Feeling lonely in the Pacific
 

I recently bought a new rig so have at last been able to run SH4. I've had a very happy time up to now playing the superb SH3 GWX on my old PC. SH4 looks truly amazing but my only problem with it is that the shipping, enemy and friendly, seems so sparse compared with SH3. I started a career in Dec 1941 and have hung around shipping lanes with little success. I've started to miss my Atlantic career when I loitered off the Canaries and encountered numerous convoys with tough escorts-dangerous but lucrative. In search of more action, I've even done insane things like sailing on the surface down the Japanese coast in broad daylight-nothing happened-no air attacks or warships to challenge me. I've even gone right into a Japanese base submerged-it seems too easy to go in and leave undetected and there was only one warship to avoid there anyway. BTW it seems odd to me that a newly appointed submarine commander would be given a special mission like inserting an agent on the enemy coast-I would have expected that type of mission to occur later in your career, but perhaps that's historically accurate. Pearl Harbor has enough ships to look right but Midway had about 6, Surabaya 3 and Balikpapan was empty. It's early days of course, I've only just started, perhaps it builds up. Also I have RFB installed and I believe this reduces traffic to realistic levels which are necessarily lower than in the Atlantic and Med. I'd be grateful or any advice on offer. I'd really like to get into this sim the way I got into SH3.

Strange. To me, the insane abundance of enemy merchant shipping in SH4 kinda bugs me, so I'm kind of having the exact opposite experience you are. I see so many convoys that I don't get excited by them like I used to with SH3....

Are you using any mods? I know TMO corrects convoy patterns, and RSDRC takes it a step further and makes almost all of them historical according to records. It's amazing, I mean like if you go to coordinates of a battle at the right time you'll see it happen. I watched the Yorktown sink and Washington sink the Fuso.

RFB does not reduce traffic it does work the damage aspect of the vessels. If you are playing just stock and RFB you should be having traffic all over the place. :hmmm: Anyway, RSRD is your historic traffic for the Pacific and I find plenty to sink. If you really dig the uboats try Operation Monsun or OM as it is called. :up:

Yeah, that should be suicidal. Unfortunately even the mods as of yet don't reflect Japanese shore patrol activity, coast watching or coastal artillery in their home islands. Right now there are no minefields or anti-submarine barriers around Japanese bases or as many small craft patrolling as there should be.


Usually, these missions were assigned to the more oddball submarines; Nautilus, Narwhal and Argonaut. However since their weren't enough of them they were given to more standard subs as time went by. Ironically, most special missions early in the war involved evacuating key personnel from remote locations, not dropping them off. Some of the insertion missions in the stock game were pretty silly. I remember one where on my first patrol out of Manila I had to drop an agent off....near the entrance to Manila Bay. Seems to me he could have taken a cab.

Theres mines for sure...found out the hard way.

RSRD takes away most of the special missions, unless you pick a Narwhal from what I've experinence..this is realistic. Have played to fall of 43 and got one special mission..recon or Tarawa.

There are a few aspects that I would love to see fixed. You go into a harbor, you can blow everything up why a dozen dd's just sit there. Guess that's poor programming and nothing can be done. You would think they could mod a dd or two to be running around the sitting ships closer in.

I went to Truk and had to DTT one dd to get in. Once in sank the Y, Fuso and a Kongo. Did one refit, came back and whoa..a large TF of 26 ships in front of Truk.
Plus another 12 ships spread out. Almost lagged me out. Sank another Y..lol, two carriers and another Fuso.

However, when night turned to day, a dd came in and gave me a time. The other 3 that sat patrolling all night 7000 yards away never coming in why I blew everything up,,,came in. I assume the one that made contact brought them on. It made it worth it getting away from 4.

The harbor shooting is just too easy.

I've also noticed if you come up right beside a ship, almost touching, either they don't see you or the dd's won't shoot. I came up beside the Hiryu dead in the water trying to sink it with my DG..lol..and two dd's just went in circles never playing me any attention. When it finally sunk..they opened up. I didn't get credit for it, so I guess I rammed it and pushed it over.

If you stay out of sight range, most dd's will just do patrol and let you blow them up. They just patrol as normal as if they're not being shot at.

Oh...there are mines. I've seen them in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands pretending to be reefs. But they should be as thick as fleas in Japanese home waters as time goes on. Especially in the Inland Sea. But I've never seen any there.

Thanks for all the interesting information. It seems SH4 still has some way to go in development though the modders already seem to have done wonders. I started a new career from Manila to see if things went differently and I am currently cruising the Celebes Sea (following orders) along what looks like a major shipping lane, but once again I'm all alone (and have been for in game weeks). Sorry in my original post I typed RFB but meant RSRD. I've got both installed, so maybe I should have started with stock. I suppose if you have the historical knowledge (which I don't) you know exactly where to look for trouble in RSRD. Just for fun I'm now going on another surface cruise in broad daylight in December '41, but this time down the English coast in GWX Wish me luck!

If you are starting out of Manila you could disobey or put off your standing orders and try for the Japanese invasion fleet carrying the 14th Army from the Pescadores. It usually shows up in or near Lingayen Gulf in Northern Luzon in the first few days of the war. Another option would be the strait between Formosa and the Chinese mainland. It's mostly shallow water so you should exercise caution.

In the Celebes Sea you might patrol off Davao in Mindanao. That was another early Japanese objective, although I don't know if RSRD covers that operation.

Another option would be to return to the stock game. Not very realistic in it's shipping routes, but it was rich in targets if I recall. :hmm2:

There are some great websites with maps and summaries of the major battles in the Pacifc theater. With RSRD installed its just a matter of being in the right place at the right time-kinda cheating,IMO, but great fun! I do it all the time!

I know what you mean by the "kinda cheating" thing, but we can also pretend we have very good intel and recon. :DL

No need to pretend about intel. By early 1942 the US was reading enough of Tojo's mail to intercept the Japanese invasion fleet in the Coral Sea, ambush and destroy the Japanese carrier force at Midway and shoot down Admiral Yamamoto himself while he was touring forward bases in the Solomons in a bomber. ;) Seems the submarines should get in on this action too.

If you have a career going from the right bases, you will often get sent to the battles, as the subs were in RL.

if everything go right for you in 41 you can engage the task force that struck pearl harbor northeast of midway on dec 11th or around that date

Here's a map showing most of Japan's initial moves in the Far East. Not sure how many of these are reflected in RSRD, but I know I've seen the Northern Luzon landing forces although the main invasion force doesn't show up until December 22nd. Java and Surabaya really doesn't get hit until February.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/...appendix10.jpg