BEST BATTLE EVER!!

[woodenboat]

I'd like to know about some of the best battles anyone has fought. Tell me what happened.

I ask this because I just fought one AMAZING fight and lived to tell about it. I just GOT to tell someone! Here's what happened.

I'm in the Celebes sea on a normal patrol mission running on the surface at night. I'm on a NNE heading and I run up on a fat convoy with nine merchants and four Fubuki class escorts running in a perfect diamond formation around the merchants. They are covering each of four corners of the convoy. The convoy is on a SSW course - right down my throat. I go below the thermocline, go silent and finally to full stop to wait until the lead escort passes overhead. Then I float up to periscope depth when I figure the escorts have passed overhead. It's still difficult for me to see all of what's happening because of still being new at this but I look for all of my sonar contacts to be splaying out like spokes on a wheel. That's when I figure I can come up for a Peek-a-boo. I don't really know what has tipped off the destroyers but three of them have zoomed in to the middle of the convoy and are all but waiting for me when I pop up. The fourth escort is on her way and coming at flank. Dammit! I HATE when that happens! In the fray that follows, I try to shoot one of the destroyers off of my tail and, of course, I miss! Dang it. You people didn't really believe that I was going to brag about what an incredible marksman I am, did you? However, as luck would have it, that fish still hits an old split freighter. The freighter goes dead in the water but she doesn't sink. She doesn't even catch fire but she does come to a full stop.

As the fur ball continues, I'm trying to keep from getting hammered by four angry destroyers and things are happening so fast that I can't even get any sort of shot in. All the destroyers are too close for my fish to even arm. I can see that this doesn't look like it's going to end well at all. But then, I suddenly see myself lined up with this freighter that is not moving. I pull immediately along side and go to full stop. I even have to apply a little reverse to stay alongside.

Now, you gotta picture this. I'm on an exact parallel course with the freighter. My periscope is almost scraping her hull because I am THAT close. It is the perfect wall of protection. WHAT A STROKE OF COMPLETELY FANTASTIC LUCK!! The Fubukis pass both in front of the freighter and behind her laying patterns each time. Oh sure, there's a lot of noise and smoke but I'm not taking any damage at all! Then I realize that these guys are running the same circular patterns like laps in a race car. And they cannot get in close enough to kill me. Two of them are going clockwise and the other two - counterclockwise.

Now remember that, in another thread, I quoted what Master Sunzi said in his teachings of The Art of War - "Never Become Predictable."

I simply line up my torpedoes right where I know the Fubukis are going to be - two with my bow tubes and two with my stern tubes. I simply wait for each escort to come around the stern of the old freighter or by the bow. I get a gorgeous, beautiful, green triangle on every shot. I shoot four torpedoes and four Fubukis die in four glorious balls of flame and exploding shrapnel. Does anyone think it possible to actually perfect this technique? Hmmm

With no more threat, I pick the rest of the convoy off one by one until I have sunk all of them. Yes, that includes the old split freighter that provided my shelter. It sort of broke my heart but I got over it. :haha:

So tell me guys, what was YOUR best battle ever?

[Cybermat47]

My best battle was SH5, not 4, but I'll post it here anyway :)

I get a contact report for a convoy, and plot an intercept course. I make contact with the convoy, and make a contact report. BdU orders me to keep contact without attacking, which I do. By early evening, U-339 arrives and attacks, sinking a freighter. While the escorts are busy with U-339, I move on the now unescorted convoy, and sink three freighters. With my tubes empty, I make my escape, with no offensive action at all taken against me.

BTW, good work using the crippled freighter as cover, I'll have to try that.

[Majestik 909]

Nicely done, Woody...

Sometime, read about Kretschmer's attack on HN-12 in U-23 in which he stalled and sank the destroyer HMS Daring....you could hear the excitement in his voice when he described the hunt....

[Majestik 909]

"As long as there is a slow moving vessel afloat, you are never out in the open....."

Often I will cripple one ship, in a heavily escorted convoy, and use it for cover, picking off escorts one by one....

[woodenboat]

...with no offensive action at all taken against me.


