Land Lubber Lubs along.. seeks help

[lhughes41]

Hi,
Thanks for prior help. I finally made it out of Naval school after two many hours spent trying to deal with the training convoy :-( So it's 1939 and after I have my 1st little wee coast boat command. I head for just outside the Firth of Forth, as per mission. Ship spotted. It's night but I'm proud with my binocs that I actually pick up the ship when its but a few pixels of dirty grey :-)
Sound alarm!! I prepare to close on my prey when....

"sir, not enough crew in the diesel room." Arrgh.. hard to believe after all the patroling time exactly this crops up. Well anyway I look down there and there are men with exclamations. I'm guessing these are tired guys that I read can happen in SHIII. Sadly it doesn't look like I have enough spare guys to cover.

Wow becalmed at 1st exciting career moment :-(
Here's are my questions:
1) how can I tell when they are tired before the exclamation appears? (I glanced at stats and missed it (no doubt it is obvious)
2) How can I get rid of this feature. honestly I don't want to manage their sleep cycles :-) I heard some settings could change this. Please advise!

Thanks! Chagrined!

[frau kaleun]

If you're not already using SH3 Commander, get it and use it.

Among other things it allows you to choose from a variety of crew fatigue options that the game doesn't provide without having to go in and manually edit the relevant files. You can even choose "no fatigue" and eliminate the issue completely.

There is a stickied thread about it in the SH3 Mods Workshop forum, and I believe you can download it from the Downloads section here.

If you are using GWX3 you will also need to download the config files that allow Commander to work to its full effect with the supermod, they should also be available in a self-installer from the the Downloads section here.

[lhughes41]

Thank you. I'd seen references to that but had no idea what it did. Will do that and GW3. One more question please, so I fired my torpedos. No reload occured. I checked weapons officer and weapons management. two left "waiting in queue." OK figure its a crewing issue. Go back and fully crew the torpedo area.
Wait 10 to 15 minutes. Nothing happens. Never get the green light at the periscope interface.
What might I be doing wrong?
Thanks,
Luke

[reignofdeath]

As what Frau said, GWX 3.0 and SH3 Cmdr are pretty much the norm here. They make the game so much more real (Like ships sink due to compartments flooding, critical hits, or structural integrity loss, instead of in stock where each has x hitpoints and after x torpedoes it explodes in a grand fashion and breaks in half and sinks)

There are many other mods to choose from but start with SH3Commander and GWX3 first and familiarize yourself with commanding a U-boat. then.... prepare to become addicted :yeah:

[stokeyblokey]

... One more question please, so I fired my torpedos. No reload occured. I checked weapons officer and weapons management. two left "waiting in queue." OK figure its a crewing issue. Go back and fully crew the torpedo area.
Wait 10 to 15 minutes. Nothing happens. Never get the green light at the periscope interface.
What might I be doing wrong?
Thanks,
Luke

Check you are not set to "silent running" (you get some extra crossed-out icons just above where your orders are listed as text in the bottom middle of the screen to show what is not happening to save noise) cos when you are torpedoes will not load - this took me a while to figure out at first too! If you do see those icons press the Z key on your keyboard (sets and unsets silent running) and watch those lazy slackers shoot into action :salute:

[frau kaleun]

Thank you. I'd seen references to that but had no idea what it did. Will do that and GW3. One more question please, so I fired my torpedos. No reload occured. I checked weapons officer and weapons management. two left "waiting in queue." OK figure its a crewing issue. Go back and fully crew the torpedo area.
Wait 10 to 15 minutes. Nothing happens. Never get the green light at the periscope interface.
What might I be doing wrong?
Thanks,
Luke

Actually you don't need GWX to use Commander - it will work with the stock game or any supermod. You can get it now and start using it right away, but if you start using GWX you will need to install the config files to Commander for them to work together to your best advantage.

With regard to torpedo loading, stokey's right that your crew won't reload the tubes if you are running silent. Also check that the "auto reload" box is checked in your torpedo managment screen, otherwise they will wait for you to manually click on a torpedo and move it to an empty tube to start loading it.

[lhughes41]

First thanks for help so far. I managed to get GW3.0 and SH 3.2 installed. Started a new career. August 1 39, based in Kiel. The first mission is a shakeout patrol. I do it and return to base (via esc key rather then navigating the whole thing). The mission registered as objectives complete while on the mission (had to patrol a square).
Now it's august 8th. I see no new mission on the map in my "office." How do I "wait"? Or does this mean something is wrong? The order mentioned there would be new orders on the 4th. Some did come through then about u-boats in Konigsberg moving. But seemed irrelevant to me.
My 2nd question is the first ordered alluded to whether I was in flotilla 1,2 or 7. I looked at my flotilla (the one Donitz started) and didn't spot a number. So I guess I was in 1 or 2 and was supposed to do the five day shakeout mission. which like I said I think I did.
In my office starting at the wall wondering what to do :-) Maybe just go to the officer's club and get a drink?
Thanks!

[danexpat]

First thanks for help so far. I managed to get GW3.0 and SH 3.2 installed. Started a new career. August 1 39, based in Kiel. The first mission is a shakeout patrol. I do it and return to base (via esc key rather then navigating the whole thing). The mission registered as objectives complete while on the mission (had to patrol a square).
Now it's august 8th. I see no new mission on the map in my "office." How do I "wait"? Or does this mean something is wrong? The order mentioned there would be new orders on the 4th. Some did come through then about u-boats in Konigsberg moving. But seemed irrelevant to me.
My 2nd question is the first ordered alluded to whether I was in flotilla 1,2 or 7. I looked at my flotilla (the one Donitz started) and didn't spot a number. So I guess I was in 1 or 2 and was supposed to do the five day shakeout mission. which like I said I think I did.
In my office starting at the wall wondering what to do :-) Maybe just go to the officer's club and get a drink?
Thanks!

A radio message comes across on 4 Aug telling Konigsberg-based boats to transfer to 1st or 2nd. Just click on the telephone to transfer and Kiel will be your new base.

[lhughes41]

Thanks for replying, but im already based at Kiel! Should i see a new mission right now? Is it a bad sign that i saw that order even though not based there?

[krashkart]

Thanks for replying, but im already based at Kiel! Should i see a new mission right now? Is it a bad sign that i saw that order even though not based there?

Click on the wall map for your next patrol grid. Radio messages are mostly for immersion in SH3, except the ones that tell you when your flotilla was disbanded and/or re-based. :)

[lhughes41]

OK I went and studied my wall orders again. I see that though the order looks exactly the same.. it actually references a different grid coordinate. Thanks!

[sykor]

With regard to torpedo loading, stokey's right that your crew won't reload the tubes if you are running silent. Also check that the "auto reload" box is checked in your torpedo managment screen, otherwise they will wait for you to manually click on a torpedo and move it to an empty tube to start loading it.
All that, and making sure the torpedo doors are closed also helps... Happened to me a couple of days ago... :oops:

[Gargamel]

All that, and making sure the torpedo doors are closed also helps... Happened to me a couple of days ago... :oops:

Yes, sometimes you have manually close the tubes. Cycle through them by using the Y key, and possibly opening another one using Q. IF that doesn't work, cycle through all of them and hit W (close door) on each one.

[Missing Name]

Personally, I ensure autoloading is OFF. That way, you don't have your crew loading the wrong torpedo at the wrong time.

[Gargamel]

Personally, I ensure autoloading is OFF. That way, you don't have your crew loading the wrong torpedo at the wrong time.

Even if it is off, if the door never closed, you can't even drag it over to the tube to load it.

Found out the hard way once at 180m, slipped away, was going to pop up and surprise whoever I was going, couldn't figure out why the tubes weren't loading, and when I went to shut to doors, got yelled at by the crew, something about too deep for torpedo operations. :nope:. So make sure your doors are closed before you crash dive after shooting your salvo at that carrier.

[lhughes41]

so this is no automatic? Or it is subject to random failure?
Thanks,
Luke

[desirableroasted]

1) leave automatic loading unchecked, so that you can decide what type you put into what tube.

2) close your doors if you open them and don't fire. They will close automatically if you do fire.

[Gargamel]

2) close your doors if you open them and don't fire. They will close automatically if you do fire.

No, that's the problem most of us encountered. We assumed they would close, but they didn't. An open, but still loaded tube is ok, cause you can still fire it. A stuck open, but empty tube is bad. Always check your doors after you fire.

[desirableroasted]

Must be a bug that only affects some. I can say that after thousands of shots over the past 4-5 years, it has never happened to me.

Not once.

[Gargamel]

Must be a bug that only affects some. I can say that after thousands of shots over the past 4-5 years, it has never happened to me.

Not once.

It's pretty rare, only happened a couple times over the 6 months or so I've been playing.

[Sailor Steve]

Must be a bug that only affects some. I can say that after thousands of shots over the past 4-5 years, it has never happened to me.

