Newbie Questions

[Dreadnought6]

This is my first time using this forum. I've only been playing Silent Hunter 3 for about 2 and a half weeks weeks, and have a great time with the game. However, I have a few questions that I haven't been able to find the answers for in the small manual or in the rather short tutorial. I would really appreciate any answers or advice on these issues, and I apologize if these questions have already been addressed on the forum.

#1: Is destroying neutral ships a bad thing? It would make sense that a government wouldn't want to incite violence with a country when there's already so many other nations to worry about warring. I see quite a few neutral boats in the game, and usually I go out of my way to destroy them. I'm just curious if this has drawbacks in the game, since attacking a ship that isn't hostile seems like a terrible policy.

#2: Many times when I fire a torpedo at another ship, it appears to be a direct hit. Yet, insteading of exploding, the event camera shows the torpedo literally bounce off the boat and dive straight down! I have duds disabled under realism, so I don't understand what's wrong. What's up with that? How can I avoid this problem?

#3: Is there any way to disable fatigue? I know it's cheesy to cheat, but I haven't been playing long and find this a bit annoying.

#4: I know this is a big question, but how the heck to you get away from Destroyers once they've spotted you? I tried diving and going silent, but they simply ping me and either depth charge, or wait. I can't seem to outrun them, and it seems no matter what I do, once I've been spotted, I'm doomed. Is there a trick to getting away?

#5: Once a ship has spotted you, assuming it's rough seas and you must use torpedos, how do you kill them when they're zig-zagging? Should I just be more careful not to be notices?

Thank you guys very much for any advice you can give me. I apologize if these questions have been posted and answered before, and I really wish the manual had answers or advice on these issues. Again, I appreciate any help at all.

Thanks a bunch,
Anthony

[donut]

Resource: http://www.communitymanuals.com/shiii/index.php?title=Main_Page All your answers. :sunny:
Welcome to the forum Anthony

[Sailor Steve]

#1: Is destroying neutral ships a bad thing? It would make sense that a government wouldn't want to incite violence with a country when there's already so many other nations to worry about warring. I see quite a few neutral boats in the game, and usually I go out of my way to destroy them. I'm just curious if this has drawbacks in the game, since attacking a ship that isn't hostile seems like a terrible policy.
Sinking neutrals gives you negative renown equal to the renown you would have gained if they were enemy ships. Not a good idea if you want to have your career grow.

#2: Many times when I fire a torpedo at another ship, it appears to be a direct hit. Yet, insteading of exploding, the event camera shows the torpedo literally bounce off the boat and dive straight down! I have duds disabled under realism, so I don't understand what's wrong. What's up with that? How can I avoid this problem?
Can't help you there because I have duds enabled and the Event Camera off. Sorry.

#3: Is there any way to disable fatigue? I know it's cheesy to cheat, but I haven't been playing long and find this a bit annoying.
First, fatigue is a game mechanism that no sub sim has had before, so it's not cheating. To disable either download the "No Fatigue" mod from SubSims Downloads page, or look in the SHIII Mods forum sticky on available mods.

#4: I know this is a big question, but how the heck to you get away from Destroyers once they've spotted you? I tried diving and going silent, but they simply ping me and either depth charge, or wait. I can't seem to outrun them, and it seems no matter what I do, once I've been spotted, I'm doomed. Is there a trick to getting away?
Run Silent, Run Deep. I know, you said you tried that. When you hear them drop, go to Flank speed and dive another 40 meters. then go silent again, and creep back up to a depth that leaves you with at least 50 to spare. Since your using the Event Camera anyway, use the F12 External Cam to see how far away they are and what tactics they're using (one stops and listens while the other one drops etc.). That really IS cheating, but it sure is fun! If you're playing after 1941, they're supposed to be that good, so you're supposed to be out of luck.

#5: Once a ship has spotted you, assuming it's rough seas and you must use torpedos, how do you kill them when they're zig-zagging? Should I just be more careful not to be notices?
If the seas are rough enough it's not supposed to be easy. I've mentioned in my patrol logs more than one time letting ships go because of a storm. If you have sufficient fuel, don't risk wasting the torps; wait for better weather.

[zzsteven]

#2: Are you shooting from a position so the torp impacts at a 90 degree angle, +/- 5 degrees? Some ships have a shallower draft than others, SH3 set the depth of the torps at 4 meters. Maybe you were hitting the bottom of the ship and again not getting a 90 degree angle at impact.

#5: When they start zig-zaging, plot the course changes on the Nav map; you'll soon see the pattern and be able to position your boat to get a 90 degree angle shot.

zz

[zzsteven]

One more thing regarding #2: The torps don't arm until they've run for 300 meters. Don't shoot from to close.

zz

[Tonnage_Ace]

Big hint: If you've already plotted a convoy's/single ship's heading and speed, don't change anything in the TDC, just drop their speed down one knot, that will compensate for their weaving. Works like a charm for me, but if the convoy was going all over the place in the first place(ships going back and forth, turning into other ships paths) then you'll have to eyeball it.

[Dreadnought6]

Awesome, thank you guys so much. I appreciate it. I didn't know that torps had to arm, which is probably what went wrong. I tried to get as close as possible before firing so that the chances of a miss would be a bit less...apparently that was where screwed up.

Sailor Steve: I appreciat the info. In regards to #4 though (the one about evading Destroyers) they always seem to ping me no matter how deep I am, then hang around until I'm forced to surface. If I try to run, they follow me. If I try to fight or surface and move as fast as possible, they hand my ass to me in no time at all. If I dive as far as possible and turn off engines/go silent, will they give up eventually? This is assuming I've been spotted and am being attacked. Should I just wait them out? Also, do depth charges have a maximum depth? Is there a way to evade the Destroyers in shaddow water? I actually have sunk several Destroyers, but I killed all of them while I waited in ambush (who would've thought a war ship would die to a single torpedo while a cargo ship takes 2-4!)

Thanks a bunch guys. Again, I really appreciate the info and the link. When I read the review for the game on Gamesot, it said something about a several hundred page manual, but when I bought the game it came with a vefy brief and simple guide, which is why I'm asking so many newbie questions.


Thanks again for any help!
-Anthony

[jasondef]

With the bouncing torps, another thing is make sure they're set to impact not magnetic if you're trying to hit the ship's hull directly. Use magnetic when you're trying NOT to hit the hull, usually aiming for the torp to run 1/2 to 1 meter under the target, to detonate directly under the keel. Kinda basic and you probably already know, but I didn't when I first started to play, so just thought I'd mention it. And again don't use a "glancing" blow, need to be really perpendicular impact. Don't "chase" a vessel if its too far ahead. or too far back coming towards you for that matter; you want the vessel's broadside facing you. And I think I read a post a couple of months back that said even with duds turned off, the game still will give you very occasional duds, more so towards the beginning of the war. The game just coded it that way into the early torpedoes I guess to accurately depict the real life early war torpedoes' unreliability.


A couple of threads about disabling fatigue, and also how to just make it more manageable. Check out this thread, about one third of the way down the page they talk about how to disable fatigue:
http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=30119&highlight=disable+fatigue
Then check out this thread, the fourth reply down from "ReM" adds some further insight on how to disable fatigue:
http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=39108&highlight=disable+fatigue


A little more on Destroyer evading. Because of their own engine noise, they're blind behind themselves. So once you see that they're aft end is pointing toward you, its a good time to speed up and change course, then go back to silent once they turn around a little to be able to hear you again. This will keep them guessing and it makes it difficult for them to plot where you'll be next.

Once they are in their depth charge attack run, go flank and turn sharply (using the "[" and "]" keys) to try and hurry up out of the falling depth charges path. The destroyer can't hear you anyway, since they're going flank also and the DC's start exploding, masking your noise. When they're going fast and DC's are exploding is the best time to run like a bat out of heck to anywhere but there. But remember to go silent again at once as soon as things quiet down, mind your stealth meter.

These things are a bit more tricky if there's more than one destroyer of course.

When you start to get pinged, turn to make sure your stern or bow is pointed toward the Destroyer, don't let your broadside face them- it gives their active sonar much more suface area to echo off of and find you.

Do a search on the topic of destroyers here at this forum and you'll find several posts/threads with lots more info than we can give you alone.
Here's a couple of the more recent threads:
http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=49454
http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=49623

[jasondef]

If I dive as far as possible and turn off engines/go silent, will they give up eventually? This is assuming I've been spotted and am being attacked. Should I just wait them out? Also, do depth charges have a maximum depth? Is there a way to evade the Destroyers in shaddow water?

When I read the review for the game on Gamesot, it said something about a several hundred page manual, but when I bought the game it came with a vefy brief and simple guide

Destroyers will give up eventually, but only after a good half hour to hour or so at least of finding no trace of you still being around or alive. They can even run out of DC's after a looong while of many attack runs, but will still circle you waiting for you to surface (then killing you with deck guns) or suffocate!! In shallow water, I've tried going up close to shore to where the land starts to slope upward and become beach, trying to blend in with it, so close that when I'm pinged their sonar couldn't differentiate me with the land, and that has worked a little. I had to use the external camera to see how close I was, and dove gently until there was probably less than half a foot of clearance before I hit bottom, probably impossible without external camera (don't ping for your depth!! Gives away your position). In shallow water, try killing engines, then gently diving down when you're just barely still drifting to touch down on the bottom as lightly as you can, then play dead, resting against the bottom silently. Hoping you'll look like the sea floor to the Destroyers sonar, and making no noise, hopefully they won't find you and think you're dead or gone. I've tried it a few times, and its never worked yet, they get right on me and DC'd me to death as an easy unmoving target. But you might try it a couple of times, I'm convinced the theory is sound.

And depth charges have a max depth, but it exceeds a sub's crush depth, so they can go as far deep as you can and you can't out-dive them.

I heard this about the manual too, but it didn't happen. Got cut out of the budget and they couldn't work it in by the release date.

[scandium]

When spotted by a destroyer I risk the couple seconds to make a mental note of his bearing (assuming he is charging straight at you, as they usually do) before crash diving. Once I'm down to about 40 meters and all he can see on the surface is the swirling surface I dove through, I turn hard port/starboard directly onto that bearing while continuing to dive at flank speed. Once I'm roughly on a collision bearing, which will take me roughly under his boat and aft, I maintain that bearing but switch to silent running while continuing to dive aiming for a depth of about 150 meters.

The point of this approach: in racing full speed for my uboat his ASDIC (sonar) is useless and he won't slow down and begin using it until he's reached the spot he last saw me. By then I'm behind him (in his blind spot) and quietly diving deep, and by the time he begins a search pattern only the smallest portion of my hull (aft end of it) is visible to ASDIC.

If I don't hear active pings I ignore, at this point any calls of "depth charges" in the water other than to alter my depth 20 m up or down (its a bit of a risk but the gamble is that at this depth, and running silently he can't hear me on his passive hydrophone and is depth charging blindly where he thinks I am). If I am pinged, as soon as I hear "depth charges in the water" I immediately go flank speed then hard port/starboard and again change depth 20 m.

Throughout my goal, when no depth charges are dropped, to follow him on the hydrophone and keep him between 200-160 aft or bear directly at him within 340-20 degrees if he gets in front of me, using only small (3 degree) turns on the rudder to minimize cavitation (except when he lobs depth charges in my vacinity).

It can take hours to escape, especially when you're being pursued by multiple DDs but I find my initial manouevers enough to quickly lose a lone DD 90% of the time (and the other 10% it just takes more manouevering).

[zzsteven]

[quote="jasondef

I've tried it a few times, and its never worked yet, they get right on me and DC'd me to death as an easy unmoving target. But you might try it a couple of times, I'm convinced the theory is sound.

[/quote]

:rotfl: