New guy has lots of questions

[mello85]

Heyya everyone :salute:. I just picked this game up a few days ago and WOW, I can't believe 4 sequels made it past me unnoticed...This is the best game ever!

I have a couple of questions I was hoping you all could answer.

1. Is there any way to change the color of the little triangle that changes green when it's time to fire torpedoes?

2. How can I make my crew rest? By the time I make it to the middle of the Pacific from Midway, most of my men are fatigued.

I'll post more questions later, I had so many but I just got radio contact - large convoy heading north 185 degrees, 10 merchants with 3 destroyer escort :arrgh!:

thanks in advance!

[Ducimus]

1.) Nope, not really. Its a function of AutoTDC. It disappears entirely if you switch to manual targeting.

2.) Crew rotation should be automatic. Be sure to NOT leave your crew at battlestations after whatever action you were doing is over.

[mello85]

2.) Crew rotation should be automatic. Be sure to NOT leave your crew at battlestations after whatever action you were doing is over.could you explain that a bit? you mean that (like in the picture below) the guys on the top row are on duty and the guys on the bottom row are resting? I have 2 men on the bow gun at all times, and I leave them regardless of what I'm doing - when I dive they just disappear, what are the repercussions of doing that?

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/307/capturem.jpg

A few more questions

3. when I go back to Midway to refit my sub, the game gets really laggy when I get close to port with time compression set to more than about x256. Is there a fix for this? It happens whenever I get to within 25 nautical miles of a port, not just midway.

4. How can I upgrade my submarine? I just got done with my 3rd patrol and I got a message that went something like: "As you pull your sub into the dock, the mechanics are already scratching their heads...the admiral is pissed because you lost your sub" (I don't understand this, I didn't lose it, although I did take some hits which I promply repaired) and I have an option to resign in good standing, or continue with my career in a new sub

Is this the game's way of assigning me to a better submarine as I progress through the game? The new sub is a bit better, the first one had 4 bow torpedo tubes and 2 stern, while the new sub has 6 and 4 respectively. Below is a screenshot of what upgrades I currently have available, as you can see, it's not much and I don't see the option for a second AA gun, another deck gun, or any new types of torpedoes. Do more upgrades become available later? or are these all the upgrades there are for this specific submarine?

(sorry about the small screenshot, I'm trying to keep this forum-friendly)
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/8538/sh4img20091211215803807.png


5. What does the large circle around the ship in the picture below indicate? His line of visual sight? or his surface radar? Destroyers have 3 of those circles, I know the innermost one (the smallest is their sonar, I learned that very quickly :P) but what about the other two?

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/2532/capture1cc.jpg

More questions to come! Stay tuned :timeout:

Again, thanks in advance! :03:

btw, I love these smileys :O:

[WarlordATF]

Welcome!

I'll try to answer a few of your questions. As for the crew, the black bar on the crew page shows which watch is currently on duty, i believe each watch lasts for 4 hours and then the black bar will highlight the next watch on duty.The off duty watches will rest as needed automaticly.

As for leaving your guns crewed, thats not such a good idea if your submerged. If you get depth charged the gunners can be wounded or killed very easily because to the game they are outside the boat.

As for the Time compression near ports, its pretty much that way for all of us. The game drops time compression when new contacts are detected, so you have to keep turning the time compression on. You could also remove the current watch from sonar and radar positions and you will only drop time compression when a visual target is detected, but that can be very dangerous because an enemy could sneak up on you so i would not recommend that.

Upgrades become available over time, in the stock game i think you can only upgrade your Air and Surface Radar,AA Guns and Deckgun. While in port between missions click on the sub on your desk and click on the tab for upgrades, then just click on each item and check the list at the left to see if anything new is available yet.

Hope this helps! After you get used to the game be sure to check out some of the mods available here. Trigger Maru Overhaul,Real Fleet Boat and Operation Monsun are all outstanding and dramaticly improve the game in many ways.

[I'm goin' down]

You do not know how lucky you are. Ducimus is the man behind TMO 1.9, a super mod. You will understand that later.

You seem to be at the beginning, as you are using auto targeting. For faster speed near port download Webster's faster speed mod. You will have to figure out JGSME, which is a program that activates mods. I will reread your post and add more later if necessary.

[I'm goin' down]

I believe the small circle around the target is active sonar and the large circle is radar. See the following post http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/ai.htm (http://www.ducimus.net/sh415/ai.htm)"

If I am wrong someone will correct me.

Work on auto targeting until you are proficient and then give manual targeting a shot.

[I'm goin' down]

I assume you are playing a career. When you start the career, you can choose between several boats. Choose one that has lots of torpedoes, such as a Porpoise class. Later on you will be offered an upgrade. I play with a Gato and Gar. Much later, you will be offered a Balao. Everyone has their favorite.

On your settings, if you are in auto mode, give yourself unlimited torpedoes, so you can demolish as many boats as possible. I would use auto targeting as a way to get introduced the game. Manual targeting takes work and time to master, but there are tutorials and videos to guide you through the various machinations.:salute:

[Armistead]

Take time to read the SHIV guide. Great place to start.

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6421019045/m/4351073726/p/1

[mello85]

Excellent stuff, thanks gentlemen. It will take me a while to soak up all the information in the guides you guys have linked to, so I should be pretty busy for a while :up:

I am truly amazed at the amount of depth in this game...(pun intended :haha:)
There is so much more I have yet to learn. I've got the basic idea of what to do, but I still feel like I'm making noob mistakes...I'm playing on 0 realism, but I think it's time to start switching some of those realism settings on. For instance I find myself getting in the habit of using the ahead flank speed way too often, which with limited fuel turned on would equate to a relatively short trip I imagine...


one more question before I hit the hay...

6. Is it possible to switch to a different submarine while in dock? or does the game give you promotions to different subs as you progress through the game?

Thanks a bunch guys :rock:

[I'm goin' down]

I do not know about auto targeting, but when you start a career, you can choose your boat from a selection offered. It depends on the year as to which boats are available. [Note, In career mode, when you are in the office click on the books the left shelf. One of the books will list your options for game play. It may not list the boat, but it will give you game options which will last for the career unless you change them when you return to port.] I believe your boat choice is listed on the main menu when you first select your career start date (that may not be correct. It is somewhere in that area.) Your boat selection is the least of your problems at this point.

[peabody]

Welcome Mello85,

On the question about the TC when nearing a port, it is a "feature" and partially eye candy. As was stated as you near ships is slows you down, if it didn't as you fly across the ocean at 1000X and came across a convoy you would either fly right by or the Destroyers would demolish you ship before you had time to slow down, remember they will be dropping Depth Charges at 1000X too.
As for the ports, they added ships to make it more realistic, but also added ships outside the harbor for the same reason I just stated, to slow you down. If you came sailing in at high time compression you would not stop and would run aground and most likely destroy the sub and end your career. Problem is, in some places they overdid it a bit and it can take forever to get into some ports.

Like was also mentioned the dark group is on duty, if you select "Battle Stations" you will notice the other bars will get darker, an indication everyone is "on duty", and a reminder to take them off battlestations as soon as you can or the fatigue level will really go up. Sometimes to the point that the sub will stop right in the middle of the ocean, and you will be scratching your head wondering why. So if you come to a stop and you are not near land, ships or a base, that is probably the reason. It gets asked a million times.

Also, your fatigue levels will vary a lot, you may have looked at them right before one group went to "sleep" so the level was high.

Peabody

[magic452]

Just go at your own pace in upping the difficulty, I'd leave batteries and dud torpedoes till last. Sink lots o' stuff and have lots o' fun than go to manual targeting. These last three are game changers and take some getting use too. I played medium stock for some time and really enjoyed it, than I moved up. Medium difficulty it's a game, once you go the last three it becomes a simulation.

Welcome aboard mate, were here to help so just fire away with any questions you may have.

Magic

[I'm goin' down]

Yes, magic has good practical advice. When you get into mods and manual targeting, the game gets much harder. Some mods are eye candy (i.e. the great white shark mod). Some like TMO 1.9 are challenging and prove really tough when played a full realism.

I am playing a Dick O'Kane single mission where I am constantly dodging airplanes to the point where I have to save the game every five minutes just so I don't have to start over from scratch when my boat is sunk. I finally added a mod to reduce the number of airplanes because I could not take it any longer. After an hour or more, I finally came across a destroyer (dd) and subchaser (de?), and sank one -- kind of like hunting for elk and shooting a squirrel. If I had been playing 1.9, I probably would have been spotted before I got a shot off and would be on the bottom with earplugs stuffed in my ears to lessen the noise.

[mello85]

Thanks for the advice guys :yeah:

Another question.

