Getting Back Into SH3
 

Hi all,

I played a bit of SH3 over the last few years. I just got a new laptop and I'm trying to use Linux a lot more on it. I hope to transition away from Windows over the next year or so.

I was able to install WINE 1.3, Steam, and SH3. SH3 works just fine so far. There may be some weird issues later, but for now it's running great.

My SH3 install is bone stock. Now to my questions:


I'm doing Naval Academy on the bone stock install before I transition to any patches. In the navigation menu, I did everything it said to do, but I didn't get credit. I'm guessing I need to re-do the whole mission submerged. Anyway, at one point, I got a "radio message received" alert, but I can't remember how to check my messages. I checked the manual (useless!) and I checked my orders screen. I'm sorry I can't remember how to check my messages, and I feel kinda dumb for asking. But, here I am, hat in hand, asking where my "inbox" is. And how to get credit for the navigation mission.

For mods, I think I have used Grey Wolves. Is that still the community standard?

There were a few mods that gave you better mapping tools. A 360-degree protractor was one. Another measured angles for you. What map mods do you suggest for easing attack setups/execution?


I'm going to spend some time re-reading all the old threads and see if I can remember how to be a good captain. I always feel lost the first day of jumping back into an old sim.

Thanks all...

Press M to review the radio messages, you have to follow the orders in those messages exactly otherwise you'll fail the training mission. I found those acadamy missions pretty pointless and annoying as they don't really teach you how to play the game hehe! Well the convoy attack mission at the end is worth doing imo... you can also use the mission editor to setup some easy targets for yourself if you want to practice manual TDC.

As for mods which help plotting/manual TDC, I find the OLC MKII (With ACM Reloaded) mod for GWX pretty useful.

You get a very handy and easy to use range finding/Aob finding wheel which slides over the attack scope. It is a faster and in my opinion a more immersive and fun way of gathering data for the TDC than the vanilla notepad method. And you also get the famous attack disc whizz wheel to help you with plotting. You can use it to quickly find and plot a target's true bearing without having to mess around with measuring angles, and it can calculate a target's course with just one observation needed which is rather groovy. Also it has more advanced uses like calculating firing solutions without using TDC if you are so inclined. You'll also get a 360 degree draggable protractor overlay for the map.

(You should already have a protractor tool to mark, measure and find angles in vanilla, along with a compass and ruler -although I might be wrong as I only played vanilla for about 30mins before installing gwx)

I also use acm reloaded for OLC which makes it extra shiny, along with ACM Lite map, (as while I like to play with map contacts off I'm not hardcore enough to do without my World War 2 gps system) It returns your position/orientation map marker which is otherwise removed by the mod.

Hope this helps...

PS, I think the Range Finding/AOB wheel and attack disc is pretty much a standard feature with many of the gui mods out there, so try a few maybe and see which one you like the best.

(edited for clarity as my original reply was a bad bad mess)

Just follow the orders you get during the test about when to submerge and to what depth, how fast to go, and what course to set. :yeah:

But - when you go into one of the Academy tutorial missions, you have to select "Test" rather than "Training" before you start. I'm pretty sure the default is for Training, and if you don't tell the game you're actually taking the test and not just practicing, you won't get any credit for it no matter how well you do.

I managed to get through the nav mission with full credit. I thought doing those missions give you more renown when you enter career mode.


Another milestone, SH3Commander works great under Linux/Wine/Steam. I really expected a crash, but SH3C made the changes, exited, launched Steam/SH3 flawlessly.

If you were used to playing GWX in the past, it gave you the full Academy renown bonus just for passing any one of the exams.

In stock you still have to pass everything to get the full Academy bonus.

Haha...your first post was me this morning...your SUCH a newbie. :DL:woot:

Now this "seasoned" old timer tub captain has just done his torpedo training. Couldnt quite believe what I was seeing but two british tugs started shooting at each other. HAHAHA

Yeah. Jumping back into an old sim is a *huge* PITA. You forget everything so fast.

There should be a *retired captains pulled back to active duty* thread. :)

You only get a little renown for each training mission, with the total ending up being 1500. You start with 500 if you do no training at all. With GWX you get the full 1500 just for the Navigation Training. This is a good thing since their AA Training will kill you every time.

Is that AA training mission in GWX even possible, or am I just really bad at aiming the flak gun. I'd let my bridge crew have a go, but unfortunately they tend to get splashed all over the deck :o.

They may look all funny like they are held together with string, but looks are deceiving, don't mess with the Swordfish, they are nasty evil brutal things...

I tried it once. Now I don't worry about it, even when I have to do a full reinstall. I get the full renown for the Nav mission, and I know how to do the rest. Also the Torpedo and Gunnery Training isn't hard, so that's still fun.

On the other hand I never use renown for anything, so I don't know why I even bother.

I think I managed to pass it once, but just barely. I let the crew do the shooting and I think I had to replace the gunner more than once.

My last patrol we shot down 18 or 19 Swordfish before the last one got the jump on us and killed my flak man. We eventually found the carrier that was sending out all the patrols but they were moving too fast for us to get in a really good position to attack from a decent range. I fired a salvo at her anyway, I figured I owed my bootsmann that much. :cry:

Should I jump right back into GWX? I'm wondering if I should run a campaign in Vanilla (with SH3Commander) just to get my sea-legs back.


So, does GWX include map tools, or do I need an external mod?



Next up, getting Shoot! to work with Wine.

I don't think I have any mods that affect the map tools, and I've got the protracter and ruler and whatnot in GWX.

But then it depends on what map tools you were used to and what GUI you had for that screen, if you were using a mod for it in the past the GWX version may look and feel different. There are different mods for them but I've never tried any of them, so I don't know what's out there.

I would think if you were accustomed to GWX in the past, just playing around with the stock Academy training/testing missions for a while would get you back in the swing of things for most of the basic stuff.

I was reading up on the GWX install and they mention SH3C v3.2. I'm running an older version of SH3C. Should I update SH3C?

Yes.... I'd update everything your running.