Seasoned Skipper needs help fellow Capts.

[commandosolo2009]

Hello Sub skippers,

It has been ages since I posted here, now that my lap is gone, I had to get a new one to satisfy my maritime craving

Anyhow,

I have SH4 but cant remember a few things.

First, the hydrophone, whats its maximum pickup range, and also the sonar, whats the maximum ping range?

Second, the other day while I was playing the campaign, the objective was to patrol off shores of Honshu, yet on the map, and where the marker was, the nearest Jap city shores was Kyoshu, typing mistake? well, you tell me.

And whats a typical patrol tonnage requirement, and do patrol objectives also comprise attacking destroyers and imperial jap navy?

I'm currently on a porpoise class sub, and I got about 43 fuel, playing on 65% difficulty, only I wonder if there was a way I could find out maximum range at current speed since I am REALLY AWAY from Midway, Pearl and Dutch. My only hope is Surabaya Jawa but it's a risk since I have jap trols on either sides of China sea, so I need your Nav expertise as to what option do I get?

I had this in mind but wont until I give up:




So please help!!! Guys in the sub are like:




HELP!

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by commandosolo2009

...
First, the hydrophone, whats its maximum pickup range, and also the sonar, whats the maximum ping range?

Second, the other day while I was playing the campaign, the objective was to patrol off shores of Honshu, yet on the map, and where the marker was, the nearest Jap city shores was Kyoshu, typing mistake? well, you tell me.

And whats a typical patrol tonnage requirement, and do patrol objectives also comprise attacking destroyers and imperial jap navy?

I'm currently on a porpoise class sub, and I got about 43 fuel, playing on 65% difficulty, only I wonder if there was a way I could find out maximum range at current speed since I am REALLY AWAY from Midway, Pearl and Dutch. My only hope is Surabaya Jawa but it's a risk since I have jap trols on either sides of China sea, so I need your Nav expertise as to what option do I get?
...

I think most of your questions depend on having stock SH4 or using mods.

1: I noticed that with the hydrophone (passive listening) you first begin to hear targets (so being in the sonar shack yourself searching with the needle) at a distance of about 34km (leftover from SH3, about 18.3 nautical mile). But after that the game somehow extends the detection range to about 40km, or 22 nautical miles before you loose it again. Must be a bug, or an improperly coded feature. Doesn't matter, make use of it!

2 and 3: Can't say. Mod dependant I think.

4: Also mod dependant, but I'm sure I have requested "distance to go at current speed" from the navigator in RFB 2. Asking that after the speed settled on a specific knot values then you can make a nice fuel efficiency chart of the data. There's a sweet-spot for each sub type somewhere between 8-11 knots. But it is also dependant on weather and charging status.

[commandosolo2009]

to answer your mod inquiry, I'm using vanilla. Speaking of mods, do you know any good mods for sea color and textures? like waves and all.. If the water would be dark blue instead of the ooze that would be nice

[Armistead]

Imagine a contact zone around your sub based on your best sonar equipment that reaches out to say 25nms. That zone exist around your sub from day one of the war, just your men don't have the ability or equipment to hear it. However, you're not limited by their ability or equipment, so your able to hear to the limit of the best zone.

As your men get better and equipment improves, they'll call out contacts further in the zone.

In reality it's a game cheat. When a enemy group enters the contact zone, you'll notice PC lag as your PC has to use more power to read the contacts. This lag is a dead give away ships are in your contact zone, the more ships, the more lag. Your men lacking skills and equipment won't pick them up, but you can. Most take advantage of the lag and check sonar themselves, get a bearing and plot a course. If you don't check, unless you're heading towards them, the lag will go away as the ships leave the contact zone. I guess if you want to play totally fair, ignore the lag and only rely on your crew....I don't...

Towards the end of the war you may notice little lag as your men have the best equipment and pick them up as fast as you can.

It would be nice if modders could mod a seperate contact zone for each sonar, but don't think it can be done or very difficult.

Stock doesn't have the range at current speed, most supermods added it back it with other features.

If you can hear a ship, you can ping it. Even those early war that your men can't hear. Some will ping ships at the edge of the sonar zone. However, most this far will read merchant, even if it's a warship. You can pick ships far away and if you use cams, you can then view it and the group for details if that's your thing.

All supermods have great enviroment mods... The stock game sucks on most levels, including graphics.

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by commandosolo2009

to answer your mod inquiry, I'm using vanilla. Speaking of mods, do you know any good mods for sea color and textures? like waves and all.. If the water would be dark blue instead of the ooze that would be nice

Here are some SS's with TMO, plus I use higher settings with nHancer for my nvidea card, just a 9600gt. Here's some examples of TMO. You will see many different colors based on water depth, sun position, weather, location, ect., not one color.















Waves in TMO

[Gerald]

Very good picture,

[WernherVonTrapp]

As previously mentioned, mods have a big effect on various aspects of the game, including fuel. In a Porpoise Class sub, in the stock version, you should get best fuel efficiency at about 9 knots. Also, in the stock version, some of the missions are FUBAR, though I don't know for sure if your particular mission is among the known ones. Either way, if you're low on fuel, top off your tanks first and then complete your mission. Oh and BTW, the radio is not your friend. Don't send in any contact reports unless you want HQ to keep giving you objectives to complete.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by commandosolo2009

Hello Sub skippers,

It has been ages since I posted here, now that my lap is gone, I had to get a new one to satisfy my maritime craving

Anyhow,

I have SH4 but cant remember a few things.

First, the hydrophone, whats its maximum pickup range, and also the sonar, whats the maximum ping range?

Second, the other day while I was playing the campaign, the objective was to patrol off shores of Honshu, yet on the map, and where the marker was, the nearest Jap city shores was Kyoshu, typing mistake? well, you tell me.

And whats a typical patrol tonnage requirement, and do patrol objectives also comprise attacking destroyers and imperial jap navy?

I'm currently on a porpoise class sub, and I got about 43 fuel, playing on 65% difficulty, only I wonder if there was a way I could find out maximum range at current speed since I am REALLY AWAY from Midway, Pearl and Dutch. My only hope is Surabaya Jawa but it's a risk since I have jap trols on either sides of China sea, so I need your Nav expertise as to what option do I get?

HELP!

As far as I know, there is no tonnage requirement in SH 4, and I wouldn't get stressed out about patrol objectives. I don't think you will be punished for not completing them. If I get one that doesn't make sense, I simply tell the radio operator that the radio is "broken" and forget about it.

I had one patrol where I didn't sink a single ship (the torpedos wouldn't fire--don't know why). I thought I would be chewed out by the admiral, but nothing happened.

[timmyg00]

unfortunately some of us have to play stock... because we're lucky to be able to get SH4 running on their so-called "gaming" laptops at all. Basically i don't think i can run anything with heavy graphics mods... RFB crashed my game and as such, i have been hesitant to try TMO. I think i can only use RSRD.

What's up with the hull numbers on those boats above? No US submarine ever went to sea during wartime with hull numbers visible.

TG

[Armistead]

Many sub skins have been added for looks. In the game it doesn't matter, the IJN can't tell the difference if you sub has pink polka dots.

I do think you're correct that all hull numbers were blacked out or not added in war. Still, the men often painted ship sinkings, ect. on them.

[I'm goin' down]

Nice scrrenshots! i am on am mini laptop and they still look great!

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by timmyg00

unfortunately some of us have to play stock... because we're lucky to be able to get SH4 running on their so-called "gaming" laptops at all. Basically i don't think i can run anything with heavy graphics mods... RFB crashed my game and as such, i have been hesitant to try TMO. I think i can only use RSRD.

What's up with the hull numbers on those boats above? No US submarine ever went to sea during wartime with hull numbers visible.

