GWX3 8/39-5/45 100%, completed whole war!!!

[Wulfmann]

I did it, I finally did it.
Since GW first came out, the real SH3 as far as I am concerned, I have managed to complete 2 1943 begun careers one in GWX2 and one in GWX3gold. I had only once started a beginning of war career that got me into 1944 and being over confident I tore into a convoy in September 1944 and died on mission 34.
I did 1943 careers a lot because I could get there from the beginning but not much further so needed to learn the end better hence many 43 lives.

This time, I found the secret. be a girly man, a wuz a puz a well, actually the secret was not attacking convoys after may 1943.
I also switched from my usual TypeVIIC at the end of 1941 to a TypeIXC because I had done a major Pauchenschlag edit of the RND and SCR mis files and wanted to get the real feel for it having just read the book Operation Drumbeat.
My big edit made me feel like I was living that book and I decided when 1943 came along I would not switch back to the 7c but patrol the south Atlantic and even into the Indian Ocean but with the less maneuverable and more vulnerable to DC attack 9C I only attacked convoys with long range out side the screen attacks.

I fought it out on the surface against armed merchant ship against my better judgment and lost my prime watch officer and 3 other men.
My war total was less than my one million plus in the 9/39-9/44 career with this career at 686,116 tons including 119 merchant ships 7DD types and one battleship for 127 ships sunk.

As we near SH5 had I not completed a total war career (I have played 100% for 4 years now) I would have been disappointed had I not done so at least this once.

Still, almost like in real life, you survive but there is no fanfare, no victory slaute just it is over.

If I get this far again I will transfer to Bergen so I can finally get a XXI.
I was at Trondheim so it was not available there, darn

Wulfmann

[Sledgehammer427]

congrats!

I'm going for broke in my current campaign, in a type IXB from the start of the war. Doing pretty well so far in December 1939

[Jaman]

Congratulations, thats no small feat.

[KeybdFlyer]

Throw your chest out and hold your head high! That's great, Wulfmann. Well done. :salute: I've been at this damn game (GAME!!??) just about the same length of time as yourself and have never made it past early 1944 - you have my admiration sir! (Same to anyone else who's made it to war's end!)

[Jimbuna]

Congratulations Kaleun http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/thumbsup.gif

Reaching wars end alive in GWX3.0 especially is quite an acheivement http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

[U2222]

Wulfmann, I salute you :salute:
I have never had your good fortune.
Sooner or later my luck runs out:arrgh!:

[bojan811]

Congratulations!

Well done!

[Wulfmann]

I had some very close calls that in career's past ended them but no matter how well you play this bad luck can and often does intervene.

One area that has doomed me in the past is getting radar warnings and watching to see how often they are reported as a means of determining distance.
This being with rainy weather!!
In this career I was caught by a Frigate who was literally on my 180.
Normally I dive and normally I die.
However, because i have died so often I cranked it up to emergency and since he was kind enough to be exactly on my 180 I got the biggest career saving break by taking him out with a , well not a down the throat shot so must be an out the butt shot:rotfl2:

In truth what made the difference is the extended visual range. before that frigate would have been under 300 meters before I would have known it and could not fire at that close a range.

Another time I was caught on the surface by two big bombers and my engines would not start. I had them on emergency but just sat there. Severe damage caused my boat to dive or I would have been done for and I was able to reverse the plunge at 200 meters with enough damage control.

I had over 28K renown saved up for a XXI but never used it as one has to be based at Bergen to buy one.
Oh well, maybe I will start a 1944 career and change the price from 20K to 500 and see what they are like

Only someone that plats GWX3Gold at 100% (No eye of God either) would understand why posting this at all means something.

Wulfmann

[Captain Birdseye]

:salute:

[Brag]

Congratahoochies, Wulfman :D:salute::D:salute:

[94cruiser]

It's mid 1941 for me and I play at around 71% or so
While I sip on Stiegl made in Austira I salute you!

Basically I have external view, 'auction veiw" and help in torp calucations.

goodspeed.
I've upgraded to type VIIC

[Snestorm]

Man the rails. Attention to port. S A L U T E ! ! !
Well done. Outstanding job.
The furthest I ever got was December 1944 in a IXB.
Crash dived for aircraft in AM52. Then a bunch of DDs showed up.
After a couple of hours, of not being able to shake them, I decided to go deeper.
At 182 meters, pop went the uboat.

You'll get that XXI, Wulfmann. You've earned it !

[Sailor Steve]

Good job!:sunny:

I doubt that I will ever go from the beginning to the end of the war - partly because I keep starting over every time a new mod comes out that changes the look of the harbors, but mainly because I use SH3Cdr's 'Realistic Career Length' function, which forces retirement after a year or two at sea.

[U2222]

Good job!:sunny:

I doubt that I will ever go from the beginning to the end of the war - partly because I keep starting over every time a new mod comes out that changes the look of the harbors, but mainly because I use SH3Cdr's 'Realistic Career Length' function, which forces retirement after a year or two at sea.

Same here - reinstall with the layest update and start all over again from fresh.
I don't expect another GWX mod and I am happy with my mods so I can sit back and sail into oblivion and might even reach 45.
If SHV does not rock my boat I've always got SH3 to fall back on:hmmm:

[nikbear]

One hell of an achievment:salute::salute::salute: Savour the moment:yeah::03:

[Wulfmann]

Good job!:sunny:
I doubt that I will ever go from the beginning to the end of the war - partly because I keep starting over every time a new mod comes out that changes the look of the harbors, but mainly because I use SH3Cdr's 'Realistic Career Length' function, which forces retirement after a year or two at sea.

Realistically no kaleun would have done more than 15-16 missions tops so that is more true to life.

but, Wolf packs were also true to life and we do not have them.

With the possibilities of bad luck a minor mistake or a whole variety of difficulties playing 100% no redo from start to finish GWX3 is the ultimate challenge in SH3.
To me it is.
I do a fairly heavy mod of GWX3. To start with I have no AS vessels under crew rating of 3 and I increase the number of convoy escorts early 43 on my a large amount among other stuff.

I just wanted an entire war career because it is the most difficult thing I know of to accomplish in this venue..
Unfortunately when i tell the check out girl at the grocery store I did all that she still expects me to pay for my groceries.:rotfl2:

Ergo, it don't mean nothing.
Except for the great fun in Paucehschlag (Not only was it a major redo of mis files for 1942 it is when I added the very nice Iambecomelife merchant ships) I hardly remember any details.
I can't even remember sinking the battleship, don't remember what class it was. I will look that up
I started the career in May but had to do a major mod in a flight sim so took 4 weeks off then 2 more from sea duty. I was afraid being away would cause a major slip but while it did cause a few minor ones this time my luck held, this was the only time in 4 years my luck held.

Wulfmann

[mookiemookie]

Congratulations! Never done it myself. :up:

[onelifecrisis]

Congratulations Wulfmann :yeah:

[deka]

:salute: congratulations :yeah:

[unterseemann]

Congrats!
i'd just like to know your tonnage in 44-45 and your favorite hunting grounds. I did patrols in 44 with GWX 3.0 100% and was happy to return to port alive with 10.000 tons or less sunk. I think you should make some kind of summary about this carreer, i mean present your boat, captain, flotillas, highlights...

[tomfon]

Well done Wulfmann. Congrats. :sunny:

[Wulfmann]

Congrats!
i'd just like to know your tonnage in 44-45 and your favorite hunting grounds. I did patrols in 44 with GWX 3.0 100% and was happy to return to port alive with 10.000 tons or less sunk. I think you should make some kind of summary about this career, i mean present your boat, captain, flotillas, highlights...

1944 and 45 were survival years. I will check the logs as I have saved that career outside the game to be able to do exactly what you referenced.

From the beginning of 44 on i did not operate within a single convoy. Any attacks were made from outside and when the screen was half past me. I would fire 4 forward tubes at 30 second intervals then turn the boat to face about 240 and fire one stern tube (always saved the Homeboy in case). This way by the time any torpedo hit (luck really no more) I was already far enough away for the escorts to consider looking there.
I play on my game PC so I will later retrieve a screen of two ships I sank in a Arctic convoy which shows the closest I ever got.
I stayed at Lorient until ordered to Trondheim and making the run was the only time I was in the NA area after the fall of 1943.
Being a Type IXC I adhered to the design concept of the long range raider not a NA convoy attack boat.
Before 1942 I was a TypeVIIC and I was a hard charger always attacking inside the convoy but the 7C can dive deeper faster and is tougher against DC attacks.

In 1943 U-Boats became the hunted and I adapted the strategy of real wolves. Lurk in the shadows, strike at lone merchant ships, remain hidden, unseen.
Never force the issue, patience patience patience patience.
If caught by a AS ship dive only after having fired all tubes in an attempt to prevent DCing
A wolf can not beat a rifle in the woods unless he makes sure the rifleman can not see him at all and that was my method from 43 on.
I will post those tonnage figures later.

Thanks for all the congrats, almost surprised anyone noticed at all but knowing how hard this has been I guess I am not alone at the impossible dream of a complete end to end career

Wulfmann

[sergei]

That's some good advice there for late war survival.
I'll bear it in mind if I ever make it that far!
And congratulations :DL

[Ping Panther]

:up: Congrats! :salute::know:

[nikbear]

Very good advice indeed,and I intend to follow it as well,its good to be able to see which tactics you used and at which times it became more useful to employ your different methods:03:
If you get the chance to post some more information,such as hunting grounds,tactics,observations,'42 onwards and such like,I'm sure Ill not be the only one who would appreciate it,as unterseemann mentioned,any help from someone who's seen it through till the end is invaluable:salute::salute::salute:

[Sub146]

Well done , that's quite an achievement :salute:

[Wulfmann]

Here is the breakdown.
U51 TypeVIIC from August 1939 through December 1941
Sank HMS Nelson on second patrol (first with war declared) for 62K total on that patrol.
Followed all assigned grids and patrolled the convoy lanes off Ireland both north and south moving further out to sea as war progressed and air patrols intensified.
In 15 war patrols sank 386K and then transferred to U509 TypeIXC
At this point I added IAMBECOMELIFE's merchant ship mod and after reading "Operation Drumbeat" i edited the Rnd and SCR mission files to reflect my take on that book's account. IMO, GWX had more air and destroyer patrols than history suggested and not enough traffic. I really feel like the 8 months on 1942 in US waters was reliving that book with those extra mods.
It was indeed the second happy time as 1941 was less productive in my 7C than 39 and 40.
In my 9C and 4 Pauchenschlag patrols i sank 178K of shipping.
The rest of 42 netted 12K
1943 saw me operating in the south Atnatic and I sank a ship in the straits of Madagascar. I was attacked by an aircraft that seemed to have penguins as a pilots, unconfirmed!!:rotfl2:No more convoy attacks in 9C as i stated earlier and 43 netted 54K total
1944 I had 5 patrols for 44K (Odd number for that year). 11K of that was transferring to Trondheim, Norway where I did my best to be undetected and stayed away from convoys reported in my area.
1945 I operated strictly off Bear Island and just south of the convoy lanes where an occasional ship passed. I sank 2 ships in one of the convoys (screen below) I did not place myself in the lanes but stayed far enough south so I could move to a distant intercept where I could launch long range Hail Mary attacks.
I ignored all grid areas ordered (One was off Capetown all the way from Trondheim, yeah, right!!):down:

As you can see I had 565K of my 686K total by September 1942 so I played it safe as i could from that point on.
I had considered switching back to a TypeVIIC after Paucheschlag but I wanted to have renown for a type XXI for one reason the upgrade time eliminates about 2 1/2 months of combat in 45 but did not realize i could not buy that XXI in Trondheim.
next time i will know to transfer to Bergen at the end of 44.

Wulfmann

This is my 1945 convoy attack off Bear Island. This is as close as I ever got to any convoy when I moved to the Type IXC
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/Wulfmann/Arctic-45.jpg

[sergei]

You know it wouldn't have occurred to me to switch to a type IX later in the war. I figured as the war progressed they would just be a liability.
But I follow your logic.
The extra range allows you to probe for weak points where you can find targets that are not in convoy (as by this point all ships in the North Atlantic would be escorted)
And all those extra torpedoes allow you to do plenty on Hail Mary shots on convoys from nice and far away.
Something to think about.

[Platapus]

I completed a full war career.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=132844

I did it once, but I don't think I would ever do it again. Late 44 and early 45 is simply not all that much fun.

Congratulations. Completing a full war career is like sky-diving, everyone should do it once! :salute:

[Wulfmann]

Platapus, may I ask if that was GWX3 and at 100%.

I had 28K in renown and did not get a snorkel because I wanted to upgrade the XXI I was getting that because i was not in Bergen I could not get so I to went the distance without a snorkel.

In a past career I was sunk with a snorkel because I had no idea I was being bombed until it was too late so in SH3 the snorkel is not the benefit it was in real life, at least not in my experience. It seems aircraft can spot it as easy as your boat on the surface but you do not know it so are a sitting duck.

Any other thoughts on using the snorkel???

Wulfmann

[Mopy]

Oh man, I've been trying to finish the war in a DiD at 100% since the game was released. Big congrats to you Wulfmann. Hope to join you before SH5.

[Wulfmann]

I should add I always play DiD even i do something stupid like run into land at 2048X:wah: (yes, I have done that).
No redo no matter what killed me.

Wulfmann

[Randomizer]

Any other thoughts on using the snorkel???
Virtually all my favorite SH3 careers are late war and in shallow waters off the UK. Very challenging but without prospects for much renown. My single patrol record so far is 51-days submerged during which I made six attacks sinking two merchants and a Hunt Class DD for 19,000 tons during 22 submerged days spent hunting the Irish Sea in January '45. Sank a third merchant while transiting the Hebrides Channel on the way back to Bergan.

As for snorkelling:

Enable the God's Eye view, it sucks but it is the only way to spot aircraft unless you want to spend the patrol glued to the observation scope at 1:1 TC.

When snorkelling, zoom to the 2500m map screen and never exceed x32 TC. You will generally spot planes at 3000-5000 metres which gives you long enough to get the mast down and crash dive in time to avoid major damage. High TC + Snorkel = Death.

When in your patrol area it's better to snorkel several times a day for short periods to keep the batteries near to 100% charge. This preserves your options should you get a hydrophone contact.

High seas will lengthen the time needed to ventilate the boat and put a charge in.