Extreme Nooblet Questions
 

i have just started playing SH3. i've never played any sub sims before :oops:

i got through the naval academy ok, and started a career in 1939. after sinking a merchant ship and an armed trawler, i headed toward scapa flow base with one topedo left in my type IIA. (the trawler forced me to dive but i eventually was able to get away, then track it down and sink it)

i ran into a hunter destroyer near the base and i immediately started turning and diving, and went into silent mode. soon there were multiple warships circling above me (i guess the redlines on the map point to the sound sources). the sonarman could only report the nearest sound source.

i forgot to check the depth of the seafloor and my sub ran into it, taking some minor damage. my sub went up to 36 meters to avoid the seafloor. maybe that damage produced sound, but i noticed the stealth meter turning red. then suddenly, while i was looking at the map, i got a flood of damage reports in half a second, then realized my sub was dead from the destroyers...

now the questions:

1. was it stupid to approach a british base in a type IIA? is it ever a good idea to get close to a base?

2. when facing multiple warships, what's the best method for getting away? i got sunk after i started a straight course. is it better to zig zag while diving as deeply as possible? in silent mode?

3. how do i know if depth charges are being dropped? i don't really want to use the free look function to look above water.

i have begun reading the various tutorials, but need to know what errors i made

oh i almost forgot. SH3 is very choppy for my computer at times. i have turned off high res textures but it hasn't helped much. i have an old geforce ti4200 64mb card, but can play games like company of heroes and painkiller fine with some graphic options off. it's even laggy inside the command room (not seaspray problem). i have forced shaders to 1.1 using rivatuner. it's still laggy. extremely laggy while i tried to sail out of port (had to use map mode to get out).

any way to turn down the graphics or turn off some options in SH3?

1. Depends on what mods you are using. In the stock game you get away with quite a bit. With NYGM or GWX it's not a good idea in any u-boat, but it is a good idea to take as many eels as possible. If you only have one left, forget it.

2. Turn, turn, turn!

3. You'll hear them hit the water. Also, you can hear the destroyer's propellors speed up just before they drop. Also also, if you use the Old Sailor's patented conversions of the old Das Boot Sound Mod, your sound man (who is played by the actor who played Hinrich in the movie) will yell "Wasserbomb!!!", giving you a pretty good indication that trouble is on the way.
http://www.u-boot.realsimulation.com/

UBRS DLC/SH3 Audio Mods/Sailor Steve(1.4ready).rar

Hi and welcome to subsim

Ok first of all
I wouldnt dare go into Scapa with 1 torpedo left and no deck gun in case of troubles
Not that you would get much of a chance to use a DG up there

Your problem started with being spotted by the first DD
Up around Scapa its very shallow and there are plenty of destroyers around to help out once you have been found

Dive as deep as you can go and engage silent running

Try to keep your rudder 5-10 degrees over to one side then alter to the other after a while
Sharp changes will slow down your speed to almost a stop

You sonar guy should call out when DC in the water
If you get that report then go flank for a short burtst and then back to 2\3 kts before they stop

Try heading out to deeper water as you make your escape
The deeper the water under your keel the deeper you go

There are plenty of good evasion tips in the forums

Enjoy your stay

When you start the game go to options then video
Lower the particle setting

SH3 is a processor\menory and graphics hungery game

What are your overall PC specs ?
Your card is a bit on the low side

i'm not using any mods. trying to learn the stock game first.

the weird thing is that i didn't hear any thing being dropped in the water, and my sonarman didn't say a thing. i just suddenly died... :hmm: i was looking at the map and watching those red lines the whole time (they are enemy sound sources right?) do i need to be next to the sonarman to hear him speak?

i was sailing on the surface, it was night when i ran into the DD. after the game brought me out of time compression because of spotting the DD, there was still time to dive and remain unnoticed right? i was still out of the small cone of the DD at that time. i assume the small cone is its sonar range. i think i was just in the large cone of the DD on the map. not sure what the large cone represents. visual range?

i had a feeling going to scapa flow was a mistake. luckily i saved the game beforehand :ping:

my pc is an athlon xp 1800, 1.5 gb ram. i will try turning down the particle setting. it's weird that the command room is choppy though. it wasn't that choppy in naval academy.

1. was it stupid to approach a british base in a type IIA?
2. is it ever a good idea to get close to a base?

Not at all. With only one torpedo though...why?

It can be a very good idea at certain times. If you don't want to know don't click the link, but the dates of certain ships in certain ports are about halfway down this page:

http://edseek.com/archives/2005/05/0...urvival-guide/

<- What is with the One Night in Bankok avatar!?

lol:rock:

Greetings romelus; Welcome to the addiction.

Silent running is one good thing but in the shallows your playing with angry destroyers. On the lower left next to your speed dial/control there's a button, press it it changes to a knots reading. In silent running make sure your 3 knots or less, 2 is better. If you can listen-track a dd in early war use your marker and ruler tools. Try to position you aob best you can and less then 1500m. Destroyers can manuver quickly. Trying to use auto lock is like almost usless. Un-lock and aim forward of her bow, fire a steamer as if your aiming to go just ahead of her. Can't tell you how many time this manuver has worked but it takes a bit of trial & error.

Now, your vidio card. Ok it could use more gas but try disabling the event camera.
One thing at a time, :|\\
Make sure you have the 1.4 official patch btw.

I would recommend you consider GWX not as a mod, but as SHIII.5. It really is a better version of the stock game, not a "mod" per se.

i wanted to see if i could get in, sink a ship with my remaining torp and get out unscathed :dead:

years of playing fps games has taught me to take stupid risks just to see if i could pull something off

i think i was under 3 knots. i haven't figured out how to use the hydrophone myself. from reading some posts here it sounds very useful.

what is aob? angle of something?

also by auto lock do you mean automatic aiming for the torps? i have the 1.4 patch

You shouldnt install GWX when you have a 64MB gpu, mate. Upgrade first.

Welcome to subsim, romelus!

i'll try it after i've learned to stop dying in my first mission :yep:

if that's the case i'll stick with vanilla for now. it's choppy enough as is.

new and silly question for all

i tried to load the game i saved before i headed toward scapa flow. but it's not in the load career list of save games :o

i have 3 saves visible in the game, 1 in the base before mission, 1 at start of mission (sep 1), 1 of me dead (sep 10). i think they are all autosaves. i can still see the manual save on my hard drive, but how do i load it?

Welcome Romelus.
The chaps gave you some good advice. Here's my ten cent's worth:

Stay away from shallow water!
Stay away from Das Kanal (The English Channel)! Stay away from British Bases (the food there is bad) :88)