Beginner Questions

[Nukesub]

Hello

I have recently began playing SH3 (56% realism). I have to say I really enjoy it. However, there are a few things I wanted to clear up.

Before I ask, just for reference, I have the following mods installed:
GWX3 Gold
SH3 Commander
Resolution Fix


1). I just wanted to make sure I started my career in the right place. If I understand this correctly, the different flotillas are different campaigns?
Whenever you finish one, do you begin the next with the same captain/career?

2). I picked the 1st Flotilla, 1939 as a starting place. Is this typical/good place to get bearings?

3). By pressing R it takes you to the radio. What can I do there? Does it serve any actual gameplay purpose to change to that view?

4). How do you adjust the "Ambient Volume" button on the hydrophone interface?

5). Any advice on manual targeting? I have been using this video as a reference to learn:

I have seen several websites linked for manual targeting, but they all seem to have been taken down.

6). Best advice on gauging speed? I have been using the a). mark, b). wait 3:15 min, c). mark again, d). measure distance between two marks and multiply by 10

7). I have found that when I miss a ship it will start evasive maneuvering, making it much much harder to hit, or so it seems. Do they ever stop this swerving/evading pattern of motion? Any advice on attacking the same targets more than once?


I appreciate the replies/advice/comments!

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD!

Originally Posted by Nukesub

Before I ask, just for reference, I have the following mods installed:
GWX3 Gold
SH3 Commander
Resolution Fix

Though I don't have the game installed at the moment, when I do it's usually GWX and Commander, plus a large number of smaller mods and tools. Don't worry, you have plenty of time to learn everything there is to know. SH3 isn't going anywhere and neither are most of us.

1). I just wanted to make sure I started my career in the right place. If I understand this correctly, the different flotillas are different campaigns?
Whenever you finish one, do you begin the next with the same captain/career?

No. Each "campaign" is its own entity. It is the career of your chosen captain and it begins and ends with him. There are mods that let you keep the boat and crew with a new captain, but if you die your crew dies with you, and if you make it to the end of the war your career is over.

That said, the game allows you to run more than one career at a time. I usually have one going from each available command, a habit I picked up playing SH1 all those years ago.

2). I picked the 1st Flotilla, 1939 as a starting place. Is this typical/good place to get bearings?

One is as good as another. The 1st Flot is based out of Kiel, which means that if you're running a Type II you'll almost certainly be operating in the North Sea, and if you choose a Type VII you'll be either there or in the Western Approaches, south of Ireland. Later you'll be transferred to the west coast of France.

3). By pressing R it takes you to the radio. What can I do there? Does it serve any actual gameplay purpose to change to that view?

'R'? I don't remember that. 'M' lets you read your radio messages.

4). How do you adjust the "Ambient Volume" button on the hydrophone interface?

That one I just don't remember. Sorry.

5). Any advice on manual targeting?

Not from me. I've been playing for nine years and my math hasn't improved one bit.

7). I have found that when I miss a ship it will start evasive maneuvering, making it much much harder to hit, or so it seems. Do they ever stop this swerving/evading pattern of motion? Any advice on attacking the same targets more than once?

If they're aware of your presence they'll do that, and keep doing it until they're sure you're gone. Again I have no answer.

[maillemaker]

1). I just wanted to make sure I started my career in the right place. If I understand this correctly, the different flotillas are different campaigns?
Whenever you finish one, do you begin the next with the same captain/career?

Every time you start a career it is the same campaign (i.e., WWII), but you start with a new captain and, depending on what you select, a different port and a different start year.

The primary purpose of selecting a flotilla is to determine what port you will sally forth from, and which uboat types are available at that port.

2). I picked the 1st Flotilla, 1939 as a starting place. Is this typical/good place to get bearings?

I always start 1939 myself. Just be aware with GWX you will start in August and have to wait until September to start sinking things.

3). By pressing R it takes you to the radio. What can I do there? Does it serve any actual gameplay purpose to change to that view?

I don't remember.

4). How do you adjust the "Ambient Volume" button on the hydrophone interface?

It's tricky. If you click at about 2:30 on the dial, it will make it louder. If you click at about 3:30 on the dial, it will make it quieter. There appear to be only 2 volume settings.

5). Any advice on manual targeting? I have been using this video as a reference to learn:

Looks like a good video to me.

