How many people would be interested in...

[Observer]

A tonnage randomizer?

The way this thing works, you would have to randomize and load SH3. If you wanted to randomize again, you would have to save, exit SH3, randomize and reload SH3. You would not be able to make changes on the fly because SH3 loads the necessary files at startup ( :nope: ), but it would provide a bit more variety than even what's already provided by SH3 Commander.

With a bit more work, I can (I think) randomize the saved game log entry for a bit more variety. Anyone interested in this before I spend a whole bunch of time re-writing what I've already got? Just in case anyone asks, this would be a background application similar to SH3 Commander, but much simpler.

[CWorth]

If you can find a way to do it and keep from having to exit the game and restart all the time then Im all for it.

[hopkins32]

sounds vary interesting i would love to play with it.

[Observer]

It's not possible. I've tested it in every possible configuration I can think of, and the files are loaded at game start. The files can be accessed and changed on the fly (the changes even show up in the recognition manual), but they won't be recognized until the next time you start the game.

[hopkins32]

recognized for each new patrol would be fine I think

[Observer]

That's already been accomplished with SH3 Commander.

[Jungman]

Sounds good to me. :D

[Sawdust]

Sorry if this is a silly question, but what exactly does a "tonnage randomizer" do?

[Captain America]

I think that would be cool :up:

[Observer]

Sorry if this is a silly question, but what exactly does a "tonnage randomizer" do?

Hehe...it randomizes tonnage of course! ;)

Seriously though, it would change the value of merchant ship tonnage before you start the game to something like plus or minus 15% of the original value. I could also add the small chance that you get a very small ship, or a much larger ship than normal.

For example, say the base tonnage for a small merchant is 2,400 GRT. This program would change that to a random number between 2,040 GRT and 2760 GRT before the small change that SH3 applies. I could make this range even bigger if desired. You wouldn't know what the number is unless you look at the recognition manual or sink a ship.

[jasonb885]

Sounds like a ton of work for the tonnage to change a bit.

Might be cool for those with seriously beefy systems, but it takes more than a minute to load the game, then another minute to load a save on my system. Way too long to do it more then once a day for me.

[Observer]

Sounds like a ton of work for the tonnage to change a bit.

Might be cool for those with seriously beefy systems, but it takes more than a minute to load the game, then another minute to load a save on my system. Way too long to do it more then once a day for me.

This is true, but I've already done the majority of the work. It's just a matter of making a few changes to the code and testing. I can make the variation bigger and even throw in a few special cases. That's easy to do, and the code supports it.

The best current system to change tonnage uses SH3 Commander and only changes it once a patrol. This program could have the potential to change it several times during the same patrol depending on how often the user exited and restarted the game. I do this quite a bit because I only get a little bit of time at a single sitting. The stock game never changes the tonnage through out the war, so even the once a month method as in SH3 Commander is better, IMHO, than the stock game.

I can also scramble the numbers in the log. It would be after the fact, but it could add some more variety. I haven't written this part of the code so it would require a bit more effort.

[jasonb885]

Sounds like a ton of work for the tonnage to change a bit.

Might be cool for those with seriously beefy systems, but it takes more than a minute to load the game, then another minute to load a save on my system. Way too long to do it more then once a day for me.

...

I can also scramble the numbers in the log. It would be after the fact, but it could add some more variety. I haven't written this part of the code so it would require a bit more effort.

Seems like a lot of work for little payoff, but then I feel that way about the harbor traffic mods too.

To each his own I guess.

:up:

[Farside]

Sorry if this is a silly question, but what exactly does a "tonnage randomizer" do?

basically what observers said but, its to signify that ships could be carrying other cargo, Iron ore, corn etc

[joea]

Stupid question, how could the u-boat crews know exactly how much their victims weighed? :88)

[KL Seestern]

Stupid question, how could the u-boat crews know exactly how much their victims weighed? :88)

They couldn't always know for certain, but if they could determine the name of the ship (e.g. from seeing it on the hull or a lifebelt or something), they could check it in their copy of the shipping register which every U-Boat carried.

There's an interesting episode towards the end of Das Boot (the book -- unfortunately it's not in any of the various film versions) where they come across a lone passenger liner and suspect it's a troopship but can't identify it. So they flash a signal saying they'll sink it if it makes any radio transmissions, and ask for identification. The liner identifies itself as the Spanish Reina Victoria, but the IWO can't find it in the register, so they suspect a trick and, with some reservations, fire a torpedo, which turns out to be a dud. Then the liner captain takes a lifeboat over to them and insists that it is indeed the Reina Victoria. Things look bad when the narrator notices that one of the lifejackets says South Carolina, but then the Spanish captain explains that the ship was bought from the USA a few years earlier, and re-named. Kriechbaum now looks in the register ... and lo and behold, there it is, in the supplement listing newer ships and those which had changed ownership. So the IWO's negligence in failing to look at the supplement nearly caused them to sink a neutral vessel, and they were in fact saved by their Allied enemies in Gibraltar, who had apparently shaken the boat up so badly that the delicate torpedo mechanism was damaged. Oh, the irony of war! :)

[Nopileo]

Stupid question, how could the u-boat crews know exactly how much their victims weighed? :88)

In addition to what KL Seestern said (interesting info, by the way), submarines normally surfaced after the attack and interrogated the survivors. My father told me this, as he was torpedoed twice. The subs came up and approached them (after the ship had sunk and they were in the lifeboats), asked them questions about the cargo and tonnage of the ship, gave them medicines, clothes and provisions and directed them to the closest port, then took off.

Of course they could only do this if they attacked lone merchants with no escorts.

[clive bradbury]

Once the happy time was over - they guessed the tonnage of their victims. Unsurprisingly this was often grossly (hey, topical pun, eh?) overestimated.