My first few patrols

[Annatar]

Just started playing SHIII a couple of days ago - my very first subsim. Currently in April 1940 and just about to start my seventh patrol after this post. I've been in a lovely new Type VII-B for last two patrols - the first of which saw me stuck out in the middle of the north sea with nothing but the fishes for company ( ) while the second of which netted me a cool 24,000 tons from five or six ships (two C3s! I was so happy ).
In my beloved old Type II tin-can I had been grateful for 8,000. I'm sure that's a familar feeling to most of you. Still, I almost miss taking that old piece of crap out to sea. Nostalgia, perhaps.

Anyway, the was a point to this post: A couple of questions if I may:

What's the deal with external reloads? My Type VII has a pair and I can't seem to work out how to load them.

Regarding my assigned patrol area - historically speaking, would I be obliged to take my boat straight to the grid reference, stay within it and come home as soon as the alloted time is up, or would I have the freedom to purse targets outside of my grid, stay longer, or take divertions on the way there?
Furthermore, should I be killing anything I think is worth a torpedo? - I seem to come across V&W's reasonably often and take great glee in killing one (the attempt at which has forced me to reload more than once) but often wonder if that torp would have been better spent on a cargo ship, and if (historically speaking) the higher-ups would have preferred me to do so.

And now - to be a hero! 50,000 tons on my next patrol, or I'm a scurvy sea-rat.
edit - argh the North Sea! What did I do to deserve this?

[Laufen zum Ziel]

Welcome aboard,

Are you playing original SHIII without mods?

Have you thought about GWX 2?

On torpedos make sure that auto reload is checked at the top left of the torp load screen.

Make sure that you have a lot of crew in the torpedo room. To load an external you have to be on the surface. Mouse click and hold the external and drag to one of your empty reserve spots.


Give my below site a look. Lots of goodies there.

[bigboywooly]

Hi and welcome aboard

To load the external torp you have to be surfaced
Go to the torpedo screen and drag the externals into an empty interior slot
You cannot drag a rear fish forward or vice versa
Make sure you are not in silent running either cos they wont load in that
And make sure your crew are all tired

As to your grid
Well you get 700 renown in stock for making the grid and staying 24hrs
If you come across targets on the way then sink em
After your 24hrs is up go where you like

Of course you dont need to go there at all if you dont need the cash

[Annatar]

Are you playing original SHIII without mods?

Have you thought about GWX 2?

I'm currently playing vanilla, but have been downloading GWX for a couple of hours, should be finished reasonably soon.
Already been checking your site over, I find the tutorials especially interesting.

As for the external torps - I keep auto-reload on by default and also tried to reload those ones manually while surfaced, but no dice. I was in a pretty bad storm at the time (which never seemed to dissipate, no matter how far I sailed), so perhaps that could have made reloading impossible? I know I can't man the deck gun in such weather...

[HW3]

It takes about 34+ minutes to move an external torpedo inside with a well rested crew and a full green bar. Remember it must go into a reserve slot, it can't go directly into a tube. If you want to see how much time is left in the move, hover your mouse pointer over the torpedo and a popup window will appear showing the time left.

[Murr44]

Originally Posted by Annatar

I'm currently playing vanilla, but have been downloading GWX for a couple of hours, should be finished reasonably soon.
Already been checking your site over, I find the tutorials especially interesting.

As for the external torps - I keep auto-reload on by default and also tried to reload those ones manually while surfaced, but no dice. I was in a pretty bad storm at the time (which never seemed to dissipate, no matter how far I sailed), so perhaps that could have made reloading impossible? I know I can't man the deck gun in such weather...

Welcome aboard.

The weather in stock SH III is awful. I think that you'll notice a big improvement in GWX; it's much more variable. To add more realism I took a tip from others & only transfer external torpedoes in calm weather with the deck slightly submerged (6-7 meters). From what I've read this is how they did it in real life.

Play around with stock until you get the hang of things. GWX makes a lot of changes that may throw you off if you just dive in to it right away.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by bigboywooly

...
And make sure your crew are all tired

...

Oh you tirant!!! I pitty the GWX crew. :p

Originally Posted by Annatar

Furthermore, should I be killing anything I think is worth a torpedo?

Definately not anything. If it's a neutral (like hospital ships) you'll be sorry. Precious renown get's drained into the deep.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Annatar

Regarding my assigned patrol area - historically speaking, would I be obliged to take my boat straight to the grid reference, stay within it and come home as soon as the alloted time is up, or would I have the freedom to purse targets outside of my grid, stay longer, or take divertions on the way there?

Historically speaking, you would initially be expected to go to your patrol grid and stay there until you were low on torpedoes or fuel, or recieved orders otherwise. You wouldn't have a lot of freedom until you proved your decisions were better than those of your superiors. Of course if the only way to prove that was to make your own decisions anyway...

[Bosje]

I find more shipping near my patrol grid than anywhere else. Should be coincidence but it's very consistent. Distinctly remember a horrible month in the arctic. zilch. Nothing to be found. Of course the known convoy routes are good hunting grounds but the rest of the ocean always seems horribly empty for me. As soon as reach my patrol grid though, contact reports start coming in close to my position.

My guess is that the ships are there, but you dont get contact reports on them. I dont take the time to actually dive for a listen every couple hours while enroute.

Could it be that the shipping is always there but the game generates more reports on the shipping near your patrol grid? That is what I have started to believe, anyway. again, it's very consistent.

[predavolk]

I patrol my grid for 24 hours, then take free reign to explore neighbouring areas. Donitz certainly wouldn't have minded a captain taking the initiative if it meant more sunk tonnage! Use the map that comes with GWX to locate areas, search this forum for hot spots, and get familiar with the area you're in. Doing all of those should let you figure out pretty quickly where the ships are, and where you need to be. Good luck!

[Brag]

Welcome aboard and good hunting