Currently I have TMO 1.9 and RSRD. It seems from the sound of this thread, if Im looking more for the thrill of the chance of taking command of the sub and doing what they did, but not nessicarily EXACTLY what they did back in the war i should just run TMO clean without RSRD. Im realitivly new to the SH series and although it would be cool to chase some big battles right now Im more in it just to play and like I said have an experience with out playing the game with my history book open infront of me. Maybe after I have a campaign or two id be more interested in chasing some of the big battles.

But does TMO have some of the big battles to stumble on?

Either way it sounds like I might enjoy without RSRD for a while, is that an accurate assumption? Also do I need to be in port to take RSRD off and leave TMO on if I choose to? is there a special procedure for a mod flip around like that?

Thanks guys. Ive had some what of an eventful career with RSRD on but I guess if theres more "excitiment" in clean TMO I might lean towards that for now and try the truly historical stuff another time.

What do ya guys think.

I did a career with RSRD and enjoyed it. I thought the flash traffic reports were a neat way to handle global strategic intel. In a few instances, I was able to intercept the targets that came over the wireless. But often my patrol grid was far away from the action, so I missed quite a few big things. I tried to get in the way of major battles (using wiki to guide me on dates and places) but didn't have a ton of luck with that. Right now I'm playing with TMO alone, and I've noticed that instead of the flash traffic reports, it plots convoy radio report information on the map a la SH3 GWX. I'm more comfortable with this approach. I'm not bound to historical realism; I like uncertainty and surprise. I found it hard to find convoys with RSRD, but with TMO alone, I've found a few already in my short (now finished - 2nd patrol) career. With RSRD I made it through 11 patrols and most of my kills were lone merchants.

Thanks KB, I feel the same like I said I want realism I love simulators, But I dont want to be alt tabbing every five min to find the date and long/lats. Id rather have the immersion and realism of being the skipper in a ww2 sub fighting "my own war" i guess you could say. Ive gotten most of my kills in RSRD on lone merchants or harbor raiding. I think i just might get rid of RSRD for now and try TMO clean, then som day if I feel like chasing the big battles I could load it back up and have another career for that. Gotta love thats the beauty of JGSEME i guess.

Yea - I don't wanna dis the RSRD mod. Like, I like the historical component and I respect all the work that went into it. I'm new to the pacific so I'm not in the know about most of the big events. When I get trained up, I'll probably do another RSRD campaign and soak it all up. Right now I'm following patrol orders, grabbing targets of opportunity, etc.

RSRD can be frustrating, but I've never had the experience of not finding traffic and 70% of what I find is still by chance. If I'm near a flash report, I'll certainly go looking. The main thing I find with the stars is the traffic is usually about 30NM's from the star. He probably set it up that way so you just wouldn't sit there and here it comes.

Historical or not, your not just gonna go to a historical location and always find the traffic. It's a crap shoot.

The only time I ever got peod about single merchants was 43, but I've now found where most the traffic is. RSRD is historical in the other sense you have to be in the campaign areas. It's not going to spawn heavy convoy traffic in unrealistic places within US zones of power unless it was an actual battle. Stock will spawn traffic anywhere at anytime.

Historical or not the US knew where the main traffic lanes were at certain times and the game gives you that info when you return to port in the movie.

The lanes where you will almost find heavy traffic is Singy to Shanghai, with stops at Hong Kong. Palua to Rabual, Truk to Rabual and home waters.

Something else to remember is convoy paths which are realistic in RSRD. Ships actually start at the right location and travel. You don't have to find the battle at the actual historical spot. Once I found the Midway TF leaving through the Bungo. The large TF for the Battle of the Philippines is docked at Tawi before they leave. It's fun to try to plot where they will be coming from and ambush them where it benefits you, like in a strait.

I don't mind the average convoys that spawn all the time in TMO and stock, but nothing beats a large battle where surface fleets fight it out, hundreds of planes in the air and you spend weeks traveling hundreds of miles setting up attack after attack....

Like keel said I dont wanna dis RSRD too. I think its awsome. But right now I just need the experience. While I love realistic simulators, Subs are something ive loved but never studied in much depth. I dont use manual torps yet but want to learn. But in the first few weeks of owning the game, and the initial infatuation I just wanna blow stuff up lol:arrgh!:. I want to learn the nuances of the subs, how to avoid, a true hunt. Ive only been dc'ed by a few sub chasers when I was boldly going after a port. I think if I play some TMO clean, and get the opportunity to run into some more boats and convoys, I'll get the experience even if they are spawning in unlikly locations. The maybe some day go historic heavy with rsrd, maybe RFB. we'll see.

That is an excellent way to start if you're new. A lot of people, like me, have years, even decades of experience in these sub simulation games. Everyone has the things that they like or dislike.

