Yes. I've used externals occasionally, but most of my patrols are done without externals. They provide too much advantage, especially in regards to destroyer/escort evasion.

Evading without externals is a very rewarding aspect of SH3 for me.

agreed. it gives an extra bit of thrill... and it's realistic. people in a real sub dont' know where it's going to come from, they just look at the hull and pray it doesn't explode.

Yes, it's unrealistic, and it's cheating, after a fashion. I lived without it in AOD and SHI.

Yes, the graphics are fantastic and you really need the external camera to fully enjoy what's going on, especially with the harbor traffic mods.

Yes, I use it, but I have trained myself not to peek when actually in action.

Oh yes I have.

The event camera can be disabled from the Gameplay.cfg (I think). I also think it can be controlled from SH3 Commander, if you use that. You probably disabled it using one of those sources, which means it can't be accessed from the game's Realism screen. I'm probably wrong about the Gameplay file, but it's in there somewhere.

Other reasons why I think having no externals makes SH3 more challenging include identification. Much more difficult, and you don't instantly know if the target is armed.

All air contacts get treated the same. Dive. No > key to quickly check whether it's friendly. You can no longer watch your torpedos. No externals and event cam combined with manual targeting really is awesome. You set up your shot and fire. The timer ticks past, and no explosion. As you curse your miss the torpedos hit.

The phenomenon that occurs when looking at a silhouette also plays a part. It's often difficult to tell if a target is coming or going.

When I first started playing SH3 I used externals to gawk at everything too. But that novelty only lasts so long, and I eventually want to make things as challenging and realistic as possible. Playing without external views is certainly making ground in this regard. It's like a different sim.

I do use it on occasions it got me out of some tight squeezes and old habits die hard.

I have never used the external camera (F12) to cheat, funny never even thought of it..LOL

But I do use to enjoy the graphics of the game or to see how things when when I want to fool around (crash dive, hit bottom, blow ballasts...etc)

I enjoy the feature but enjoy the game so much more !!

Definitely it helps, and is an advantage...

but i can never quit that fancy eye candy though
(no matter i wanted to ;))

Well of course it's cheating and yes I use it quite a bit. I'm still a noob at this game as well as being my first sub game, so at this point, I still find it necessary. As time moves along, I will adjust and try to be less dependent on certain things.

For me, the bottom line is having fun and not being realistic. But at the same time, I'm always wanting to make things more challenging as I improve. Plus I get more renown the less dependent I am.

I played without the external view some patrol. But only after recognising I am using it more often for ship identification and destroyer runs.
Ever tried to see a convoy miles away after hearing it on hydrophone? Picking up which line the T3 are? That can be fun but also irresistable cheating...

For now I think I can control myself, but I cannot play without. Have to take a screen from time to time - great thing to share a patrol in W@W - pics saying more than all those numbers and letters...

Yep. Under Graphic Options in Sh3 main menu you can enable event camera. If you have not its greyed out. But thats the event camera not the F12 external view.

WAit. Is this thread about event camera? I have greyed out this too - on purpose. Nobody needs the event information when being attacked, when launching torpedoes when an enemy ship sinks. This was annoyance from start on. With F12, Backspace ,Del (NUM) the arrows and your mouse you have every freedom you need. And most important: CTRL+F11

i usually do use the cam but only to watch the fireworks as my torp hits nothing else