I like to think of myself as a serious player.

I usually play GWX at about 84% realism.

Dead is dead - no restarting, no matter how successful the captain was.

I actually reduced the effectiveness of the GWX deck gun, because IMHO it was still too easy to sink merchants.

Additionally, I sometimes up-armor escort ships and large merchants that I think are too easy to sink.

No funny colors - the most I will ever do is use an ahistorical conning tower emblem.

No targeting convoy escorts and picking off the whole convoy, because SH3 AI does not program ships to scatter. Taking advantage of this AI flaw to bag 10-15 merchants doesn't exactly give me a sense of accomplishment.

Definitely no hit point mods, 50-knot mods, and the like - I find them boring.

Additionally, my Merchant Fleet Mod is designed to populate SH3 with a larger number of light merchants, thus reducing average tonnage scores.

Better be careful going that close to burning ships, I had one explode at about 50m from me and it damaged every compartment causing medium flooding and killed the entire deckgun crew including my watchofficer

Indeed.. some time ago we had someone describing how he was sunk by... a truck.. :haha:

Roger that :salute: I am usually a bit further out when "helping off survivors" as per the Prize Rules, but this time I wanted to get especially close in. We had just sunk a British Tramp Steamer nearby when my watch crew spotted this Polish C2, and it was actually a bit of a judgement call whether to sink them as well, seeing how they were clearly in the area to help the British sailors. Remembering the instructions to "SINK THEM ALL!" I decided to let the C2 have it, but then make sure that the brave merchant marine sailors made it to their lifeboats and got more than adequate provisions for their journey to Blighty.

It all adds to the immersion and realism! :yeah:

That's okay. I had one explode and take out my whole boat, including me of course.

This was in the Artillery training school.:dead:

If you are playing solitaire, and you peek at the hidden cards, are you cheating? I'd say yes.

I will play the game the way the game allows itself to be played.

If I can pick off all the escorts and surface and gun down the entire convoy, I will do it, because the software allows it.

Likewise I will raise the periscope regardless of sub speed.

I have started only carrying steamers in the external stores, though in fact I've switched to all steamers for the range advantage.

Steve

Good point! I'd never thought of that one before. :yeah:

You could run at flank speed in heavy seas and submerge your entire watch AND TECHNICALLY DROWN THEM - it is a software flaw with no penalty attached. Not good seamanship nor accurate to history. Refuse to drown them - go against the flawed software, change course, reduce speed, or submerge and ride out the weather. For me, it is a matter of principle to execute as true as one can. Just because the software allows you to do something bizarre does not mean you have to exploit it. For some of us when used properly it is an era simulation not just a game.

:salute:

I think the idea...
 

...is simply to get what you're looking for out of the game.

For myself, it's a simulation, but it's also an interactive narrative of myself in an alternate persona as a U-boat commander.

So little tweaks? Sure. Loading the game? Absolutely. I look at these as the effects of the expertise a real U-boat commander would have that I do not. I might have done x or y stupid thing, but a skilled German hunter wouldn't have.

I love the experience that SH3 (and its ilk) provides, and I'm an enthusiastic amateur student of history, but I'd rather not have to know EVERYTHING a real U-boat commander would have to know to play what is, at the end of the day, a game.

No disrespect to anybody who plays full realism, I'm just saying that I, personally, don't know everything that I'd need to know to play on such settings.

It's like flight sims - I don't have the equipment, nor the inclination, to be able to control things like fuel mixture effectively, but I still want the experience of slicing into a formation of Heinkels in my Hurricane. Is my experience less full than a serious grognard who plays with a customized rudder/stick/trackIR setup? No, because I spend that time on other parts of my life. I know what's involved, but I fully realize that I am not a fighter pilot.

Nor am I a submarine captain. I'm a professional journalist with a strong interest in such things. I value my experience with SH3, even though I don't play with full realism. Hell, it's even taught me life lessons about things like leadership and being decisive.

So respect to you, if you do play with all settings maxed. I think it's a fantastic achievement that people can relive moments in history with such fidelity, and I'm both amazed and fascinated by the fact that people get as into it as they do.

But don't kid yourself, some of us who don't play at max realism get quite a lot out of the game too.

Happy hunting, everybody.

Well said.

This thread was meant for me to find like minded. I am not interested in 'gamers' or what they think of me. Their right to play it as a game and do whatever. My right to push the educational limits as a simulation, not as a game. I am not asking gamers to join me or debate how to play.



~ PC

And yet your first post openly attacks 'gamers' as cheaters. I'm on your side of this debate, but when you start off that way you have to expect that people are going to respond. While I value history and only play historical sims, I don't play at 100%, so technically I'm cheating too.

Tis, tis - poor choice of words. I am against anyone 'bragging' when they use mods that allow unlimited eels, long range flak, flak guns in heavy seas, re-visiting the same honey-holes (get it?) as if they were skilled. I do not think one has to play 100% realism to enjoy but why brag about million ton patrols. Sort of like a guy who says he got a hole in one in golf but neglects to say it was miniature golf. I stand by my convictions.

Don't get me wrong. I stand by your convictions too. Million-ton bragging has been one of my biggest peeves since the game was released. I, on the other hand, brag about coming back empty-handed, so I guess I can't complain too much. :sunny: