Goose eggs... Common?

[fastfed]

I decided to start a new career.. After install TMO and RSRD and getting the hang of the new controls and such, I decided after some advice to start a new career, dec 7th in Manila.

I am now about to start my THIRD patrol and its March 26th 1942.. They moved my base around each patrol and I am now in Aust.


That said, my first 2 patrols.. NOTHING!! and I don't mean I missed or anything, I mean I spotted NOTHING!! I went to every patrol area command told me to go to. I explored around that area, I still contacted not 1 ship..

A few planes here and there, but no merchants or destroyers??

Is this common? Or is something broken? I don't want to start my third patrol and find out I am wasting my time, :)

THANKS

[Armistead]

I sent you a message. Remember with RSRD to think historic. If it works right the ships are there. I can stay in battle with large convoys or TF the first two years of the game.

Give me a date and I can send you somewhere to check. If you're in Fremantle, you've probably missed many of the large invasion forces coming to Java. There is a nice invasion group that heads to Christmas Island that you can ambush in the Sundra. I know it leaves through the Sundra late March, so you could probably sit in the Sundra March 25 and wait until it comes through..sit south.
I think it actually invades Christmas Islane March 31, but never looked for it there.

I sent you the Pacific animated link...your best friend with RSRD. Here is another good link, scroll down and look at the maps, many have dates. For instance the second map shows where the Jap carriers made their foray into the indian ocean in March..There's a great ambush spot above Timor, that might be close to your playing date.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/USSBS/PTO-Campaigns/USSBS-PTO-3.html#appendix10

You could also go to data/campaigns and open each with the mission editor. I have never looked because I enjoy finding them, but I imagine it gives you a lot of exact info, just not sure how it works.

[NorthBeach]

Depending how you want to play, this could be a gray area. If you want to play like you don't know the future, just head toward the southern seas where most of the early action occurred.

OR,

You could do a little research and find out where all the major battles were. RSRD is historical in its scripting. You'll be able to figure out where the targets will be and how they got there. Find the choke points.

Happy hunting!

Or, listen to Armistead

[TorpexXIII]

I had exactly the same on TMO19 get TMO20 its way more realistic. ( I found ) Early in the war there arent many juicy convoys around. Lots of smaller encounters. I got TMO20 and havent looked back. Still no where as many contacts as stock but way more realistic. You dont want to expend all your torps before you get to the patrol zone, nor do you want zilch contacts...

[Armistead]

He's playing RSRD which will rewrite all the taffic layers of any version of TMO...

[fastfed]

ARgg.. By the time I started out at sea it was already mid April 42...I decided to see if the Battle of Coral sea is scripted and going to sit on the NW side of guadalcanal..

and wait.. ?? Will it work?

[tomoose]

...on how you want to play the game. As mentioned you can use the "look into the future" method to find out where major activity will occur or you can use the old Mark 1 Brainbox and figure out where the merchant routes might be given "existing" maps/routes etc.

Personally, I have also experienced patrols where I return to base empty handed to refuel and go out again. I consider this realistic and a part of the RSRD gameplay. Yes it's frustrating but when you do come across a target it makes it all the more imperative to sink the bugger, LOL.:03:

[Armistead]

Why docked, you'll notice the lil movies that play explaining what the higher ups know. The US almost always knew what the JP's were doing since we could read their code. These briefings why at dock basically tell you what's coming up and where the action will be. However, usually your patrol isn't near where the upcoming action is.

This map is a great tool. Look at the invasions of the Philippines at the start of the war. The map shows all the invasion forces, their paths, ect. All of these are in the game. It's amazing the work Lurker put into RSRD. Best to resize and print this map, because it works with RSRD to perfection. Take the Java invasion. It's hard to see on this, but if you know where Jolo is near Tawi Tawi, this is where the large Java invasion fleet starts. There is a small shipping lane near Jolo. This is probably the largest convoy in RSRD and it path comes by Jolo.
Talk about raising cain, catch a 60 ship plus convoy in shallow water with lil islands to run around you can have some fun.

You see where the other Java forces leave Hainan. See the one path they take, but notice where they split near Sumatra. I won't get into details, but if you can catch the large group before they split up, you'll have enough ships to bring your PC to a crawl. One group heads to the right of Merak, the others more east.

Look at the invasion fleet coming from Palau to north of the San Bern. Notice it states Seaplanes. This group has some Chistose plane carriers. You don't see them often, so it's fun to attack..Jan 12, north of San Bern.

http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu235/Armistead1424/appendix10.jpg

[fastfed]

LOL I am on my 6th patrol and I sunk a TOTAL OF 4 Merchants.. And saw only 5 Merchants.. I have gone to EVERY single spot that HQ tells me to go to. I patrol everywhere I am supposed.. I am surprised they still allow me to go out, lol.. This is PATHETIC! I suck at this for some reason.. I think I might have to just stick with TWO and skip out on RSRD for now.. I just don't understand how I can go out for months, patrol the areas it tells me to, patrol area's on the map posted here and only run into airplanes EVERY hour on the surface.. :(

[NorthBeach]

Ah, therein lies part of your problem. Ignore the pinheads. Patrol the area they send you to, initially, if you feel you must. But, once your patrol time has elapsed (the icon has gone gray), feel free to give them the raspberry and go hunting. I tend to smile benignly as they hand me my orders. Then file them in the same cabinet in which I keep the tubes I took from Sparky's radio.

[Armistead]

As NB said, going to the patrol zone is a basic waste of time with RSRD, although it does get you close sometimes.

Take this other map that shows movements of warships. I decided to look for something different other than the usual several large Java convoys.
If you look carefully a Main Body Cardiv leaves Palau for Kendari and shows it arriving on Feb 21. I decided to see if I could find it and decided on an ambush point between the smaller land masses where it turns west towards Kendari. The lower land mass would be Buka on your game map. I've never gone against this group, so why not. Sure enough on Feb 17 I get a contact. Finally able to ID the Hiryu, Soryu and another carrier. Several other CA's, but the fun will be it has a double ring of escorts, about 18 total. I paused after spotting it and will take it on later.

This is also the same Carrier group that invades the Indain Ocean later. If I chase it long enough it would eventually make it to Kendari and probably vanish or despawn so to speak..simply how ships dock in port in the game. Eventually it should spawn outside of Kendari and head to the Indian Ocean, so I could probably set up another attack. I would chose an ambush point in the little strait above Timor, don't see how I could miss it there.

Tell you what, give me an upcoming date and I'll play your Admiral and send you flash messages vectoring you to possible intercept points...bet I can make life interesting for ya...



http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu235/Armistead1424/appendix11.jpg

[fastfed]

As NB said, going to the patrol zone is a basic waste of time with RSRD, although it does get you close sometimes.

Take this other map that shows movements of warships. I decided to look for something different other than the usual several large Java convoys.
If you look carefully a Main Body Cardiv leaves Palau for Kendari and shows it arriving on Feb 21. I decided to see if I could find it and decided on an ambush point between the smaller land masses where it turns west towards Kendari. The lower land mass would be Buka on your game map. I've never gone against this group, so why not. Sure enough on Feb 17 I get a contact. Finally able to ID the Hiryu, Soryu and another carrier. Several other CA's, but the fun will be it has a double ring of escorts, about 18 total. I paused after spotting it and will take it on later.

This is also the same Carrier group that invades the Indain Ocean later. If I chase it long enough it would eventually make it to Kendari and probably vanish or despawn so to speak..simply how ships dock in port in the game. Eventually it should spawn outside of Kendari and head to the Indian Ocean, so I could probably set up another attack. I would chose an ambush point in the little strait above Timor, don't see how I could miss it there.

Tell you what, give me an upcoming date and I'll play your Admiral and send you flash messages vectoring you to possible intercept points...bet I can make life interesting for ya...



http://i651.photobucket.com/albums/uu235/Armistead1424/appendix11.jpg

OK cool.. Im gonna play in about 10-15 minutes.. I'll let you know where and when I am :)

[fastfed]

OK!! here goes Admiral.. I am sailing from Brisbane and its July 22nd, 1942.

I am still sailing with the Porpoise class so fuel is not so great.

LOL, I think they don't care about me, as I never have anything to come back with, I am always coming back dry :(

Thanks Admiral. :)

[fastfed]

Oops.. Its acutally Aug 14th, :) 42

[fastfed]

I got a flash traffic update, telling me IJN is resupplying and if I am in the area to Truk I should go there by Aug17th, the problem is, I will be late, probably get there by the 18th or 19th and I don't know if they already despawned

[SurfnSea]

LOL I am on my 6th patrol and I sunk a TOTAL OF 4 Merchants.. And saw only 5 Merchants.. I have gone to EVERY single spot that HQ tells me to go to. I patrol everywhere I am supposed.. I am surprised they still allow me to go out, lol.. This is PATHETIC! I suck at this for some reason.. I think I might have to just stick with TWO and skip out on RSRD for now.. I just don't understand how I can go out for months, patrol the areas it tells me to, patrol area's on the map posted here and only run into airplanes EVERY hour on the surface.. :(

I get a hunch that once you find a convoy there won't be much left when you get done with it. Nothing worse for a convoy's survivability than a PO'd sub captain. Pity the poor convoy.

[WernherVonTrapp]

I got a flash traffic update, telling me IJN is resupplying and if I am in the area to Truk I should go there by Aug17th, the problem is, I will be late, probably get there by the 18th or 19th and I don't know if they already despawned Although there have been a few times where I actually intercepted some of these TF/convoys, for the most part, I'm usually too far away. There have been a few times where, if it hadn't been for some harbor raping, I wouldn't have gotten any tonnage at all. It happens, though you have to find your own way to beat the odds. If you're out of one of the Australian ports, try patrolling the SW section of the East China Sea. That's where most of the tankers would transport the fuel from the Dutch East Indies. A couple of other good port areas to hang out are along the Singapore/Hong Kong and Shanghai routes. I'm confident that your luck will eventually change.:up:

[Armistead]

Oops.. Its acutally Aug 14th, :) 42


You missed the Battle of Savo Island on Aug 8. This is actually a large surface battle between the JP's and Allied heavy CA's. It's fun just to watch, but obvious you got to get in the mix why the ships are blasting each other. http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=166855&page=2

Your best bet for Sep is to stay in the slot, you'll run into several DD TF, but a few will have CA's and merchants or to hang around the Bismark Sea



The next best thing coming will be Oct. 17
Position 161.20S x 3.50E

Refit in time to get there and best to get there a day early.

Do not expend torps on any merchants in route. The JP's will be coming in force.

For me I decided to start a new career out of Sura in Jan. Using the map below, I saw the Hiryu and Soryu would be attacking Ambrom Jan 20. Having time looking at the other map that shows invasion forces, I first went to Menodo as one of the java groups show there. Sure enough I found the invasion group. After that went to try to find the Hiryu. I didn't find it per my battle map near Ambrom, so I went to try and cut it off in the small pass at Halmahera, lil pass right above the word Sea on the map. Sure enough carrier planes started showing up. Make sure you learn the carrier planes, dead give away a carrier is in the area. I finally found the Carrier TF going fast through the strait. Planes spotted me and a DD is giving chase and had to dive. The group is moving fast, so maybe I'll catch it later. Those two maps in the link work great. I have more for later war.

Another thing I have found with the patrol stars with RSRD. Often they will put you in a good area, but usually the group comes a day or so after you complete your patrol, so hang around a few days. Also, seldom does the group come through the star, usually about 50 nms from the star, so patrol away if you decide to go to the patrol zones.

[fastfed]

You missed the Battle of Savo Island on Aug 8. This is actually a large surface battle between the JP's and Allied heavy CA's. It's fun just to watch, but obvious you got to get in the mix why the ships are blasting each other. http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=166855&page=2

Your best bet for Sep is to stay in the slot, you'll run into several DD TF, but a few will have CA's and merchants or to hang around the Bismark Sea



The next best thing coming will be Oct. 17
Position 161.20S x 3.50E

Refit in time to get there and best to get there a day early.

Do not expend torps on any merchants in route. The JP's will be coming in force.

On my way sir :salute:

[fastfed]

I don't have those degrees.. I see 16.1S
Is there a better tool for this or something?

[fastfed]

From the degrees shown on the map, it says Im in the atlantic??

[Armistead]

I don't have those degrees.. I see 16.1S
Is there a better tool for this or something?

You're not following orders....hehe, good thing.

Sorry, that's 161.20E x 3.50 S, near Ontong above the Solomons.

Not looking I got E and S mixed up....A good skipper should've figured that out.

This is the battle of Santa Cruz... Here is my story on it if you want more directions...I chased this group for many days...
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6421019045/m/5031017848?r=1451037848#1451037848

[fastfed]

LOL I was loosing my mind.. I kept googling different maps thinking I was nuts..

OK THANK YOU!! I am on my way sir!
:salute:

[Armistead]

If you make it past that, we're really gonna need some help later.

Dec 18
146.30 E x 5S

Intel shows JP's intend to invade about 110 nms NNW of Lae. TF may contain AuxCru's. We seldom get a chance at these, in fact this may be our only chance...take them out at all cost. If these troops land, Lae will be lost. The only troops on the Island are lead by Sgt. Wernher. He was last seen drunk in an underground cave with a few native girls.

[fastfed]

In position, Oct 5th, its time for my boys to take a swim and relax as all hell is going to break out! i really hope so. LOL I haven't seen much action.. Will report soon :)

[SurfnSea]

I've been following this thread and another like it. So a big thank you to Armistead and others who tell the rest of the community how to find these rich targets in SH4.

Another reason for this reply is: What if we had a separate sticky thread that is a "This Day in WWII History: Pacific theater" where the events in the thread correspond to the events, in SH4 (with and w/o mods) that Armistead and others tell us? So when people visit here they can go to the "This Day in WWII History: Pacific theater" to see where they can take their sub for some really good targets.

For example: From another thread I learned about the returning Pearl Harbor group. So at the moment I'm about four days out of Manilla, about December 12, 1941, and I'm now sailing to the Bungo Strait and plan to arrive just before December 20th in order to intercept the JPN.

I think it would be interesting to have an organized SH4 time line thread and would help the immersion of SH4.

[fastfed]

I've been following this thread and another like it. So a big thank you to Armistead and others who tell the rest of the community how to find these rich targets in SH4.

Another reason for this reply is: What if we had a separate sticky thread that is a "This Day in WWII History: Pacific theater" where the events in the thread correspond to the events, in SH4 (with and w/o mods) that Armistead and others tell us? So when people visit here they can go to the "This Day in WWII History: Pacific theater" to see where they can take their sub for some really good targets.

For example: From another thread I learned about the returning Pearl Harbor group. So at the moment I'm about four days out of Manilla, about December 12, 1941, and I'm now sailing to the Bungo Strait and plan to arrive just before December 20th in order to intercept the JPN.

I think it would be interesting to have an organized SH4 time line thread and would help the immersion of SH4.


I agree. .But its kind of a cheat.. Well, I mean I guess the way RSRD is set up, is its accurate.. So all we have to do is look it up and figure it out ourselves.. But knowing "EXACTLY" where and when is great..

For example.

Admiral Armistead,

I am happy to report Sunk 1 Battleship and chased a carrier, two fish fired and both were duds, had to evade the destroyers for a while, but got away clean.. 1 battleship sunk, all four fish hit with beauty but beauty is an understatement..

Permission to return to port please.. myself and men are tired, we have been out for 3 months, lol.

by the way Admiral, "LOL" mean Laugh out loud, which is a very popular abbreviation in the future for talking on an electric screen.. You will see one day :)

[fastfed]

ARGGG I am so mad!! I sunk almost 50k tons, including the kongo Battleship..

I get the silver star, yet they are not offering me a new boat!! I want the GATO!!

This is a real disappointment :(

[fastfed]

Should I transfer from Brisbane and go to Aleution Islands base??

I really am starting to hate this boat, lol I need some anti-aircraft guns :)

[Armistead]

No doubt it's a cheat, we know history. The real cheat is to look in the mission editor itself, something I've never done. I actually find it fun to study maps such as the ones I've shown. For one, why Lurker reworked a lot of stuff, he certainly couldn't get to it all. Also, why knowing may get you close, doesn't mean you will find it. I've sat in areas for days where historical stuff happened and found nothing.

Take the battle I just finished. I picked a good cut off point where the Hiryu and Soryu should be returning, just a guess. I found them, but in reality they should've been heading north, instead they were going south.
Possible this is part of the stock setup and not RSRD. Took my 57 miles to do an end around but got them both. Now a quick refit to Darwin and will try to hit the big carrier force before it makes it to the Indian Ocean. Here again, I've looked for the TF in several places where it made it's foray into the indian ocean, but never found it. Maybe Lurker did or didn't, that's why I don't look. I find that part of the fun.

For sure I've played RSRD long enough I could find about anything, but lately looking for other things. What's really amazing about RSRD is lurker got the ship types down to almost perfection, often even the correct amount of DD's.

I think what would make a good mod is to forget historics and do a total redo of traffic..Let's assume the JP's take Midway. Then you could set up traffic to attack Pearl, ect...Just totally rescript the battles so we wouldn't know, then we would be on fair ground as look as you don't peek at the ME. I've worked on some of this traffic doing singles, just a lot of work to do a campaign.

[Armistead]

Should I transfer from Brisbane and go to Aleution Islands base??

I really am starting to hate this boat, lol I need some anti-aircraft guns :)

Try to take a new boat next offer. I can't recall the date, but eventually you can take one and not get transferred to Pearl. You've missed the main action near Alaska, so that's up to you. You will see some upcoming flash messages about JP's trying to resupply Kiska/Attu, dies out mid 43

[fastfed]

Try to take a new boat next offer. I can't recall the date, but eventually you can take one and not get transferred to Pearl. You've missed the main action near Alaska, so that's up to you. You will see some upcoming flash messages about JP's trying to resupply Kiska/Attu, dies out mid 43


Sadly I never got offered a new boat yet, lol..

Does it happen after you port? They just tell you "we have a surprise for you Cpt. fastfed" ??

[fastfed]

If you make it past that, we're really gonna need some help later.

Dec 18
146.30 E x 5S

Intel shows JP's intend to invade about 110 nms NNW of Lae. TF may contain AuxCru's. We seldom get a chance at these, in fact this may be our only chance...take them out at all cost. If these troops land, Lae will be lost. The only troops on the Island are lead by Sgt. Wernher. He was last seen drunk in an underground cave with a few native girls.


After some good Rest for my men and myself of course, we are sailing to a patrol zone from HQ, little do they know I have some insider information.. Admiral Armistead, I am on my way to location :)

:salute:

[Armistead]

Sadly I never got offered a new boat yet, lol..

Does it happen after you port? They just tell you "we have a surprise for you Cpt. fastfed" ??

You dock and you get the offer. Think I mentioned if you take a new boat down south right off you'll get transferred to Pearl. After awhile you can take one without transfer, but we have to win Midway first. I'm stuck in a Salmom myself, so I'll let ya know when I get one, but I'm in Feb on my first patrol...

Well, I just ran into a damn large TF. I sunk two carriers and refitted at Darwin since it was close and went and waited. TF has 4-5 Carriers, 4 CA's, including 2 Mogami's, 2 Kuma's and dang 14 DD's. Just sunk 2 carriers, shot both at same time, one bow, one stern. The torps hit both at same time. All four from each end hit. Had to use one more to sink one of em. So that's 4 carriers this patrol, with a refit...lol, but still will be around a 30 day patrol. Well, the 14 dd's are working me over. Hopefully I can escape and catch up with the other carriers. Be nice to sink 6 in one patrol......but I'm in bad trouble. Probably finish tomorrow.

[Armistead]

After some good Rest for my men and myself of course, we are sailing to a patrol zone from HQ, little do they know I have some insider information.. Admiral Armistead, I am on my way to location :)

:salute:

You'll like what ya see...Take some SS's. I need proof to credit your sinkings.:haha:

[fastfed]

You'll like what ya see...Take some SS's. I need proof to credit your sinkings.:haha:


Well Sir, it seems you got your hands full :)

As for myself, well I'm in position and its Dec17th, dawn..

A local fisherman was sailing by and Tony (my gunner) almost blew him in half while I let him fire off a few round to get some practice.. I apologized and him and his wife offered us some smokes and fresh bread.. While he was along side of us, I asked him to take a couple pictures.. Right now I am trying to develop them.. BUT I have NO clue where they are?? I looked in the SH4 folder, but is it in some sub folder?

THANKS! And good luck yourself..

Admiral Armistead

:salute:

[fastfed]

Happy to report that after some help from the Pepitone twins (my Mechanics) we were able to develop the film.. Louis and Joey Pepitone say from here on out there shall be plenty of pictures..


Here is the one the couple took of us at dawn, I told them they better leave the area as we are conducting torpedo tests.. I didn't want to tell them the truth as for all I know they could be spies..


http://i618.photobucket.com/albums/tt269/fastfed/SH4Dec17th.jpg

[fastfed]

By the way, can someone tell me what class sub I am using? I am getting confused now..

[WernherVonTrapp]

I've been following this thread and another like it. So a big thank you to Armistead and others who tell the rest of the community how to find these rich targets in SH4.

Another reason for this reply is: What if we had a separate sticky thread that is a "This Day in WWII History: Pacific theater" where the events in the thread correspond to the events, in SH4 (with and w/o mods) that Armistead and others tell us? So when people visit here they can go to the "This Day in WWII History: Pacific theater" to see where they can take their sub for some really good targets.

For example: From another thread I learned about the returning Pearl Harbor group. So at the moment I'm about four days out of Manilla, about December 12, 1941, and I'm now sailing to the Bungo Strait and plan to arrive just before December 20th in order to intercept the JPN.

I think it would be interesting to have an organized SH4 time line thread and would help the immersion of SH4.You can start here:
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/pacificwar/timeline.htm

I use it all the time as a reference.;)

[Armistead]

I was actually surprised to find the Pearl Harbor group returning. Just stay more to the east side of the Bungo near the entrance.

I will say last night....a long night, was the most fun I've ever had doing a patrol....Had to do three end arounds. I chased the group all the way to Kendara trying to get that last carrier. It's bow was almost under water from three torps. I barly had it in view with the binocs from about 15 nm's when it. vanished....poof...or as the game views it..docked.

[fastfed]

You can start here:
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/pacificwar/timeline.htm

I use it all the time as a reference.;)


Well.. That an ok site.. But it really doesn't help.. You could be just a little bit off and you will not see anything at all..