Unbearable relatives
 

I gave up with LSH because it was too easy :haha::haha::haha::haha::haha:
The first mistake I made when I started with this game was confusing relative and absolute bearings.
The course of your boat is presented as an absolute bearing. i.e. the angle relative to true North
However the periscope and the hydrophone work in relative bearings, i.e. the angle relative to where the submarine's bow is pointing. When the crew see a target they call out its relative bearing.
The angle on the bow is the direction of your submarine as seen by the target and is relative to the course of the target
If you plot everything on the map it all becomes clear. It's probably a good idea to practice with map contacts on. There's an angle tool you can use to draw a line at an angle relative to another line, such as your course. With practice you can use all the various attack disks or even do it in your head.

With regard to the crew automation there isn't really a satisfactory solution. SH3 has three options:
(1) Auto target - lock on and fire.This is too easy
(2) Lock on and click the buttons to ask the weapons officer to do the aiming by setting up the TDC for the current periscope position. This should be most realistic but the weapons officer is waaay too good and it's just like option 1. In a similar fashion the navigator can draw the targets on the plot and the soundman can draw little lines but they do it perfectly.
(3) Do everything yourself. This means you are doing several people's jobs but does get rid of your unrealistic superhuman assistants. As time goes on you need less and less plotting on the map and you have time to strike some suitably rugged poses as the targets move smoothly into position.

Guys....
 

..all the realism is fine but this is getting ridicolous.
19 contacts so far in my first patrol!
NINETEEN - with 3 of them small convoys with exact course and speed via radio message from BdU - targets handed out on a silver platter - but I barely have seen some of the ships on my watch periscope as tiny little dots before they vanished for good.

I get tons of hydrophone contacts by myself (45 km zone) as well as from my sonar operator (20km with ship type description).
Once I set course even on the surface at full speed the targets dissapear for good even those you were coming towards my position.
As soon as my operator reports a hydrophone contact I race down to listen to for myself and suddenly its gone or there is a signal but form a totally different direction.
No matter what I do I don't get ANYTHING.
Not one single target so close I could follow them or even overtake them.
I even engaged an aircraft just to be able to shoot at any enemy unit no matter if the boat gets bombed or not.

I will fullfill the patrol grid and then I drive around until our Diesel runs out...
Nothing else to do.
I have a feeling that this experiment is leading nowhere.
Kudos to all you people who have success playing at this realism settings.

I am incapable to do it.
Period!

I have no idea why it was so easy to navigate before and why it is impossible to navigate now!
The 4th convoy from radio message.
Easy 6 knots heading SSW!
I CANNOT navigate properly by just watching the lead freighter in periscope.
At one point the ship is just running away from me, no matter what I do.
Plus I have no idea where this single ship is in relation to me!
My course is straight East - simple 90 degrees!
I should be pointing straight in the side of the convoy who should be passing me and should show me their backboard side when they pass.
In periscope the lead freighter is in 358 degrees.
Where is this ship in relation to me?

I don't get it.
There is little dial with compass degrees in the lower part of the map I could use if I could only turn or flip it....
I am getting mad and this BS is really draining all fun out of this game.
Unable to navigate, nothing going...nice evening spend for naught! :06:

Okay folks....
 

..it was fun while it lasted!
Well actually it wasn't. :hmmm:


I invested considerable time and effort and for very little (if any at all) in return. I have to admit I was fascinated by the idea of playing this game close to real conditions but it turns out only few might be able to do so.
Since I obviously am not of the the few lucky ones I might as well do something else with my precious life time.

I managed to at least come close to 2 ships near the coast and even fired 2 torpedoes at each one of them but all four did miss the target.
Since I had no camera active I couldn't even tell how bad or how close those misses were and so learning from it is close to impossible.
Well nightfall, heavy seas and having not the slightest idea how far and how fast those ships were made sure chances were very slim to score a hit anyway. :doh:

After realizing that my bow is always 0 it is still hard to make something useful out of the numbers you get from your crew since there is no tool to adjust "ship in 267" given the fact that you go in direction 127 (which is 0) so 267 is everywhere just not close to 267 on your map.

While I barely started managing to manoeuver I am still light years away from having any realistic chance to get into position and score a clean hit on a blurred vessel in the periscope where I have no idea how fast it is going, which exact course it is following and what exact angle it has on my ship.

No wonder I didn't produce anything meaningful! :oops:

The option of playing again with map activated or TDS computed torpedo solutions is not an option - I mastered it time and again.

So I thank you all for your help, support and encouragement and hope you have a better grasp and more success than I had (which shouldn't be too hard to do) playing this game at high end realism!


I'm outa here!


Greetings from

Ubootmate

It's a Game
 

Look, turn everything on, And when you learn how things work, you can always turn off the options that will make it real for the experience you want.I have been playing this game for years. I don't play on 100% you know why? I want to sink something, I want to sneak into a harbor avoid the patrol craft and sink every ship i can and get out.

And i have limited time i can play. So i set the options so i can enjoy the Game, see the explosions of my torpedoes, See the planes going down in flames my gunners shoot down in the early years.Evading destroyers and surviving.Yes enjoy the game first. And then work your way to being a real U-Boat Ace. I have not made it past 1943. But i try with a new boat a fresh crew 1939 and we work hard to get every sailor qualified and ready.And when the boat and it's crew is at it's best i get an itchy neck.

So, Play and then tune to what you want.When my wife calls, I take a depth ping go to 30ft above the floor silent running.Unload the groceries come back and i will still be alive.Anyway i hope you come back.

Methinks you learned that the hard way!:O: http://www.subsim.com/404n.jpg....which is why you're completely 'bats'!. :Kaleun_Goofy:

she must have great Stealth skill then :D

Your post got me back into the game and trying 100% realism.

The videos by Tonci got me to try the OneAlex mod, and the Discord got me to try the nighttime moon mod (and better understanding how to customize SH3 to my liking).

After fiddling with the various mods and options switches, I started on 1-Aug-1939 and am now up to 3-Sep-1939 and war is declared. My 3rd shakedown cruise just became hot.

Off I go...

I'm back too. Win11 machine on the way.

I think I have kept in my head all my patrol methods I like. But am going to go through the built in game training school efforts to get the muscle memory as it were, back.

Hope everyone is doing well. :Kaleun_Cheers: :subsim:

Just changed and updated my SubSim PW. All good. Email linked to it all good. Just have to find a free image hoster for screen shots.

Sub is still in the yard. Should be ready in a few days!!!:Kaleun_Cheers: