Frustrated Captain considering desertion

[BasilY]

I was pretty good with sh3 (@100%). So I decided to give sh-4 a try. The first patrol was pretty frustrating: (I play at level hard for my first patrol, I hope some of my experience in the KM might help)

1: The weather: I left for patrol to the Marshalls. It started raining as soon as I get there. Frustrated, and out of fuel, I went to refuel at mid way, It's raining there also... Head to japan to see some legit traffic, It's raining there too... From Dec 14 to Jan 24th, it has been raining continually all through the pacific...

2: The traffic: The marshalls should have been in Jap control at begining of war. But seem to be teaming with US ship (at least I see the blue icon, cause I ain't seeing a thing in the rain...)

3. The enemy ship: South of Japan, in driving rain, I finally find a target with radar. In the dark and in driving rain, I fire 10 torps (i have to fire blind with spreads), score 4 hits (4 "torpedo impact" message). I can see the ship being on fire. But she just keep on going! Not even slowing down! With my tail torps refused to fire, I have to leave.

4. the Torpedo: Although I can fire the front torps. the rear torps refuse to fire (because I "don't have a solution"??? I am in the prefect spot, but I don't have a visual of the ship.) In any event, how come I can fire the front torps blind (without solution), but not the tail torps?

Really frustrated, I might just have to quit the USN and head back to nazi germany...

[ColonelSandersLite]

For the weather, I have to admit that the weather randomisation sucks. The game tends to get stuck in rainy choppy seas once it hits them. If it becomes especially severe, such as a month of rain straight (quick, someone call Noah), there's an undocumented key to clear the weather. I can't recall exactly but it's something like control + n. Pretty sure it's either control or alt + something. I found out about it hunting around in some of the posts for new captains here or maybe in the ubisoft forum, so with some effort, you should be able to find it. Or just experiment. I'm really thinking it's at least in the n area of the keyboard, and pretty sure it's control.

The stock campaign doesn't stop traffic like it should I noticed this at wake island one time, with a pair of American cargo ships going right into the harbor while being attacked by zeros and shore batteries! I reccomend you look up the run silent run deep mod but be warned that the environment wont be so target rich. Honestly though, a little traffic going to captured ports tends to not be such a big deal, as it's very rarely noticed.

Ships can go dead in the water, have it happen all the time. Knowing nothing about the target or where you hit it doesn't leave much more room to comment. Still, keep in mind that some targets are hader to sink than others and other times a target seems to just eat torpedoes. I find I can usually take a large modern tanker down with just 1 torpedo, but about a week ago I had one eat 10 before finally sinking.

Would need to know more about your firing solution and method to identify the problem with your torpedoes. You're aware that torpedoes don't turn 180+ degrees though right? Don't recall the exact limits but it's limited to 120 degrees or so, bearing in mind that torpedoes are much more accurate when fired at or near 0, I don't use such extreme gyro angles and can't recall the exact limits.

[Inner Sound]

Yes it's either ctrl+n or fn+n, resets the weather to fine. I've used it a couple of times to - well - cheat. But if you have radar you can get right on a targets tail, close in and light up the murk with the deck gun. Just hope it's not the Yamato!

[Rockin Robbins]

It's also important what the patch status of your game is. Make sure you're up to 1.4 or 1.5 (SH4UBM) status there.

Yes, if you don't disable the engines, that target will steam on, just as they did in real life. It's somewhat rare, but it happens. In SH4 a hit doesn't guarantee the target will stop, and that is as it should be.

The weather can be a concern. Actually, rainy conditions are submarine heaven! I WISH I would get stuck in those conditions. But I never seem to. Firing from close range with sonar only is devastating and the most fun you can have with Silent Hunter.

You also don't say whether you are shooting on auto targeting or manual targeting. I assume you are trying to use manual targeting. However, there are important differences between the U-Boat and fleet boat TDC. If you have a rear torpedo tube selected and haven't sent a new shoot bearing to the TDC using the send red range/bearing button on the input portion of your TDC, your shoot bearing is still set for your last bow shot. The gyro angle for your selected stern torpedo exceeds the maximum 135 degrees possible and the game considerately gives you the "no valid solution" error rather than waste the torpedo.

Please see the Sub Skippers' Bag of Tricks thread for instructions and video on how the American TDC works. It's actually just as good (better, say some!) as the ones on the subs from the dark side. Just don't try to make the American sub work like the German one, just as an American skipper shouldn't try to run a U-Boat like a fleet boat. It's like learning a different language.

[ColonelSandersLite]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

Actually, rainy conditions are submarine heaven!

That really depends on the severity and situation honestly. Trying to kill a target at night in rain + fog is bad. I find when the weather is really bad, I can barely even see the bow of my own sub from the conning tower. Given that at least identifying the target positively as friendly/foe is extremely important in real life, and the fact that this was done visually in WWII (and even now to a large extent), rules out a night attack in bad weather.

When the weather is really bad, you can't effectively launch a torpedo attack during the day either as you have to close to well within arming distance to just see what flag he's flying under, which leaves the sole option of a knock down drag out brawl with guns. I suppose you could let him pass at point blank range to get the id, then do an end around and kill him.

The flip side though is that nasty weather's great for sneaking into and out of places you're not supposed to be (eg, Tokyo harbor) .

There is something on that front that really irritates me about the games weather though. Have you ever noticed that the weather is very much all or nothing? I've yet to see a light rain. The wind is almost always 5 or 15 m/s, meaning either calm or choppy seas, and very occasional doldrums, but never "somewhat choppy". Never seen a heavy downpour with no or a light wind either. Though one time, on my second patrol out, I was in the nastiest storm I've seen in the game yet. The waves where high enough to wash out my periscope when I was on the surface! Couldn't run the diesels consistently so dove to test depth and waited it out. That would have been game V1.0.

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

You also don't say whether you are shooting on auto targeting or manual targeting

In the first sentence he says he's at 100%, so manual. Still, as you well know, there's about 20 different ways to track and kill the target.

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

It's actually just as good (better, say some!) as the ones on the subs from the dark side.

Personally, I have to say that the American TDC is hands down better. It's a shame that the mark 14 torpedo wasn't it's equal .

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by ColonelSandersLite

That really depends on the severity and situation honestly. Trying to kill a target at night in rain + fog is bad. I find when the weather is really bad, I can barely even see the bow of my own sub from the conning tower. Given that at least identifying the target positively as friendly/foe is extremely important in real life, and the fact that this was done visually in WWII (and even now to a large extent), rules out a night attack in bad weather.

When the weather is really bad, you can't effectively launch a torpedo attack during the day either as you have to close to well within arming distance to just see what flag he's flying under, which leaves the sole option of a knock down drag out brawl with guns. I suppose you could let him pass at point blank range to get the id, then do an end around and kill him.

Actually if you're at any time before the last half of 1944 and in Japanese waters, identification isn't necessary. Submarines are the only American game in town and if it floats, it's Japanese. Check out my John P Cromwell training video for a daytime surface attack in lousy weather conditions.

The best way to shoot in zero visibility is strictly from radar. It's a guaranteed kill situation at to risk whatever to yourself. At any point in the war, Japanese merchie/escort formations are unmistakable on radar and totally different from American military task forces. So your identification can also be by radar.

If it looks like a nice line of pips or two parallel lines of pips in the middle, surrounded by an array of pretty equally dispersed pips on the outside, it's fair game! Zero visibility is paradise!

Whip over to the Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks thread in post #1 and load up the WernerSobe sonar only, my Dick O'Kane sonar only, and the John P Cromwell videos. They'll give you all you need to party down in the muck.