NFG here!

[JohnyCat]

HI Guys. Total Noob here. I have just bought SH5 in the steam sale. In fact I got a deal which included SH3, SH4, SH5 and the expansions.

I have downloaded them all but I haven't even started one up. I was wondering if some one could give a 57 year old guy who is not too tech savy and has never played a sub sim, some advice on where to start.

There were some brilliant people who gave some great detailed reviews on Steam of all the games and I think that I would enjoy any of them.
A lot of them stressed the importance of modding the games, and if anyone can advise me of the essentials that will run with the steam based games, that would be really appreciated too.

I realise that these games are simulations and that level of detail appeals to me.
I think though, that I would probably use some of the automated features, although I would love to learn it all in time.

I studied German at university ,many ,many years ago and I read a lot of historical books about world war 2 but not actually a U Boat book yet.
Again, any recommendations would be welcomed, particularly those in german.

I am really looking forward to being an active member of this fantastic community.

John

[Aktungbby]

Johnnycat!:Kaleun_Salute: required reading is the two volume 'Hitlers U-boat War '.https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51K1S0S0Z6L._AC_UL320_SR218,320_.jpg (https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/118678.Hitler_s_U_Boat_War) & https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/512D35ZTQFL._AC_UL320_SR218,320_.jpgWhat's essential is to understand is that only a small number of U-boat aces accounted for most of the tonnage and...the U-boat War which so worried Churchill is a lost cause from the getgo; WWI technology applied to WWII resulting only 3 to 5% of allied shipping losses overall and 75 % losses for the undersea branch of the Kreigsmarine...a study in maritime strategic futility!:hmmm: :timeout::oops: By the end of the war, although the U-boat arm had sunk 6,000 ships totalling 21 million GRT, the Allies had built over 38 million tons of new shipping.
The reason for the misperception that the German blockade came close to success may be found in post-war writings by both German and British authors. Blair (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Blair) attributes the distortion to "propagandists" who "glorified and exaggerated the successes of German submariners", while he believes Allied writers "had their own reasons for exaggerating the peril".
Dan van der Vat (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_van_der_Vat) suggests that, unlike the US, or Canada and Britain's other dominions, which were protected by oceanic distances, Britain was at the end of the transatlantic supply route closest to German bases; for Britain it was a lifeline. It is this which led to Churchill's concerns. Coupled with a series of major convoy battles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_May_(1943)#March) in the space of a month, it undermined confidence in the convoy system in March 1943, to the point Britain considered abandoning it, not realising the U-boat had already effectively been defeated. These were "over-pessimistic threat assessments (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threat_assessment) Blair concludes: "At no time did the German U-boat force ever come close to winning the Battle of the Atlantic or bringing on the collapse of Great Britain''.

[bstanko6]

Step one before any modding can be done... be sure to patch whatever SH you intend to play. For example SH5 starts as version 1.05. Ubisoft sent a patch version 1.2 later on. SH5 needs to be at 1.2 before any modding can take place!

[JohnyCat]

Thank you Aktungbby. Really informative. I will buy thosebooks. The stats that you quoted really surprised me. I did not know that.

[JohnyCat]

Thanks Bstank. Just what I needed to know. I now realise that my questions are those asked by every noob who joins and that there is a plethora of posts that already answer my questions, so thank you for taking the time. Modding the game is going to be the hardest thing for me.

[bstanko6]

No problem. Just be sure to get patched and a whole world of modding will be open to you!

[hauangua]

Welcome JohnyCat

Regarding the MOD
SH5 ... TWoS simple installation
SH3 ... GWX simple to install
LSH. Easy to install (but before starting I suggest you read Theberbester advices.... Very useful)
WAC.... not for old PCs simple to install but necessary to install JSGME first
And Important... Install steam outside Program(x86) folder!!! NO forget this
My 2 cents...
:salute:

[JohnyCat]

Thanks hauangua.

Brilliant stuff. You have given me some confidence that I can do it.
I have also come across a video on YouTube that helps beginners patch.

Thanks again

John