It's like getting a Get Out Of Jail Free card. Those are the best ones.

Well, the using a crippled freighter as cover is a repeatable tactic. I tried it again and it works. This time I intentionally put one fish into the stern of the closest merchant and then went alongside. After a while she caught fire and began to list. So this time around, I knew my time was going to be limited at best. I don't know if it matters one way or another but this next convoy didn't have Fubukis as escorts. They were Akizukis and there was also a light Agano class cruiser in the fray. The Akizukis didn't run laps around me like the Fubukis had done before. I tried to pick them off but missed on several tries even though I was shooting with a full green triangle and from between 350 and 400 yards. How can I miss under those circumstances? I don't get it!! Finally, I shot both of them but MAN I sure wasted a bunch of torpedoes. Meanwhile, the Agano came to a full stop and just stood off about 1500 yards to my stern. By this time, I had run out of torpedoes in my stern tubes and only had two fish in my bow tubes. It looked like it was going to be a waiting game. The merchant finally succumbed to her injuries and slid under. That's when the light cruiser came on in. I had to crash dive and get out of there cause I didn't figure that I stood a chance against that cruiser.

So, this time in the end, I only got credited with one merchant and two Akizukis for an entire sub's worth of torpedoes. I guess what goes around, comes around. I still have a lot to learn.

[Cybermat47]

Personally, I would've tried to get the cruiser. With no anti-submarine capability, it would've been too tempting to not put the last two fish in her. But that's just me :)

[Majestik 909]

Woody - In general, I watch escort movements from the attack map while submerged and "blind" so to speak. I then plot a solution to where the ship will eventually be so the escort enters the path of the torpedo. Keep in mind 10 knots is 17 feet per second, so using this as a reference, along with range and target speed, it is easy to plot a solution. Basically, you are shooting out into the open ocean, but the escort will cruise right into the torpedo....

[Majestik 909]

It's like getting a Get Out Of Jail Free card. Those are the best ones.

Well, the using a crippled freighter as cover is a repeatable tactic. I tried it again and it works. This time I intentionally put one fish into the stern of the closest merchant and then went alongside. After a while she caught fire and began to list. So this time around, I knew my time was going to be limited at best. I don't know if it matters one way or another but this next convoy didn't have Fubukis as escorts. They were Akizukis and there was also a light Agano class cruiser in the fray. The Akizukis didn't run laps around me like the Fubukis had done before. I tried to pick them off but missed on several tries even though I was shooting with a full green triangle and from between 350 and 400 yards. How can I miss under those circumstances? I don't get it!! Finally, I shot both of them but MAN I sure wasted a bunch of torpedoes. Meanwhile, the Agano came to a full stop and just stood off about 1500 yards to my stern. By this time, I had run out of torpedoes in my stern tubes and only had two fish in my bow tubes. It looked like it was going to be a waiting game. The merchant finally succumbed to her injuries and slid under. That's when the light cruiser came on in. I had to crash dive and get out of there cause I didn't figure that I stood a chance against that cruiser.

So, this time in the end, I only got credited with one merchant and two Akizukis for an entire sub's worth of torpedoes. I guess what goes around, comes around. I still have a lot to learn.

You are learning! Good work!

I attack at very close ranges to conserve torpedoes....even when attacking escorts. My last mission alone netted 22 ships sunk, over 90,000 GRT, but it takes a lot of stalking....

[Sniper297]

"I was shooting with a full green triangle and from between 350 and 400 yards. How can I miss under those circumstances?"

Because the target was turning. The green triangle merely indicates you have a target that is within the limitations of the gyro angle for the tube you have selected, the solution light on the TDC is the same. For a middle of target hit on a target holding a steady course you merely hit the L key to lock the crosshairs in the center of the target, but for "Kentucky windage" you need to compensate by unlocking the target and moving the crosshairs. The TDC is aiming the torpedo using the target's speed and course NOW, not what it WILL BE when the torpedo gets there. Most warships seeing the wake will speed up, so moving the crosshairs forward of center, even slightly ahead of the bow of the target, will compensate for that. To fire a spread I don't bother fooling with the salvo spread settings, I just aim, fire, W to switch to the next tube, move the crosshairs a few degrees and fire again, repeat until all four tubes (I'm a SARGO driver) are fired.