TG

I too, am playing SH4 on a laptop. I've been fortunate to have been able to load a lot of little mods to enhance the SH4 stock experiance. I am planning on taking the game upstairs to my desktop PC where I have a more powerful graphics card to load up TMO. The laptop has been basically for comfort as I can play for hours and not have to sit at a desk! lol... Problem is... I don't think I have 2g of ram on my desktop, but this laptop does. If I can put anymre ram on the desk I will. It's XP so I can only take it so high. Hope to be playing TMO by New Years.
Good Hunting
D40
PS: I'm still having fun with stock but I need to get that 1.5 in the mail so I can open up the Atlantic as well.

[commandosolo2009]

alright chiefs, boatswainmates, and capts.

On a reload, I managed to make it back to Midway safely, without doing scuffles with HKs and Zeros.

On my second patrol from Pearl, my new objective was Caroline islands patrol nothing fancy.

here are 2 interesting findings from both experiences:

- On my way back to Midway, staying out of the aircrafts looks make you encounter less if not none. On my way I met with only 2 this time, my efficient radioman takes the credit. Without even finding out the type of plane, I order 45 on flank and on average, a 60 second dive was achieved. So, stay out of planes eyes.. I stay down for like an hour, engines off sometimes wait the night to come out and sometimes hump it if I get too bored.

- On my way to Carolines, I decided to do a mileage count vs fuel usage.
Starting from Pearl, I picked a shallow spot exactly 4055 km away from start. Ordered speed lock to 10kt, and TC.

I arrived after a tonne of radio reports and CincPac reports falling to my lap

On doing a fuel check, I discover I got 82% of fuel.

Doing the math, a 1% of fuel covers 238.5 Km @ 10-11 kts speed. Of course in reality, one has to consider drifting, crosswind, course adjustments happening at 2048x .

So a full range clocked @ 10-11kts would be 23850 km.

This is inaccurate according to wikipedia

Range: 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) @ 10 kn (19 km/h),[3] (bunkerage 92,801 US gal (351,290 l)[10]

but wth, if its broke why fix it?

I guess its up to my navigator to tell is where we duck and rise

Speaking of which, whats a typical surface/submerge interval in hostile waters, based on your experiences or references. Could someone nominate real novels WWII-era? cuz I could use the reading

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by commandosolo2009

alright chiefs, boatswainmates, and capts.

On a reload, I managed to make it back to Midway safely, without doing scuffles with HKs and Zeros.

On my second patrol from Pearl, my new objective was Caroline islands patrol nothing fancy.

here are 2 interesting findings from both experiences:

- On my way back to Midway, staying out of the aircrafts looks make you encounter less if not none. On my way I met with only 2 this time, my efficient radioman takes the credit. Without even finding out the type of plane, I order 45 on flank and on average, a 60 second dive was achieved. So, stay out of planes eyes.. I stay down for like an hour, engines off sometimes wait the night to come out and sometimes hump it if I get too bored.

- On my way to Carolines, I decided to do a mileage count vs fuel usage.
Starting from Pearl, I picked a shallow spot exactly 4055 km away from start. Ordered speed lock to 10kt, and TC.

I arrived after a tonne of radio reports and CincPac reports falling to my lap

On doing a fuel check, I discover I got 82% of fuel.

Doing the math, a 1% of fuel covers 238.5 Km @ 10-11 kts speed. Of course in reality, one has to consider drifting, crosswind, course adjustments happening at 2048x .

So a full range clocked @ 10-11kts would be 23850 km.

This is inaccurate according to wikipedia

but wth, if its broke why fix it?

I guess its up to my navigator to tell is where we duck and rise

Speaking of which, whats a typical surface/submerge interval in hostile waters, based on your experiences or references. Could someone nominate real novels WWII-era? cuz I could use the reading

Hi Commando,
Actually the figures look about right. The specified range given in the books allows a 30% margin for battery charging, which uses up a significant amount of fuel. Captains early in the war often spent the daylight hours submerged going slow, then surfacing at night. As the war progressed they became less timid and remained surfaced unless forced down.

As far as good books I would recommend:

• Wahoo by Richard O'Kane
• Clear the Bridge! same author

There are many others, of course, but these come to mind right off.