Hey guys! Just picked up SH4 (56k warning, picture)
 

and im LOVIN IT!

Ive played a few career patrols, and just started a new career and am doing pretty well.

I am on my first patrol out, and have taken probably 6 merchants down. Unfortunatly i was too far away from my patrol area, and none have counted so I have to go back and refit at the nearest port. Annoying, but it gives me more torps to take down more ships :p

HOWEVER, I think I have run into a weird bug. 2 of the ships required me to use Aft tubes, being that I had no reserve left to reload the fronts. My boat (Gar class, USS Greyback) has the deck gun mounted astern. I rotated the boat so the rear was facing the enemy ship, and proceeded to use the deck gun to hopefully conserve torpedos, being that although I use 2 torpedos on every ship I find, they rarely go down with just one salvo.

ANYWAYS, I start firing away, one ship goes down, and I start working on the other. I finally sunk it, but I had to use a torpedo...why? Check out the picture.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...222833_703.jpg

As you can see, the deck gun clean blew off the entire superstructure, yet the dang ship didnt register as destroyed, nor did it sink. I mean there was no way the ship could even operate...whats the deal?

Darn that expandable foam!

so the last patrol ended bad, somehow ran aground on the way to Midway...have NO clue how that happened. However, first patrol out I managed to take down 7 merchants (granted, not using manual targeting...not that good yet..)

Started another career...this time, I end up in 60 foot water with a convoy. So far I have taken 2 of the destroyers out....but the third one is proving a little difficult.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...014825_390.jpg

Since you're new to SH4 you might not know about Bernard. Pretty much anything that goes wrong on your sub is Bernard's fault. For instance: You calculate the Angle on Bow, Speed etc. for a shot on a ship, then you order the torp to be fired...and you miss; solution? blame it on Bernard, it was his fault. This relieves you of taking any responsibility for incompetant skippering. Cool huh?

So, you see it was never even close to being your fault for running aground, it was Bernard that did it. By the way, my sub sports a waterproof bumber sticker on the side of the conning tower that says, "Bernard Happens."

P.S. I like to use Bernard for chum when we're cruising along the surface. Crew thinks it's hilarious, not sure about Bernard though cause all we here from him is, "You (blug blug) son..0(blug) a...(blug) wait (blug blug blug) y..(blug)r mama!"

While still new to the game, avoid the shallows. Once you get a little experience with the controls and some tactical practice, the shallows can be a fun challenge, otherwise it can frustrate you quickly.

I really didnt do too bad. The real problem was the rediculous amount of airplanes I kept running in to. Every 2 minutes I had to check depth and dive as deep as I could to avoid em.

I ended up losing the sub to that last destroyer. He dropped cans on me, and I couldn't really avoid them. But I did manage to get to TBT depth and launch off one more torp, but he was too close and I missed :lol:

I f you hate planes then download one of the mods .

Superstructure damage doesn't count for much. You need to put holes in the hull, at or below the waterline. Also, even if playing stock, you'll do more drastic damage if you make sure to spread your fish out - eg. try to put one under the stack, and one under a fore or aft hold (warships, try to put them under the turrets in hopes of touching off a magazine, but under the stacks is also good). Also, pay attention to torpedo depth setting. Getting hits nice and low on the hull is better then near the waterline.