Returning Newb: Queries

[Walruss]

Hi All,

Been playing SH 3 a lot after a few years break, and enjoying it very much. However the other day I was (trying to) sorting out some old stuff and amongst my rummaging I discovered I had an old copy of SH 4 in my pile of abandoned dreams and lost things. SO I loaded her up, got to modding a bit, and got a campaign going...

Immediately I noticed some stand out differences that have me puzzled;
1. Frstly in the optics + fire control - On the american boats the Periscope bearing does not auto-update the TDC, is that correct? Do you have to be 'locked' onto a target, even in manual firing mode, in order to send the bearing properly?

2. Even with TMO and Travlers it seems I can use my deck gun in incredibly heavy seas (boat rolling like crazy, 13 m/s wind). Is this normal? Realistic? My Uboat experience tells me this is wrong and Should Be Fixed. Is there a mod, or is my game broken?


3. My watch officer, upon achieving visual contact with an enemy ship, at least SEEMS to know it's range to the nearest foot. What's up with that?


All these were fond using TMO 2.5 + Traveller's mod, 90% realism (external camera + event camera on).

Thoughts?

[Rockin Robbins]

1. The U-boat TDC and the American TDC are different. Trying to shoehorn your understanding of the German TDC into the American one is a futile exercise. The American TDC must be understood on its own merits and not by comparison. You don't have to be locked to send bearing and range. Bearing and range are always sent together, except from the sonar.

The Position Keeper, which is part of the genius of the American TDC, demands that the periscope not be hardwired to the TDC. However the real German periscope had no such hardwiring as SH3 has. Bearings were entered manually. The advantage of the postition keeper is that after it agrees sufficiently with reality you could even submerge to 99', hit the fire button and a ship explodes and sinks. That's not possible with a German TDC.

2. Deck guns are stabilized in the game. Attempts to destabilize it and have it roll with the sub have had poor results. I have such a mod and it's fun to play with but I can't say it works very well. Since that attempt by a modder who wouldn't even volunteer that the idea was his, no further attempts have been made to rectify the deck gun. And that's appropriate.

As Sam Dealy said "I don't care whether the deck gun is mounted bow or stern so long as it's on wheels so I can roll it overboard." Sub captains had no use for deck guns aside from its usefulness in drying laundry.

[Walruss]

I'd noticed that problem too (the stablisied deck gun) but what I meant was that even at the max sea state I could still crew and operate the deck gun- ie in conditions where the gun crew would have a hard time staying on board the sub, let alone operating artillery! In SH3 you simply CANNOT operate the gun in those conditions (at least with GWX andd other mods) - not the case here I take it?

Thanks for the further info on the yank TDCs btw.

[Rockin Robbins]

It depends on the mods. I'm the wrong person to ask about the deck gun because unless I'm taking a break with my Slightly Subnuclear Guns mod and blowing ships out of the water with a 20mm AA gun, I never use guns for anything.

In reality, both sub vs ship and sub vs plane were loser propositions for those who thought it was reasonable to trade an expensive, hard to produce submarine with a highly trained crew of 70 for either a cheap plane with at most two people in it or a merchie who could outshoot them 3 to one. Those captains deserved a job running a garbage scow.

Proper weighing of the risk/reward ratio is essential to commanding a submarine.