7. When attacking convoys, what is the trick to dispatching the escort destroyers when they are zigzaging in a very unpredictable manner? In the screenshot below, as the convoy got within visual range, one of the destroyers was zigzaging almost directly towards where I was positioned, at least 6-7 nautical miles from the rest of the convoy. Is this normal? He did not spot me...I have been at periscope depth since I first made sound contact. What is the protocol for dealing with situations like this?

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/192/capturejdl.jpg

[I'm goin' down]

If the dd has you on radar, which may be the case at long distance, you should plan on diving under the radar arc. A zig zag pattern may not be on a fixed course, so tracking by TDC to predict the torpedo intercept point man not be feasible. If the dd is ahead of the convoy, follow the dd on radar until it passes your position, proceed to periscope depth after, and go after the convoy which is following it.

In TMO 1.9, remaining at periscope depth when a destroyer is closing can be risky as there is a good chance it will spot you, especially later in the war.

[sergei]

Leave the escort. Your job is to sink merchants.
Fine, if it is a lightly escorted convoy, and the escort is on a steady course, then go for it.
But otherwise ignore the escorts and maneuver into a good firing position to sink some freighters.
Wait for the lead escort to run by you.
Their SOP is to run straight for 20 mins or so, then they will pick a direction left or right of the convoys track and circle it. Do not let this freak you out. They are just fishing.
As long as they are not heading straight for you with a bone between their teeth you can be pretty sure they do not know where you are.
Again - DO NOT PANIC!
Be about two or three of thousand yards off of his track so that if he does start circling towards you he does not run straight over you.
Stay silent and patient!

[sergei]

Ah good point 'I'm goin down'.
I play lots of early war careers so I did not anticipate radar usage!

[Col. Caldwell]

I usually don't target the escorts unless they detect me. I prefer to attack the merchants first, then deal with the escorts later.

[sergei]

I usually don't target the escorts unless they detect me. I prefer to attack the merchants first, then deal with the escorts later.

Yeah, I usually deal with them by running away praying to God they don't get me this time!

[mello85]

I have been sinking entire convoys up until now, I guess I must have just been getting lucky. Normally when the escort DDs travel in a straight line I can sink them easily, then I surface and clean up the merchant ships with the deck gun. I have never had a destroyer "fish" like the one I encountered just now. Then again I also have never taken on large convoys...just regular ones (3 escort ships max)

I only destroyed 2 out of the 4 destroyers and 1 merchant ship in that particular convoy before they got away. Not a bad day, but I was hoping for more.

Sinking the destroyers is so much more rewarding than destroying the merchant ships :P

[magic452]

When you encounter a zig zaging DD have your sonar man fallow the nearest warship, If he suddenly picks up speed to fast, he's got you pegged dive and get out of there or be prepared to fight. If he's heading at you but at the same speed he's most likely fishing. Don't leave the fallow nearest WS on too long as the sonar won't update the rest of the convoy.

It is rewarding to sink escorts so enjoy it while you can "cause as you go to manual targeting it is much more difficult to do. That's why I suggested you play go slow and enjoy each new thing you add.

Take it easy on the ships and save a few for me. :up:

Magic

[mello85]

Take it easy on the ships and save a few for me. :up: hehe, oh I'm sure there are plenty :D

I just sank my first heavy cruiser... that was pretty darn sweet. Placed 4 torpedoes in his starboard, he blew up real good :|\\

Note the date at the top of the screenshot...8/05/1942
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/4913/sh4img20091213005004388.th.jpg (http://img690.imageshack.us/i/sh4img20091213005004388.jpg/)
This is on the same patrol, no other ships were engaged between now and when I sank the cruiser...again note the date...8/12/1942. So it's 7 days after, and my torpedo tubes are still not reloaded...what gives!?
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/6152/sh4img20091213014627761.th.jpg (http://img690.imageshack.us/i/sh4img20091213014627761.jpg/)
I feel like I should mention I did change some realism settings, realistic reload times is one that I enabled. Surely this isn't making my crew reload so slow is it?


I'm gonna hit the rack and call it quits tonight, again thanks a lot for your continued help folks...:salute:



(http://img10.imageshack.us/i/sh4img20091213015130863.jpg/)

[WarlordATF]

Some mods are eye candy (i.e. the great white shark mod).

Not trying to hijack this thread, but where can i find this mod?

