don't end your patrols ;-)

just re arm and re fuel and go on out. they will keep giving you area's to patrol IIRC. i know they keep giving me areas even when i am out of ammo, i just have never choose the "refit" i always choose the end partol.

also, to the poster that said you got sent on a wild goose chase because they changed your "home". everytime i have had my "home" port changed they had sent me a message saying so. like when manila got captured they sent a message saying where i had to go next.

Realism is, complete your mission and expend your torpedoes, then go home. The game is unrealistic because it gives too many contacts so you get through your fish too quickly. However it is a game and a patrol with no contacts, while realistic, would be boring.

A further point on this subject. Unless in command on war breaking out, a submarine skipper would have, in addition to his own patrols as skipper, patrols as XO and possibly in other officer billets, before he started to rack up his own patrols. All patrols would have been a serious strain on the nerves, just how many could a man take?

It happens other places also. Started in Pearl. I evnetually got offered a NEW boat, took a Balao and got stationed in Brisbane. Had a new shiny sub, AWESOME!!

Went out on a mission, sank 8 ships, repectable tonnage, accomplished all THREE (3) missions. Was out of torps. Returned to Brisbane, could not end the mission so travelled to Pearl. Could not end the mission. So, did a refit, went out, again expended all torps, sank more ships went back to Brisbane. Unable to end mission. Travelled around Australia and docked at Freemantle. Got the option to "end mission" and dock. Once I docked I received a medal, good job but was told I'm old and so is my BOAT (a Balao) and was RETIRED!

This was my 11th patrol total since the beginning of the war.

This is NOT a bug? I want to play quite a few more missions with a Balao class sub, NOT be retired!! :(

How dare you not swear that SH4 is perfect in every way?

Didnt you read the forum rules? Undocumented features are to be praised!

This silly concept of "having fun in my balao" is clearly not in keeping with the decorum here, so clean up your act or I shall accuse you of being a nagging troll!

Just kidding, I agree the forced retirement problem is the reason I dont play SH4 anymore.

They are if they are based on history, or have you forgotten how many people were happy to have this feature in SH3 Commander? :stare:

I play with the no map update selected. I also use the less radio traffic mod for the clipboard issue. Contacts are much less, but when you do find the singleton it is very exciting because it has been a day or two since finding a target. A convoy is more the better when found. Anyway, with these two options, I'm out for weeks on end hunting. It is a bit more challenging. To me, shooting fish in a barrell is not fun. In essence, it is not really boring not having any map updates, it is a taste of real happenings while on patrol. It is all in how you like to play.

Here is my thought on the career ending after X amount of patrols. Say you get dropped in 43', simply continue your career in 43' with a better sub and a green crew.

>>>> ...also, to the poster that said you got sent on a wild goose chase because they changed your "home". everytime i have had my "home" port changed they had sent me a message saying so. like when manila got captured they sent a message saying where i had to go next. <<<<

Normally that's very true. I've had two different occasions while based out of Brisbane where there were't any messages telling me I had to report to somewhere else. The first was earlier in the campaign after returning to Brisbane and not being able to end the patrol I got lucky on the first guess and went to Pearl where my sub had some field mods and then I transferred back to Brisbane. The second was this last patrol after sinking the carrier.

To be sure about this I just went through the logs from my saved games just after these incidents and there are no orders telling me that this is what I was supposed to do. No biggy now that I've run into it and I'll be more attuned as to the best port choices to sail to next time.



>>>> I play with the no map update selected. I also use the less radio traffic mod for the clipboard issue.<<<<

Been using the radio traffic mod all along and just now started a campaign with all the boxes checked except exterior views. Also planning on staying out longer (3 -4 mths) on each patrol. This completely changed the feel of the first war patrol in a good way.

No all I have to do is get better at calculating target speeds. So far all I managed to do is to hit one small freighter with two torpedos and she was still floating as I had to sail away and I've been out for over a month already. :)

Yes, it does change the feel. A few patrols skippers really did come back with all their fish (towards the end of the war). The most I have gone is 4 days without a contact. When I do find one, I savor the moment. It seems you can complete your missions because you are not stopping every 2nm for another convoy. Patrols are about 30-40 days for me. I like this type game play.

Speed calculation is the hardest and the top of the list that can ruin a how sinking:yep: . Practice make perfect. The torps are free so fire away!

Have you heard the scuttlebutt in the bar at the Royal Hawaiian? They say, "Don't ship out with richoahu, you never get shore leave!":lol:

For christ sake. Did my first (i think) mission with the balao class. Had a great patrol. Completed the mission, also refitted my fish, and went out hunting again. Going back to my home port, but could not end. So i refueled and sailed over to the other part of Australia. I could end there. GREAT! i thought, time for some serious medal giving and promotings. I was also awared some honor medal thingie. Looks like a good one =). Misson stats showed 2 Battleships and 15! Merchants sunk. For a tonnage of rougly 77 000. However i was retired along with my ship due to not so good performance. I sank more on 1 patrol than all the others on the top aces done from scratch. Now im totally pissed, I want to go from start to end, not be forced to start a new career just because the game say so. Even if i have to, now i dont feel motivated at all to start a new career.

Lets press submit reply before i start writing things that is not so good :nope:

Sigh...

Grunt really, if you dont play it anymore give it rest please.

Request denied.

When SH4 is fixed I will, as you say, give it a rest.

Obviously, the retierment thing is not a bug. And actually after I figured otu it wasn;t, is a pretty good feature if the designers had spent some time fleshing it out.

It is very frustrating to simply be given a message that you are to be flung out of the navy without any real reason. I think it would have been a very respectable use of time by the devs to include a few more retierments senarios, like being sent on warbond tours, being promoted out of the boat, accidental death (car, plane accident, etc.), being sent away to train new skippers.

So yeah, the forced retierment is not a bug, but it is a problem. You should be presented with the option of staying with the boat; ie. you get a dialog box that says

"Command has ordered you be sent home to take a position at Annapolis."

and then you get options like

"Accept the position - The war needs you elsewhere." or "Call in a favor and stay with the boat - The thought of a class full of bright eyed freshmen gives you the willies"

Then of course be taking one option of the other you get differen't results for your "future" after the war.

Those sound good, but why not put an extra box in the game settings panel that says "Realistic Career Length".

Ya know, just like "Limited Fuel" and "Limited Batteries" or "Stabilize View".

The SH3 Dev's must be getting a good laugh from all this.