Awww.. RIPPED OFF!

[maillemaker]

Made it to April 3, 1945.

I'm in my Type XXI, ripping up a convoy west of England. I've got 22 homing torpedoes in my stores.

I take down 4 destroyers, and Ore Freighter, a merchant, and a tanker. I swing around and fire 2 torps at another tanker, then dive for it. I'm going to go deep and save my remaining homers and maybe get away in the rough seas.

I'm passing under the tanker and it explodes. My scope is not fully retracted yet and I can see pieces falling off of the tanker and ONTO ME. My sub is taking all kinds of damage and before I can do anything GAME OVER.

I didn't think exploding ship damage would hurt me under water.

What a rip off! I think the war would have ended if I had gone to port. I was going to go to La Rochelle as a Das Boot tribute.

I should have BEEN LESS AGRESSIVE! :)

Steve

[maillemaker]

So I basically made it the whole war. 100% realism, all options checked.

I don't think I'll do it again. The game is not nearly as fun without the eye candy of the external camera. And plotting approaches is much much harder without map updates.

Steve

[Cybermat47]

My sub is taking all kinds of damage and before I can do anything GAME OVER.


Oh, it did far worse than game over you. It hurt you. And it wishes to go on, hurting you. It shall leave you as you left it, as you left her. Marooned 27 days away from Hitler's death, so far away, so far away.

[maillemaker]

http://www.thingsnerdslike.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/kirk-yelling-khan.jpg

[Cybermat47]

I was hoping you'd seen Wrath of Khan. It would have been awkward otherwise :D

[brett25]

that does sound like a rip off...

there is a mod called Thomsen_s_No_Instant_DeathScreen_Mod___effects_V1. 1 it may be incorporated into other mods too (edits are made to the zone.cfg mainly)...but you should have flooding and a more protracted damage situation in critcal conditions...:up:

you will find a lively discussion about it here:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=128593&highlight=Thomsen_s_No_Instant_DeathScreen_Mod

[Tonnage_Ace]

Sorry to see your DID game come short like that
You did make it to April 1945 and you probably sank close to half a million tons of Allied shipping to afford that XXI

Can you post your career record?

[maillemaker]

Yeah I'll post my career record when I get home.

I probably would have gotten enough renown for the Type XXI eventually, but I only had like 13K when it came available. I edited my patrols_0 to make sure I had essentially unlimited renown for the Type XXI as soon as it was available and unlimited selection of torpedoes.

Once I got the Type XXI I never left port with fewer than 11 homing torpedoes.

Steve

[VONHARRIS]

So , we all learned a lesson here : Tankers can sink Uboats! :D

Just kidding , tough luck.
At least you made it that far. I still haven't.

[Sailor Steve]

The greatest u-boat ace of all time, WW1's Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, nearly died that way. One of the merchants he sank landed on his boat and dragged it down. Perière did manage to escape, but by his own account it was all down to luck rather than skill.

[maillemaker]

I think what got me was all the pieces falling off the ship.

We've all seen the great hit where the ship explodes and all the pieces, masts, lifeboats, stacks, structure, etc, blow off the ship and with the sound of crunching screeching metal fall/bounce/tumble off the hull into the water.

I never knew that these objects actually could hit/touch a sub model.

Well, it seems they can. I heard the explosions going off - I had already started my dive and pushed the scope down with control-page down and gone to the map screen to plot my escape when the boat started taking damage. I thought maybe I had not dived quickly enough and was crashing into the hull of the tanker. So I jumped back to F3 and the scope was just entering the conning tower and I could see pieces of ship in the water all around me. I hit F7 to get to damage control but it was all over before I got there.

I think it was like the 44th patrol.

Steve

[Tonnage_Ace]

Yeah I'll post my career record when I get home.

I probably would have gotten enough renown for the Type XXI eventually, but I only had like 13K when it came available. I edited my patrols_0 to make sure I had essentially unlimited renown for the Type XXI as soon as it was available and unlimited selection of torpedoes.

Once I got the Type XXI I never left port with fewer than 11 homing torpedoes.

Steve

Haha that's a good way to do it

Instead of editing files, I make sure to refuel and refit at sea from one of the supply ships, set my time in base to three days and head back out on patrol. Of course I only do this if my boat is at 100% hull integrity and I stay at sea for a maximum of one month in my type VII, don't want my men to start missing their girlfriends back at home port.

If I'm in a type IX I'll cruise around the North Atlantic for around 5-6 weeks before heading back to Lorient.

At least this way I stay realistic while racking up renown.

[Jimbuna]

Well at least you lived to tell the tale...unlike so many other Kaleuns http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/8636/cdw.gif (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/cdw.gif/)

[maillemaker]

At least this way I stay realistic while racking up renown.

Does this allow you more patrols before war-end than returning to base? I typically don't return to base until I'm out of torpedoes and, until 1943 or so, deck gun shells.

Steve

[Tonnage_Ace]

Does this allow you more patrols before war-end than returning to base? I typically don't return to base until I'm out of torpedoes and, until 1943 or so, deck gun shells.

