I originally bought SHIII the day after it released and was only able to complete 1 patrol objective on my first time out of port before real life took over. I was never able to get back to it and forgot all about it after going through a few complete system upgrades.

Well, I finally retired. After playing SHIV for a year and moving on to SH5 for another year. I decided, what the heck lets give SHIII a go.

What is the link for GWX Gold?

Regards!

here is the link for GWX http://www.thegreywolves.com/

It is simply the best megamod ive ever seen for a game.

Good to see you back on SHIII! I played a LOT of SHIV myself and loved the sim, but i longed to be driving u boats. And SHV is just a train wreck IMO, so im back on SHIII all modded up and running at 80+ fps. I cannot stand stuttering frame rates in sim games, my obsession started with MS Flight Sim.

seperate question for the old salts...

Ive downloaded the fuel effencincy mod, and ive been running at 1/3, is this historically correct for an outbound trip to the patrol area? Having to go the long way around england, it looks like an easy 2 week trip just to get to my patrol area at 8 knots.

Thanks:rock: I kept omitting the "the" in address when I was trying to go there.

If you are in a Type VII, 7-8 knots is by far the most fuel-efficient speed.

Yes, it will take longer to get to your patrol grid at 1/3 ahead than at a higher speed.. however you will burn less fuel in covering that distance and have more left over once you get there. That means you'll be able to stay on station longer and/or patrol a much larger area should you decide to go looking for targets somewhere else. You will also have more fuel on hand to use in pursuit of targets or escape from danger should you need to crank up the speed temporarily in those situations.

As a test, set your speed at 8 knots and ask your navigator to give you your maximum range at current speed. He will reply by reporting a distance in kilometers. That's how much distance you can get out of your remaining fuel if you remain at the current speed.

Now increase your speed to 1/2 ahead, full ahead, and flank speed, each time stopping to ask again for maximum range at current speed. You'll see that the maximum distance you can travel on remaining fuel at a given speed decreases as the speed goes up. The same thing happens if you drop below 7-8 knots. At higher speeds, you begin to burn more and more fuel for every kilometer you travel; at slower speeds, you travel shorter and shorter distances for every liter of fuel you burn.

7-8 knots (in a Type VII, at least) is that "magic" spot on the dial where you get the maximum distance possible out of every drop of fuel on hand. :yep:

2 weeks out, 2 weeks on station, 2 weeks home... but at 8 knots you have plenty of fuel for that.

You'll find, however, that 8 knots is insanely slow after a week or so of time-compressioning your way around the Atlantic :88) Also, in bad weather running at 8 knots means you'll actually be making 5-6 knots or less if the seas are bad enough. I usually run at 10-13 knots in transit, and slow down when I reach my grid.

True, but I'm pretty sure that ordering the engines to turn for 8 knots is still the most fuel-efficient setting, even if the weather state reduces your actual speed.

That said, I've never had a problem with making 10-12 knots on the way out and in, depending on how far off my assigned grid is; as has been said many times before, in GWX the last thing you should ever run out of is fuel. But I would hate to be out on patrol and realize that I only had enough fuel to make it home at 8 knots all the way if I started back immediately when I've still got plenty of ammo left and, in theory, could've found more targets for it if only I'd been more careful with my fuel consumption from the start.

i asked for a fuel status report and it said at 8 knots i had a range of 34486 km??? is that sounding right? and this is with the fuel eff. mod and GWX

As noted above, the last thing you should ever run out of in GWX is fuel, provided you aren't trying to tear out to the mid-Atlantic and back with a realistic-length patrol in between whilst running at full or flank speed 24/7. :D

The fuel loadout was increased in GWX, I don't know by how much... but this was done to make up for the fact that the game figures distances based on a "flat world" map and doesn't take into account the curvature of the earth. So distances from some points to other points are greater than they would be in real life, and the amount of fuel GWX gives you was increased to compensate for that.

ok i understand the fuel numbers now, and i have arrived at my assigned patrol grid now. I am guessing this will be a pretty lame duck patrol, since it is still mid august 1939, and we arent at war yet. I will spend a couple weeks in the general area and then head back. By then it should be around the first few days of September, and i bet they will turn me loose to attack on the trip home. So far i have had two contacts the whole trip out, im blaming the weather for that, since it has been horrible. Ive used the opportunity of contacts to practice getting close and in good positions to fire.

Don't forget the time spent in port! If I remember correctly it is 28 days so you should do a short first patrol to make sure you can be back out and ready when the balloon goes up :salute:

Thats true, but since im already out here, and about 3 weeks from the start of the war, i might as well stay out here for awhile since in my virtual world, we are not sure exactly when the war will start, and the trip home will be weapons free. Then ill get back to port and from then on it will be ON.:D

Ah, true enough kaleun :salute:

I took U-46 out for a brief tour of the Baltic but returned to port after hearing the radio messages telling us to relocate...obviously tensions were coming to a head and we wanted out of the confined waters of the Ostsee before the shooting started


But then I am early 1941 and speaking to you via magic radio :haha:

Have fun on that first patrol!

Actually, if your running GWX, you should take a quick spin out in the harbor, and then dock again. This will then allow you to modify your boat, as changing things prior to your first patrol have been known to cause problems.


I also have edit the renown reward for hitting my patrol zone, and so, using SHC, I edit my first PZ for somewhere either in the baltic or North Sea so I can take a spin, do some test dives, then return to port.

good advice...ill have to try that with a career after this one. I just returned to port and it is august 20, 1939. I figure about 3 weeks or so in port (hope the SHC randomiser is good to me) then i can get back out there and start blowing things up

I know this is true for nygm but not sure if gwx models this, but if in a large storm don't u burn more fuel going at 8 knots? Ie burning more fuel going against those huge waves. I always thought that was a cool little feature to add more realism to the uboot game



Edit. O and for the OP can you post your mod loadout when u are done?:up:

the storm does slow you down in gwx but youre still turning for 8 knots, storm or not, and yes it is a realistic feature:03:

as for my mod loadout, it is probably shorter than most

GWX 3.0 Gold
GWX Captain America's Officer Icons
GWX Enhanced Damage Effects
GWX VIIC41 Player Sub
GWX No Medals On Crew
GWX Main Movie Das Boot
GWX Alternative Loadscreen Full Circle
GWX 16km Atmosphere
GWX Merged Campaign
Merchant Fleet Mod 3.2
MFM Skin Pack 1
MFM Skin Pack 2
Radio Deutschland (i love the music in this mod)
Thomsens Sound Pack 3.2
WB's Decks Awash/Fuel Economy
TDW's Water Disturbance 4.0

and of course SH3 Commander with its various tweaks

and thats it, i think that all that pretty much makes this sim perfect.:up:

Well, if you're comparing making 8 knots in flat water and in a storm, then yes I believe it's modeled in the game. I believe it runs off of RPM's, not speed. So the energy to maintain 8 knots when your looking up at the water about to knock you off the bridge is greater than fishing weather.

Here's how you do it the realistic way. Make that first patrol on August 1. Cruise around the harbor (or not - I like to is all) and dock. Go to Commander and change the Days In Base to 18. Give all your POs qualifications, as they have them in real life. That's what a petty officer is. Upgrade whatever you want to, and start your second patrol. You will be one of the 14 u-boats that was actually sent out on August 19. Go to your assigned grid and wait for the war to start. After your first "real" patrol is over, reset the Days In Base to Random, and you're good to go.

I also do this with careers I start later in the war. That way you don't always start the first patrol on the 1st of whatever month it is.