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It's half of May and we are still around the western approach of Gibraltar, sinking Five o'Clocks and Frogeaters. The CG95 grid is marvellous, no any dangers (we _never_ surface at day because of plains) and many, many merchants, some of them really huge. And all of them going the W-E or E-W route, so the plotting got easy like it's never been before. I don't think we'll ever leave that place, unless Papa gives us other orders. I refuse to sink anything that is estimated at less than 10k tons, so I have more than 100k tons sunk and 9 more torpedoes left and waiting for targets. Great fun!
PS The Goerings would have great fun too if they knew about the spot. :D But it seems actually noone reads my reports... |
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I had 21 torpedoes, as usual in the IXB type. That patrol was very lucky, because: - I sunk the Southampton Class with only 1 torpedo, the 2 bigger battleships with 2 torpedoes each, - I missed with only 4 torpedoes, - I didn't have any dud (surprising, but as you see it's possible, especially when shooting at proper angle), - the patrol was long and a few times I had quite good weather, so the smaller ships I just took with my deck gun or even with my flak. On return to port I had literally NO ammo left. You probably noticed two sloops sunk... yes, 8 tons each, it takes very few shots to sink it, but it's hard to hit, as it's so freaking small and moves quite fast. That's it, I think, high crew morale, good shooting weather and a big amount of luck. :) |
Third patrol, absolutely longest ever, is over (log), and that one was really successful one with 230k tons sunk, 100% hull integrity left and noone wounded or even sick. It's a pitty that my second watch officcer was wounded during a fight somewhere in a pub when docked at Thalia, so he had to stay on land. But the new one that we took aboard is a nice fellow and hopefuly he'll be good at his job.
For almost a month and a half we did literally nothing. When passing Ireland managed to spot and sink two ships, and after that only vast spaces, water, iron can with us in and some more water. Nothing. Oh, and salt in the water too. That salt did something strange to our scope, like small crystals on the glass, that didn't want to go: http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/8...copebugmk0.jpg Thomsen, that came to port on our departure, is a lucky guy. He can play with his wife on his retirement while we get driven mad in the ocean of time passing: http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/5963/thomsenxd3.jpg After reaching our patrol grid EJ66 we found some fish there and after a week headed back to base. In the last moment decided to spent also some time around Dakar port, but the only thing we spotted there was this annoyingly noisy and - for God sake! - friendly neutral bugger: http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/7...ubuggerow3.jpg After a month of sinking nothing we managed to close to Gibraltar. And on May 1st the slaughter began... Yes! We had to slow down because of our torpedo tubes getting to hot. ;) God showed his mercy and awarded us with a legion of Large Merchants going to and fro with slow speed and none, absolutely none of them was neutral! Yes, Frogeaters and Five o'Clocks, time of your rule in Gibraltar is definitely over! Some screens follow: The map: http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/8366/mapyl3.jpg Report to Papa (I suppose he'd like to know where his favourite-almost-son-captain spenat last two months): http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/3813/reportve1.jpg And some paper work I must do everytime after coming back to port (sooooo boring...): http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/6628/summarydn4.jpg http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4277/log1fj0.jpg http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7030/log2yt2.jpg http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/817/log3ov9.jpg My Ritterkreuz got a bit heavy with these oak leaves and swords (did the knights wear their swords on their necks? I really doubt it.), but looks quite stylish and I think Thomsen will shoot himself when he sees it. http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1153/crewdr8.jpg |
Our fourth patrol (heading from Thalia at Cadiz back to home base in Wilhelmshaven) started very unlucky. I hope it's not a bad omen... A convoy contact was reported by BdU, so we headed straight to meet it. After approach we submerged and tried to get as close as possible, but we were spotted by a destroyer (a periscpe in a pitch black night), managed to fire only one torpedo from a long distance (missed) and immediately crash dived. That night we lost the escorts and WERE FOUND AGAIN three times. Three times we were depth charged for quite a long time and had hard time trying to evade them. But the luck was on our side again - they managed to hit us thrice, but the hull integrity is still 100% (sic!) and only periscopes and guns were partially destroyed. When we eventually surfaced in the morning, succeeded in all repairs and the boat is again flawless and floating... But the very first patrol night was quite terrifying.
I think they got angry for the previous patrol and now they'll do their best to find us at any cost. Considering leaving the area immediately... But the Large Merchants are such a temptation... Still thinking, officers drink and the crew is so silent... no jokes, no laughing, only fear in their eyes. We need a spectacular success to break the bad omen. |
Hmmm..something is really funky in your screens looking through the scope.