Not once.
Nor to me, and I've been playing since the game was released six years ago. I have, however, manually opened all the tubes and forgotten to close the ones I didn't fire.

My policy now is to only open the tube I'm about to fire, because they always waited 5-8 seconds between shots anyway, and never use auto-reloading. And I never reload them while in combat, because a 15-degree down angle while being depth-charged is a recipe for disaster when playing with a ton of steel and explosives.

[lhughes41]

Boy I'm awful. 4 Missions now in a coastal style sub and I've sunk nothing. I find targets and then my torpedos skid off the sides etc etc. They've started doing my evasion now (late 39) so getting trickier.
I could use some tips. Here's what I do currently:
1) try to close in front of target
2) flip between the 3D view (I tend to stay on surface) and the one with the plotting equipment for firing torpedos so I can look at angle of attack. I try to get a right angle.
3) I get with 600 yards.

It's still a bit of a mystery to me when the green targeting triangle (I use auto targeting where I just push the button :-) ) is going to go green.

Should I be trying to hit somewhere specific? I hit one merchant ship three times I think and no luck. Well maybe two. I use Grey Wolves mod.

Depressed. 3 hours of sailing around like a fool tonight :-)

Luke
p.s. maybe my mistake is staying on surface? Thought that would make it easier. I've tried one or two submerged.

[desirableroasted]

Boy I'm awful. 4 Missions now in a coastal style sub and I've sunk nothing. I find targets and then my torpedos skid off the sides etc etc.

If you are shooting "impact" you may want to aim higher, say just a meter or so below the waterline. If the torpedo hits the curve of the hull, it will not have enough "bite" to detonate.

Also, for "impact," you want your Angle on Bow (AOB) to be in the 75-105 range (90 is ideal but not necessary), for the same reason.

For "magnetic," you want to fire a meter under the keel, and you want an AOB of, say, 10-45 or 115-170.

They've started doing my evasion now (late 39) so getting trickier.

AI ships will always start to evade if the spot you, but they do so in regular, predictable serpentine fashion. In fact, they aren't much harder to hit, once you get used to it.


I could use some tips. Here's what I do currently:
1) try to close in front of target
2) flip between the 3D view (I tend to stay on surface) and the one with the plotting equipment for firing torpedos so I can look at angle of attack. I try to get a right angle.
3) I get with 600 yards.

That all sounds good, so I suggest, again, shooting for just under the waterline. Also: make sure your tube is open first (otherwise you get a 3-5 second delay).

It's still a bit of a mystery to me when the green targeting triangle (I use auto targeting where I just push the button :-) ) is going to go green.

This is a very misleading feature of the game. Green signifies only that your torpedo will not need to turn more than 5 degrees when leaving the tube. It says nothing about how well you have set up AOB, depth, etc. So take this as a "green light to shoot" only if you have set everything else up right.

BTW, it goes green whenever the gyroangle is between 355 and 005. You can, however, make perfectly good shots between 345 and 015.



Should I be trying to hit somewhere specific? I hit one merchant ship three times I think and no luck. Well maybe two. I use Grey Wolves mod.



Very generally speaking, because every ship is different, aiming for under or just aft of the first funnel is good for damaging the engine room. Another approach is to aim for just under the forward crane... this floods two compartments. This works especially well in rough seas, when the ship's momentum tends to force water into her.

Remember that in GWX, flooding is what kills the ship, unless you happen to hit something explosive. Often, nothing seems to happen after you hit her. Give it 15-30 minutes of game time... if she is listing and slowed up, she will, in all probability, go down. It may take an hour or so of game time... even 5 or 6... but be patient. If it is calm weather, of course, and she is not armed, you can deck gun her, taking care to shoot below the waterline.


Depressed. 3 hours of sailing around like a fool tonight :-)


Heh. I am on day 24 of a patrol on which I have not seen a ship since I left Willy.


p.s. maybe my mistake is staying on surface? Thought that would make it easier. I've tried one or two submerged.

At 1000-5000 meters on a moonless night, surfaced is easier (or, at least, less of a hassle). But at under 1000 meters, or in daylight, you are almost certainly going to be spotted, making them try to evade (and call for help).

[Jimbuna]

Must be a bug that only affects some. I can say that after thousands of shots over the past 4-5 years, it has never happened to me.

Not once.

Ditto :hmmm:

[lhughes41]

Fantastic help. I will try again. Btw I sailed around for 3 hours finding many ships.. Just blowing the attacks :)