Weird RUB encounter with "Large Cargo"
 

Well, that was disappointing - while heading north around Scotland in my Type VIIB I spotted a lone freighter of an odd shape I hadn't seen before - according to the recog manual it was a "large cargo" (or something like that) that looked pretty juicy at around 12,000 tons or so and had a fairly deep draft of maybe 8.9m, IIRC

Anyway, my first 2 eels (set for magnetic at about 9.5m) passed harmlessly, well under the keel, without exploding. I still had time so I snapped off a couple more, set to impact at 5m this time, and they bounced harmlessly off the rounded bottom of the hull, as it was even shallower draft than I had adjusted for after the first misses.

Fortunately, the weather/seas were calm, so I gunned it to death. Unfortunately, I only got credit for some 2600 tons, as if it were just some small coastal or something :(

Wasted 4 torps and got my hopes up for a big score, and then had to settle for a tiny one - does anybody know what's up with this new ship type and why the recog manual data about it seems to be wrong? Is there some way to fix that or should I just ignore the manual and treat all of these things as just another type of small coastal?

I'm not using RuB, but I am using sergbuto's additional merchants mod. That is his mod that was included in RuB. The Large Cargo was based off the German Commerce Raider. There is also a Transport based off the British Auxiliary Cruiser. I don't know why you had so many troubles with the LC. It is an easy ship to sink. Aim for the middle section and usually one torpedo is all that is needed to break it in half (impact pistol; 4m).

I don't use rub or any other mod apart from sh3 1.4+ harbour mod and I get 17K+tons when I sink her but why in later years of the war she's not armed?

Well, I think the whole problem was my relying on the info in the recognition manual about the ship's size and draft - if I'd known it was only 2600 tons and so much shallower draft I imagine I would have fired only 1 torp at it and that torp probably would have made short work of it as you say - however, thinking it was as large and deep-drafted as the manual indicated, I followed my usual practice of firing 2-torp salvos, and although I set the 2nd salvo shallower and for impact they still turned out to be too deep at 5 or 6m

I guess I'll know better next time, though it's still disappointing that it's not as big as the book says - it would have been a nice addition to my tonnage totals and vaulted me up a notch or two on the current Ace list that Adm. Doenitz so thoughtfully posts for us back at base :)

The recognition manual is correct, I sent a few LCs to the bottom (and most of them with 1 torp, impact) and they're 17000 tons alright. Just like the Commerce Raiders.

So it was either a bug or mistaken identity. You'll see next time if it does the same and only credit you with 2600 tons. It would suck to have a bug that displays a small merchant with the skin of a large cargo though! :down:

Good luck with that.

Iceberg

Re: Weird RUB encounter with "Large Cargo"
 

There was a mod about varying tonnage of merchants or maybe it is included in SH3 commander. Are you using that? Can it be the reason?

I think the 'tonnage randomiser' is in either SH3com or RuB, but I'm sure it's very subtle (less than 5-10% varience, not 13k tons).
I encounter these often and always get ~17k tons, so maybe it was a bug or such.

Large Cargo ships used to be 17,000 tons, but they were reduced to 11,200 tons in the most recent RUb version. The game accesses the data\Sea\NKGN folder to get the tonnage values for this ship. The Museum uses the NKGN_en.log file and the actual game uses the NKGN.cfg file. Open these and you'll see the tonnage value for the ship.

Beery

Do you know what alterations were made to the vulnerable spots for this ship? Are they the same as the commerce raider, or have they been altered, i.e. the magazines have been removed?

Thanks

Yeah - the 11,200 sounds about right for what the recog manual was showing - I remembered it as being 11-12K - and the ship I was attacking definitely had a new look with the big smokestack that I remember seeing on the one biggie I saw back when they were 17K, and the "large cargo" in the recog manual was the only thing that looked remotely like what I was seeing (and I saw it close up on the surface for quite a while as I was gunning it to death, so I don't think it was a case of mistaken identity).

If it happens again, I'll try to remember to take a screen shot

BTW - In my NKGN.cgf file, it's listed as 11,600 displacement. I'm running RUB1.43, with the RUB1.43 patch and the Beery Flotilla 1.44 mods (along with the Funkmod and my mod that uses historic u-boat aces for my officer's faces, neither of which would seem likely to have anything to do with these ship types)

I haven't got a clue. You'd have to ask Sergbuto about that. It's his 'Added Merchants' mod.

As for this bug, all I can think of is that the game might somehow be defaulting to the tonnage of the original commerce raider. I don't see how that would be possible though - the way the game gets tonnage details is pretty straightforward, and other people using RUb are definitely getting the right tonnage for this ship.

Sunk two in one patrol only yesterday - correct weight recorded. Surprised the hell out of me seeing something so big.

Prob for me was, because I have deleted the _shp files from RUb1.43 to remove the realistic plotting changes, when I zoomed in max on the nav screen I got a text label stating "TGA image not found" or something. Easily fixed - exited the game and copied the C3 _shp file across (although, perhaps I should have copied the Commerce Raider one).

Thanks Beery; I've PM Sergbuto.

Well, ran into another one of these "large Cargo" ships just before dawn at the end of this same patrol, early 1940 northeast of Scotland. I had only 1 torp left, and it was in my aft tube. Fortunately, the weather was reasonably calm (borderline, 7m/s wind), so after closing to short range at periscope depth to make sure she wasn't a neutral and wasn't armed, I surfaced and decided to try to slow her down or stop her if possible with my deck gun, then finish her off with my last torp.

After an agonizingly long time (even at a reset 20 sec reload time), pumping all 40 AP and my last 45 or so HE into her bridge and waterline (although about 1/3rd of my shots went wild, I guess because of the fairly heavy seas - I didn't realize RUB 1.43 modeled that), I finally had her stopped and listing to port.

I then circled around to set up a stern shot from about 600m out, set to 5m impact amidships, and let fly - cracked her right in half and sent her flaming to the bottom - a beautiful sight and, unlike the first "fake" version I ran into, this large cargo actually gave me a little over 12K tons on my log. Life is good again :P