Steve

I assume you're using SH3 Commander, just sail near a supply boat/friendly port and exit the patrol, quit game and go into SH3 Commander's settings, set days in base to your desired amount and load the game up again. I forget if supply ships fix your uboat to 100% so I only do this when I need fuel/munitions/food. If say I had a close call with an escort or depth charge and my periscopes are destroyed or one diesel is out of commission, I'll just return to my flotilla's HQ

[maillemaker]

Yup, I'm using commander, and yup, visiting a u-boat fixes your boat. You just lose the ability to issue any game-generated promotions, awards, or qualifications, and you don't get to choose your torpedo loadout.

I'm just wondering if stopping at u-boats and giving yourself a 3-day delay gets you more patrols over the war than going back to base for the game-generated port delay.

Here is my patrol record from my last go:

http://i.imgur.com/mSIolDa.png

Steve

[Tonnage_Ace]

Yup, I'm using commander, and yup, visiting a u-boat fixes your boat. You just lose the ability to issue any game-generated promotions, awards, or qualifications, and you don't get to choose your torpedo loadout.

I'm just wondering if stopping at u-boats and giving yourself a 3-day delay gets you more patrols over the war than going back to base for the game-generated port delay.

Here is my patrol record from my last go:

http://i.imgur.com/mSIolDa.png

Steve

Ya you'll spend more time at sea if you take advantage of the milch cows and sh3 commander's 'days spent in base' setting. The default is 20-28 days and you will jump forward a month if you choose a different uboat or upgrade the one you have.

That's why I love GWX, you can intercept a convoy multiple times, empty your torpedo's and then rendezvous with a friendly in the middle of the night, drink champagne, eat fish salad and figs while your crew passes over fresh TI's and loads them in my boat.

That's a pretty illustrious career, did you sink any battleships? I saw you sank 95000 tons of warships one patrol:ping:

I came close to losing my mind 3 patrols ago:

I got some Intel about a convoy south of Greenland headed south west at nine knots. I moved to intercept and saw through the fog the first ships start to appear. I saw what looked like 4 smoke stacks on top of a large silhouette, my first thought was that it was the Aquitania. I couldn't hit her though because she was nestled in the middle of the convoy but I did hit 3 other ships with 2 sinking. I retreated after my first salvo and moved at flank speed parallel to the convoy's course, moved into position and waited for 20 minutes until I could see signs of movement. Searched through my UZO and couldn't spot that big ship again, it totally disappeared!

Could have swore I saw her though, maybe the convoy split up after my first engagement?

[maillemaker]

I don't think I encountered any battleships that career. But I did take out 3 or so Bogue class carriers and a Fiji class, as well as countless escorts once I got acoustic homing torpedoes. :)

Steve

[maillemaker]

Well, I guess I did. I went back and looked at the record for that patrol and I sank:

0344 Patrol 18
U-123, 2nd Flotilla
Left at: March 3, 1941, 03:44
From: Thalia 1132 Grid CG 95

Ship sunk! Medium Merchant 01, 5099 tons 1720 Grid CG 96
Ship sunk! HMS Ashanti (Tribal class), 1850 tons. Crew: 250. Crew lost: 232 1731 Grid CG 96
Ship sunk! HMS Gloucester (Southampton class), 10725 tons. Crew: 954. Crew lost: 467 1741 Grid CG 96
Ship sunk! HMS Diamond (C&D classes), 1375 tons. Crew: 182. Crew lost: 20 1755 Grid CG 96
Ship sunk! HMS Birmingham (Southampton class), 10725 tons. Crew: 1051. Crew lost: 861 1802 Grid CG 96
Ship sunk! HMS Devonshire (London class), 13300 tons. Crew: 962. Crew lost: 836 2008 Grid CG 96
Ship sunk! HMS Nelson (HMS Nelson), 36000 tons. Crew: 1472. Crew lost: 1148 2026 Grid CG 96
Ship sunk! Dobbin (Small Depot Ship), 6250 tons. Cargo: Military Stores. Crew: 131. Crew lost: 106 4.3.41. 0150 Grid CG 96
Ship sunk! HMS Norfolk (Dorsetshire class), 13300 tons. Crew: 905. Crew lost: 27 0159 Grid CG 96
Ship sunk! HMS Brimnes (ASW Trawler), 1100 tons. Crew: 47. Crew lost: 18 0200 Grid CG 96
Ship sunk! SS Carrier Pigeon (Medium Cargo), 5091 tons. Cargo: Coal. Crew: 65. Crew lost: 13 8.3.41. 0231 Patrol results
Crew losses: 0
Ships sunk: 11
Aircraft destroyed: 0
Patrol tonnage: 104815 tons


Grid CG96 looks like it might be Gibraltar - I might have harbor raided.

Steve

[Tonnage_Ace]

Love watching those big ships roll over in open sea or listing slightly to port and then slipping forward into the abyss. It's carthartic or something, maybe I've spent too many days at sea