SH 3 Deck Gun strategy and unrealisim

[Lcdr]

Understanding that SH 3 is an older gaming platform designed to play on older generation computers, I find that there are some unrealistic features of the AI in generating convoy composition and movement when attacked.
I am playing the original with only a 1.4 version upgrade atm.
Ship placement and movement is predictable, enabling attacks on the tankers only even in heavy fog, 15mps wind, heavy precip, from within the convoy at 300m range...periscope can lock on with ship barely visible.

If eels are used only against T2 and T3 tankers and deck gun used against
merchants it is possible to sink 200K tons plus on your first mission.

Unrealistic but possible.

As for the use of deck guns...the escort/s must be destroyed first, of course...Corvettes by the deck gun (best at night) and the destroyers by
night torpedo attack (track difficult to spot). Easiest to attack when they
return to a straight baseline course in front of the convoy from their zig-zag pattern of ranging ahead of the convoy.
The deck gun should be used at about 500-600 m range from 80-100 degrees AOB port or starboard. Gun should be fired at the waterline of the target (position cross hairs at waterline at that range) when the pitch of the boat is at the lowest and gun is at lowest point of pitch. Costal merchants and small merchants require 3-4 waterline hits to sink (depending on sea state) and often require you circle to the opposite side of the merchant once it settles for the final sinking shot. C2 cargo ships take 7-8 rounds at the waterline under the bridge to either break in two or explode...C3 cargo ships will break in two with 6-7 rounds at the waterline below the bridge (under the hollow passageway)...T2 tankers will explode after 6-7 waterline rounds at the first mast aft of the center works,
and the T3 tankers will require 7-8 rounds under the same mast.
All deck gun firing should be done manually,,,substitute HE rounds for the starshells and AP rounds.
Although probably not realistic (as is with the weather generating AI) but doable is using the deck gun up to 10mps wind conditions...(the weather
is rarely below 7mps when convoys show up)...

My question is...is the realism of convoy movement and ship placement im-
proved using mods such a Commander and GWX...and is the deck gun impact on the game enhanced or reduced with these mods?

Thanks for the feedback....Lcdr

[Aktungbby]

Lcdr!

[Jimbuna]

First of all...I have moved your thread to the appropriate area and welcome to SubSim

When a ship sights you or is attcked by you it will start zig zagging but will maintain a mean course. The exception being if it nears a pre-set waypoint there is a possibility said instructions will be fubar'd and a 'scattering' effect will be the result.

Commander will give you the option of variable reload times for the deck gun and the ability to adjust wave height from standard to 1.25x, 1.5x, 2.0x and seasonal which will have an effect on the pitch and roll of a ship as well as your boat.

GWX only allows you to use HE shells but it is possible to put the AP shells back into the game.

There are mods out their IIRC that have tried to change some of the above with varying degrees of success over the years since the release of GWX...heck even I've made a mod that allows a larger than the norm amount of shells to be carried by your boat as well as one that allows said deck gun to be used in ALL weather conditions.

Give GWX a go, you may be surprised, it is certainly better in all departments than stock/vanilla SH3.

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD!

Originally Posted by Lcdr

I am playing the original with only a 1.4 version upgrade atm.

I I'm understanding you correctly, there is your problem in a nutshell. The stock game, while better than its stock successors, is still severely lacking. Yes, in the stock game it is possible to sink ridiculous amounts of tonnage. In the stock game you can win gun duels with escorts, which have more guns than you and real fire control. Yes, the stock game is severely unrealistic. GWX, NYGM, WAC, and LSH3 all make huge improvements to the realism of the combat, as well as the visual experience of the patrol. SH3 Commander adds to the realism of the campaign, giving you a variety of improvements as well as easy control of various in-game functions.

In short, the stock game isn't worth playing. Supermods are your friend.

[maillemaker]

I use GWX, and recommend it heartily. It is such an amazing difference to the game I hesitate to tell anyone to run stock SH3, except that you'll never realize how good GWX is if you don't!

Even with any of the mods, though, there is no improving the ship/convoy AI.

It is still entirely possible, early in the war while merchants are unarmed, to take down 2-3 or even 4 escorts and then use your deck gun and remaining torpedoes to lay waste to entire convoys. In real life they would scatter or try to ram. There is no ramming behavior from merchants that I can tell.

As was noted, with GWX the days of being able to engage in gun duels with escorts are over. I have done it against a trawler once and won, but took a lot of damage in the process.

Welcome aboard!

Steve