WOW DUCIMUS:dead:. I took off RSRD and opend up a whole new world of hurt lol. Started over first mission was to patrol 108 nm near the mouth of the entrance to the Tokyo port. I got into position and was going around, and I my patrol zone covered into the tokyo bay area. so being a young skipper full of piss and vinegar the days after pearl harbor decided to bring some hurt to the japs.

Entering the mouth i saw a destroyer patrolling, litterally sailing across the mouth of the channel making it very hard to get in. Stupidly I crept up towards him running silent. hugging the west side of the mouth. when I thought I was close enough and he was going the other way i figured I could try to sprint forward at flank while I was behind his screws. Run the gauntlet to avoid detection till after I raided the harbor and left. When it became clear I wasnt going to make it I tried to surface and sprint around the point before he saw me. (A crew member has the skill to get 1.5 extra knots out of the engines at surface max. Well as you would have guessed He spotted me (was about 3000 yrds away from me when I surfaced). he immediatly spun towards me and picked up speed. I threw some shells at him. put his were landing close in a hurry. and he was getting close in a hurry. so i ordered periscope depth and did a knuckle to port. I new I certinally wasnt going to run away from him or run far as I was running out of water (i was trying to hug the port side of the enterance of the bay/harbor/whatever.) so I thought my only option was some deterance, raised the scope. and saw he was bearing direcly 180 heading straight at me, AOB 0 right? He was a destroyer pretty narrow, but I didnt have many options. I opend 2 stren tubes. set them to around 5 ft contact and magnetic fast and fired them right at his nose. one missed to the right but another torp drilled him in the chin. And he turned tail to run!!!!:rock: I was in high spirits then. so i went after him on the surface pouding him with the deck gun. He soon got out of my range/priority as i rounded the point into that first port in the tokyo area as there were 2 battleships parked HALELLUYA. The kongo was parked out of port with its broadside to me. it was like a xmas present. I lined him up and loosed the first salvo of 3 fish. 2 premes and a deep runner :wah:. the next 3 2 dudes and a preme. problem was there was another DD that i wasnt paying atttention to as i tunnel visioned on the kongo i spun the scope and all of a sudden when i reached bearing 200 ish i couldnt see anything:hmmm: the DD snuck up in my screw wake and was on top of me. It didnt end well. lol I battle surfaced hopping to pop him in a magazine or something, that was about my only hope. in 50 feet of water with a dd parked on top of you lol.


So my quick test last night to see if TMO clean was a whole different animal and it certianly was. Now i'll have to play when I really have some time and am not rushing so I can really learn and enjoy. Last night was a combination of not having enough time to play and impatience and wanting to test TMO clean, to keep me from playing smart. But it was fun and now I know i think i will learn a lot as before I went unchallenged.

THANKS TMO CREW:salute:

Good little story there Orangehat.

There are two key words for TMO, patience and smart. :know:
After your experience you can add one other thing "DEEP WATER" :D

Magic

After marveling at the realism of RFB, I sought added danger and loaded TMO 1.9. Holy moly! I found it!

I started in an S-18 out of Brisbane in '42. Got sent out to assist with the Guadalcanal campaign. I was looking forward to taking shots at tin cans running the Tokyo express.

In the slot I found what I thought was a Momi class patrol boat running south toward Guadalcanal. It spotted me at about 6000 yards and let loose with some gun fire which missed completely. I sounded the alarm and dove to 180ft. The boat ran over me and I was shocked to hear about ten depth charges hit the water. The explosions threw my little S-boat around like I had never experienced before. This went on for three or four runs, then one run of only two charges. After that my pursuer ran over top of me twice without dropping anything.

I figured he must be out of depth charges. I came to periscope depth and found him at about my 300 bearing at nearly a 90 deg. AOB, heading to my stern. Two MK10 torpedoes barely missed to his stern. I dove back to about 80ft, expecting him to come around for another run. After listening, it seemed he just kept circling toward my stern. I came back up to periscope depth, plugged in a quick solution, and let loose one more MK10. This one hit amidships, destroying my adversary.

I looked at the captain's log to find that I had mis-identified my foe. What I thought was a Momi patrol boat was really a Minekaze destroyer. Good score, I thought.

I spent the rest of the week trying to stay surfaced long enough to re-charge my batteries while running into what seemed to be a saturation of Japanese air traffic. Finally I left the slot hoping to find some clear air so I could run on the sruface long enough to charge up. I never made it. I was cruising along at about 160ft after spotting an air patrol when I was hit. Presumably by said air patrol. My depth guage read over 1500ft when my boat gave in. I think the guage was broken, though. The diving officer called out a depth of 520ft before the implosion.

Looks like I found the danger. :D