In the case of circling destroyers when I'm in the center of the circle I want to start the spread with the first shot BEHIND the center of the target and shift the spread aft. In other words if the target is broadside to my forward tubes with a starboard 90 AOB (Angle On the Bow) and he's turning starboard towards me, if I aim at the center all the shots will miss to my right because he's turning to my left - so I have to aim off to the left where he will be when the fish get there. Aim to the left or right of the target indicator depending on which way he's turning, spread the shots out in the direction he's turning, you'll get a lot more hits.

[Maserati]

I was outbound on a North Atlantic patrol in my trusty Type II. I see a radio report of British destroyers making a raid near Heligoland. A few hours later, sure enough my lookouts spot two RN DDs in position for a long range shot. I fan four torpedoes and them and...

All four miss. Now I'm stuck, in a flat calm sea with little more than my grandmother's height under the keel. Here they come. I send the contact report, get my keel down in the mud and start sweating. They knock me around a bit with depth charges, prosecuting their attack more than is wise near an enemy shore.

After about 40 minutes of creeping around I start hearing explosions not preceded by splashes. I switch to an external camera and find...

I'm looking from right behind a Ju-87 in its dive. All told I count at least 16 dive bomb attacks, sinking both destroyers. I have never skipped a contact report since !

[woodenboat]

Maserati, that's an AWESOME story! I'm going to have to try the German perspective soon. When Stukas have your back, you're in pretty good shape.

Majestik, I fully understand about Kentucky Windage in real life. It never dawned on me that it would apply to this sim as well. I won't be missing any more enemies in that situation.

Also, I didn't know that the Agano class didn't have any anti-sub capability. I was going on the fact that it was pinging the heck out of me just like the destroyers do. Live and learn.

[Majestik 909]

February 28, 1940 - 0117 hours - 50 miles S/E of the Orkneys - HN-12 comprised of 20 ships in 3 colums, with destroyer escorts at each corner, making 7-1/2 knots. The lead destroyers are zig-zagging and the trailing destroyers are on a steady course. An 'L' class submarine (Thistle) is sailing between the rear escorts.

Kretchsmer manuvered surfaced to place the dark horizon at his back. Kretchsmers submerges and attacks the rear portside destroyer, HMS Daring, from 800 meters. The single torpedo #E-2749 strikes HMS Daring port side aft with a tremendous explosion. An immediate secondary explosion breaks the escort in two. Both sections capsize. Forward sections sinks with half hour, rear section sinks, leaving the tip of the stern floating like a bobber.

The convoy maintains its course and Kretchsmer is attacked by one escort that drops 5 depth charges, all of which miss U-23...

[woodenboat]

Well.... that's a target rich environment for sure. Is the L-class sub any real threat?

Correct me if I'm wrong... but didn't Kretchsmer survive the war to open a chain of delicatessens? :haha: He was really famous for his ham, I think but, since the Nazis didn't succeed in wiping out the world's Jewish population, Kretchsmer also introduced a line of Kosher meats. Right? :smug:

Ok, I'm kidding. :03:

I'm pretty disgusted right now. Factoring in Kentucky Windage, I'm still missing slow ships at virtually point blank range. I think it's probably time for me to learn how to do manual targeting. I'm still using the automatic settings. I am either failing to take SOMETHING into consideration OR there is a bug in my system. Right at the moment, I am so mad that I need to walk away from the sim and do something else for a while. I did a save right before I took on a huge convoy. I went deep, came up between several rows of merchants, had beautiful firing position, missed everything I shot at. So, I ran it again and missed everything AGAIN! Finally, the third time, I not only missed everything in sight, but the destroyers killed me. I went deep and silent, dropped decoys, changed course and was doing fine. I was watching my sonar blips on the map and suddenly....... I just died. It was a pattern of tin cans dropped from a destroyer that was right above me. One second it was all clear and then, the very next second, there he was and I was immediately dead.

Oh well, that's enough for today. I'll come back and play again tomorrow but right now I need to think about something else. I need to go play my guitar. That is so much more productive.

[Sniper297]

Couple items;

1. If you note the small half circle of the escort's active sonar and can maneuver to stay outside that arc, it's not usually necessary to dive below the layer every time.

2. If you do dive below the layer, on the way back up switch to external view and check that the outer doors on all tubes are open. Or hit the Q key and check the message box to see if it says "opening tube one" or "closing tube one". If it says closing, obviously hit the Q key again to make it say opening before shifting to the next tube.

Reason I stress that is because the game is set to automatically open the outer doors if they're not already open. Why that's a problem - when sitting in the tube, there is a spindle sticking down into the gyroscope on the torpedo which sets the gyro angle according to the data coming from the TDC. As soon as you hit the firing button that spindle retracts, so the gyro angle is set and stays at that setting until the fish leaves the tube.

The programmers got this wrong in the game, if the outer doors are shut and you hit the fire button, the gyro is set, there's a few seconds delay while the outer door opens automatically, then the fish is fired WITH THE GYRO SETTING THAT WAS VALID 3 or 4 SECONDS AGO.

This almost ALWAYS results in a miss, so I used Silent 3ditor to edit all the subs' SIM files to change auto_open = True to auto_open = False. There's no point in having the auto open feature if it means the tube will fire with outdated data, so I turned it off in my game. Can't upload a mod for that since many of the supermods edit the same files, but once you learn Silent 3ditor it's easy enough to do it yourself.

Before that, one thing you can do is simple text editing in notepad.

Open windows explorer, browse to \Silent Hunter Wolves of the Pacific\Data\Submarine\NSS_Gato

Find the file named NSS_Gato.cfg, right click and select OPEN WITH and choose NOTEPAD.

Find the line that says;

TorpLaunchMaxDepth=30;meters

Change that to;

TorpLaunchMaxDepth=99;meters

Save, exit, now you can dive to 326 feet before you're too deep to launch. If that's not enough make it 150 meters or whatever you want, the idea is to open ALL tubes when you first come in contact, and not have them automatically closing when you go deep. Do the same for any sub class you drive in game.

[woodenboat]

Ok, I'm back. There are some good suggestions here. Thanks guys.

Sniper, I've been real conscientious about opening my torpedo doors before I shoot but you are correct in that, once I fire, several seconds pass before I hear the first officer (the one that sounds like Worf) says, "Torpedo in the water!" It's at times like these when my butt gets really chapped. Like, I'll turn on the stop watch to get an idea of when I will hear the explosion but the watch won't have the red indicator. I've already come to understand that, when my stop watch has no red line, it's going to be a miss. GREAT! Then I will watch the destroyer merrily circle around to pound my tail and next, after I'm trying to recover from all the damage and somehow keep the boat afloat, Worf will come back and say, "Torpedo Missed, Sir!"

No REALLY? Jeez, tell me something that I didn't already know!

I went into the files just like you said but when I try to save the change it gives me a message that says "Access denied."

[Sniper297]

Can't help with that one, I'm still chugging along with Windows XP, the last version Microsoft made before they decided that the home user was too stupid to have any control over his own computer. So the following is based on what I've read about it, I have no personal experience with UAC.

If you intend to modify games on your computer, first thing is to disable UAC;

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-user-account-control-on-off#1TC=windows-7

Second thing is from Vista on the C:\Program Files folder was changed to C:\Program Files (X86) and that's the one folder that Windows Vista/7/8/etc. guards like a junkyard dog. Most gamers recommend NOT installing any game you intend to modify in the C:\Program Files (X86) folder, unfortunately all the idiot programmers who make the installation software make that one the default folder to install everything in. So at some point during the install you should see a window that allows you to browse, instead of just bypassing that and letting it automatically install in the default C:\Program Files (X86) folder you need to redirect it - C:\Games or just C:\ or anyplace else.

When you see that access denied BS you don't have control over your own computer, so the first thing you need to learn is how to take control.