[I'm goin' down]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but where can i find this mod?

I could not find the thread. I have seen it twice. I downloaded it once and activated it ,but never saw any fish. I suggest posting in either the main forum of the mod forum.

[magic452]

Realistic reload should not take that long. Make sure that you are not on silent running. No reloading will take place when silent.
# 1 has started in but work stopped so silent running may by why.
If you stay on silent or battle station too long the crew gets fatigued and stop work.

Tip # 1 battle stations will get the torpedoes loaded faster, but remember to turn it off.

Magic

[mello85]

yeah, thats exactly what it was. I turned it on to make a quiet getaway and didn't turn it off. :damn:

[Sniper297]

One correction, the outer circle for ships with sonar (which is the only circle for ships without) is the visual range, most Japanese ships didn't have radar even late in the war.

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/4894/79906560.jpg

If you're on the surface, given the conditions of ideal visibility (clear weather, calm seas, daylight) and alert lookouts (warships have better lookouts than merchants) they will see you if you're inside that outer circle. Darkness, rain, fog, heavy seas, speed, and other factors reduce the range, if you're moving slowly and flooded down to 25 feet ("decks awash") and facing directly toward or away from the target you can get much closer without being seen. Obviously if you're submerged you can't be seen.

The smaller circle for an escort is the passive sonar, the arc cut out at the back is noise interference from his own propellers - if you're behind him he can't hear your propellers, he can only hear his own. Anywhere else in that yellow area he might or might not hear you depending on how close you are and how much noise you're making, running at high speed and loading torpedoes close to him is considered "bad".

The red half circle is the active sonar, the "pings". Best way to avoid both is to go deep, when you hear "Passing thermal layer!", go down another 50 to 60 feet below that and his pinging will bounce off the layer. Sneak away quietly, I generally use the compass tool to draw a five mile circle from point of last contact, when I'm outside that it's safe to come back to periscope depth and look around.

[I'm goin' down]

sniper, great post. :yeah: I started a thread called Sonar and AI revisited (i think that is what is was called). In it I included Ducimus' link explaining the concepts of sonar, etc. Rockin Robbins posted that the thread was very useful and he intended to include it in his Captain's tricks, etc. sticky in the SH4 fourm. You might want to call his attention to your post above, and suggest that it be included in his sticky thread. It is well displayed and an excellent explanation/tutorial.:salute:

[Sniper297]

Well, I was a US Navy Aviation ASW Tech so you would THINK I'd have a head start on this, but sometimes I think the AI destroyers are cheating and using the Psychic Friends Hotline or something. They did model the capabilities and limitations of WWII sonar fairly well, so in general try to avoid high speed running in that passive sonar arc, stay out of the active arc, and after the attack go deep and get under a thermal layer to sneak away at low speed. The AI is pretty simple, instead of changing course after detecting a sub they usually continue on the original course, with some of the escorts continuing to search in the area of the lost contact. They rarely if ever do expanding searches, so of you move away from the original course line at 90 degrees for at least five miles, you can almost always surface and start another end-around run from there.

[PurpleCity]

Excellent stuff, thanks gentlemen. It will take me a while to soak up all the information in the guides you guys have linked to, so I should be pretty busy for a while :up:

I am truly amazed at the amount of depth in this game...(pun intended :haha:)
There is so much more I have yet to learn. I've got the basic idea of what to do, but I still feel like I'm making noob mistakes...I'm playing on 0 realism, but I think it's time to start switching some of those realism settings on. For instance I find myself getting in the habit of using the ahead flank speed way too often, which with limited fuel turned on would equate to a relatively short trip I imagine...

Thanks a bunch guys :rock:

It took me about a year before I started using manual targeting. Pointing your periscope and firing is a good great for learning the basics, but there's nothing like the truly satisfying feeling you get after sinking a ship by manually calculating (or even guesstimating) a firing solution.

[mello85]

It took me about a year before I started using manual targeting. Pointing your periscope and firing is a good great for learning the basics, but there's nothing like the truly satisfying feeling you get after sinking a ship by manually calculating (or even guesstimating) a firing solution.

hehe, I can imagine.

@Sniper297: Thanks for that pic, that cleared up a lot for me. I've been able to get in much closer knowing approximately when they can detect me :ping:

A few more questions...

8. I ended a patrol earlier today and was awarded a half-cut conning tower upgrade for my submarine, which I was ecstatic about since the walls always kept getting in the way whenever I tried to fire the AA gun. Unfortunately, something bugged the game and when I went into the upgrade screen I noticed that I had a whole bunch of upgrades available which I'm pretty sure weren't supposed to be there. (SJ radar, improved SD radar, etc) When I fitted the sub with the above mentioned upgrades, my 3 gunners dissapeared from their positions on the guns (deck and AA). I decided to load the game to "upon entering port" and this time I was not offered the half cut conning tower upgrade...:wah: What's worse, none of the upgrades I mentioned above were available either.

Is this just a random thing the game awards you with? This all happened sometime around June 1942, is there a specific time frame in which the game awards you with certain upgrades?

9. About the torpedoes, are there any other torpedoes in the game other than the mark 10 and mark 14?

10. Does this game have an end? Could I still go out on patrols in the 50's? 60's? :O: Does the career end at the time the war ends?

Thanks!

[magic452]

There has been a lot of issues with the cut down tower and missing gunners is one of them. Stick with you old tower for now, should straighten out next patrol. That is what it is a time issue.

#9 There is the MK. 27, which is a Mk.14 with no low speed setting. You'll see this next.
A mk18 electric, no wake and a little bigger warhead, shorter range.
A mk27 cutie small homing torp. very small warhead but is useful against DDs. only has a speed of 10Kn.

#10 Well maybe you can but there wouldn't be much to do!
Sink an IJN carrier after 14 Aug. 45 and you'll be busting rocks along side Rockin Robbins. :haha:

Magic

[mello85]

wow, it's been a while!

I hope you all had a great holiday season! :up:

I think I'm ready to tear up a few more bogey merchants in the west pacific. I've been doing a bit of practice wherever I can, but I would like to start playing around with manual targeting.

I've checked several threads here on subsim regarding manual targeting, but I was not able to find any tutorial videos. If you guys would be so kind as to point me to a thread/link or two that would get me started I would really appreciate it. Also, I've heard some talk about tutorial patrols where you go up against a single merchant just for manual targeting practice. If you could, please link me to a few of those as well.

Again, I would like to thank you guys very much. It would have taken me months, if not more to figure this game out by myself. All the information you have provided and continue to provide have been invaluable. I really appreciate it.

-mello85

oh and don't laugh at my broke @$$ excuse for a signature...it was a quickie paint job :oops::D

[I'm goin' down]

Here is a brilliant tutorial on manual targeting. I recommend that the tutorial be used as a desktop reference until you figure it out. It is Hitman's Tutorial for 100% realism manual targeting (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=111998&highlight=tutorial). A link is also located Neal's sticky in the mods forum. The key is understanding aspect ratio, as it enables a skipper to launch attacks when a target is at steep angle. Once you have the basics down, then Rockin Robbins collection of tutorials in his sticky in this forum make mores sense. Word of advice: Check your firing solution on the Attack Map. When the solution is spot on you are making progress.

In addtion, the Easy Aob and SCAF (Ship Centered Accuracy Fix) mods, the later mod which is incorporated into several super mods, are game fixes that aid in determination of aspect ratio/manual targeting. SCAF has been around for awhile. Easy Aob came on the scene in July, 2009 via Nicolas from Guatemala and ddrgn from Canada.

[Armistead]

With the stock game you get all the options long before they historically were available, radar, sonar, decoys, torps, ect.

Most Supermods correct that and options become available more correctly. You don't get decoys until 45 is some of them..which is correct.

The other thing that sucks. You can have the best equipment on a older sub. You take a new sub, you have to have points to upgrade. No points, you make be taking a Balao out to sea without radar.

[mello85]

I've been playing with 60% realism for the past few days, desperately trying to understand and grasp how to calculate the angle on bow with very little success. Unfortunately many of the links to guides are no longer available (for instance, http://www.subsim.com/radioroom//showthread.php?t=148000)

I could figure out the AOB using the map, for instance it is approximately 30 degrees in the screenshot below:

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5134/captureaui.jpg

but I have no idea exactly how to plug that information into the TDC

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/1219/capture2b.jpg

Any help would be greatly appreciated, this is the only thing I am having trouble with. I can estimate the target speed and distance with relatively little or no problems at all.

[magic452]

As per your example, you have about 30° AoB and you are looking at the port side of the target. Rotate the ring on the AoB dial to 3 (3=30) on the P port side of the dial. Left click on the black part of the dial and hold to rotate. Click the red button with the little triangle on it to send AoB to the Position Keeper (PK).

It looks like you have the target in sight so the angle you see on the AoB dial should look very much like what you see in the periscope. It takes some practice but pretty soon you will be able to set AoB by just looking at the target and adjusting by what you see on the attack map with contacts ON.

Set speed by using the 3 minute rule and use the Steady meter for range and bearing and send to PK same as AoB.

Magic

[I'm goin' down]

Proceed to Neal's sticky in the mod forum and download the Easy Aob mod. Read the posts, starting with Nicolas' through ddgrn's, to figure out how it works. It was runner up for mod of the year.

[mello85]

As per your example, you have about 30° AoB and you are looking at the port side of the target. Rotate the ring on the AoB dial to 3 (3=30) on the P port side of the dial. Left click on the black part of the dial and hold to rotate. Click the red button with the little triangle on it to send AoB to the Position Keeper (PK).

It looks like you have the target in sight so the angle you see on the AoB dial should look very much like what you see in the periscope. It takes some practice but pretty soon you will be able to set AoB by just looking at the target and adjusting by what you see on the attack map with contacts ON.

Set speed by using the 3 minute rule and use the Steady meter for range and bearing and send to PK same as AoB.

Magic

Thanks! I'll go try that now.

@I'm goin' down - unfortunately I am running version 1.4, and the easy AOB mod is only compatible with 1.5. I am under the impression that 1.5 is U-boat missions, which I don't think I want to get just yet.

This mod is tested compatible with SH4 1.5 stock, GFO, TMO 1.7 and RFB 1.52.

[gutted]

@I'm goin' down - unfortunately I am running version 1.4, and the easy AOB mod is only compatible with 1.5. I am under the impression that 1.5 is U-boat missions, which I don't think I want to get just yet.Even if you dont intend to play with the U-Boats.. 1.5 is still the latest version of the game with the latest fixes.

But I agree though, its almost like paying for a patch if you dont ever use the U-Boats. But, then agan.. think of all the mods you will be able to use.

[Urge]

Quote:
Originally Posted by I'm goin' down http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/haylazblue/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=1218177#post1218177)
Some mods are eye candy (i.e. the great white shark mod).

Not trying to hijack this thread, but where can i find this mod?

I have this mod but have never seen the shark. The name is "JoC-Haifisch-SH4-1.0". If you can't find it post here or PM me and I will send it to Sailor Steve to include in the downloads section.

Urge

[mello85]

How's it going folks! It's been a while and I'm back with yet another question!

I've been having somewhat of a hard time identifying ships, especially during night attacks. Just as an example, I engaged what I thought was a Coastal Composite Freighter just now and it actually turned out to be a Small Modern Composite Freighter. I fired 3 fishes at a depth of about 12-13ft, (the coastal composite had a draft of 18 feet. 2 of the fish missed, they went right underneath her, and the last one hit. As she sank I looked at my patrol log and it turned out that she was actually a Small Modern Composite, which has a draft of 12 feet!

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1791/49315231.jpg

As you can see there is no way of distinguishing which is which by using the recognition manual. I remember reading somewhere here on Subsim about the recognition manual having some false information. Is there a mod to fix this? A bit of help with identifying ships would be much appreciated, normally I look at the hull design, masts, smokestacks, and command deck when trying to identify, but I feel like I am spending waaaay too much time in that phase. Sometimes it takes me a few minutes before I am doubly sure about the target ID.

Also, I am having a hard time getting proper torpedo solutions just by using the periscope tools. I find myself looking at the attack map more often than not just to correct the solution. Is this just one of those things that comes with time? I honestly can't say that I've ever fired (or I should say sank) an enemy ship without looking at the attack map and correcting my solution. It seems that my range and aob is off, not by much, but enough to where I just miss.


I picked up the uboat missions expansion a few days ago. I'll start playing around with the easyAOB mod this evening.

Thanks in advance!

:salute:

[jerm138]

As for the fish missing the target, it probably had less to do with mis-identification, and more to do with the fact that the Mark 14 torpedo sucked.

See this article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_14_torpedo

Apparently, the problems are modeled into the game, so early in the war, your fish tend to run about 10 feet deep (sometimes more.) Just last night I fired two at a ship with a 24 foot draft. I set the depth to 12 feet to compensate and hopefully hit at 22 feet, but they still passed right under him. Now I always set all of them for minimum depth. Also, try not to hit them at exactly 90° since you'll get more duds that way.

[mello85]

I should have probably mentioned that I have dud torpedoes turned off. I played with it on for some time but it's really frustrating when you fire 3 fish at a merchant and one fish goes in circles, the other detonates half-way to the target, and the third bounces straight off the hull. :damn:

It's not really my idea of fun :doh:

[jerm138]

Yeah... I currently have duds turned on. I've been pretty lucky with them, though. If I start getting them a lot, I'm turning them off.

I see both sides. On the one hand, you want historical accuracy, but on the other hand you don't want to spend hours of your time playing a simulator if it's pre-programmed to not let you kill the enemy no matter what you do.

Sure, the duds give you a sense of the frustration that sub commanders had, but not being able to shower was frustrating too, and I'm not about to go down that "immersive" road.

[mello85]

Sure, the duds give you a sense of the frustration that sub commanders had, but not being able to shower was frustrating too, and I'm not about to go down that "immersive" road.

hahaha, well said! :haha:

[mello85]

ok instead of posting like 20 screenshots I went ahead and made a little movie of me vs a small engine aft. This is what most of my engagements look like, apart from firing all 5 remaining torpedoes there at the end :03:

If it looks like I don't know what the heck I'm doing, it's because I honestly don't. I've watched the tutorial videos here multiple times, and yet I'm still doing something wrong.

The file is about 87 megs, about 6 minutes 37 seconds long. It will take about 5 minutes to download at 300KB/s



At 1:24 I went ahead and estimated the target speed and bearing. 6knots, course 271. Wait a minute, 271? That would be due west and I know the target is heading north. (This is an earlier save file I have been using for practice)



At 2:04 I decided that I must have gotten the range off so I decide to get it again and estimate speed and bearing again. This time we're showing 38 knots and a heading of 55. Not bad for a ship whose max speed is 11 knots...
At 2:11: One more speed and bearing measurement - this time the target is screaming along at 72 knots, at 244 degrees. :06:
At 2:49 I got tired of using the periscope tools so I decided to find a solution using the attack map.

http://www.filefront.com/15385537/My-Movie5.wmv/


someone help! :timeout:

[ETR3(SS)]

Ok easiest thing first. I noticed when you did shoot all your torpedoes they were heading towards the stern of the ship. Try opening the tube doors in advance of when you want to shoot.

Second the AoB. Angle on the Bow was explained like this to me. Put yourself on the other guys boat. Now at what relative bearing would your boat be to him. For example, if you're directly off his port side the AoB would be port 90º.

Thirdly the range, bearing, and speed. Try using a higher power on the scope if you can to help get a more accurate range and bearing. This will help when you try to calculate the target's speed. Also you'll want to input the target's AoB before estimating the target's speed. Once you have that out of the way the next part of this is quite easy. Be patient. Wait about 3mins between range and bearing checks. 3min 15sec if using metric.

[mello85]

I actually did open all of my tubes prior to firing. I did it while I was setting up my torpedoes after I got the first range/bearing.

After watching the Advanced TDC/PK course tutorial video a few hundred more times I think I finally got it. My aob is almost perfect now. I still need to work on getting the exact range to target.

With the stadimeter I am supposed to have the waterline of the "ghost" ship touch the tip of the tallest mast of the actual ship, correct?


While I'm at it, could someone point me to a mod to reduce the number of aircraft in the game? It's gotten so annoying that I don't travel while surfaced during the day anymore. I'm not looking for a total conversion mod like TMO, but rather something to just reduce aircraft. If it's compatible with easyAOB 1.5, that would be ace.

Thanks again!

[I'm goin' down]

Go to the mods forum and find Webster's list of mods. It may be in the popular mod list sticky by Neal Stevens, our beloved Admiral. He has a better (fewer) airplane mod that reduces the number. Personally, I CANNOT STAND TOO MANY PLANES.

[mello85]

"Webster's Better Air Patrols for v.14 and v1.5"

is that the one you are talking about? I have been messing around with that for the past hour or so and the aircraft numbers are still pretty high. In fact the only change I've noticed is their bulls-eye accuracy :dead:

Thanks for the reply!

[I'm goin' down]

that is it.

instead of one continuous thread with multiple questions, why don't you think about a separate thread for different questions? Others with questions may find it easier to search for answers that way.