Silent Hunter for the Working Man

[Captain Birdseye]

This thread ties in somewhat with the recommended TC thread.

I'm here to ask you guys how I can get the most realistic U-Boat experience in the short time I have to play it, usually around 2 hours. At the moment I whack it on 2048x and zoom about everywhere til I find a ship, sink it, zoom everywhere again, sink another, go home.

This just doesn't feel natural to me and is too much like an FPS shooter.
I'd love to be able to treasure ship sightings more.

What do you guys recommend I do?

Thanks.

[Draka]

Hard to say - that two hour limit is a killer. To have a reasonable chance at a "good" experience requires low time compression, and adding in a supermod and several other mods - this forum will give a good sample of that. I personally go with GWX.

However, with low compression comes a large amount of time with nothing happening - and then you save the game. Now is the kicker - every time you save the game it resets any timers - weather change, air patrols, etc. So just when things might heat up - you save and it goes back to zero.

Back when I had limited time during the week - a working man - I used the weeknights to learn to edit files, try out new mods in the single missions/Academy, and other non-campaign things - then used the weekend for serious campaign play.

YMMV

[Captain Birdseye]

Hmm... Thanks Draka, it is indeed a tough one.

[sharkbit]

Try a Med or Black Sea career. You can sail around at TC128/TC256 and still cover a large portion of the theater.
It is a nice change of pace from the Atlantic and you don't have to travel over large expanses of ocean to make it to your patrol area.

My playing time is limited as well, so I feel your pain.

:)

[smcj]

However, with low compression comes a large amount of time with nothing happening - and then you save the game. Now is the kicker - every time you save the game it resets any timers - weather change, air patrols, etc. So just when things might heat up - you save and it goes back to zero.

"I noticed that after a patrol upon returning to base, the weather often changes for the better. So.when I get tired of Heavy Fog with Heavy Precipitations and 15 Wind, I head for Lorient. Just before I enter the narrow slot to the base, I turn around and head out to sea. The weather changes, sometimes not for long, but it changes. Maybe I should try a 'save' as soon as the weather changes for the better?"

smcj

[ppk]

every time you save the game it resets any timers - weather change, air patrols, etc. So just when things might heat up - you save and it goes back to zero.

I'm curious... That happens every time you save or every time you load a saved game? Say I've just travelled across the whole god-damned Atlantic and nothing happened along the way, and I save anyways because if anything happens (ctd and whatnot) I most certainly don't want to do it again. But then I continue playing without quitting. Does that reset the timers?

[Draka]

From my experience it happens AS you save - I had a problem for a while of CTD's (testing stuff) and would save every game-day at noon - I went TWO MONTHS (entire patrol) with exactly the same weather. Clouds: Overcast Precepition: None Visability: Moderate Windspeed 7 m/s Dir: 32 - I STILL see that bloody thing .....
IOW, when you hit the Escape key and return to the game, it resets timers. This was at a max TC of 256 - so in effect about every hour or so. I may be just the unlucky receiver of an odds break - but it has happened way too often for me.

p.s. I maintain a KTB on my patrols and enter the location and weather at every watch change - every 8 bells. That is a LOT of entries with the exact same weather entry .....

[BillCar]

I'm in the same boat, so to speak. Little time to play, but don't want to turn it into an insta-sink shooter.

My solution is to sail around at 32x when on the bridge or in the control room. When transitioning to the bridge, I go to 1x and get up there, look around, take in the nice motion of the waves. Do a scan of the horizon without binoculars, and then pump it up to 32x and scan the horizon at that speed, while sailing for a bit. Dive, have the SO listen for hydrophone contacts. Surface again, head to navigator's map, bump speed up to 128/256/512/1024, depending on how pressed I am for time. Repeat this sequence of actions; vary it to your taste.

It'll give you a nice mix of the sub atmosphere, the nice scenery from the bridge, and strikes a nice balance in terms of time spent playing / time passing in game. It works pretty well for me.

[RoaldLarsen]

Use SH3 Commander so that TC gets set to x0 when anything important happens, then use low TC to move about the seas. Instead of staring at the screen waiting for something to happen, go and do something productive, in another window, or even in another room. Every once in a while, come back and check the screen. Set a timer to avoid running out of oxygen or battery power.

IOW, do some of the things you currently do outside of gaming time during gaming time instead. That way, you should be able to increase gaming time.

