Some xteen questions (not only GWX)
 

I've been playing whole the weekend long like mad. GWX-enhanced SH3 is the best game I've played ever. Just can't believe how marvellous it is... Now I've got some questions and remarks on it, if you don't mind.

1. When operating sonar manually, how does one recognize if the enemy is closing or moving away?

2. At sonar station -- what is the "ok" (a 'v' symbol) button at its notepad for? (It seems to me that it's useless and I play at 100% realism settings).

3. At sonar station -- isn't it a bug that one can hear sounds from bearing 170-190 even when the engines are working?

4. Is there a mod that makes the movable stopper (clock) from GWX clickable, so that one doesn't have to switch to UZO/scopes every time to start/stop counting time?

5. Is it a bug or a featcher [how should I spell that damn word?!] that when under critical depth and the speed is 2 knts or less, the boat falls down slowly (didn;t notice this when over the critical depth).

6. Is it a GWX bug that one can't get a weather report from WO if NA is off duty?

7. Should the date correspond rather to local time than to German? (It's quite strange when one's mouse is over the time indicator and local time and date asppear above in right-bottom corner, it's 23.59, January 1st, and then it's 00.01 and still January 1st...).

8. What is the small red horizontal line at the fuel level indicator?

9. Is there a mod that places the _date_ in received radio messages? It's quite annoying that there is only hours, not day specified.

10. Is it a bug that no "What to do now, sir" screen appears (for example when ship is spotted) when the weather is to bad to use any guns?

12. Is the maximum range estimated/calculated depending on current _speed_ or current engine power used? It seems to me, that the speed and I think it's a 'bug' (when in storm and your speed changes every second significantly, your NA gives you very strange calculations, like "max range is 500 km" and "max range is 6000" a few seconds after _without_ ordering change of engines power).

13. Yesterday when lost contact with a convoy, I headed to their estimated course and waited for another BdU report giving me the coordinates. It was soon after fooling their escort that was depth charging me after first combat approach, I run away without problems and surfaced to breath some freshy air and reload some external torpedoes as well. And then I got the awaited BdU report, but not about the convoy, but this time about two enemy warhips somewhere near to the combat area. I supposed, that maybe I hit badly one of the convoy ships that can't sail further but refuses to sink and they are trying hard to repair it or rescue the crew, so I headed back to the location. When I got closer, there were two circles on the map surounding the two marks on the map (that appeared due to BdU report). Strange -- I've never seen them before. Questions:
- what were those circles?
- why did the BdU report the two ships instead of convoy?
- where the hell did the convoy dissapear?
- why did the two warships stay in the location?
Were they still looking for me submerged and the circles marked their patrol areas?

That's all as for now. If you know answers, I'd be glad to hear them. :)

Whoa
:rotfl:

Ok will answer the ones I know

3,the sounds you hear in sonar at 170-190 are your engine ;)
4,No - that only works when the ingame one does
7, The date is hardcoded ingame - you want to leave France and sail to Penang - the clock says 11am and its pitch black as it shows a different time zone
8, I believe its half a tank
9, The date is in the message
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/5046/hmmqo5.jpg

10,Probably a design feature - As that pop up includes engage the enemy and you cant it doesnt show
11, Where the hell is 11
12, Seems its a combination of speed and power used - In rough weather the range is indeed shorter
13, Map contacts are displyed every so often - 60mins or so
Some are less some are more
The convoy you lost contact with will show another report when its time is due - as written in the Rnd files

Not sure what you mean by circles on the map
Screenshot ?

1) When the cans are hitting you, you'll know they're closing- PING!
2) ? Guess I haven't noticed that.
3) I would think so.
4) You can start/stop from the attack scope with a mouse click. The other locations, no.
5) "feature". Your boat at critical depths is taking on water...so it will descend.
6) Used to be the Navigator that gave it...could be a coded thing.
7) Time is based off Zulu...(Greenwich Mean Time)
8) Your fuel reserve...start heading for the barn.
9) I ignore radio messages. In fact, alot of times I send "Sparks" to his bunk since I bore with the meaningless BS and 1 TC's.
10) Set the default action for the screen.
12) The range is based on an assumption of the current condition when you ask for the calculation and the current speed.
13) Haven't encountered the circles. Convoys and other targets will drop off at a certain range. Depends if you hit a "trigger" within the program. Also, SH3 will randomize everytime you reload...so a convoy may not be there the next time you start and proceed with the saved game.

Thanks for the answer. :)

Ad 3. No, I can hear the warship AND the depth charges being thrown to water very accurately, so it's obviously not my engine. :)

Ad 13. My map contacts are not updated as I play 100% realism. They appear only once, when contact reported by BdU, and stay still, untill faded after some time. But this time there were two circled (that I didn't draw myself) around the two reported contact icons, drawed with 'dotted line' (more precisely it was not dotted but 'lined line', like: --- --- --- ---).


Ad 5. No... My boat wasn't taking any damage (no reports and I have "hull integrity" message on and it still says "100%"). I can dive as deep as 250m without taking damage in my IXB type, but it starts falling down slowly as soon as it reaches 170m.

Ad 8. No, fuel reserve is indicated with another slide-thing, certainly not the red one. :)

Ad 13. I made whole the patrol without reloind game once. I know that convoys change their course (usually when I start plotting it on my map ;) ), but the escorts alwayes followed them. The strange things are this time: the miraculous circles and the escorts that stood in place for quite a long time.

Thanka for answers again.

No...on #5...you don't need to have damage to take on water at those kind of depths. Have any idea what kind of pressure you're dealing with? It's measured in TONS PER SQUARE INCH!.
If this were the real deal...a hole the size of a pin would create a water jet that could cut a man in half if he were to walk through the stream. Trust me when I tell you...you're taking on water!

Next time I'll check this when doing deep diving test at the beginning of my patrol (this sabotaigists are a real pain in my...).

If the contact starts to get louder it getting closer.

But pay attention to his bearing changes to work out what he is really up to. A contact may get louder (closer) but is he going past you?

If its an escort and it looks like he's just steaming close by thats the time to go silent and order all stop. Remember to alter your depth when you order all stop! (Don't want to broach the surface now).

If he's heading straight for you... Well good luck Herr Kaleun, better you than me!

I'm usually at 200m or deeper when I sit by the sonar station to listen, so I'm not affraid of sudden surfacing. :) Rather of going to deep because of water on-board... Those bastard DC-s are really not nice at close ranges. Luckily I haven't been hit by any of them and I hope it's not the end of my luck (only suffered from sudden surface attack from nowhere and from planes).

And of course you are right -- better him than you and better you than me!

Feature. Historically, submarines had difficulty maintaining neutral buoyancy unless they were under speed. If you are standing still it is realistic to begin sinking very very slowly.

If you are barely moving, then control surfaces don't do much! :up:

Edit: For 13, although I have not played GWX yet, I gather that circle markers are indicative of submarine contacts. You probably encountered a wolfpack!

For 6, kind of a bug. The navigator was the officer that originally gave weather. Of course, it's difficult to gauge wind speed and such when you're underwater. So GWX placed the weather report icon under the watch officer, as he cannot be deployed while submerged. However the hardcoded so that the report still comes from the navigator.

Yes, I understand and that sounds reasonable. BUT my boat doesn't fall down slowly at 2 knts speed IF NOT under critical depth, and that's the clue. I've conducted some carefull testing and it only behaves like that when under 170 metres (type IXB).
If that is true, I'll never forgive myself leaving the area... I haven't spotted any of them. :( But that would be a good explanation of the escorts behaviour:
- They let me go quite easily, and that was a bit surprising, because two weeks before, when attacking some other convoy they wouldn't stop chasing me for quite a few hours,
- They were so strangely behaving that finally I managed to get close enough to one of them not being spotted and sink it with a few accurate deck gun shots (and this was a second sunk corvette from this convoy, as earlier I accidentaly hit one with my torpedo).

But no u-boots on sight, sir... :(