Ahhh I see it....no water is showing and you can see the entire boat almost flying in mid air and not just the upper section above the water line as you would see while looking through the scope. What kind of video card do you have?I have not seen this graphics issue in some time. |
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But that has another very interesting side effect - as my computer doesn't have to render the water, it uses much, very much less of its CPU/RAM and is able to run the game. If I had a good card, I could not play the game, as then my computer would never run it. So if any of you has too weak machine, just buy nVidia MMX card and you'll finally get it. :D PS Luckily when under water it's not transparent, it's only the surface that is invisible. So when I am submerged I can't see ****, and that is as it should be. :) Last patrol I experimented with water clarity and played once with '20' setting (very clear) and that's funny - at night while raising the scope I see the ship _better_ before its eye surfaces (the underwater ship part, of course) than over surface, if it's night. But I came back to '0' setting (water becomes like mud) so that it never tempts me to abuse this bug. |
I posted an idea for skilled modders to make the water surface for MMX-bugged players not transparent. You'll find it here: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...525#post397525
Please post there if you feel it's a good idea or if you suffer from the same bug. :) PS And for all who wish to suggest I'd rather buy a new graphics card and a new machine - I absolutely can't afford it, so it's not a solution for me. :) |
Patrol PQ-666
Our shortest patrol ever with highest tonnage per day we'll probably ever gain. 5 days patrol, 138k tonns sunk (18 ships in a 10 hours lasting 'battle'). For those, who don't like to read a lot in bad English: only this patrol log, whole the career log.
October 1940. 2 days after leaving Lorient on our way to AL grid we got a report about a west bound convoy. Somewhat far away from our route, but the crew was extremely bored with chasing singles and wanted some variation. We also hoped to meet something interesting, like a battleship, so we wasted our fuel to intercept the convoy at flank speed. On arrival to intercept point at the shelf boarder we got a new report - the convoy changed its course. But finally we got it... It was very late evening (2200), weather was calm, sees flat. Submerged approach was quite easy, escorts were silent, ships slow... So, however the first approach was intended to be a 'look-around' we decided to engage. Fired all the 6 torpedoes, scored 3 misses and 3 hits into three targets. Two of them went down quite immediately (10.5k tons), the third didn't. After submerging to loose escorts (who never found us) we came back to the spot and - mein gott! - we spotted two merchants sitting still in the water - a large cargo and large merchant for total 20k tons. And THAT WAS SUSPICIOUS, as only one of them was actually hit... What did the second do here? We didn't know, till we got closer... and the freak started shooting at us. It was exactly 0000 and after 6 minutes of shooting like there was no tomorrow both the ships went down - 0006. The crew were reloading internal torpedoes and we stay surfaced to move the external inside too. We were moving slowly towards the convoy tail, and that was a HUGE MISTAKE (we'll never do it again being so close...). A few minutes after our First Watch Idiot spotted a warship that was way too close to submerge in time... We seemed to be doomed. But we didn't want to sell our skin for cheap, no... Man the deck gun! Shoot at will! Aim at just ANYTHING but sink the damn frigate down!! And... we sank it with 6 shots... After 8 minutes another frigate came. We sank her with deck gun. After 20 minutes another frigate came. We sank her with deck gun... http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/5...fregatadq9.jpg http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6...fregatame1.jpg And that made 3 sunk frigates total. Our crew was never, absolutely NEVER as cocky as after this. They insisted... no, they didn't INSIST. They DEMANDED that we go and sink all the escorts NOW! What could I do..? "But first reload the torpedoes", I said... And we went on. We spotted the convoy 4 hours later, at about 0500. We stayed surfaced and went to all ahead to let them know we were here. This was the shortest way to learn if there is any escort left with them. There wasn't. No escort at all. Let the slaughter begin! It was like a shooting practise. Every crew member had a chance to shoot at least few rounds, everyone wanted to press the LOSS button... We were moving to and fro in the middle of the convoy, shooting like mad devils, picking only the large ships as there were too many targets to sink them all. They were all unarmed, they were all too slow... And the RAF must have had their free time, as no plane went to hel them. We lost all torpedoes, all HE rounds for deck gun and every single anti-aircraft patron... When there was no ammo left, total 0f 18 ships were sunk, 1 severly damaged and maybe like 5-10 merchants that were not a valid target, as they were too small... Then there was no point to go to our patrol area, so as the sun rose we set our course straight back to base. 138k tonns in a five days patrol... Noone would believe us when we tell the story... http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4...zelankalj1.jpg http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/2...zelankagk5.jpg http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/7...zelankitj1.jpg When we were on our way home, we got another report - the rest of the convoy was shadowed by our U-Boots... I suppose none of these ships made it to US... Not even a single one. http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/9648/mapaxs0.jpg The paper work: http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/5402/08log1dn3.jpghttp://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4281/08log2gh9.jpghttp://img255.imageshack.us/img255/5003/08log3mh4.jpg Report and crew medals: http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3115/07raportnq2.jpg http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/783/09zalogavs2.jpg Will anything be so exciting in the future? Let me doubt it... My shirt is still wet from sweat... That was an incredible patrol. |
With that ammount of reown you can start your own...
With that ammount of reown, you can start your own wolf club!!! gheez, enough to buy 3 IXX.
almost hit the 200k club!!! BTW, you need a Graphic update... dont you think? |
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Graphic update? :D Never! As explained in above posts it would kill my machine. The choice is: 1. to have bad graphics and be able to play, 2. to have a good graphics and not be able to play at all. I vote for option 1! |
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We had a few great patrols in our type IXB U-123, sank almost 100 ships for total of almost 900k tons in one year and two months. And "In response to this another kiss of death was visited upon". We haven't made it till Catholic Christmas '40. Lost with all hands somewhere in Atlantic on patrol 9th, December 20th... Papa said "Only this last one patrol to Iceland, my dear, and then we'll have you transfered to a new training flotilla for sure!"...
Luckily this was a sudden and 'pleasant' death, compared to what could have happended. The first depth charge literally smashed the boat, the second and third only finished the job by tearing her apart. That was accompanied by blasting torpedoes, but none of the crew members had even a chance to hear them, as all were allready dead to death. And dead means dead. Still on their patrol: Helmut Bienias, Stabsbootsmann Erich Blazejovsky, Matrosengefreiter Ludwig Boguslaw, Matrosenhauptgefreiter Fritz Borutta, Matrosengefreiter Herbert Czempiel, Matrosengefreiter Rafael Czerny, Bootsmann Richard Dominiak, Matrosengefreiter Frantz Fischer, Bootsmann Alfred Gonschorek, Bootsmann Paul Gulschinski, Matrosengefreiter Werner Jagodzinski, Matrosengefreiter Herbert Juraschek, Bootsmann Johann Kaluza, Stabsbootsmann Wilhelm Kaminsky, Leutnant z. S. Gerhard Kasparek, Matrosenobergefreiter Paul Klatowsky, Matrosenhauptgefreiter Heinz Komorowski, Stabsbootsmann Gustav Kowalleck, Stabsoberbootsmann Alfred Kristetzko, Bootsmann Franz Krusynski, Matrosengefreiter Harald Kupka, Matrosengefreiter Hermann Machalowski, Matrosengefreiter Horst Maleyka, Matrosengefreiter Hans Maslok, Stabsoberbootsmann Herbert Mientus, Oberleutnant z. S. Richard Mikulski, Matrosengefreiter Reinhart Moczinski, Oberleutnant z. S. Abd III v. Mumit, Kapitänleutnant Erich Nichnerowitz, Matrosenhauptgefreiter Horst Nieboj, Matrosengefreiter Walter Niewiadowski, Oberleutnant z. S. Martin Nowak, Matrosengefreiter Erich Oppenkowski, Matrosengefreiter Alfred Pawlak, Matrosengefreiter Harry Petrikowski, Stabsoberbootsmann Gerhard Pietrek, Matrosengefreiter Friedrich Pijanka, Matrosengefreiter Alfred Puderwinski, Matrosengefreiter Alexander Reckhoff, Bootsmann Karl-Heinz Rekatzky, Matrosengefreiter Erich Romanowsky, Matrosengefreiter Curt Scharnasiak, Bootsmann Hugo Schendel, Matrosengefreiter Heinz Schendzielarz, Stabsbootsmann Albert Schlebrowski, Matrosengefreiter Bernhard Schwatlo, Matrosengefreiter Johann Sliwka, Stabsoberbootsmann Gerhard Sremski, Stabsoberbootsmann Josef Suraj, Matrosengefreiter Hans Swientek, Matrosengefreiter Hans Swoboda, Matrosengefreiter Fritz Wenclewski, Oberleutnant z. S. Udo Wozniak, Bootsmann Hans Zebrowski, Stabsoberbootsmann Hans-Gerd Zimoch, Matrosengefreiter |
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