Old School Skippers...

[ChristopherT]

I'm getting back in Silent Hunter in a big way. I'm wondering if any of the old school skippers are still around?

[Scion]

I still have my SH cd sitting around somewhere... but havn't played it for a long long time...

[ChristopherT]

I'm going to be starting a career tomorrow. I'm going to post my progress here occasionally and summarize the whole patrol in a
report each time I return to base. I'll post the report here for everyone
to analyze.

[MarkShot]

Well, I have SHCE installed under XP with the VDMS configuration. I only really discovered WWII sub sims last year.

At the moment, I am busy playing AOD [DOS].

Some of my initial impressions of AOD and SH1 are:

(1) There is way too much Japanese shipping in SH1. In AOD, you have to patrol. In SH1, you are hard pressed not to run into the enemy.

(2) Escorts seem harder to evade in AOD. In SH1, I have successfully evaded 5+ escorts that originally located me. Also, SH1 escorts are prone to ambush attacks.

(3) SH1 merchants seem more likely to have deck guns and night/fog attacks seem much riskier than AOD.

Full campaigns take so long to run ... When I finally complete AOD, I want to go play an SH1 campaign ... And then, I also want to play some SH2/PA too.

Not to mention all the SCXIIC/SCU missions I have downloaded.

I think I'll just be on patrol until I am old and gray!

[ChristopherT]

Well, I have SHCE installed under XP with the VDMS configuration. I only really discovered WWII sub sims last year.
Some of my initial impressions of AOD and SH1 are:

(1) There is way too much Japanese shipping in SH1. In AOD, you have to patrol. In SH1, you are hard pressed not to run into the enemy.


Even allowing for coast watchers, there are too many contacts in SH1. I
deal with it by deciding on an overall strategic goal for the patrol. It might
be going into all the ports and doing a depth sounding to verify the charts, or mapping harbour bouys. Something along those lines. Once in the patrol area I start to work on the strategic goals. I don't change course to
chase down a contact unless the crew spots the ships. Occasionally, if there is a warship contact nearby I'll throw the crew an "Ultra" contact and
let them chase it down. Only for the larger ships though and never more
than once per patrol.

[ChristopherT]

(SS-18) S-18 departed Manila for its first patrol.

2016 Hours:
Loc: 14'38N, 120'46E,
Tuesday. December 16, 1941
Sunrise-0617 Sunset-1725
Moonrise-0420 Moonset-1615
Moon-New Sea-Calm
Weather-Partly Cloudy
OS:
Course - 235', Speed - 10kts, Depth-13ft.
Departing Manila Bay for the Philipean Sea patrol area. We won't
using the aft torpedo bay as S-18 is a Group 1 boat. If the Captain
can locate his banjo and Is/Was he might skip the TDC too.

[Torplexed]

Kinda nice to know with all the attention focused on that Atlantic sim, ChristopherT is still faithfully patrolling the blue Pacific. :cool:

[ChristopherT]

Kinda nice to know with all the attention focused on that Atlantic sim, ChristopherT is still faithfully patrolling the blue Pacific. :cool:

"That Atlantic Sim", would've made a better title than Silent Hunter 2. I for one, don't see any connection between the two. It's a long ride to the north of Luzon in an S-boat. With any luck, I'll stay on the border of the deep water and run into some Japanese troop transports. All my paper charts for Silent Hunter have vanished. I have all my charts from CAOD, but not SH. I'm making new ones as I go along. I've been studying some material from the HNSA site - http://www.hnsa.org/index.htm and doing some background reading. I'm going to try not to depend on the TDC as much and try some manual fire control. I do have a primitive IS/WAS that I'm going to try out.

[MarkShot]

I have charts downloaded from the Battle Below (which seems gone). PM me with an email address and I'll zip and send them to you.

[ChristopherT]

I have charts downloaded from the Battle Below (which seems gone). PM me with an email address and I'll zip and send them to you.

Those I have! The Battle Below site has moved to www.valoratsea.com . I was referring to my old National Geographic maps of the Japanese islands and some other stuff from the old Gizmology site that went down. Thanks
for the offer though!

[MarkShot]

Thanks for the updated link. Although I had archived the whole site, I am glad to see that it still lives!

[ChristopherT]

Thanks for the updated link. Although I had archived the whole site, I am glad to see that it still lives!

Do you have the "Rangecalculator.gif" from the section on No TDC attacks? I have the Whizwheel.gif, but not the other.

[MarkShot]

This one?

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/rangecalculator.jpg

[ChristopherT]

This one?

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/rangecalculator.jpg

That's the one, except it's already folded! :yep:

Thanks!

[ChristopherT]

The boat is now patroling north of the Lingayen Gulf and is headed for Vigo. Eventually it will reach it's patrol area north of Appari. There is
military traffic north of Luzon, but it's on the eastern side.

Worked out this chart while researching torpedo speeds, thought it might
come in handy for someone.

Knots vs Yards/Minute.

5 Kts = 170 Yds/Min
10 Kts = 340 Yds/Min
15 Kts = 510 Yds/Min
20 Kts = 680 Yds/Min
25 Kts = 850 Yds/Min
30 Kts = 1,020 Yds/Min
31 Kts = 1,046 Yds/Min - Mark 14, Slow Speed - 9000 Yards.
33 Kts = 1,113 Yds/Min - Mark 18 Mod 1 - 3500 Yards.
35 Kts = 1,181 Yds/Min
36 Kts = 1,200 Yds/Min - Mark 10 Torpedo
40 Kts = 1,350 Yds/Min - Mark 18 Mod 2 - 3500 Yards
46 Kts = 1,552 Yds/Min - Mark 14, Fast Speed - 4500 Yards.

[Torplexed]

Was curious. Are you running SH under an earlier version of Windows or on XP?

[MarkShot]

Myself XP Pro SP2.

I tried DOSBOX, but it was too slow. Instead I am using the VDMS approach.

[ChristopherT]

Was curious. Are you running SH under an earlier version of Windows or on XP?

Me? Windows98, SiS 6326 AGP 3D card and a CMedia Sound Pro chipset
set for SB standard.

[Torplexed]

Yeah....I was still able to run SH up until two years ago on my old rig. Miss it.
I'll have to check out the Microsoft Service Pack.

[Bertgang]

I am in the club of "old style" skippers, but just for CAOD; never had a copy of SH1, even if I'd like to try it.

Do someone knows "silent service", my only Pacific subsim?
I never had great fun with this game, as screens and controls weren't really in my taste, but maybe someone thinks different.

[Sub Sailor]

I love SH1 and have SHCE and would sure like to know how to installed it with XP. That was one thing about giving up my Win 98.
If this can be done I would really appreciate knowing how.

Thanks You,

Ron Banks MMCM(SS), USN(Ret) :lurk:

[MarkShot]

Ron,

There are two ways to go other than having a native environment for it:

(1) DOSBOX

(2) VDMS

PM me with an email address and I'll send you the instructions I have for both methods.

[Sailor Steve]

Things to watch out for in SHI:

1) Once you've eluded the escorts, DO NOT go to time compression; it will call them back to look for you again.

2) On photo recon missions, beware: the planes can see you at periscope depth!

3) On Lifeguard missions, try to get there early and get close to the target city: you can see the planes fly over and see the bombs hit.

4) Hawk's Silent Hunter Utilities. I don't think they're available anymore, so email me and I'll send you a copy. You can cruise in a big Nautilus class; you can randomize the merchant tonnages each time you boot up; you get the proper 'S' boats (none of the ones with stern tubes saw action); and more.

I loved the Philippines in an 'S' boat; some of the best memories I have. I usually ran a captain in a different boat out of each available command...come to think of it, that's what I'm doing now in SHIII.

[Torplexed]

Sailor Steve you've brought back a fond memory. I loved commanding a big, awkward Nautilus Class sub. Nuthin' more fun than having the surface fire power of a light cruiser on the hull of a submarine. She didn't handle too nimble underwater but I hope she finds her way into SH4. :cool:

[cdrsubron7]

Things to watch out for in SHI:

1) Once you've eluded the escorts, DO NOT go to time compression; it will call them back to look for you again.

2) On photo recon missions, beware: the planes can see you at periscope depth!

3) On Lifeguard missions, try to get there early and get close to the target city: you can see the planes fly over and see the bombs hit.

4) Hawk's Silent Hunter Utilities. I don't think they're available anymore, so email me and I'll send you a copy. You can cruise in a big Nautilus class; you can randomize the merchant tonnages each time you boot up; you get the proper 'S' boats (none of the ones with stern tubes saw action); and more.

I loved the Philippines in an 'S' boat; some of the best memories I have. I usually ran a captain in a different boat out of each available command...come to think of it, that's what I'm doing now in SHIII.


Hawk's Silent Hunter Utilities are still available in two places, one is at my website and the other is at the PTC website.


The Ships of War

http://www.geocities.com/bullhead262/


PTC Website

http://www.subsowespac.org/


Hope this helps some of you fellow SH1 players out.

Glad to see to your around Chris, nice to see some of the old familiar faces again.



cdrsubron7 :D :roll:

[MarkShot]

Okay, I decided to play some SH1 again and started a new career in 01/44.

I was assigned a patrol to the Yellow Sea.

Any tips for conducting operations in very shallow waters? Thanks.

I was lucky and ran across one unescorted convoy and sank all five ships.

My next convoy encounter was escorted. With the water being so shallow I tried a night surface approach (overcast and heavy seas with 1/4 moon). However, I was spotted. I survived one close DC run. Evasion was conducted in barely enough water to submerge my boat. Upon surfacing, I thought better of pushing my luck and decided to RTB and see what the next patrol area would bring.

---

By the way, Christopher, I took your suggestion and decided not to chase contact reports, but instead just patrol. Only investigate SJ or visual contacts when I get them.

[MarkShot]

Does anyone have some good DOS freeware screen capture TSR? I wanted to take a few screenshots while playing tonight.

DOSBOX has built in screen capture, but I am using VDMS which doesn't.

I tried one utility I had lying around. Worked fine, but the game would get occassional lock ups with it loaded. Another I tried caused the game to crash at times. Finally, another seemed to work fine, but my mouse pointer was disabled.

So, if anyone knows where I can find something free and reliable, then please let me know.

Thanks.

[Piter_]

http://www.pc-tools.net/dos/dosutils/

[MarkShot]

Something interesting I just noticed about SH1(SHCE).

Submerged speed only impacts your ability to detect HSS (high speed screws). LSS (low speed screws) can be followed on the map even at flank speed.

Hmm ...

[Torplexed]

Interesting loophole in sound modeling. After ten years I'm surprised no one ever noticed it before.