[Armistead]

too many too remember, wait until you run into a large TF, but one fav I remember in Formosa, one large convoy with 20 plus ships was coming from the north, while another just as large coming from the south, I attacked as the passed each other in 200 ft of water. I really didn't have to aim to hit anything as I used long rang settings and timed the attack shooting from the flank of one, shooting all 10 torps. Those that missed ran into the other convoy and got hits. The return attack on me was about 12 Type AB escorts that drop about 24 charges per run... I survived after sinking about 20 ships after one more end around, but barely made it back to base with 90% damage

[Majestik 909]

My most satisfying battle was against a large convoy. 10 tankers/freighters protected by 4 escorts. I sank both lead escorts on a head-on attack, and then proceeded to dispatch remaining vessels.

One damaged tanker remains afloat and one escort. I am out of torpedoes.

I surface close to the tanker, decks awash as much as possible, opposite the escort. I train my deck gun towards the escort, then pull ahead of the tanker and fire a shot into the escort as she pulls ahead of the tanker.

All back emergency to slow and submerge, passing under the tanker, repeating surfaced attack on opposite side. Gunfire from escort strikes tanker, setting fires along her length.

Now, hiding along starboard quarter of tanker, we open fire on escort as she crosses tanker'sbow, scoring two solid hits broadside. Escort returns fire but our stem presents narrow target and none of his rounds hit us.

Submerge quickly and cross under tanker again. We score more hots on the escort. Fires breakout onboard.

Gunfire from escort brings tanker to dead stop and she begins to sink. We "freefall" to 200 meters beneath the tanker and plot an escape course at dead slow. The escort drops pattern after pattern all around the sinking tanker. We make turns for ahead flank and maneuver out of the area, eventually far enough to surface and make a 20 knot nighttime surfaced run for our base to refit.

We may not have sunk that last V&W, but we certainly showed them who was boss.....U-847

[Sniper297]

Can't remember who it was, but someone was asking about range to target, then it occurred to me that's another potential for missed shots at close range.

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtl1/t31.0-8/12716049_1064742766903336_8322693580625641772_o.jp g

First screen you see for the periscope, grab that tab on the left and pull it out.

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtl1/t31.0-8/11259903_1064742756903337_2956633664701140709_o.jp g

This one is the one you want when shooting, since it gives all the TDC data you need to keep track of your sub and the target at the same time. To get set up, click the torpedo settings on the bottom;

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/12716275_1064745453569734_8950453180437943564_o.jp g

Most of the time you'll be firing MARK IV torpedoes at less than 4000 yards, and low speed on a 14 is slow enough that a ship being towed by a rowboat could avoid it. Always set for high speed. You need to set each tube in turn, don't make the mistake of setting the first one and leaving the rest at default low speed. Might as well hit Q to open outer doors as you're cycling through the tubes setting to high speed, pretty soon that becomes a habit.

If you know the draft of the target set the running depth a foot or two shallower than that instead of leaving it at the default depth, you'll do more damage per hit. Ideally when the contact exploder is used it should hit just under the turn of the bilge and blow a nice big hole in the bottom, but err on the side of caution so you don't get a lot of runs set too deep that run under the target without exploding. Playing with duds on is probably closer to realistic, if you're masochistic enough to want to suffer that aggravation you should set shallower and change from contact/influence to contact only. If you have any sense you'll turn duds off in the difficulty settings so you don't have to worry about that.

[Sniper297]

Almost forgot the topic, greatest battles - this morning was fun, task force with 3 YAMATO class BBs (in real life they laid the keels for three but the third was converted to an aircraft carrier, so it's ridiculous but fun) and a KONGO. Driving a SARGO class with only 22 fish so I let the KONGO go and focused on the YAMATOs. :arrgh!:

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/t31.0-8/12710775_1064742826903330_6773999660309575219_o.jp g

Set up to fire the stern tubes first, got detected before I could get into position so went to flank speed and started shooting even if the angles were bad.

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/t31.0-8/12716161_1064742876903325_6730503675075534062_o.jp g

Rather than fool around with the gyro spread settings I just leave that at zero, shift the crosshairs forward to fire the next fish;

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t31.0-8/736698_1064742853569994_4292140495409795753_o.jpg

Then aft of center for the next shot.

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xla1/t31.0-8/12719388_1064742893569990_7101776939471040097_o.jp g

Fired all four stern tubes at the first one, then turned toward the next coming behind him;

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/t31.0-8/12716097_1064742913569988_8114361556179893601_o.jp g

Put two fish into him, saving the last two for the third one, got one hit and one miss on the third (he was turning to starboard so I aimed that way, but he reversed his turn to port just after the second shot).

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/t31.0-8/12715975_1064742783570001_4654400797916369441_o.jp g

Now I got three damaged YAMATOs and empty tubes, kick out a decoy then go deep and silent while reloading. When I came back up I had 14 fish left out of 22, one YAMATO DIW, one running at 3 knots and one running at 8 knots. Fired all 8 at the two worst cripples, sank one, kicked out another decoy (by this time there are destroyers all over the place but also cruisers running hither and yon so it's easy to dodge them) and went deep again, heading toward the least wounded still running at 8 knots.

Back to periscope depth after reloading forward tubes, nothing left aft, six destroyers hammering away with depth charges on the last decoy. Fired two at the second cripple which had stopped, two at the 8 knot survivor, the second cripple blew up and sank. Reloaded last two fish and fired at the remaining YAMATO, both hit, he went DIW but wouldn't sink.

So end score 2 YAMATO class BBs sunk, one damaged, but for whatever reason this silly game isn't programmed to give credit for damage.
2

[woodenboat]

too many too remember, wait until you run into a large TF, but one fav I remember in Formosa, one large convoy with 20 plus ships was coming from the north, while another just as large coming from the south, I attacked as the passed each other in 200 ft of water. I really didn't have to aim to hit anything as I used long rang settings and timed the attack shooting from the flank of one, shooting all 10 torps. Those that missed ran into the other convoy and got hits. The return attack on me was about 12 Type AB escorts that drop about 24 charges per run... I survived after sinking about 20 ships after one more end around, but barely made it back to base with 90% damage

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!! :woot: That's the kind of battle that makes this sim worth every one of those 995 pennies I spent on it. :haha:

Sniper, your battle looked like a LOT of fun, too. I noticed you're shooting those big boys at around 1000 yards. Please let me clarify. Is your aiming point amidships, close to the bow, ahead of the bow... which?

Ok, back to my torpedo aiming problem. I am still missing some of what appear to be just really sweet and easy just can't miss 'em shots. But my hit rate has climbed quite a bit because I am now taking everything a lot slower. I'm calming myself down and taking extra care to make sure I am remembering everything I need to do. But I have still fallen victim to some of what I just need to call supernatural powers on the part of the enemy. Earlier, in this thread, I talked about how I just inexplicably died during one battle and I don't know how. Another example of this just happened a few minutes ago.

I had been having a running battle with a large convoy of merchants and I was picking them off one by one. Each time I shot one, the rest would scatter like someone dropping a box of chickens. (Hey, I live in Tennessee. We say that.) I was trying to use a slow freighter as cover but all were just plain out running me. I tried to shoot several destroyers and I was just wasting torpedoes. The convoy overall, was on an almost perfectly true easterly course. So, I just got about 10 miles ahead, went silent, came to a full stop and just waited ... and waited ... and waited ... for like a week. My sonar contacts were not moving. Finally, I started working my way towards the west to see what was going on. Pretty soon, I came up on the entire convoy. All ships were completely stationary. The lead destroyer was completely stopped and facing directly west which meant that I was sneaking up behind her. I came in as silently as I could and not daring to go more than 1/3. I got to within 380 yards. I was planning on firing two torpedoes but as soon as I fired the first torpedo, that destroyer took off like a dragster and completely outran my fish.

HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? There surely must be a bug in the system

[Sniper297]

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=942

[woodenboat]

Wow, lots of folks online and on the forum right now.

Sniper, I think that you've just given me the answers to my mysteries. The post that you put up a few minutes ago about setting torpedo speed and type of exploder could very well be my problem.

I just went a loaded the sim that i was just running and couldn't get to work right. Sure enough, I went to "Torpedo Settings" and yes, all my fish are set to "slow."

Ok then, I'll be back in a little while. I'm going to go shoot stuff with my speeds set on high.

Just think, I've been shooting ships for about a week and a half now (real time, not sim time) and all this time, everything's been set to slow.

Oh man!! I'm really embarrassed!! :oops:

[woodenboat]

Ok, I'm back.

I cannot get my torpedo speed setting to go to high. It's locked on slow. Heck!! No WONDER I haven't been hitting anything! I am able to change the exploder just fine but NOT the speed.

[Sniper297]

Well, first thing is try this;

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=942

That will take care of the dragster ship acceleration.

Second item, go to the torpedo screen and check what type of fish you actually have loaded - Mark 14 is the most common type, but you could also have mark 16s or 18s which only have one speed setting. 18s are slow but wakeless, 16s are fast and long range plus being more powerful.

[woodenboat]

Well, I can't get Wizard's fix installed into my game. I know a guy here locally that will help me with it. I must say that I am NOT any sort of computer expert. I only really know just enough to get me in deep poo.

Ok, I found out that I did indeed have Mark 10s loaded. That's why I couldn't select high speed. I'm running a new career now and I've got Mark 14s in there. But for now, I've got a very long (real life) day tomorrow. I'm going to bed. thankx again for the help.

[Sniper297]

If you have no mods at all you should start with;

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=4725

Comes with directions. Biggest problem for computer newbies these days is the UAC, you need to learn how to do weird stuff like "Run as administrator" just to get the same control of your system that was normal for versions prior to VISTA. So to use JGSME and install/uninstall mods you'll probably need to learn how to take control of your computer instead of allowing Bill Gates to dictate what you can and cannot do with it.

Torpedoes is another story - the Mark 10 has only one speed, 36 knots, so will go about 1200 yards in one minute. The Mark 14 has two speeds, 31 knots and 46 knots, so at high speed will go about 1550 yards in the same minute. That means firing at 1000 yards on high speed with the Mark 14, the target has about 15 seconds less time to react after seeing the wake - big difference.

Later you may want to try some of the torpedo effect mods - the blast effect wasn't programmed correctly either. The Mark 10 torpedo was designed in 1915 with a warhead of 497 pounds of TNT, the Mark 14 was designed in 1931 with a 643 pound warhead using TORPEX. The game doesn't simulate this, probably because they didn't know, but TORPEX has the equivalent explosive power of 150% of the same weight as TNT. So the warhead on the Mark 14 was actually equal to 964 pounds of TNT, almost twice the blast of the Mark 10.

[woodenboat]

Ok, I've had a rough day (real life) and I just got back to playing a game this evening. I still haven't been able to get the Wizard's fix installed. Super human destroyers are really plaguing me. For example:

I found myself sitting on the surface when a sonar contact came in at long range. It was a destroyer zig-zagging my direction with a big passenger liner behind. Then there was a second destroyer bringing up the rear. All three ships were basically in a straight line coming right down on me. The first destroyer was about 3300 yards out and the other destroyer way in the back was at least 6 miles out. As the first destroyer closed, he started pinging me at around 1100 yards. I was watching him on the map. As he stopped zigging and began making right for me, I saw the other destroyer zoom in behind him. The only way in real life to make up some 6 miles would be to have to run at least 80mph. Sure enough, when I sighted the first one in my periscope, the second was right there behind her.

I tried shooting them but it was to no avail. I shot a spread of fish when the first destroyer was at 375 yards, right on the nose. I immediately fired one fish to the left and one to the right just as fast as I could cycle to the next tube. Three fish shot, three misses. Then I died in the depth charge attack.

Really, this is getting to where it is not any fun anymore. I've got to get this fixed like yesterday.

[Sniper297]

Well, start with this;

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff431742.aspx

Get JGSME and install game fixes only and the physics mod to start. Another tip, consider 500 yards the MINIMUM range - if you shoot at 375 yards you get a dud, since the fish needs to run at least 400 yards for the exploder to arm. Also look at the gyro angles - the arrow in the lower circle (own ship dial) should be within 20 degrees or so of straight ahead or straight behind (depending on whether you're firing bow tubes or stern tubes). High gyro angles will work if the range is high enough, the problem is the fish runs straight out of the tube 400 yards before beginning the turn to the heading that the TDC sent to the gyrocompass in the torpedo. So firing at close range with a large gyro angle results in a run that goes past the target then tries to make a tight turn to hit it, usually resulting in a miss.

