Noob wolf on the deck
 

Hello folks
Just the other day I got my hands on a copy of Silent Hunter 3 with the Grey Wolves 3 mod. I had always wanted to command my own U boat through the story seas of the far north and this was like my dream come true :D

After visiting this forum I installed the Commander mod and I am completely head over heels in love with this game. I just love standing on the bridge at 3.40 in the morning, listening to the waves crashing against my boat and the thunderstorm is just lovely.

I have some issues though which is why I need professional help from you veterans. I finished my first petrol in the 13th flotilla, sunk 5 merchant vessels and when I get back to port I find my renown is negative!? :-? I am absolutely sure that I sunk all the ships flying the British flag, so what did I do wrong? Btw I'm playing with 47% realism. Also, when I came to my home port my boat was fired upon by Kriegsmarine ships in and around the port. What on earth!? :06: I had to dive and get to port submerged after my boat was heavily damaged. Please enlighten me guys.

I have started a new career with the 2nd flotilla. The date is 5th August, 1939. I know that England declared war on Germany in september (I think). So, technically in august we are still not enemies. Perhaps my attacking and sinking english ships before the war has even started affected my renown? Just a thought..

It sure has! You've attacked ships of a country you weren't at war with (yet).
With GWX, you start in August, so before the war. There isn't anything to shoot at yet. When I start a new career at the beginning of the war, I look upon that first patrol as a way to get the crew some experience.

Best to start a new career, metinks... :hmmm:

Lol that makes sense. How foolish of me! :oops:
Thanks for pointing that out mate. I have started a new career and was thinking of taking down some merchant ships off the coast of England lol. Gotta. Be. Patient.

When will I know that the war has started and I'm free to sink em all? Also, could you recommend some mods I could install that might add to the realism of this game?

No problem! :salute:

You'll be alerted by radio about when countries declare war on Germany. From then on, you may attack their ships without penalty. You'll get rewarded even. :arrgh!:

As to mods, I don't have many installed, but I do recommend GWX 3. It adds a lot when it comes to realism, plus many other improvements. It comes with a manual as thick as a book. It will increase your load times drastically and you'll need a fairly hefty PC, but any current gaming rig should be able to handle it nicely.

Welcome aboard. :DL
You should get radio messages informing you of both the commencement of hostilities against Poland on September 1st, and the declaration of war by Britain and France 2 days later.
There is also a flags chart in GWX (UZO and periscope views) where you can check each nations status throughout the war.

EDIT: Beaten to it!

I'd recommend playing at least a few patrols with just GWX to get a feel for the scope of it before you decide what additional mods you need.
But this may be a good place to start.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=170090

Only by a second, though! :)

How in the world do you get that flag view to come up in the periscope view? I've tried hovering and clicking near the "flagg" button in the upper left, but nothing ever happens. Is there a trick to it?

Yeah, I remember doing that :oops:

Just click, hold and drag.
Then drag it back up when you're finished with it.

WELCOME ABOARD, Arctic Wolf! :sunny:

One of the things you can do with Commander is change the number of days between patrols. I usually leave it set for 'Random', but when I start a career at the beginning of the war I run a 'practice' patrol on August 1, then set it for 18, which lets my first real patrol start on August 19, which is when fourteen u-boats were historically sent to wait for...? (they weren't told)

Thanks sergei. Just came down from the bridge - violent storm raging up there. It's almost 10 in the morning and the sky's all grey and cloudy. I think I'll take your advice about getting a few more patrols, thanks for the link mate. :DL

Hehe can't wait to see my eels in action. :D
Yeah I got GWX 3 already installed. Great mod. And great load times :cry:. At the end of the day its worth the extra time I would say. I'm using my laptop and except for really hot air from the exhaust vents its running top notch. :DL

Hello Sailor Steve! :DL
That is a good idea and I'm currently sitting in port waiting for my next patrol so I think I'll do that. Btw, I see the map is HUGE and I got like a hundred ports to go to but I read somewhere that the game does not allow you to sail to the Bay of Bengal? I'm from South East Asia and I was thinking of making a trip back home in my brand new U boat lol! :cool:

You can do it, but you'll have to wait until '43 for it to be practical.
Some long range type IX's got transfered to the Indian Ocean, operating from bases in the Dutch East Indies and Malaya.

See here for further reading
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsun_Gruppe

And yes, you can do this in GWX :yep:

EDIT: This is probably a better link.
From U-Boat Net.
http://www.uboat.net/ops/monsun.htm

I grew up before the internet, and I'm always amazed at the number of different places people I 'talk' to every day are from. Technology is a wonderful thing.

What part of Southeast Asia are you from?

Welcome aboard Kaleun http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...es/welcome.gif

We, i know with the Type XXI in '39 mod, you start a month before the war. Well, foolish old me decided to take a peek at Scapa flow. A ton of DDs at anchor. Two Tribals in a line. I get 500 meters away, and fire two torpedos. Two kills. As i dont feel like evading the oncomeing P/Oed DDs, i hit escape, and "Return to Base"....But, still foolish me has not even looked, and it said "Dock at Scapa Flow". I dock, and as i set out, THE BRITS PUT MY UBOAT ON SHORE! Well thats one promient looking carrer down the drain.


But yes, august 3rdyou should receive a message stateing "We are at war!" or something like that.

if you are new to the game, it is a good i dea to lurk around poland when the hostilities start.