If you can afford to leave your computer on while you go to work, save at the end of each session, but do not exit the game. This way you will avoid timer resets, reload time, and some CTDs.

[Captain Nemo]

However, with low compression comes a large amount of time with nothing happening - and then you save the game. Now is the kicker - every time you save the game it resets any timers - weather change, air patrols, etc. So just when things might heat up - you save and it goes back to zero.

YMMV

I play at 128 max TC, which maximises your chances of an encounter with the enemy. Draka, I'm not so sure about all the timers being reset when you save and reload, I know weather is affected, but I have loaded a save in the past and within a short time at 128TC have had convoy contact reports come in.

Nemo

[BillCar]

I have loaded a save in the past and within a short time at 128TC have had convoy contact reports come in.


Same here. I frequently save while waiting at an intercept point for a convoy, and it always comes without fail when I load the save later. Other shipping traffic does not seem diminished at all, either.

[Yoriyn]

Ok. I'm playing only TCx1, and My experience is different from yours. Saveing do not reset game, only loading. You can save the game always if not in interception, battle or close to any port. but loading the game is like you just start a patrol.

[BillCar]

Ok. I'm playing only TCx1, and My experience is different from yours. Saveing do not reset game, only loading. You can save the game always if not in interception, battle or close to any port. but loading the game is like you just start a patrol.

Weird. If that is happening to me, I certainly haven't noticed it yet.

[RoaldLarsen]

I'll agree with Yoriyn that it is the loading not the saving which causes whatever problems that occur. I'm just not as sure about which problems are caused.

[Captain Birdseye]

Thanks for the interesting replies chaps.

I've finally settled on x256 TC. I think it strikes a good balance between not just zooming straight away to the place you need to be, but feeling like more of a journey. I usually break the game day up by going to the bridge to watch the sea for a bit.

What do you guys think? Will that give me a realistic traffic proportion?

[Yoriyn]

I read somewhere that if you using more then x32 TC, there is no danger from the planes

[Captain Nemo]

I read somewhere that if you using more then x32 TC, there is no danger from the planes

I think you will find that anything above x128 TC reduces the chances of encountering aircraft. x128 TC and below is unaffected, that's why I play at x128 TC maximum.

Nemo

[sergei]

Thanks for the interesting replies chaps.

I've finally settled on x256 TC. I think it strikes a good balance between not just zooming straight away to the place you need to be, but feeling like more of a journey. I usually break the game day up by going to the bridge to watch the sea for a bit.

What do you guys think? Will that give me a realistic traffic proportion?

I've been playing x256, and always find plenty of ships.
Dunno about the aircraft though.
After Capt. Nemos post, I may reduce that to 128. Aircraft do seem a bit thin on the ground.

[RoaldLarsen]

I read somewhere that if you using more then x32 TC, there is no danger from the planes

I think you will find that anything above x128 TC reduces the chances of encountering aircraft. x128 TC and below is unaffected, that's why I play at x128 TC maximum.

I think there are a variety of views on how TC affects aircraft encounters. Based on reading many threads on the subject, plus my own experience over nearly 200 patrols, I believe that moving from TCx128 to TCx256 significantly reduces the number of aircraft encountered, and changing to the TC factors above and below this has some effect. There isn't one TC change that is an on/off switch. Furthermore, the higher the TC, the more likely the aircraft you do encounter will be close to you when you drop out of TC.

I tend to run at TCx32 when I am surfaced in an area covered by aircraft. This means the aircraft find me but I often spot them when they are far away. I use TCx128 when patrolling submerged, and higher TC settings when transiting submerged or surfaced and either outside of air coverage or when aircraft can't fly (fog medium or heavy).

[Coyote88]

"Aircraft do seem a bit thin on the ground."

A pity, because that's exactly where I want them.

Thanks for the info on Save v. Load and resets. I've been wondering about that, because I hate losing a week's worth of cruising after a computer freeze, but I hate going a week without a weather change, too.

[JuanCudz]

One option you might consider is instead of saving a game, hit escape to go to the save menu, then minimise to desktop (Alt+Tab), then tell the computer to hibernate. When you reboot your machine, click on silent hunter in the taskbar and off you go.
I've been using this a while now as i have a troublesome GWX2.1 and I get crashes when I reload a game with any sort of 'action' going on so to speak.