Best advice, relax and take your time - you're new at computers, you're new at submarine simulators, you're not gonna become an expert overnight. For the amount of time you've put into it so far you're doing fine, if it was easy everyone would have been an ace submarine skipper.

[Majestik 909]

Ok, I've had a rough din y (real life) and I just got back to playing a game this evening. I still haven't been able to get the Wizard's fix installed. Super human destroyers are really plaguing me. For example:

I found myself sitting on the surface when a sonar contact came in at long range. It was a destroyer zig-zagging my direction with a big passenger liner behind. Then there was a second destroyer bringing up the rear. All three ships were basically in a straight line coming right down on me. The first destroyer was about 3300 yards out and the other destroyer way in the back was at least 6 miles out. As the first destroyer closed, he started pinging me at around 1100 yards. I was watching him on the map. As he stopped zigging and began making right for me, I saw the other destroyer zoom in behind him. The only way in real life to make up some 6 miles would be to have to run at least 80mph. Sure enough, when I sighted the first one in my periscope, the second was right there behind her.

I tried shooting them but it was to no avail. I shot a spread of fish when the first destroyer was at 375 yards, right on the nose. I immediately fired one fish to the left and one to the right just as fast as I could cycle to the next tube. Three fish shot, three misses. Then I died in the depth charge attack.

Really, this is getting to where it is not any fun anymore. I've got to get this fixed like yesterday.

Woody - I suggest you watch the destroyer scene In U-571. Note how visible the torpedo wake is in calm seas. Also....the American torpedoes arm around 400, so if your target is closing on you, they can close up that distance pretty fast. Under 400 yards your fish may remain unarmed. With a G7E, I can engage was close as 200 yards.

Fire, dive, deploy decoy and hard turn. Many times I can get in behind an escort early in the fray.

You are doing a great job!

[woodenboat]

400 YARDS? That could REALLY be a big part of the problem. Some how, I had it in my mind that my fish were arming at around 250 yards.

Anyway, I'm taking my computer over to the place where I bought it and I'm going to get control of this thing. LOL

[Majestik 909]

Happy Hunting.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

U-847

[Sniper297]

Short video illustrating the problem with short range and high gyro angles;

https://youtu.be/egktAnPnhUY

[woodenboat]

Well, I have discovered the source of my enemy's superhuman strength. I need to update my video card.

I was talking to my local 'puter guru about this and he asked me about the video card. He suggested that I bring a copy of the game and load it onto his Ferrari of gaming computers and so, we did. On THAT computer, I was killing destroyers like shooting beer cans off of a fence. (EMPTY beer cans of course :haha:) The game was fun again.

I know that there is a technical explanation for this. Years ago, I was really into Grand Prix Legends. With that sim, the computer needed to maintain a minimum of 30 frames per second. Otherwise, I would put in some signal such as clutch, brakes or steering and the computer would put that command in the cue and process it when it got to it. I was constantly driving off the road, missing shifts and crashing my car. There was never any consistency. Now, it seems I've had the same problem and it hasn't been until I started getting better and the careers and missions started getting more complicated that the problem made itself manifest.

This certainly seems to be the proper explanation because I can go back and start a new career and run a sim from square one. I have no problems because, at first, I'm only shooting basically one ship at a time.

[Sniper297]

Uh-oh. Be advised attempting to run SH4 on a laptop with a Celeron CPU and integrated graphics is a court martial offense, usually punishable by keelhauling. :arrgh!:

To check framerates hit CTRL F8 and you'll get an FPS counter at upper left.

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/12783759_1070172499693696_5814878305394196284_o.jp g

[woodenboat]

Oooohh! Keelhauling sounds like fun! I've never done that before. :03:

I just tried out the F8 while attacking a large convoy. Yup, frame rate dropped to 16fps.