6). Best advice on gauging speed? I have been using the a). mark, b). wait 3:15 min, c). mark again, d). measure distance between two marks and multiply by 10

If you have map contacts on, that is the easiest way. Another way is the "fixed wire" method, but you have to know the length of the ship from the recognition manual to use it.

7). I have found that when I miss a ship it will start evasive maneuvering, making it much much harder to hit, or so it seems. Do they ever stop this swerving/evading pattern of motion? Any advice on attacking the same targets more than once?

Once they figure out they are under attack, they will keep zig-zagging until they think you are gone.

Typically, when I know the speed of a target and it starts to zig-zag, I will reduce the target speed by 1 knot to help insure a hit.

Steve

[insidious]

Hi Nukesub
I also use GWX3\Commander\Res.Fix.There are many more you can check Downloads section.

5)Any advice on manual targeting?

You can look at this http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=1080Just download it and opened in Word.
This is a very simple and effective method for attacking single ships and convoys.
After making several attacks you will remember the sequence of actions.

7). I have found that when I miss a ship it will start evasive maneuvering, making it much much harder to hit, or so it seems. Do they ever stop this swerving/evading pattern of motion? Any advice on attacking the same targets more than once?

The ship will stop after 40 or 50 minutes after it started evasive maneuvers.After the successful attack if the ship continues to move set parallel course and wait for the ship to get away from you.Surface and follow him after that you decide how you will finish him

I hope this will help you
Good luck

[I use google translator so there may be grammatical errors]

[Nukesub]

Originally Posted by insidious

Hi Nukesub
I also use GWX3\Commander\Res.Fix.There are many more you can check Downloads section.


You can look at this http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=1080Just download it and opened in Word.
This is a very simple and effective method for attacking single ships and convoys.
After making several attacks you will remember the sequence of actions.


The ship will stop after 40 or 50 minutes after it started evasive maneuvers.After the successful attack if the ship continues to move set parallel course and wait for the ship to get away from you.Surface and follow him after that you decide how you will finish him

I hope this will help you
Good luck

[I use google translator so there may be grammatical errors]

Google translator worked fine, no problems

Thank you for pointing out that targeting guide. I didn't realize there was a version of it saved on the website. I always clicked the links that let me to the downed website.

On that note, there are some mods listed in it that I cannot find!

Etchasketch’s BRILLIANT AoB finder wheel
Devnull's EXCELLENT 1 degree scope marking Mod

Does anyone know where I can find these?

Many thanks!

Oh, another note, I noticed there is an anchor on the side of the U-boats. Is it possible to drop anchor in SH3?

[flag4]

Originally Posted by Nukesub

5). Any advice on manual targeting? I have been using this video as a reference to learn:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Not from me. I've been playing for nine years and my math hasn't improved one bit.

Steve, if I may. I, like you, can not grasp the maths. I shy away from it all the time, and I feel a little sad that I cant do those sums to get the torps to hit. but I just watched the above video and I was mightily impressed at potentially how easy it seemed. have a go and watch it. it runs for nine minutes and I reckon there aint maths to it except multiplying the time travelled by 10 to get the speed.
id be interested to hear your response...once you've watched it...?

[Sailor Steve]

I watched it, and I'm disappointed. I find it no more realistic than using Auto Targeting. First, there is no way you can use the periscope for a few seconds and have the exact bearing and range of every ship in the convoy. On the other hand, getting the speed of one ship will give you the speed of the entire convoy. Second, the stated goal is to keep the periscope above water for as short a time as possible. In real life they had to keep it up long enough to gather the correct information. They also had to recheck several times, which meant raising the scope for as long as was necessary. This means that the goal of keeping the scope underwater is contrary to what they actually had to do.

I technically use Manual Targeting, but I use WE Assistance to get the information, but because it's perfect I use it once every two minutes, and I leave the scope up for as long as seems reasonable to me. I use the Assisted Plotting Mod, which only allows you to mark the position of one ship at a time, not the entire convoy. Despite the "perfection" of the WE, I still manage to miss on a fairly regular basis. My way may not be as realistic as full manual targeting, but it feels right to me.

[Aras]

For manual targeting I can recommend to check this post : http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=88961

I use Manual Targeting as well however I leave Auto Map Contacts on to measure the distance. I really love to gather all the information including range manually however the stadimeter and the recognition manual are not handy in this subject.

Values in Recognition manual are generally false, even the highest mast in given picture does not match with highest mast value Which makes stadimeter useless in my opinion. Did i miss something about it?

I know that in real life everything was not perfect including recognition manual. My nerves can take being depth charged for hours but I can't handle wasting Third Reich's precious torpedoes just because I wasn't qualified enough to calculate a range correctly.

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by Aras

For manual targeting I can recommend to check this post : http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=88961

I use Manual Targeting as well however I leave Auto Map Contacts on to measure the distance. I really love to gather all the information including range manually however the stadimeter and the recognition manual are not handy in this subject.

Values in Recognition manual are generally false, even the highest mast in given picture does not match with highest mast value Which makes stadimeter useless in my opinion. Did i miss something about it?

I know that in real life everything was not perfect including recognition manual. My nerves can take being depth charged for hours but I can't handle wasting Third Reich's precious torpedoes just because I wasn't qualified enough to calculate a range correctly.

I use basically the same options. Have you tried Hitman's Optics? No stadimeter, but FoV and scaling are adjusted to give accurate estimates of range and AoB with the graticles. As I understand it (based on Cap'n Scurvy's work on SH4) It's not the rec manual that is wrong, but the image scaling. AAR, I've done quite a bit of static testing, and range and AoB can both be determined pretty accurately.

Couple of other advantages: You don't need to make a positive ID before attacking - many similar classes had similar mast heights. And you don't need to use that thin whisp if a mast. The rec manual also gives you funnel and superstructure heights, A nice fat funnel can be easier to measure than a skinny mast.

Hitman says that these graticles are based on actual surviving Uboat periscopes. He tweaked the camera values to make the measurements work. And they seem to work. My tonnage scores are up, anyway.

[banryu79]

Originally Posted by Aras

My nerves can take being depth charged for hours but I can't handle wasting Third Reich's precious torpedoes just because I wasn't qualified enough to calculate a range correctly.

I have little esxperience (still on the course of my first patrol) but 'till now I'm doing well with "The Straight Shot" and "The Perfect Shot" methods described in the document section shipped with a GUI Mod [hsGUI]

Both methods make use of your torpedo speed and target speed/course to give you a reference bearing to aim to -- no need to calculate target range at all! --

Both methods rely on precompiled tables you use to index 'target speed' on one axis and 'LB angle' (explained in the document, and to calculate it you need to know target course) on the other axis to find the 'shoting bearing'.

Each specific table is build for a specific torped speed settting: I'm using [MaGui F], a Gui Mod, that provides me with three in-game precompiled tables: 30/40/44 knot (plus other useful tools, but these tables are what I was looking for).

If you do not want to use the [MaGui F] mod you can still use the above described methods: just download the [hsGUI] mod for the explanations, then write down the tables on paper (I can provide you with a txt version of the tables if you are intrested, I do not remeber if they come with the documents in [hsGUI] mod folders).

[Nukesub]

Thank both of you for your replies.

@Maillemaker

What exactly are map contacts? Are those when blips show up on nav. map saying "Unknown, N NE, Slow" ?

Also, in the campaign I mentioned earlier, I am in one of the coastal craft, the small U-boats. I find that the only way I can make my patrols is going the whole way at 1/3 or less speed. Is this unusual? Time-wise it really isn't so bad with TC, but I am just wondering in general.

As a quick aside, there IS the Kiel Canal (possible shortcut?), but I find you cannot use TC in it and so it would take an inordinately long amount to travel it!

Also, if I run out of torpedo's it seems that if I dock in a friendly port (to resupply) and have NOT completed or arrived at my patrol grid, upon leaving the friendly dock I am told to just return home to my original beginning port (Kiel in this case). So, don't dock until you have completed patrol I guess, if you want to keep hunting?

Will they ever radio you to come home if you stay out hunting and just keep resupplying at friendly ports?

Also, if anyone cares to, are there any highly recommended mods that come with the GWX3 Gold install but are not enabled by default? (e.g. 16km atomsphere)

Thank you all in advance! I am excited to learn as much as I can

Haha, the acronyms! They are taking hold!

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Nukesub

Also, in the campaign I mentioned earlier, I am in one of the coastal craft, the small U-boats. I find that the only way I can make my patrols is going the whole way at 1/3 or less speed. Is this unusual? Time-wise it really isn't so bad with TC, but I am just wondering in general.

The Type VII u-boat had a listed range of 8500 nautical miles at 10 knots. This varied from type to type, and the Silent Hunter world is flat, not round. The major supermods have changed things to account for the extra distance that needs to be travelled, but your best speed will almost always be the second setting, or 1/3. Between 7 and 10 knots is also a good guideline.

As a quick aside, there IS the Kiel Canal (possible shortcut?), but I find you cannot use TC in it and so it would take an inordinately long amount to travel it!

One of the cool functions of SH3 Commander is to allow you to easily chance time compression limits. 'When Near Shore' (or 'Land') is one of them. You can set the TC for any speed you want. Just be careful when you do so - you can run yourself aground if you're not.

Also, if I run out of torpedo's it seems that if I dock in a friendly port (to resupply) and have NOT completed or arrived at my patrol grid, upon leaving the friendly dock I am told to just return home to my original beginning port (Kiel in this case). So, don't dock until you have completed patrol I guess, if you want to keep hunting?

Technically the only port you should be able to resupply at is a dedicated u-boat base. GWX adds in supply ships docked at neutral ports and later milk cows - u-boats that meet you mid-ocean with supplies. Realistically a patrol in a Type VII shouldn't last longer than a month.

Will they ever radio you to come home if you stay out hunting and just keep resupplying at friendly ports?

No, you're on your own. Also not realistic, but every game has its limitations.

Also, if anyone cares to, are there any highly recommended mods that come with the GWX3 Gold install but are not enabled by default? (e.g. 16km atomsphere)

I use a 20km environment mod that also changes the water quite a bit. I also us several dozen other mods, and everyone has a setup they like best. Rather than give you a rundown myself, I'll refer you to a good thread on the subject.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=170090

[Aktungbby]

Nukesub!

[Jimbuna]

Welcome to SubSim and the GWXperience Nuke

[maillemaker]

@Maillemaker

What exactly are map contacts? Are those when blips show up on nav. map saying "Unknown, N NE, Slow" ?

Those are contacts that are reported to you via radio for you to go investigate (or not).

What I am talking about is if you have Map Contacts turned on, as soon as you raise your periscope, or if you are surfaced and your deck crew has spotted them, little ship icons will appear on your nav and attack maps. If you zoom in on the map you can even tell what kind of ship they are by the size and shape of the icon. And of course you can determine exactly their heading and speed. It is basically a "God's Eye" view of the battlefield. The 3:15 method works perfectly to determine speed when you have Map Contacts turned on.

Also, in the campaign I mentioned earlier, I am in one of the coastal craft, the small U-boats. I find that the only way I can make my patrols is going the whole way at 1/3 or less speed. Is this unusual? Time-wise it really isn't so bad with TC, but I am just wondering in general.

As a quick aside, there IS the Kiel Canal (possible shortcut?), but I find you cannot use TC in it and so it would take an inordinately long amount to travel it!

I avoid Kiel and I avoid those kinky Type II boats.

I start from Wilhelmshaven with a Type VII, and upgrade to a Type IX as soon as possible. I want a big deck gun and lots of torpedoes!

Also, if I run out of torpedo's it seems that if I dock in a friendly port (to resupply) and have NOT completed or arrived at my patrol grid, upon leaving the friendly dock I am told to just return home to my original beginning port (Kiel in this case). So, don't dock until you have completed patrol I guess, if you want to keep hunting?

There are a few drawbacks to ending the mission anywhere other than your home port. You will be given a default torpedo loadout that you cannot change, and you will lose any awards or promotions that you earned as you cannot issue them if you are not in your home port. Also you cannot qualify a petty officer or officer. Generally, unless it is an emergency, it is best to go home.

Will they ever radio you to come home if you stay out hunting and just keep resupplying at friendly ports?

No, but you will never be able to promote/award your crew or pick custom torpedo loadouts, as above. You can get around the promotion/award problem by using SH Commander.

[quote[Also, if anyone cares to, are there any highly recommended mods that come with the GWX3 Gold install but are not enabled by default? (e.g. 16km atomsphere)[/quote]

I like the long-range atmosphere mods. You'll also want the late-war sensor mods in late war, so you get the radar detector on your snorkle.

Steve