SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - A New Skipper Has Arrived (and a bunch of troubleshooting questions)

OK, not quite new, but new to being a poster here - I've lurked here in the past. I recently reinstalled SH4 and the 1.5 patch/expansion. I'm not much of a skipper but I'm getting there.

I also run Real Fleet Boat with the RSRD campaign. I've been having issues lately with how the ships are sinking - they don't behave realistically...usually they just sink flat with the occasional rollover. Also, the ship damage I've noticed on some of the ships I hit are barely visible, if at all. Did the Ship 3D damage get broken or something?

I'd use the Natural Sinking Mechanics (NSM) but I've read that they aren't compatible with RFB and RSRD - and that it doesn't work in 1.5. THIS is the kind of sinking I wanna see more often... So, are there any mods similar to NSM that is compatible with 1.5, RFB and RSRD? I'm asking because I want to enjoy my game more instead of just going "ho-hum, torpedo that Modern Composite Freighter and let's move on". I even found myself moving on to other targets before the game would have given the AI an opportunity to confirm the ship was sinking (thus, losing tonnage that should have been credited).

Another issue that really bugs me is how, even at night, a ship at its dock or anchored in harbor will always react to a torpedo regardless of conditions. Soon as it closes the range, they always steam out of the dock immediately. To me, that makes little sense since being moored means being tied to the dock and undocking takes a LOT longer than that, and at night spotting the torpedo would be considerably more difficult and the watch on duty would be lax, naturally. Are there any fixes to this that are compatible with RFB and RSRD?

Another issue I'm encountering is the Deck Gun. After moving on from the Nautilus to the Gato-Class USS Drum I've been encountering a glitch where in the sub management window the Deck Gun option does not show while we are underway, and between missions, there are no crew slots for the Deck Gun. This means I would not be able to have the AI handle the deck gun as I would have preferred when I was on the Nautilus. I would have to fire the Deck Gun myself, too time consuming for me, I think. Any idea why this is happening?

About Me As a Captain
The subs I have commanded so far in my first career of SH4 have been the Narwhal-Class USS Nautilus and the Gato-class USS Drum. Between the two in five patrols, I have sunk a total tonnage over 300,000. Several large tankers and freighters, two convoys, a handful of destroyers and two Battleships - a Fuso, and an Ise class. The first three patrols were out of Pearl Harbor and Midway, while the fourth and fifth was out of Brisbane. The fifth is my current patrol, currently stationed in the waters off New Guinea awaiting an enemy supply convoy enroute to the Solomon Islands.

During my first patrol in the Nautilus in April 1942, I went to one of the ports in the bay leading to Tokyo, and found a Fusō-class sitting at a dock. She got underway after the first torpedo was spotted, but I anticipated this move and had my next two torpedoes fired ahead of her. The first torpedo struck the aft starboard, silencing her engines. The second struck her midsection while the third exploded below the #2 forward battery, triggering a spectacular magazine explosion that ripped through the ship. Three explosions in all were counted. On my way out, I dealt with a harbor defense ship that had only two deckguns. I had both of the Nautilus' deckguns rip it apart before they could do any serious damage to the sub. This earned me my first "Medal of Honor".

Second patrol out of Pearl Harbor was quiet, sans the sinking of several merchants off the Japanese coast. Encountered no military resistance. The third patrol, I decided to risk going to the harbor of Hiroshima after completing my main orders. There, I evaded the vigilant destroyers that guarded the path to Hiroshima, and sighted an Ise-Class Battleship moored at the far western pier.

The Ise's sinking was a bit interesting - they had a very heavy destroyer protection screen between the open sea and Hiroshima. I had to thread the needle and get into an ideal position to sink the bastard. The torpedos were fired in the same procedure as when I sank the Fusō. The Ise had gotten underway before the first torpedo hit her stern, the second struck amidships near the beam, and the third struck her bow. However, no telltale fires or explosions occurred, a vast departure from the Fusō's sinking. All that occurred was her engines silenced, and her bow began to ride extremely low to the water.

I didn't stick around long enough to confirm her sinking, as the destroyers were now on alert and I had to get out of shallow water fast to avoid being severely depthcharged. I made it out safely, with some minor damage from a smaller boat that met its end from the Nautilus' deckguns with such fiery promptness, so much that Admiral Yamamoto felt the fury.

After the third patrol, I was given the opportunity to transfer to a new ship, which I immediately accepted - I was given command of the USS Drum, a Gato-Class submarine with six fore tubes and four aft. The only thing I noticed was that she lacked some facilities that the Nautilus posessed, the Deck Gun arrangement in particular. Begrudgingly, I accepted the fact that I would have to make do with one deck gun. I have a habit of using the gun to sink merchant ships smaller than a medium tanker. I also seized the opportunity to transfer to a better base of operations to intercept the frequent supply runs to Guadalcanal: Brisbane, Australia.

The Fourth patrol was a lot more busier than I expected - I was forced to resupply twice at Darwin, Australia. I patrolled the Philippines and the New Guinea waters, as well as Truk. I also had the opportunity to intercept a major resupply convoy that had just arrived at its destination. I sank a total of five large modern freighters and tankers. This earned me another medal.

The current patrol, the fifth, has me stationed further west in the pacific front to intercept enemy merchants. Throughout my current career I have yet to encounter an active naval fleet.

Despite being stationed on the Drum, with six fore torpedo tubes and four aft compared to the previous four-two, I sorely missed the dual deckgun configuration on the Nautilus. Especially with the experimental deckguns capable of firing 15 shots before reloading.

-NK