I like to 'play' my serious career guy as realistically as possible (74% for me). But for simple fun and when I'm strapped for time, I'll invent a new temporary career with some schmuck that's expendable. Then I'll head into some enemy port (or other unsavory situation) taking all kinds of chances just to see what happens. I take this experience back to my 'serious' career and use it there. This way I'm learning what I can get away with without jeopardizing my primadonna career man... :lol:

Yeah, I guess that's a form of cheating but when it's all said and done for me, it's still a game (that I can't stay away from, even though my job keeps me away from home for days at at time).

as realistic as possible(within the limitations of the game), no external
view, calculate all targetin solution by hand, dud torpedoes and the lot.
only thing i allow myself to use is the time compression thingie (which
withouth id go silly on those long voyages ) :up:

nappy

Still a fairly new sim for me (about 2 weeks old) so I'm still finding balance. As I learn more & more I ramp realism up & up, but I usually drop back down again for a bit of a romp, same as the other sims I play.

There's nothing like the thrill of getting a totally manually solved kill under pressure, but also there's nothing like being among the convoy and snapping shots off when I can, at who I can. So I bob the realism up & down depending on how I feel.

I agree about the crew rosters though, stupid to have to micromanage that. At the most, have the captain set up an auto-roster right at the beginning of a mission.

On another string I saw someone mention how silly it is to have people going sour when clearly they're sitting around the torpedo rooms doing nothing. After all, most crewmen sleep on and under torpedos anyway, and if there's nothing going on, why can't they just be sleeping and renewing their energy where ever they are???

I've always got people in both torpedo rooms simply because there's nowhere else for them to be - and their stamina is going to pot because of it. Sumpin' wrong here... :damn:

The more realism the better, which is why I've turned off fatigue in IUB as there's not one fatigue model that approaches realism in SHIII.

I'm on a 100% realism patrol in Sept 1939. I don't reload the game if I screw up, I try to learn from my mistakes and start a new campaign. Last night, for instance, I stumbled across a home heading convoy in AM54 and shadowed it till nightfall. Twice I let the bloody thing go right past me because of bad navigation in a wicked pitch black storm. So I had a rethink and then entered the convoy on the surface via the back door. Dived to 23M and went under the convoy at 7 knots on Full Engines (convoy doing 6 knots).

Surfaced between front excort and merchants and every torpedo hit their mark. Now have 1 torp left with two crippled ships, one i'm sure will sink (a C3) so i'm chasing the other (a C2) to finish her off.

Of course, this is the happy time, and the escorts are not very bright.....that will soon change so its important I learn what I can do within the "game engine" before the 1942/3.

To top it all, I've started to log my patrols on paper....7 pages so far on this patrol. It helps me plan my strategy and keeps me focused.

And finally, for those that have other commitments and can't play too often, i'm in teh same boat and playing this way rather than the "instant gratification" way, is far more enjoyable as I get to review my tactics when not playing.

As a long toothed programmer myself with a brother works in the game industry, we're looking into accurately modelling all convoy shipping during WWII - although adaptable to add unpredictability if required. Its turning into quite a hobby this U-Boat thingy :-)

Long Live Realism!

Lurker posting alert!

I'm far more of a gameplay guy, I play on 37% realisim and I'm not ashamed of it, I don't have the time or the knowledge to play higher and I'm not sure I'd be intrested, I bought SH3 knowing that it had the ability to be played at my level.

One of the more intresting things I see from this thread is how many draw the line at manual targeting. :yep:

Ooh! Ooh! My first "Me too" post!

I play generally on 35%-47% ( 47 if I'm feeling froggy.). I will never (Read: only if hell freezes over) do my own torping calcs because, well, I suck at math, and I was brought up in the nintendo generation. (You know: "If a copmuter can't do it, it's not worth doing.) Besides, I didn't spend 2.5k on a computer for it to *NOT* do my math for me!

I was working for awhile with the limited fuel setting, but I kept getting patrols in my type II that sent me to the very EDGE of my fuel envelope, and even then only at 1/3rd speed. I got sick of week-long patrols where I would see nothing but water.

I like some historical accuracy, however, (ie. I don't want to be piloting a typhoon against WWII ships.)

Though...that would be cool... :hmm:

Shep has a modded version of the XXI that acts like the Nautilus.

NOT! Really? I'm all over that.

Just for entertainment purposes, mind you. Has anyone thought to attempt a full conversion mod over to modern-type sub combat?

For me it's 84%. I can't live without the external view, just so I can look at all the ships when I'm entering and leaving port (Rubini's Harbor Traffic mod). I also have my 1WO do the plotting and figuring. On the other hand, I use the original fatigue system. I know it's not realistic, but it makes it harder and for some perverse reason I like that. I also freely use time compression, as I can't do all the other things they did to keep from being bored, and I'm not going to spend ten years (allowing for time away from the computer) of my life playing out one career.

I have three simultaneous careers going right now, none of them going too well. Usually sink 3-4 ships in a 6-8 week patrol. Within the bounds of what's reasonable (and that's subjective to each of us) I play as realistically as I think is possible. I want to recreate the U-boat experience, not indulge in a ship-sinking contest with myself or anyone else.

But that's just me.

Im prefered realism.:arrgh!:

Twat. :nope: