Some questions (Mostly to do with 1.4 patch)

[Dallass_Drake]

Hi everyone

Only bought this game recently and think it's brilliance but I must confess my knowledge of U-Boats isn't quite what it could be and I feel this is hindering me even if I am playing it on easy presently, so help me out please :up:

Should really point out first that my internet connections is on the fritz at the moment and consequently I have been unable to download the 1.4 patch (Managed to get the 1.2 I think it was though), and I may not be able to respond immediately to this thread but I'd appreciate the help. Also I'm away at work so can't play the game atm and haven't for several days

Firstly, does the 1.4 patch fix this annoying bug (I assume) with deckguns whereby my crewmen always land the first shot but then fire the second off target by miles before again resuming with highly accurate damage? I am on my fifth patrol and I have no specialist gunners but I assume this is a bug and it annoys me

Secondly, I presume HE shells are High Explosive and AP are Armour Piercing, would you recommend using these differently? Should Armour Piercing rounds be fired in the general direction of the waterline and HE's at the staff rooms and exhausts etc... HE's to me seem pretty effective anywhere but AP's less so however I'm obviously inexperienced in these matters

Also, in this 1.4 patch (Or indeed, am I a bit dozey and missing this capability in my current version?) can you perhaps replace those useless star shells with some more manly hardware, or indeed the flak gun for additional HE storage? Also, are Star Shells more or less useless except for the more romantic of commanders? Had to let a Coastal Merchant bugger off having sunk the remainder of my HE's/AP's into it only to consider later should I have perhaps tried to fire a few SS's into its deck cargo so I could sleep better that night knowing I did my bit in destroying two crates worth of paper clips or berets or cardboard solider cutouts

I'm halfway through my fifth patrol and two of my officers don't seem to have been affected by fatigue at all, is this a bug? They both set me back 500 reknown but they have been with me for three patrols and in all but this one they've been as girly as any other crewmen always wanting me to be generous with the bed time

Also, is there any point at all having officers besides Helmsmen, Watchmen, Machinists or Torpedo...ists? One of those uber officers I suspect isn't kind as uber as I thought since his skills are seemingly wasted with Flak and Medic. Already have a medic, course if he is killed things could go tits up but I assume if my men are being killed then plenty of things are going tits up and I'm probably sinking in an ill-advised way, and being a switched on commandant I avoid such things. Do Medics increase the performance of my men, or do anything except heal them should they get a bit of the hull in the face or shut their finger in a door? And flak? What use is that? Do you actually get any reknown or anything handy for shooting down planes? If you give a warrant officer the flak skill do you need an Officer with it? Is it the same with Gunners?

Do you need a fella with the sonar skill for the Radioman position or is that just a luxury?

Is it worth waiting around for ages to see if an immobile, dodgy looking ship (That you immobilized and made dodgy) actually sinks? I had a C2 that was practically sunk except it was still floating, but I didn't want to use a torpedo to finish it off and I had no deckgun rounds left except for valuable starshells. Was there a chance of it eventually sinking with no further aid? I'm impatient, you see. Also, if you save it for later, bugger off spank a convoy 100km's away and then return later, will the distraught vessel still be there or do they disappear once you've departed?

Is destroying neutral units advisable? Do you gain reknown from having their tonnage added on or do you just get penalised? Do you even get their tonnage on your record? I've never tried attacking them but I encountered a convoy with about 4 neutral (American) tankers and it upset me not knowing the answers to these questions

Thanks

:up:

[VonHelsching]

Drake,

Welcome :sunny:

1. Go straight for the 1.4; it is a cumulative patch. You don't have to go through 1.2 and 1.3.

2. The SSs can be eliminated or reduced for more APs, HEs (and even torpedoes if you are not into realism ;) ) SSs may be used to finishg off small merchants. Don't expect much though. And you have to be really close. In any case shoot (with all ammo type) under the waterline.

3. Your two officers should have some medals now. That's the stock fatigue system; superhumans. Personally it fits me since I don't want to mess with micromanagement. Make a search in the forum. There are at least 2-3 good fatigue systems around (in mods).

4. For officers: Your bridge officer IMHO should be Watch, Flak, Geck Gun. Helps the other guys a lot. Your spare officer IMHO should be machinist, torpedoman, repair. Your rest officers quals should include one medic and a second repair qual. When the s*** hits the fan you are going to use all of them. Medics do not improve anything; they help the wounded to recover faster / not die. Flak, DG officer make the others more efficient. Helmsmen petty officers are useless.

5. You get renown for planes. In the stock game it is very easy to shoot down planes (the AI crew I mean). There are mod to fix that.

6. I cannot stress enough that you need at least two qualified sonarmen / radiomen. The first (and the one who receives first all medals) should be your hydro-sonar man. The second will be used to cover the night shifts of the first (in the beginning). Then you can move him to the radio station to operate ze radar...

7. Though luck with the C2...It happens all the time. Ramming sometimes help, but sumetimes you don't det renonwn (and it is not realistic).

8. Don't shoot neutrals or you'll get a renown reduction. Plus that for 24? hours you will be considered a renegade and the neutral nation will consider you an enemy.

Have fun with the game :rock:

[Dallass_Drake]

Thanks for the help :up:

Just one more question - As I said presently I'm unable to play this amazing game so I can't really check it out but how do you go about swapping the SS's for additional HE's? I don't recall there being any kind of option around to do that, am I just missing a button or something?

Thanks again

[Sailor Steve]

You have to go into the SHIII/Data/Cfg files. down near the bottom (just under 'Coning Towers' you'll find the listings for the various guns. You can add or remove different types of ammo there.

If you're really into being realistic, go for 0 AA, 0 SS and 0 AP. U-boats only carried HE, 220 for the 8.8cm and 150 for the 10.5cm.

[Church SUBSIM]

Welcome to the game and the forums ;)

The most important thing after getting patched to version 1.4b in my opinion is downloading and installing a program called JSGME (generic mod enabler). Here is a link:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~jscones/software/products.html

This game has undergone so many fantastic improvements by way fo the community you will quickly find yourself upgrading it. This generic mod enabler program is brilliant. It allows you to "install" a mod and then if you want to remove it, it will as well as replace the original files . It saves a tremendous amount of time and effort and it is very stable/safe.

Once you have done that then you can find a series of mods that makes the game the way you want it.

I think you will find these forums and the people that frequent them are a tremendous resource.

Enjoy!

[Dallass_Drake]

Thanks for all the advice, soon I'll be chucking in mods like a champ, seems to be a lot of superb stuff around here although I'm too ashamed to admit to the kind of mods I'll be using (*cough* Spy Satellite)

Also, one final question - How in depth is the helmsman position? Will a fella who I use as the weapons officer all the time perform better in that position than the Nav would? Or is experience generally in Helmsman determining how well they perform in specific positions?