Newbie needs help!!!

[rjalbert32]

Hi all, just a few newbie questions. I have downloaded the GWX mod and LOVE it. Great job to all who worked on it. I am trying to run the mission where you are off the coast of New York in shallow water. I am new to the game kind of so I am trying to learn techniques and stuff in the game. How do you go about taking out the merchant ships that you are assigned to do around New York when they are escorted by armed trawlers and destroyers??? The minute I pop one of the merchant ships, the others are all over me. Also, if im in shallow water like that, can I shoot off a torp, then turn off engines and run in silent mode and not be detected, even though the water is shallow???

Another question, do I "have" to use the periscope and have the target I am shooting at identified in my notepad before I can shoot off the torp, or can I be submerged and shoot torpedos from a good distance underwater???

Thanks all for your help and I REALLY appreciate any tips/tricks you can help me with.....

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD!

Originally Posted by rjalbert32

Hi all, just a few newbie questions. I have downloaded the GWX mod and LOVE it. Great job to all who worked on it.

Yeah, it'll do until something better comes along.:rotfl: Sorry, I'm in one of those moods.

How do you go about taking out the merchant ships that you are assigned to do around New York when they are escorted by armed trawlers and destroyers??? The minute I pop one of the merchant ships, the others are all over me.

If they're escorted, let them go. There are unescorted ones. Also, you can lie in wait further offshore, in deeper water.

Also, if im in shallow water like that, can I shoot off a torp, then turn off engines and run in silent mode and not be detected, even though the water is shallow???

Not really. Shallow water is an invitation to an early grave, especially in a realistic mod like GWX.

Another question, do I "have" to use the periscope and have the target I am shooting at identified in my notepad before I can shoot off the torp, or can I be submerged and shoot torpedos from a good distance underwater???

You can shoot torpedoes any time you like, as long as you are at 25 meters or less (the doors won't open deeper than that). A favorite method at close range is to point the scope straight ahead and wait until the target moves into view, then 'guesstimate' and fire away.


Oh, and for a fuller campaign experience I always recommend SH3 Commander. It will make a whole lot of little things change in a big way, and make it much more "real".

[rjalbert32]

Ok, so if I am underwater, say at 20 meters, how/what do I use to "line up" the shot at a boat if I don't have a scope to see it in and reference where I am shooting??? Thats what im confused about

[SmokinTep]

Hydrophones............

[rjalbert32]

Originally Posted by SmokinTep

Hydrophones............

Ok, so I tell the hydrophone guy to follow the closest contact, and he keeps telling me the coordinates of a ship, bearing so and so, speed so and so, now how do I tell how far away the ship is so I know when I should launch the torpedo???

Also, I am in auto shoot mode, so how do I set the solution to the ship since I don't have it lined up in the uzo or periscope view???

[Puster Bill]

Originally Posted by rjalbert32

Ok, so I tell the hydrophone guy to follow the closest contact, and he keeps telling me the coordinates of a ship, bearing so and so, speed so and so, now how do I tell how far away the ship is so I know when I should launch the torpedo???

Also, I am in auto shoot mode, so how do I set the solution to the ship since I don't have it lined up in the uzo or periscope view???

You may have to be in manual mode to do this.

You can raise the periscope up just slightly and make sure it is aligned with the front (or rear) of the boat.

If you are on a perpendicular course to the target, it's a pretty easy calculation to figure out the lead angle for a given target speed and given torpedo speed. You can use the Kriegsmarine Whiz-wheel to figure it out using the instructions available in this thread:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=126824

You could also pre-calculate the values and put them in a table for use. This works because the lead angle will always be the same, regardless of distance. Just make sure that you put the appropriate AOB (90 port or 90 starboard) into the vorhaltrechner, otherwise you will miss.

Of course, using this method you could fire on a sonar bearing, but that's ahistorical: Unlike US sub commanders, who actually trained to shoot on hydrophone bearings before the war, Germans u-boat commanders didn't do that, at least up until the TYPE XXI/XXIII. Even the Americans stopped doing it fairly quickly once the war started: They couldn't hit anything that way.

[Jimbuna]

Try measuring the length of the hydrophone contact line.

[Puster Bill]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Try measuring the length of the hydrophone contact line.

What in the blue blazes is that?

Been so long since I switched to manual/no map update...

There's a line?

(Remember I didn't get to play alot for sometime!!)

[Jimbuna]

If I'm to take you two buggas above me seriously :hmm:

When looking at a contact line from a hydrophone reading, you can measure it using the ruler tool......which should give you a rough estimate of the distance

Could/may be be classed as a bit of a cheat, but it does help the newer players in foggy/low visibility conditions.

[XLjedi]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Try measuring the length of the hydrophone contact line.