Originally Posted by K-61
I've not contributed much to the forum the last few weeks, as I have been devoting so many hours to playing this mod. I thought it time to contribute a few observations about LSH2015.
My first comment is with respect to the stability of the mod. I've had no crashes at all during game play, though of late I did have a few reload issues with saved games. I am not sure if they were to do with known issues, such as saving whilst near other ships. I do my best to avoid the usual pitfalls. My strategy is to play when I have enough time to do the whole patrol in one sitting, or leave the game on pause overnight. Even though my computer goes into sleep mode, I've had no trouble with the game starting up again.
My style of play is to begin a career pre-war, so I can be at sea for the start of war in September, 1939. I use SH3 commander's realistic career length and crew transfer options, so over time my crew varies as does my career length. When my captain is retired, I start a new career at that month and year. Thus, over several careers I experience the whole war. At present I am in my sixth career. 4 were retired, my 5th was killed at sea [I play Dead is Dead, so no reloads of saved games to avoid mortality] and I am now in port, January 1944 with my 6th Kaleun.
I at first found the Allied air cover pathetic and easily dealt with. I do find the aircraft rather easy to shoot down, too easy in fact. They seem rather fragile and not as deadly to crewmen on deck. Though, I have had several killed during strafing runs, so they are not totally feeble. I've also noticed they are becoming more expert and worst of all, much more numerous. It is rather demoralizing to see off a loner, then see a cloud of his buddies coming in behind him. I find the concept of whole squadrons of ASW planes patrolling together rather unrealistic. Even during the Biscay Campaign groups of planes only showed up when there was a confirmed sighting of a U-boat. However, this is an old beef of mine going back to stock SH3. Notwithstanding, I do prefer to dive and avoid combat with planes as was historically done, as all it takes is one hit and your U-boat is now an unsubmersible sub. The planes are now more professional and I never get back to port without damage. My transits to and from port are a never ending gamut of crash dives.
I thought the snorkel would give my respite, but even travelling at night on snorkel I am occasionally attacked. I am guessing the Allies are now deploying improved radar. My boat is in port so I am going to add the improved Alberich and Tarnmatte upgrades, as well as the latest available radar detector. I do find that the smaller, more nimble Type VII is much faster at diving, and the difference in diving time over a Type IX is the margin needed for survival. Even though the VII has fewer torpedoes, I prefer its handling characteristics.
I do find it ridiculous to be given patrol grids that take all of my fuel to reach and allow little leeway for patrolling. I prefer not to stop at supply ships and U-tankers for several reasons. First, I don't want to rely on one in case it becomes unavailable. Second, I don't like the in-game routine of losing patrol stats and status and having it treated as a new patrol when you depart. I also think it unrealistic to get a full tank and a complete rearming from a limited resource like a U-tanker. A diesel top up yes, but ten or more new torpedoes? Anyhow, I read last night there may be a way of dealing with this. As for ridiculous assignments.... I was told to take my VIIC to Penang to bring back valuable cargo! Nein, herr kommandant.
When I first started playing with LSH2015 I thought I would not enjoy the damage model. I enjoyed the damage model used by GWX, with its "loss of buoyancy" rules for most sinkings, other than catastrophic damage such as fuel or cargo detonation. It was also harder to sink an empty tanker in ballast. I've had some lengthy ship sinking times now, so I am noticing a variety of ship destruction experiences. It is also weird, and this seems to be over different mods, not just LSH2015, how ships of different sizes can be so tough or fragile. I have had to use three eels to sink a lousy 4,000 ton target, then see a 24,000 ton liner go down with one hit. It does make the game unpredictable, which is more enjoyable than an arcade game experience.
I am also wondering if there are scripted events in LSH2015. Twice I have noted a British ASW vessel come steaming straight at me immediately upon sinking lone merchantmen. The locations and timings were rather suspicious, so either they were scripted or very low odds encounters. On one such occasion I submerged and was setting up the vessel for a torpedo, on silent running and 50 RPM on the electric engines when he makes a beeline straight for my submerged position. Very suspicious. I ended up being killed. Just for experimentation purposes I did a reload and again he showed up and killed me. So that meant he was on that random course encounter in response to the distress call or was indeed scripted into the game. Or maybe he was using HF/DF and/or radar.
One other weird thing I notice is encountering the same mini-convoys or clusters of the same units. I sank a pair of ships, a liner behind another type ship which I forget. Then a day or two later in the same general area I encounter the same pair. I know that ships and convoys to an extent are scripted into the game's layers, but this was rather bizarre. There is enough variety in the mod, but it does seem funny to see identical compositions more than once.
Well, that is all, for now, unless I later remember something else. Oh, yes, one thing... I get the odd message that a new boat is available, but I don't see them showing up in the equipment list when I am in port. Which leads me to think I may have to do a transfer to Erprobungs to get the new boat? I shall be doing some research in Berbster's tutorials after I post this to find out how to change boat types within the same career.
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