Docked ships at enemy ports(confused)

[wetwarev7]

Ok, I can't seem to find any sitting ducks when I go sneaking into enemy ports. Is there any port traffic in enemy and neutral ports in vanilla SH3? Does RuB add them? I know Harbor Traffic mod adds traffic to friendly ports, but does it add to enemy ports as well? And is it only a few ports, or do all ports have traffic?

-confused

[Dowly]

I`m not sure where does the HT mod put the docked, on my last patrol I went to Scapa and found it to be empty... :nope:

[wetwarev7]

On my second patrol, (1939) I stopped by every port I on the northen and eastern side on England, and no ships. Am I just unlucky? I hear other people talk about seeing ships, but I can't seem to find one in port...

[Dowly]

Well I use the lite version of HT, I think the heavy version adds more ships to enemy ports.

I´ve seen 1 docked ship in enemy port in the whole time I`ve played. And it was a coastal merchant SURROUNDED with subnet, I don´t have an idea how the hell did he get that ship there! :lol:

[Rubini]

Hi guys,

HT mod mainly only adds ships to friendly or neutrals ports. But I work on some enemy ports too: North Africa, Mediterranean and Russian ports have ships on them. If i have time I will do a complete work on the other enemy ports too. It's a time consuming task to be made correctly...

Rubini.

[wetwarev7]

Hi guys,

HT mod mainly only adds ships to friendly or neutrals ports. But I work on some enemy ports too: North Africa, Mediterranean and Russian ports have ships on them. If i have time I will do a complete work on the other enemy ports too. It's a time consuming task to be made correctly...

Rubini.

That'd be great, Rubini! :up: Even just a 50% chance of seeing a ship in port would make it worthwhile to sneak in......

[Ula Jolly]

I believe there is a serious lack of docked ships. Bergen, for instance, would be near flooded with fishing vessels and smaller cargo ships. Was Scapa Flow really ever EMPTY? I mean, not a single destroyer or anything?? It's the native life that makes visiting ports truly interesting! :D

[Twitchy]

Dover, baby. I went into Dover and there were no less than SIX sitting ducks. I fired a full spread, but my torps impacted against the bottom of the sea because the damned ships were docked so shallow.

[von Buelow]

I went into Gibraltar, only took me 15 hours after being hounded, and found 1 DD at port, and TWO SUNK (C2 or C3)SHIPS in their berths :88) D'oh!

[Lane]

I moved into the Gibraltar straits at P-dept silent running the seagulls
were flying all around. Warships screws all around me was daytime
I could see DD's in distance behine and in front of me. sonar man was
going crazy with reports Then I saw a convoy of Merchants and supply
ships moving west and a big passenger Liner Hit th Z key to secure from
silent running and that was "it" I heard the sonar ping and we been dected
"Sir" So I fired 4 fish in hurry toward convoy hit the back of passenger Liner but the DD's were all over me I lost Boat.
That's my sea story about Gibraltar :D
Lane :D

[oRGy]

A thing to note is that having ports swarming with realistic amounts of ships would slow the framerate to a crawl, since SH3 is so crap at calculating them.

It's clearly much more realistic to have the masts on the C3 looking correct and to have nice reflections than to have ports with historical (or any) traffic, after all.

[panthercules]

Even if historic levels of shipping in the ports would be too much strain on the game engine/our PCs, it sure would be nice to have at least some (even just 1-3) ships in the ports - I found myself right outside of Aberdeen last night - first, I sat submerged just outside the port all day long, but there was no sign of traffic in or out of the port all day, so just for the heck of it I decided to head in after nightfall and take a look - absolutely nothing anywhere in the port :(

I had been shut out on the entire month-long patrol up to then, so I was really hoping to find something in there to spend my last couple of torps on - at least I found a coastal freighter somewhat further down off the coast of England in a rare moment of reasonable weather (only 6m/s winds) and gunned it to death (after wasting yet another dud torp on her - story of my whole patrol in a nutshell), so I managed to avoid posting a big goose egg on the board back at base :)

[wetwarev7]

Dover, baby. I went into Dover and there were no less than SIX sitting ducks. I fired a full spread, but my torps impacted against the bottom of the sea because the damned ships were docked so shallow.

Is this with vanilla SH3, or did a mod add those? I'm just trying to figure out if I'm just wasting my time sneaking into ports. So far, 5 ports, no sitting ducks..... :damn:

[TDK1044]

I found 4 ships docked at Portsmouth and I'm currently running patch 1.4 with no mods.

[Skubber]

With the heavy traffic mod, I saw 0 ships in Scapa Flow, excpet for the numerous destroyers guarding the entrance.

And man I sweated to get in there!

(But I do love the traffic mod, anyway. One of my favs.)

[captainclasp]

I run stock 1.4 SH3 - and most ports of england have ships in them.... usually one or 2 only - maybe a destroyer sitting tied up as well... I have seen the "Flaming" ships described above - it seems that when you get close to a port - the game engine populates it. the issue of the already sunken vessels comes from how the game positions them in the berths - (similiar to the typeIX issue in some axis ports) - placing them where part of the ship overlaps the dock itself - resulting in continuous and immediate damage to the vessel - sinking it. By the time you get close enough to see it - its already sunk (having been generated and placed a good bit of time earlier....). Am I displeased with that bug - of course - but on the flip side - at least 1.4 added some ships to ports!

I have snuck into liverpool and gotten a nelson sitting there. Almost all the traffic will be merchants however.

Also - be warned - if you see a destroyer berthed - be wary. He will NOT come charging out if your spotted - but he can detect you with passive or active sonar just as a mobile dd can -(he has a working radio too!) and if you surface he WILL shoot at you!

One other point - I have not seen any enemy shipping in ports that are later captured by the Axis - such as lorient. This may also be a bug - but I am still very pleased with the 1.4 patch.

Good Hunting
CC

[rolfatle]

Go Visit Tripolis some time, found some nice stuff there from time 2 time. 2 t2 tankers+ 1 light cruiser + some troop transports and some freighters coastal/merchants (btw. mid 1943) Good hunting :D

[andy_311]

what's wrong with Loch Ewe ? you got BBs in there sometimes, Carriers docked, t3s a couple of dds and a cruiser.

[andy_311]

what's wrong with Loch Ewe ? you got BBs in there sometimes, Carriers docked, t3s a couple of dds and a cruiser.

[andy_311]

what's wrong with Loch Ewe ? you got BBs in there sometimes, Carriers docked, t3s a couple of dds and a cruiser.

[wetwarev7]

Maybe it's just me. I've been using Rub(the newest version), maybe I need to remove it to see some docked ships......unless.....

Someone said it poulates it when you approach....how close do you need to be? Since my first patrol where I spent a lot of time sneaking into a few docks and didn't see any, I just use the flying camera to check for ships. I am close enough to see the light from the lighthouses though. I just figure there's no point in sneaking in if there is nothing there.....

[captainclasp]

Wetw.... from what I have seen - if your close enough for the camera to fly there - it will be populated by then. Its only logical that it will spawn only when you get close - why spawn ships that have to be tracked if your never near them - since the ones in port will not ever "set sail"? Granted - it is simply my theory that they spawn when you get within a certain distance... I cant guarantee it.

Question - what ports are you going into? Note - Scapa tends to be bare most of the time - have yet to see a merchie in there..... but the rest of the english soil bases USUALLY have at least a couple of ships in em.

Good Hunting!
CC

[wetwarev7]

Question - what ports are you going into? Note - Scapa tends to be bare most of the time - have yet to see a merchie in there..... but the rest of the english soil bases USUALLY have at least a couple of ships in em.

Good Hunting!
CC

You know, I'm not sure what the names are. It seems that I've been to every port around Britan, but I kinda doubt that. I've gone to ones on the west side, the east side, and the south side of britan. Maybe I just need to keep looking. It wasn't untill my 4th patrol that I got a convoy contact on my nav map....

[captainclasp]

Wet, this may be an issue with a mod - as I said I run stock 1.4 and if I cruise the the channel there are ships in nearly all the ports with channel access. The ports on fortress europe (before being captured) do not seem to be populated unfortunately.

Good Hunting!
CC

[oRGy]

In the default game, hardly any ports have anything in them. Loch Ewe and Scapa Flow are the exceptions.

Improved U-Boat mod adds harbour traffic for friendly ports and some med ports. I believe the Ops mod also contains some traffic in enemy ports, but many port raids I have little.

That is all.

[ludwig]

In the default game, hardly any ports have anything in them. Loch Ewe and Scapa Flow are the exceptions.

Improved U-Boat mod adds harbour traffic for friendly ports and some med ports. I believe the Ops mod also contains some traffic in enemy ports, but many port raids I have little.

That is all.

this guy (http://edseek.com/archives/2005/05/04/silent-hunter-iii-survival-guide/) has published a list of dates/places where you can find sitting ducks, plus some common routes to intercept Task Forces.
as said before, loch ewe and scapa flow are best bets, I sunk the Illustrious at Scapa in 1940 or so (campaign, patch 1.4)
bye
ludwig

[FERdeBOER]

Agreat link, ludwig.

Before the list of ships in harbours, the author sais:

"No merchants appear in port with the stock game, although if you’re using World Mod you can find many merchants in some ports, too."

I have been searching, but I couldn't find this mod. Somebody knos about this mod, how works, and where can I donwload it?

[oRGy]

The world mod?

That had some controversy about it. It was quite buggy, full of inappropriate traffic etc and then they tried to charge money for it.. Not sure what the story is with more recent versions.