WolfPack League SH3 multiplay CAMPAIGN

[Dargo]

First General Outline

Originally Posted by Hornet

This is the first general outline that I have put together from the threads people have added, from phone calls, emails and everything else. I hope I didn't leave anything out here, but if I did, please mention it, and we can ammend it. But this is the general outline of how ( those people that have responded ) think we should play the campaign.


1. Players will try their best to maintain high standards for accuracy when posting in the forums for all communications and reporting.

2. Our goal is to have "FUN", but players are encouraged to "get into the part" to make it sound more real.

3. So far , we will use the patch 1.4, play at realism settings the individual is comfortable with, and use the Sh3 Commander Mod for "most" of our patrols ( more on this later ).

4. Uboats will patrol Grids the game selects for us, however BDU and the FC's will reserve the right to shift boats around, based on intelligence, and contact reports.

5. Players will check the forums daily for change of assignments and contact reports. This will help you, not hurt you. It will be helpful to know where a convoy is in your area, so you don't waste precious fuel looking in vein.

6. Players will notify High Command ( when possible ) before attacking convoys so that possible wolfpacks can be organized. In cases where we can organize wolfpacks, the first uboat making contact will be the boat in tactical command and shadow convoy until game is made by stat writers. The boat making first contact should be very specific as to the convoys course, speed, and date and time the convoy is found. And of course the composition of the convoy and the number of escorts.

7. Players should ( average ) playing 2 war days for every present day we are in. A 2:1 ratio. This is necessary so that communications between boats, and headquarters will be somewhat up to date, and still allow us to act on them. The first patrol will probably be played a little slower than this to allow players to adjust, then we will speed up later.

8. Uboats should make every effort to sink lone ships in single player campaign, don't rely on multiplayer games to get your tonnage.
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush".

9. Players will post their patrol reports in the appropriate flotilla forum within 7 days of returning to port.

10. Players will keep track of the torpedoes fired so that if they are involved in a multiplayer game, they only fire the number of torps they have left on board in the campaign, reguardless of the torps they have on board in the multiplayer game. For example: If in a Type 7B uboat, Knowing they have 14 torpedoes to start with. If they fire 8 torpedoes in the campaign, and then get involved in a multiplayer game, they can only fire 6 torpedoes in the multiplayer game. Then return to port.

11. Once the multiplayer game is complete - the uboat in tactical command will send a report to his FC by email. The report should include the uboats that took part, along with the ships and tonnages they sunk. The FC will them look over the report, perhaps "spice it up", then the FC will post the description of the battle in the 'General War news Forum" for the other uboats to see.

12. FC's will total the individual tonnages for each uboat under their command ( by the patrol reports ) and send this to BDU for posting in the forums or main home page.

13. Players will post in their patrol reports tonnage they sink in single player patrol and multiplayer missions organized by High Command. They should include both in their reports. ( Their total career tonnage in their game might not match their actual total tonnage, because tonnage sunk during multi missions won't be saved to their game. However it will be posted in the forums, or website somewhere. They will get credit.

14. Players should understand there will be some pauses in play once in a while to allow the FC's and BDU to "catch up" on things if needed.

15. Current war date will be posted by BDU in the " General War news forum" and serve as the "clock" we all go by. Or as close as possible.

16. Players get to pick "real" uboat numbers and authentic captains using the Sh3 commander mod, however if your killed in combat, you must pick another and start over. Players should use this name when posting in forums along with their wpl username. Players are encouraged to use a picture of this authentic captain in the forums for added realism. ( Avatar ).

17. Days in port will be different for each uboat to simulate historical accuracy. Type 2's will spend more days in port for upgrades and refits, as the Type 2's were problematic in the early days.

Something else to think about


In order to ensure we have boats at sea at all times , it will be necessary to launch in 2 waves against the British.

The first wave will be launched on September 1st 1939 using the campaign only ( NOT THE SH3 COMMANDER MOD ). You would simply start the game up and create a new campaign ( career ) from the flotilla of your choice starting in 1939. Your 2nd patrol will be modified with the Sh3 commander mod, we will tell you how this is done later, its easy, so don't worry.

The second wave: Will launch on October 1st 1939 using the commander mod to start with. You will also pick the flotilla of your choice and match up the uboat number you want. We will tell you how later, its easy.

So you need to start thinking about which flotilla you may want to join, and which WAVE you want to go out on.



If I forgot anything please feel free to add to this posting. Complaints, comcerns, comments all welcome.

CAMPAIGN UPDATE - What to expect as you play it.....

Originally Posted by Hornet

Hi everyone, well so far so good with the new campaign. I'm about 40% done writing it and early testing is promising. But I want all of you interested in playing it to know a few things and what to expect.

One of the things we have going for us, is that there are two main layers in the campaign. The Random layer and the Scripted layer. The random layer is that part of the campaign that contains random events that the player will see. Convoys of different ships one day, and more different the next. I decided to keep this part of the default campaign and only add to the scripted layer, ( those events that will happen in a certain way). This scripted layer is the one in which I am modifying to be more historical. Added convoys, real ship names, and sailing dates, along with accurate destinations. This will make the scripted layer in the campaign even more real.

