever tube is greenlighted.

[Akula4745]

LOL - gonna try it right now, Torp!

[Frame57]

Practice setting up the shot. You want a target to cross your path either directly in fron of you or behind you if you use your stern tubes. Your yardage is fine by the way. Cycle your tube doors before firing this is the Q key on the keyboard. It is also possible that your target saw you and began to evade. So stay stealthy by dipping your scope and attacking at night. You can get real good at this by using your nav map. Sonar contacts will appear as a dark line to target. take your pencil and make a mark, then repeat a few times given the target time to travel. Then take your ruler and draw a line through each mark. Know you have a decent method of how you want to engage the target simply by using your nav-map. I always attempt to run ahead of the target by a mile or so in order to do this.

[Akula4745]

Thanks for the advice, frame. Just tried a sortie and remembered to open the tube doors but still did a LOUSY job of shooting... way too many misses - not duds - just flat out misses. I gotta work on this...

[MonTana_Prussian]

Akula...as Torp and Frame said,you have the right yardage,and make sure your door/s are open before firing,and follow Frame's targeting advice,it's right on the money.

[Frame57]

Keep practicing, you will get it. Try posting a scree shot for us when you are at the periscope. We might be able to see what is a miss.

[XonE:32]

LOL XonE - my first was an IBM PS2... and I am still not sure it even had any RAM!

This is not a hijack Akula, just thought your comment above was hilarious. But I started to wonder and did some checking because I had friends with IBM systems and always drooled over them as they're were virtually NO games for the Apple II+. Not only that, the II Plus was discontinued in '82 and yer sys was around in 87. So you're right! My 48MB comment was a huge typo on my part (granted I was going back over 25 years).
But apparently my old II Plus had 48K of memory LOL!


With regard to your initial post:

What lessons did you find out about with the crew management? (you mentioned it first post). I only bring it up because I still don't know what the hell I'm doin' on that screen:oops:.

Also, if and when you're ready for Manual TDC (trust me, it'll take less time than you probably think), I found these helpful if you don't already have them:

Props to CapnScurvy for this one:
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6421019045/m/4351025226

Props to Werner Sobe and RockinRobbins for this little (50MB-7:28min) vid download:
http://files.filefront.com/SH4+Complete+Setup+and+Atewmv/;8894549;/fileinfo.html

[Akula4745]

Ok, did much better on my shooting last night... 12 torpedo loadout = 4 merchants... but I did have to shell the last one till it sank. <G> I will eventually figure out all the details... but at least now I know I am moving in the right direction. Discovered how to select a target for range findings and PK and much more last night... a rather productive evening.

http://img192.imagevenue.com/loc706/th_34154_SH42_122_706lo.jpg (http://img192.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=34154_SH42_122_706lo.jpg)

As far as details about the crew management - I figured out you can select a crew member for duty (either in the torp rooms or damage control) and drag n' drop him where you want - obviously the more skilled men have the higher rating (look for highest first number/100 when you cursor over the man) - and will perform better so tasks get done more quickly. I definitely went to full compliment of men in both torpedo rooms - removing those I added once the last load was in the tubes or all torps had been expended. IMHO I also think it is a good call to have a damage control team in place when in action... I have been using the conning tower crew as my skilled pool along with select others who had high ratings - and the deck watch as my unskilled pool. The conning tower crew have generally higher ratings than the deck watch guys...

This is about all I have figured out so far - anyone have anything to add? I would certainly be interested in deeper crew mgmnt info myself - just kinda guessing my way through what the manual, documentation, and clips don't cover.

Happy hunting my friends!
Jim

[mheil]

I usually hit the "B" key right before the action starts - this will call the crew to battle stations and improve you efficiency and put the boys at damage control. I also will quicky cycle through the front torps with the "W" key, pressing "Q" to open the door for ech tube. For the Stern torps you have to mouse over each tube button and then hit "Q". It's easy to forget to open the tubes in the heat of the moment!
Good Luck and Good Hunting!

[Akula4745]

Hmmmm... that makes me wonder if going to Battle stations brings damage control crews into action by itself. I assumed (and possibly quite wrongly) we had to actually move men into the damage control positions... and battle stations is just a natural for action maneuvering.

Well at least that is what I have been doing. Right or wrong. I think it is a question for the experts if any are still checking this thread.

[Frame57]

Akula, if you are using point an shoot targeting make sure you have a green triangle indicator on your scope. If you have not been seen and are at about 1000 yards. You should hit everytime. Also for your damage control party. Next time you are in port, you can select crew members from the roster on the far left. You do not need to use your existing crew for this. So you can have a complete DC party ready to roll.

[Akula4745]

Ah-ha! Thank you sir! I will remember that.

[XonE:32]

Ta for the tips on the Crew Management, I just realized I don't know how much of it applies as I'm running with Real Fleet Boat(RFB) 1.52 and the Run Silent Run Deep Campaign(RSRDC). I think I'll do what I usually do, but for whatever reason didn't do this time... I'll go RTFM for RFB 1.52. I assume they put the time in to write it so we'd read the damn thing lol. Guess I was too pumped to play.

[nfitzsimmons]

LOL XonE - my first was an IBM PS2... and I am still not sure it even had any RAM!

Hell, my first machine was an Atati 400 with 4k RAM. But then I upgraded to an Atari 800 with 48k RAM, the original Silent Service came our, and things progressed from there.

[Akula4745]

4k of RAM... good god, its hard to even fathom we ever ran such machines! Now I have 4 Gb... and will likely move to 8 Gb when I install winXP 64 bit OS!

You've come a long way, baby! <G>


Akula4745

[Task Force]

yep, sh3 & sh4 are great games.:up: Mods make it even better.:yep:

[Akula4745]

The new PC arrived yesterday (Wednesday)... and I was up until 4 AM playing again. This game is gonna be the death of me! LOL

Here are some pics for those who may be interested (click for larger image):
http://img103.imagevenue.com/loc154/th_07782_front_122_154lo.jpg (http://img103.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=07782_front_122_154lo.jpg)http://img162.imagevenue.com/loc628/th_04633_side_122_628lo.jpg (http://img162.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=04633_side_122_628lo.jpg)http://img249.imagevenue.com/loc6/th_04256_rear_122_6lo.jpg (http://img249.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=04256_rear_122_6lo.jpg)

List of basic goodies is:
NZXT Khaos Tower w/ 7 120mm fans
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz 1333FSB 12MB L2 Cache
500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
MSI P7N SLI-FI 750i SLI Chipset
4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Corsair RAM
Creative Labs SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio
NVIDIA GeForce GTX285 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card

And yes... I spent way too much. Lucky for me my wife loves me bunches! <G>

PS - I just love having the graphics turned all the way up!!

Akula4745

[owner20071963]

Good to know your Addicted :salute:
Ever get Lonely?
Try Multiplay with the guys
on our Website,
Then you will see players like you
enjoy a great game,
As well as Interacting
Live while in Gameplay :D

[AVGWarhawk]

The new PC arrived yesterday (Wednesday)... and I was up until 4 AM playing again. This game is gonna be the death of me! LOL

Here are some pics for those who may be interested (click for larger image):
http://img103.imagevenue.com/loc154/th_07782_front_122_154lo.jpg (http://img103.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=07782_front_122_154lo.jpg)http://img162.imagevenue.com/loc628/th_04633_side_122_628lo.jpg (http://img162.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=04633_side_122_628lo.jpg)http://img249.imagevenue.com/loc6/th_04256_rear_122_6lo.jpg (http://img249.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=04256_rear_122_6lo.jpg)

List of basic goodies is:
NZXT Khaos Tower w/ 7 120mm fans
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz 1333FSB 12MB L2 Cache
500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
MSI P7N SLI-FI 750i SLI Chipset
4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Corsair RAM
Creative Labs SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio
NVIDIA GeForce GTX285 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card

And yes... I spent way too much. Lucky for me my wife loves me bunches! <G>

PS - I just love having the graphics turned all the way up!!

Akula4745

Nice rig. This is from Cyberpower?

[MonTana_Prussian]

The new PC arrived yesterday (Wednesday)... and I was up until 4 AM playing again. This game is gonna be the death of me! LOL

Here are some pics for those who may be interested (click for larger image):
http://img103.imagevenue.com/loc154/th_07782_front_122_154lo.jpg (http://img103.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=07782_front_122_154lo.jpg)http://img162.imagevenue.com/loc628/th_04633_side_122_628lo.jpg (http://img162.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=04633_side_122_628lo.jpg)http://img249.imagevenue.com/loc6/th_04256_rear_122_6lo.jpg (http://img249.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=04256_rear_122_6lo.jpg)

List of basic goodies is:
NZXT Khaos Tower w/ 7 120mm fans
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz 1333FSB 12MB L2 Cache
500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
MSI P7N SLI-FI 750i SLI Chipset
4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Corsair RAM
Creative Labs SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio
NVIDIA GeForce GTX285 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card

And yes... I spent way too much. Lucky for me my wife loves me bunches! <G>

PS - I just love having the graphics turned all the way up!!

Akula4745

Super Akula! I had my son build me one 3 months ago,and I agree being able to max the graphics is really cool:up:

[Akula4745]

LOL Owner... yes apparently I am addicted... been that way for a while now!

Yes sir, Warhawk... its a Cyberpower machine.

Yeah Montana... there is a big difference between low and high in the game graphics! Wowser!

[MonTana_Prussian]

LOL Owner... yes apparently I am addicted... been that way for a while now!

Yes sir, Warhawk... its a Cyberpower machine.

Yeah Montana... there is a big difference between low and high in the game graphics! Wowser!

Yeah,my son is going to college in computer stuff,and is a big time gamer,so when I asked him to build me a michine...WOW!