A devoted crazy few maybe. I'm not one of them.

Welcome aboard. :salute:

Ooo. You never wanna go gun to gun with an escort on the surface. He's better armed and armored than you. Your deck guns are really only for polishing off unarmed or lightly armed merchant ships.

Sounds like you jumped right into the http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i.../fire3_red.gif

I use GWX3 and always enter and leave port in real time. On patrol I max at 128x, getting the feel of long boring patrols without actually doing them. Still takes awhile though.

Agree with Torplexed: I never engage in surface combat with a surface combat ship. That's a sure way to end a career today.

As for looking at ashcans dropping on you, I can't - I use SH3 Commander and have the water density set for 2, which means I can barely see the bow as the scope comes up.

Buying sailors: I never spend renown for crew. SH3 Commander lets me give them all the qualifications and medals I want after one patrol, and occasionally transfers them out and replaces them with other qualified men. In fact I hardly ever spend renown on upgrades, either - I only buy things I think would be normal for BdU to offer me at any given time.

I just can't let go of my WE Assistance or External Views, so I'm perpetually stuck at 84%. I'm to lazy for manual targetting, and only use the external for screenshots, so I'm still able to convince myself I'm playing realistically...
:rotfl: