I hope for a *realistic career lenth* option when starting a career, I would like to do the whole war aswell as realistic careers.

Lets hope the devs are watching and we can have the best of both worlds.

Options FTW !

I think by now it's clear that it's no accident that some skippers are forced into early retirment. It's by design and we can debate the wisdom of this particular concession to reality while others were neglected all day long.

What appears to be pooched is that it's happening to those who choose a Gato out of Pearl. Can we get more verification on this? Also, can you post some career data, such as your total renown, tonnage, rank, etc.

Also, has anyone ever had the option to buy their way back in by spending renown, as per Neals preview (Note: the readme says nothing about this part).

Finally, as a shot in the dark, go to your data\config\main.cfg and change EndCampaign=-5000 to something off the charts like -100000000000. It could be the game is thinking you've lost your ship and is penalizing you. The penalty for losing your ship or sinking a friendly is -5000 which is curiously what the threshhold for ending a career is set to.:o

I have done 3 patrols with the USS Triton (Tambor class) and 3 with the USS Drum (Gato class - accepted in Pearl Harbor).

I'm heading for my 7th patrol and no early retirement for now.

But probably this will be my last one... :cry:

You think that's bad....just wait and see what happens to the player! :huh: :lol:

Jeez, this is not a bug but a design feature, in SH3 you could play from 1939-1945 if you wanted!!!! Retirement was possible with SH3 Commander but was optional. Therein lies the problem, I gather you can't choose a realistic career length or not.

Lukemb, what's your renown & rank?

I finished my first career after 8 patrols, I have done 3 patrols with the USS Triton (Tambor class), 4 with the USS Drum (Gato class - accepted in Pearl Harbor) and my 8th and last patrol with USS Balao - accepted in Brisbane).

Before sailing for my 8th and last patrol I was still a Lt.Cmdr. and I had around 18,000 renown. With my last patrol my renown was probably going around 21,000.

A final thought...

If you check this file CareerTrack.upc in the savedgames folder (in C:\Documents and Settings\...\My Documents\SH4\data\cfg) you can check your current Rating value, I guess that if you have a high rating you will have the chance to do more patrols (my final rating was 14).

A little more info for ya..

I just finished my first campaign by forced retirement. I had just returned from my 10th war patrol which was also my first time out in the new Balao. Based out of Brisbane the whole campaign after leaving the Phillipines.

During this last mission I finally ran into a large task force and managed to sink a Hiryu Fleet Carrier. Upon returning to Brisbane it wouldn't let me end the patrol. I had to sail around to Freemantle to dock. The next screen awarded me the Medal of Valor and the next screen gave me the boot out of the Navy.

Going into the 10th war patrol I had 240,000+ tonnage from 70 ships sunk.

I can go along with the realisitic carrier length idea but there might be a better way to tie it all together. It would have been nice to get a message letting me know that I was to report to Freemantle. Upon return to Brisbane after sinking the carrier and finding I couldn't end the mission, I ended up goose chase sailing all the way up to Pearl, back down to Brisbane and then by shear luck I tried Freemantle next.

Now I might be missing this somewhere but I also couldn't find anywhere after getting the boot that I could go and see how my captain and crew stacked up in the tonnage totals for the campaign.

BTW Hi Guys!

That was my official first post. Been a lurker here on a daily bases for years through Dangerous Waters, SHIII and I think even the Sub Command days. Finally decide to speak up.

Ummm have you read any of the thread? It was done like that in real life. This was a progression from SH3, where the modding community had to add the capability to have realistic carreer lengths with SH3 Commander. Now it's added and you think it's a bug. :nope:

The only unrealistic thing about the so called "short career" is that the game presents many more targets than real life would have done, thus patrols last weeks rather than months and so careers end sooner. Real patrols lasted for 90 days or more, between patrols were repairs, refits, leave, training, trials of new equipment. It would be unusual for a boat to complete more than 3 patrols in a year. 5 or 6 patrols would take over 2 years and a skipper with that kind of accrued experience was of far more use in a staff job than in a boat. That is reality.

Maybe a better balance would be for a little more realism to creep into the game. Instead of a skipper taking over a new boat with only a few days in between commands, it would be better if taking a new boat meant a delay of several months.

We could use a SH4 Commander, to improve the between patrol aspects of a submarine captain's career, if anyone wants to try it. :-?

>>>>>It would be unusual for a boat to complete more than 3 patrols in a year. 5 or 6 patrols would take over 2 years....<<<<<

Well maybe there in lies an easy or at least usable alternative. There's nothing making it mandatory to return to base after completeing all the patrol objectives. If I can reasonably expect to get 10 war patrols or so a campaign like I just did why not stay out for 3 or more months before ending the mission? You could probably come close to making it through the entire war with 9 or 10 patrols depending on the time that goes by between patrols while docked.

You'll have to start a new career.

I had this happen my very first career. After my 3rd patrol in an S class, I was given the choice for a new boat, a Gato and transfered to Pearl.

After that one patrol, I was retired and confused about them mentioning "phasing out" my class since I'd just gotten the new Gato and only had one patrol in it.

However, I noticed the submarine number mentioned in the retirement message was S-31. That was the hull number of the S class boat I'd had on my first 3 patrols, not the new Gato.

Retiring me after 4 patrols I can understand, but phasing out the Gato in 1942 sounds like a bug at least in the message text.

A career length option would be great.

If you want longer game play career time then why not TC slower . It would be far more rewarding when you find something . Running all over the place at high TC and finishing a patrol in a couple of hours doesnt souns like fun .