Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducimus
Try starting in 1943, with just TMO and see if that makes any difference. I think you may run into more convoys. They'll range anywhere between 3 and 12 or 15 ships, with escorts ranging as few as two, to as many as 5, most of them set at veteran skill level. The convoys will be zig zagging at regular intervals, so you may find yourself tracking them a bit longer.
edit:
I have to admit, this post, coming from you keelbuster, kinda hurts, because making the game more challenging has been one of my goals in TMO. Your one of those fellows' whose been around awhile, we used to kid around with each other during our SH3 days, so your opinion has some weight with me. So i'm sitting here wondering if i have failed, or perhaps, like me you've been playing these games for so long, and know the quirks of the AI so well, that you can tap dance your way into in most situations regardless of theater or conditions.
In any event try TMO just by itself and see if that makes any difference for you. As an aside, i don't know if you adjusted the hydrophone settings like i posted to in the TMO thread, but in working on version 2.0, ive come up with a completely different set of hydrophone settings. The one i posted earlier will make escorts absolutely deaf.
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Ducimus, let's not have any talk about failure here. I'm gettin' all teary-eyed. First off, I'm _loving_ this game. I played it immediately when it came out - stock - on my old box, and the twisted interface, the bugs, etc, and my crappy hardware made it a loser for me. Now that I have the hardware, I'm amazed at what a clean, functional game that you and the other modders have produced. You guys saved the day, and in particular, TMO has saved my day. As a game, this feels a ton better than SH3. I'm really appreciating the graphics, I love the new area of operations with all the shallow water etc, and the whole thing feels polished. I have no illusions about the massive commitment that you and the other modders have made to this game, and I can really feel as I play. I really didn't mean to sound like I was criticizing your work, TMO, etc. I felt bad right after I posted this message because I remember a post i put up a couple weeks ago on the TMO mod thread in the workshop forum saying the escorts were too sensitive. Here I am two weeks later singing a slightly different tune
What I might be reacting to, or becoming acclimated to, is the new style of boats. It might come down to differences in the challenges (historically) of being a US submariner vs. a Kriegsmariner. I'm amazed at what a different vibe it is being in a fleet boat. They're huge, powerful, heavily armed, basically loud (transmitting radar constantly), and they go in shooting. The fleet boat TDC seems to be set up for single merchant attacks - with the position keeper etc; it seems hard to orchestrate a multiple ship attack quickly. In contrast, the german boats were smaller, had a smaller armament, made less noise, could dive deeper, etc., and they're TDC was beautifully set up for multiple target attacks with the peri locked to the TDC, adjusting AoB etc. They also had the pattern running torps allowing for extreme range attacks.
So, I think it might be a question of vibe, style, attitude. I just kinda miss the sinister factor of lurking into a convoy and making massive kills on T3s etc, then slinking away for hours, cursing and sweating. Being the underdog - the bad guy. I like feeling like I did the big dirty and now I've gotta pay.
As for the japanese ASW, back when i was in my Porpoise class with the terribly shallow test depth, I had trouble getting under the japanese sonar, and had to do the old fashion SH3 hydrophone - wait till they're charging and then do a turn and bolt, go silent, etc. Eventually I was able to strip them off me. That reminded me of the old days; god they were hell. Now that I have a Balao, it seems that I can easily get under they're sonar cone, and weirdly I kinda miss the hell. I have yet to be afraid in SH4.
As for the detection radius thing I was complaining about earlier, I think the issue I had is that the escorts became 'tipped off' to soon. I grant that once an escort is suspicious, you've basically blown it and he should be a pain to get rid of. But if all's quiet and they're sailing nicely along, and I'm not doing much, giving them lots of space, and being sneaky, they should be surprised when they see steam bubbles. I'm interested to see how TMO 2.0 runs in that respect.
But that's all neither here nor there if all I'm encountering are single un-escorted merchants. I need to find the convoys. I'll take your advice and try TMO clean after this career is done. This is my first career; i'm still just trying to learn the ins-and-outs of the fleet boat TDC. Next career will definitely be a DiD affair, no saves/loads due to misses, and potentially no external cam.
As for convoy detection, I've seen _very_ few merchants contact reports plotted directly on the map (but not none, just one every once and a while). I've never seen a convoy or TF plotted on the map. I get the FLASH reports that talk about convoy whereabouts, and I've been able to use these effectively; I really like this functionality. My question is: are the FLASH reports supposed to replace the SH3-style radio report plot on the map (e.g., convoy, slow, NNE)? Or are map plots for convoy/TFs just really really rare?