I just figure out how to:

- Set my next patrol to whatever date I want.
- Set my renown so I may configure the sub independent of past history.

This can all be accomplished by quick text editting of Patrols_0.cfg. What this means is that I can sample the war as I want without having to slog through 6-10 patrols a year with little real risk to my boat.

So, far I have got to early 1942 and once you know what you are doing with GWX2, penetrating the screen is not that hard. Neither is getting away after the attack. So, I think the ability to arbitrarily control how many patrols, when I do them, and not having to worry about accumulating reknown in early and easy years to avoid sailing a coastal sub will really make the game a lot more exciting.

I have found that initially GWX2 is quite challenging for a noob in the early years. However, much of that challenge is static in the sense that once you learn the key skills ... the challenge drops way off. More so than AOD and SHCE, because they are supported by better escort AI behavior. For SH3/GWX, the early years are about learning what calls attention to yourself and gets you detected. Once you understand that, the challenge drops way off.

So, I don't think I will be playing the early war years unless I take an inferior sub a set specifically arbitrary and hard missions to accomplish. Like perhaps to hunt in only coastal waters. Otherwise, I will try the later years of the war. Tonnage alone is not enough to make it worth playing, there must be the real potential of getting killed.

I have only started my career in 1939. That way I can build up my crew's effeciency for later in the war. On the first patrol, you have to be most careful, because youre crew isnt up to speed. But after you get back you can update their skills via sh3commander
I set my in base after patrol to around a month or so. Im not sure what is a realistic amount of time spent in base. I wish upgrading would be reflected after you get back to base where youre noted as In Base. That way I can get the upgrades that are available after the month has passed before going back out on patrol.
I dont use realistic career length.

You can also do this by setting a greater days in base value via SH3Cmdr. ;)

However, keep in mind that no matter which way you do it, if the port you are docked in falls while you are docked in it because you've progressed the date too far, then you can expect a nasty surprise the next time you depart. ;)

Yes, I originally started looking to do this through SH3 Commander as I was thinking of just playing the entire war but with a only few patrols/year. However, I think manual editting gives me the absolute greatest flexibility.

Thanks.

I don't see how, because changing Patrols_0.cfg alone will not give you the outcome that you think. Have you tested it? Sure, the barracks date is the new date, but when you start the patrol it goes right back to the original start date plus the days in base value.

To successfully progress the date *in patrol* you need to adjust the days in base value in Basic.cfg, thus making changes to Patrols_0.cfg a waste for anything other than seeing the new date in barracks (plus adding the potential of backward time travel - another common issue which has been discussed here). You can do this manually, or via SH3Cmdr. I know which way is more flexible for me. ;)

Fwiw to get the right days figure I use another of my programmes (available from my web site) which allows me to calculate the difference in days between two dates. I then plug this figure into SH3Cmdr and voila: the barracks date stays the same (although you can change Patrols_0.cfg if this is a concern, but remember the time travel problem) but the patrol (the important thing) starts on the new date. Even a spreadsheet would do to calculate the days.

Can't get easier than that short of me building a date picker directly into SH3Cmdr.

Okay, I see what you are talking about.

Now, here is a problem for me. Suppose it early 42 and I don't want to go back out until early 43. If my barracks date stays in early 42, then I will be unable to apply upgrades to my sub appropriate for 43 despite being able to set sail one year later.

How, can I get the barracks date to reflect the same time period as the patrol date?

Thanks.

That's the problem. Changing the career files (Patrols_0.cfg etc) has a habit of upsetting SH3 (understandably - they expect the files to be as they left them).

SH3 takes the last patrol end date and adds the days in base value to give you a new patrol start date. This is "invisible" to the player. In barracks the user will see the date the last patrol ended plus any days added for repairs and/or upgrades.

However, even this simple logic fails when the repairs/upgrades take longer than the days in base setting - under certain circumstances this creates a situation where your barracks date is later than the patrol start date will be!

Now if in the meantime you adjust Patrols_0.cfg so you can get the latest upgrades you're not changing a date that SH3 relies upon. Thus, after adding your new upgrades, you can be well after the date that SH3 calculates for you.

I suppose I'm simply trying to say that the barracks date is not directly connected to the patrol date.

I guess what you could *try* is to take the date you want to start, subtract 40 or so days, write that date to Patrols_0.cfg but the days value between the date you want to start and the last patrol end date to Basic.cfg then apply your upgrades. BUT after applying your upgrades ensure you start the patrol, if you don't then you will travel back in time when you next load the patrol.

I dunno whether this will work, but it's prolly worth a try.

This seems to work:

(1) Note, the date back in part of your prior patrol. (Adjust your renown if you don't want to be so constrained.)

(2) Set the Patrol_0.cfg date (bottom of file) to the date you want to start your patrol via a text editor.

(3) Use the date calculator to compute the difference of Date.2-Date.1. Let that be X.

(4) Start SH3 Commander and the DAY IN BASE to X. Launch SH3.

(5) Go to the office. Do your crew work, upgrades, and torpedos. (Note that by toggling back and forth between torpedos and something else you can get an unlimited load out of whatever you want.)

(7) Go back to your office desk. The current date will be beyond your desired patrol date.

(8) Start your patrol. The patrol date will be exactly the date you had set in #2. Effectively, you will upgrade and sail all on the same day. However, you will not move backwards in time or be carrying upgrades upon return which exceed the current sub configurations for that date.

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Thanks for your help!

Nice little data calculator by the way! Thanks.

Yeah, it's all perception.

But as I said above it's not the date that you set at #2 that is determining your patrol start date, it's the days in base value added to the last patrol end date that does. I reckon you could get around the time travelling aspect by writing the same days in base value but writing a date at #2 that's around 40 days less than the actual date you want to start. Then you can add up to 40 days of upgrades and your barracks date won't go past your chosen patrol start date.

Makes no real difference, but for people who care about such things it might remove the distraction.

Thanks. I first wrote it to help with my geneology. Since then it's gone to feeding into Program/Project Management scheduling.

This week, I plan to restart new career with my days spent change from 28 days to 1 in GWX2 cuz I missed out many historical events that I didn't get to see. Then in next restart, I will change back to 28 days. My crew are going be robots for now.

Well, if you follow the technique outlined above you can sail exactly on any day you want. Then, you just need to factor in sailing time.

I usually start from '39 in Flotilla 2 or 7 for the Type VII boats. I don't use a realistic career length as I'm part of a group and need to keep my career going as long as possible. If my Kapitan dies then I start a fresh career from that date and carry on, haven't been able to make it to '45 yet as I've tried out many mods and combinations of mods until I settled with GWX 1.03 and updated to 2.0 and hopefully soon to 2.1.

I'm thinking of starting a second side career just to get more time in on this great simulation.

I do use SH3 commander as it adds a lot of different factors that make it very interesting like having to replace crew that get killed by "partisans":huh: or are transferred.

Ok will try that. I will still keep my current career aside and create a new career under different name then.

It's very easy to copy an existing career and just rename the directory (the player's name) in order to test stuff.