A couple things you can expect to see:

1. More convoys, both along the regular convoy routes and other routes. Some of them you will get real radio messages in the game to tell you of some of their locations.

2. It was part of the War for convoys to meet in certain locations, pick up their escorts and then sail to another destination across the Atlantic and then once near their ports, disperse on to each ships individual port. Some sailed alone, other small groups were escorted and so on. So depending on where you are in your patrol you might encounter a HUGE convoy, one lightly escorted, or one heavily escorted. You might also if patroling near the English coast, you might run into ships that have already dispersed from their original convoy and headed to their ports. So depending on where you find the convoy, will depend on its composition and escorts. Most of you know, that during the War, hundreds of convoys sailed in the Atlantic, the first ones starting in early September 1939. The reason most of these weren't picked up by any uboats was because Donitz had called most of them back to port for a second wave in October. But the convoys were started very early in the War, however most weren't attacked. So in this campaign, there might be dozens of convoys flotting around out there, just because you don't find one, doesn't mean they don't exist. Just like buying and saling a home, location, location, location, its everything.


3. The other thing I will be adding for more realism is the cargo of the ships. The outbound convoys were usually ( not always ), sailing in ballast. Not carrying ammunition or fuel very often. So don't expect to fire 1 torp at an outgoing ship and expect him to explode. It might take several shots and deck gun ammo to sink an outbound C-2 or C-3. However the inbound will have have a higher chance of carrying ammo or fuel. But thats not always the case either 100% of the time. So expect anything. Also, don't expect the tankers to be sailing on the outside of a convoy. The Allies protected these more valuable targets by putting them deeper inside the convoys. The less valuable ships and less valuable cargo was on the edges of the convoy. Expect this in the campaign.

4. The one complaint I've heard in the subsim community was the lack of aircraft in 1943 and 1944 patroling the Bay of Biscay. In this campaign if your sailing on the surface through here, expect to be bombed. And not by brain dead pilots either.

5. You will also need to use caution when attacking any target. Remember if you die, you start over with another captain and U-boat number. So be careful, and multiplayer missions will be the same. So if you Hotdog your attack, you might pay the price.

6. Many times during the war, the German's tried to lure the British Fleet out of their ports into submarine traps. IF your lucky enough to be in the area of one of these traps, you might spot a Battleship task force through your scope,. You probably won't know of the trap by radio, but you might get lucky and be in the right place at the right time.

7. IF your on patrol way out at sea, and you spot swordfish torpedo planes. You know your to far from land for them to be flying from there, so a carrier is close by, watch for her.

8. The British set up mine fields to stop the uboats from gaining access through the English channel, and even other locations north of the British Isles. Expect more of this.

9.. Expect also alerts from Condors throughout the campaign. IF you get a report of a convoy in your area. Better believe its there.

10. These are just a few of my creations, of course I have also thrown in a few of my own little secrets. :wink: :wink:


Hopefully should have this ready for full testing sometime in March.

Expect to be picking your uboats sometime early March.

Hornet

PLEASE READ --- Uboat selections begin today !!!!
FIRST UBOATS ASSIGNED

[Dargo]

[MarshalLaw]

Hello Dargo,

Sounds like fun , but I have a question. If you have mods installed already, would they need to be taken off in order to play in the league. I have nothing major at the moment, but I was planning to install Rub and SH3 commander. Thoughts and rules regarding mods?

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by Hornet

It doesn't really matter what you use, but I would warn against ANY mod that changes the campaign files. You can check this by looking in your default campaign and see if the size files change.

They are Campaign_RND
Campaign_LND
Campaign_SCR
messages_en
messages_ge

if they change in size, then we offer no promises as to what might happen when you install our campaign ( when its finished ).

See First General outline!

3. So far , we will use the patch 1.4, play at realism settings the individual is comfortable with, and use the Sh3 Commander Mod for "most" of our patrols ( more on this later ).

Hornet

[MarshalLaw]

Roger that . May I suggest that when you send out your campaign patch or D/L Just put in a warning for which type of mods could effect performance. In the meantime I have installed commander (latest version) and will hold off on RUB.

[MarshalLaw]

A few more commanders are needed. Please come play if you can. Things should be ready to go in 2 weeks or less.

Will keep this near the top so everyone gets a chance to see it.

[MarshalLaw]

bump

[MarshalLaw]

bumpy bump

[MarshalLaw]

Last bump. Should stay on first page until tonight. Hopefully enough people have had a chance to see it. Come play if you can.

[Hornet]

Guys the campaign is about finished. There will most likely be some updates as we play that you will have to download and paste in your directories about every 6 months of war. It looks like this will be necessary because the files are just to darn big for me to write all at once. But this shouldn't be a problem. I will continue to write the updates as we play.

Here are some links you need to check out:

http://subclub.info/phpBB_subclub/viewtopic.php?t=14974


Also:

http://subclub.info/phpBB_subclub/viewtopic.php?t=14980


Also:

http://subclub.info/phpBB_subclub/viewtopic.php?t=16698



Hope to see all of you there. I hope to start very soon after the question and answer session in our chat room.

Hornet