Very happy:)

[Krauter]

Hey,

Just finished the last patrol of my beloved USS Pompano, of the Porpoise class.
although only the third patrol of the war, I managed to sink 30k tonnes of shipping on my first mission, and for some hellish reason, on my second patrol, i appeared on station in th eEast china sea only to realise that I'd left my fish back in Pearl

Now furious I made vicious attacks against a 3 freighter convoy and managed to sink 2 of htem with the DG, ALAS i ran out of shells for the last, wom i believe would have sunk with just a little more help ..

Finally on my third mission, beloved Pompano was sent to the East China Sea to rectify her mistake of the month prior, here i ran into numerous solitary ships sinking them all off with the DG, (albeit amongst great risk from the Kyushu Islands.. dam nips put the Bay of Biscay to shame..) and on my way bak south towards the Formosa Straight, I ran into what appeared to be a VERY large convoy but was actually only two small convoys of 8 Cargo ships and 3 Escorts Ea. travelling together. However these tactics were no match for my, now, experienced crew (well.. experienced enough to shoot the right gyro angles..)

Of the 16 Cargo vessels travelling in the Convoy Pompano Manaaged to sink 3, each being two large Modern Freighters and one Medium modern Freighter.
On my way back I recieved calls from COMSUBPAC telling me of possible major activities in the viscinity of Midway. I decided to lend a hand, although i spent a night in harbour refitting with torpedoes and DG ammo. We finally headed out and witnessed the turning point of the Pacific War at Sea, although Pompano was merely a spectator (an attempt on an aircraft carrier (the Hiryu or Soryu I was guessing at the time, were without fruit).

Finally deciding to return back to Pearl because of fuel and damage to my batteries and engines by aircraft, I made it back, to be offered a new command!

So here i am, May 26th 1942 on the bridge of the USS Drum, a new Gato just off the lines, wearing the Purple Heart, the Submarine Service Medal and the Medal of Valor on my breast, sailing out again to the East China Sea. With three new Petty Officers onboard, I hope to serve the United States Navy again to the best of my abilities.

Now after that totally pointless back story (all true I might add ) I must finally say that I made my total Tonnage to 84,450 Tonnes, although just a fraction of what many good skippers can do, I am proud because I am a new player playing just for the past two weeks and with 90% Realism

Well there is my random post

With Regards,

Newly Promoted,

Captain, Krauter

[NefariousKoel]

Grats man. Sounds like you're having fun.

I don't know if you've tried a mod yet but if you want more of a challenge you can download TM from the mods section (if you haven't already).

[Krauter]

Aye, I've thought about it, just havnt' gotten around to it yet.. playing v 1.3 and LOVING IT

However, Im wondering, (if youv started a career at start of war..) are escorts kind of TOO easy for you?.. I gave them the slip by getting down to 300ft n silent running at 1/3 in the middle of the convoy.

and also, what mods would you advise me to DL (TM i should think is a must nowadays..)

With Regards,

Krauter

[NefariousKoel]

I'm only using the TM mod (with a couple tweaks such as removing the TM 1.6.2 patch's /data/zones.cfg file to keep stock damage models). I'm also using the Silent Service Graphics mod which changes the loading screens.

The rest of the smaller mods I was using at one point - Ducimus has included all of them in the latest TM release.

[badaboom]

Great post!!!!!It's refreashing to hear about people enjoying the game!!

[Krauter]

Thanks for the info Koel, I'll have to look into all the new mods, I think my game could use a couple of tweaks I've heard TM has included..
And thanks as well badaboom, I loved playing SHII but it soon got "too old" for my computer

With Regards,

Krauter

[Rockin Robbins]

Krauter, escort skill in the stock game is pretty accurately modeled. Fortunately for our real submarine crews, but unfortunately for game play, the Japanese, with a few exceptions, were pretty bad at anti-submarine warfare.

Trigger Maru mod is slanted toward more challenging gameplay, sometimes at the expense of historical accuracy, and one instance of that is in Japanese escort bahavior, which is ratcheted up to be significantly more tenacious than stock SH4. It is not as viscious as SH3 with Grey Wolves Expansion pack, however, with the exception of Ducimus' pet: Bungo Pete. This guy makes the GWX limey destroyers look like lap cats and is reserved for those who think they're hot stuff and need a little humility. Or a little fear. He's the ultimate challenge and most likely to beat him you'll have to kill him.

Frankly, I was prepared not to like Trigger Maru. It was the last mod I tried, after I gave up on Real Fleet Boat when Beery lost the fire in his belly. I'm having so much fun with it I forgot what my objections were!

My mods are similar to NefariousKoel's, Trigger Maru at the bottom, then in order, R&L Interior Periscopes, Captain Midnights CBS News Mod, Hi Res Redfin Balao skin (you can see that on my new signature below), Muzzle Flash 1.1, Silent Service 1.2c Graphics Mod (a must have!), Pearl Harbor Menu Ver 0.1 (a perfect companion to Silent Service Graphics Mod), SB_13PersonViewCameras_Mod_1.0 (lets you get cameras much closer to the boats), and that's it. I have changed the commands.cfg so that shift-i identifies the locked target. Be really careful when you combine mods that you don't destroy something desirable by layering another mod on top.

But most importantly, have fun! This is a game, and a darn good one that can be fun for years. You can have fun with what it is or fuss about what it isn't. As you can see, some around here would rather choose the latter. I choose to have a blast!

[Krauter]

Thanks Robbins, btw I though "historically" the Nip didnt give their convoy escorts until later on in the war?.. Why do I keep running into escorts in 1941-1942

*edit: By the way, Love the Redfin skin

With Regards,

Krauter

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Krauter

Thanks Robbins, btw I though "historically" the Nip didnt give their convoy escorts until later on in the war?.. Why do I keep running into escorts in 1941-1942

With Regards,

Krauter

Methinks that's a tater question! This man knows more than anyone should be ALLOWED to know about the state of the Japanese navy during WWII.

[Gunner]

Originally Posted by Krauter

Thanks Robbins, btw I though "historically" the Nip didnt give their convoy escorts until later on in the war?.. Why do I keep running into escorts in 1941-1942
with Regards,
Krauter

there are unescorted convoys in tater campaign mod , yesterday in 42 ran into 2 large Tankers and Medium Freighter unescorted, easy pickins for my Sugar Boat

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by Gunner

there are unescorted convoys in tater campaign mod , yesterday in 42 ran into 2 large Tankers and Medium Freighter unescorted, easy pickins for my Sugar Boat

Ive run into un-escored convoys in the stock game as well.

[Krauter]

I too have run into certain large ships unescorted, ie: Large tankers, Huge Liners, etc, however these are always at the entrance to the Bay of Tokyo. Whenever I meet convoys out in Formosa straight or in the East/South China Sea, they usually have some escorts.. hmm...

Oh well.. gives me more of a challenge xD.

With Regards,

Krauter