A few questions from a rookie SH4 driver with lots of sh3 experience.
 

I'm playing with the TM mod.

I'm on my first mission now to try out the ins and outs.

1. Is there any way to exit the mission and tell my boat to return to port like in SH3?

2. I'm getting radar contact reports but I'm fairly certain my Tabor class does not have radar since I go to the radar station and I can't power up. What gives?

3. I go to battle stations and am surprised to find my triple A not manned while on the surface... the button on the hud is lit but I have to manually send men to the station. Is this normal?

4. I started at Pearl, my orders don't say if I should return there or not. Is there penalty in renown for nt returning to your starting base?

5. Man does my Tabor guzzle fuel!!! My first mission was to deliver an agent off the Japanese coast which I did quite easily. I was rather amazed that the only oppostion I encountered was some shore batteries getting pissed at me. My secondary missions were to patrol the east China Sea. Yeah! Right!! I don't have the fuel to get home! I got across from Pearl to my primary target location at standard speed. Too fast? I need to know what is normal.

6. No storms? No real weather changes? I'm playing with the LBO mod. Is THIS normal? IN SH3 it would storm out of port and not freakin' stop until I returned home.

7. Christ! When I launch a god damned rubber raft it sounds like I just NASCAR rubbed with the Bismarck! What gives?!!!

Thanks Bubbleheads!:up: Fair Seas!

I'm playing with the TM mod.

I'm on my first mission now to try out the ins and outs.

1. Is there any way to exit the mission and tell my boat to return to port like in SH3?

Nope, you and I probably got lazy from it. But having to sail back makes the game more exciting, because you never know if you are gonna get an unlucky bomb hit 20 miles west of your base...

2. I'm getting radar contact reports but I'm fairly certain my Tabor class does not have radar since I go to the radar station and I can't power up. What gives?

Dunno, I've noticed this too. Kind of annoying, since it slows down TC. Even if you turn off radar you'll still get it. Bug?


3. I go to battle stations and am surprised to find my triple A not manned while on the surface... the button on the hud is lit but I have to manually send men to the station. Is this normal?

There is a button you can press on the AA submenu called 'man the AA gun'. Try clicking on that. Also, if you get attacked by aircraft, if you select 'engage aircraft' I think the game automatically puts a guy in the AA gun and has him fire at will. Feel free to assign a sailor to the AA gun; I don't know where they go when the sub is underwater but you can definitely have a guy taking up that slot at all times (ditto for damage control)

4. I started at Pearl, my orders don't say if I should return there or not. Is there penalty in renown for nt returning to your starting base?

The only place you can return is the base you left from. Sometimes they'll change bases on you, but more likely than not its the base you started from.

5. Man does my Tabor guzzle fuel!!! My first mission was to deliver an agent off the Japanese coast which I did quite easily. I was rather amazed that the only oppostion I encountered was some shore batteries getting pissed at me. My secondary missions were to patrol the east China Sea. Yeah! Right!! I don't have the fuel to get home! I got across from Pearl to my primary target location at standard speed. Too fast? I need to know what is normal.

Drive at 2/3 over long stretches, its probably the most efficient setting. Don't forget you can go to any friendly port (like Midway) and refuel(without ending the mission! :up: ). Once you remember the ports, you can make pit stops to get more fuel/torpedoes and have longer patrols if you like.

6. No storms? No real weather changes? I'm playing with the LBO mod. Is THIS normal? IN SH3 it would storm out of port and not freakin' stop until I returned home.

I've seen storms. In fact one patrol I was screwed over because the pacific got so violent I didn't have enough fuel to return home (had to redo the mission!). If you are worried about fuel try to wait out storms otherwise you'll use up 3x the fuel traveling the same speed. One thing I DID notice is the gun crew doesn't care about weather- you could be in a hurricane with 5 meter visibility and you can still use the deck gun :ping:

7. Christ! When I launch a god damned rubber raft it sounds like I just NASCAR rubbed with the Bismarck! What gives?!!!

I've noticed this too. I was wearing sound dampening speakers, and the scraping sound from launching the raft was so loud I had to wrench them off. I guess the game just uses the same collision noise, no matter how unnecessarily ear-splitting it might be.

Thanks Bubbleheads!:up: Fair Seas!

This mod was a total turn off for me. I retired it after nine [9] patrols and said it had its chance. Too much of a revisit to SH3 is/was my gripe.

Check duder.

Anyone else want to comment about the radar?

1. NO

Your committed sailor. Make the best of what is available to you.

(Crisp Salute)... 'good luck' and be careful.

i just wanted to add alittle more info to your fuel question.

time compression has alot to do with how much fuel you use.

i could make it to tokio from manila, and only use a fraction of my fuel, running at 1/3 speed, 5 knots (s-class),
with time compression 1025 or less.

then on the way home, with well over 3/4 tank full, with TC real high, like 2048 or more, i would use every drop and not be able to get home.

then i tried it with TC at 1024, and made it home, so time compression has alot to do with it.

That's f-ing insane!!!!!!!!!!!

You have SD air search radar, so those are aircraft contacts. You cannot manipulate the SD radar yourself, but you will get it's reports via your crew operator. The radar screen in game is for the improved SJ search radar that you will be able to upgrade too later on in 1942. Once you have SJ radar, you will find that you can use the controls on the radar screen.

Is it possible you were bucking a headwind / current ?

i was in a storm, a month long storm, but mostly i had a tailwind, but the mission
i was posting in the "point and shoot thread", i had no storm, calm waters, i tried to returned home to surabaya from luzon straights, N of appari, and couldnt make it to surabaya. i took the shortest route i could to, heading S on the west coast of the philippines.

i had way over 3/4 tank, couldnt make it home, so i didnt want to start another career, so, i went to 1024, and made it back.

that was the confirmation i needed to let me know TC had something to do with it.

when patrols are long, and all ammo expended, i like to get home as fast as i can, so i can start another mission, i usually will go very high in TC.

it might be very painful for me to go back home with TC at or less than 1024, but i think i will have to watch the TC going home now, im very careful when the mission first starts, i always think of my fuel consumption, i usually travel at 1024, when going out on patrol, and always have plenty of fuel, when i get to my OBJ.

i fly home most of the time, no more!

Ok... how do I know my tubes are being reloaded? They seem to take forever! I've sunk 2 merchants off the coast of Osaka and my tubes have not reloaded. How long does it take? I've been at battle stations.

Radar and tubes
 

It is possible that what you think are radar contacts are really reported sightings. Click on the "contact" and if it has a time stamp, it is a radioed report at that time, not a radar report. As has already been revealed, your only radar is one that detects airplanes only. Every contact will be moving "very fast."

Torpedoes take as long to load as they did in R/L according to the devs who set it up. Of course that value is somewhat subjective, as it varied with sea conditions, so you may object if you want. When you get a Gato you'll have ten tubes. That's a machine gun if you're used to a U-Boat! American boats could dish it out!:up:

Ten Tubes?!!! Look Out Tojo!!!!!!!!!

Just saw your GWX qualification
 

I guess cautioning you about Japanese destroyers would qualify as a poor joke.:rotfl:Sooner or later, though, you'll want to tangle with Bungo Pete. He's better than the slimey Limeys. Where's that quaking in fear emoticon?:rock:

"If it bleeds... we can kill it."


Hopefully I won't be screaming "Get to da' choppah!"