Need Career / Patrol HELP!!!

[Kweli]

Hey Guys,

Im new to the Silent Hunter franchise.. but so far im loving it. Always been a plane/car simulator fan.... but subs are just WAY to fun...

Anyway, i finished the training missions and im ready for career.... unfortunatly i cant figure out how this is supposed to work..

Example, Mission 2 is to intercept merchant ships near some islands... So i take my sub to the 'star' on the map (even at x8200+ time compression it takes like 1-2 minutes - is there a way to 'skip' to contact) ANYWAY, I get to the star and theres nothing there... So i sit there for like 3 days and still nothing, then i decide to drive near all the islands (nearby) and cant find anything.... Time compression keeps stopping everytime i get a 'friendly location' alert..

I dont know, im just trying to figure out how to find my enemies and complete missions -> Seems like im the only person in the pacific

Question 2-> The game runs very smooth on my machine (i have a powerhouse) but when running on x8000 time compression it seems to chug.. even when im just looking at a map... Is there something i can do to improve this, or is there a way to skip longer sessions in 'time'?

Question 3 -> Mission 1 - Drop someone off at an island... I did this, then what? Return to base? It took me like 5-10 minutes to drop him off and go home even on the fastest settings... I must be doing something wrong because that was a boring first mission.....


I think thats it... for now

[Gildor]

You, as the Captain, have full command of your boat during the patrol. You can do whatever you want, go whatever route you want to complete your orders.

Your sub has a limited amount of fuel, therefore, use your discretion while on patrol to figure out what your can accomplish. Just make sure you have enough fuel to get back to port, or to get to a friendly port to refit.

The patrol doesnt end until you get back to your home port and chose "end patrol".

The TC is "chugging" at 8000x becasue even though time is sped up, the game still has to calculate all the position data for ships, etc. I red somehwere in these forums that using 1024 TC is faster than anything higher so I would recomend that you only use 1024 MAX.

As to mission types, you as the Captain, can determine if you have the resources to complete the mission safely for your boat and crew. The renown you do not get for not completing a mission is not that great. However, you can get better renown sinking ships. It is better to abandon a mission to chase a convoy than it is to sit around and wait for 48 hours in a sector to get 200 renown.

Patrol: Reach within aprox 55nm of icon and patrol for 48 hrs.
Search: Reach within aprox 55nm of icon then search for shipping and sink a certain amount of tonnage.
Supplies: Reach a certain distance of icon and stop engines. Drop of supplies.
Agent: Reach a certain distance of icon and stop engines. Drop off agent.
Photo: Reach a certain distance of target and take a certain number of photos.
Guard: Reach a certain distance of icon and rescue a specified number of survivors.

Send a status report at least every day. A status report is what determines the completion of missions and allows for additonal missions to be received.

My first patrol had 2 patrol area missions, a drop off supply mission, and a phot harbour mission before I returned back to base due to low fuel.

You are the Captain. The patrol is what you make it.

Not much I can add other than the fact that patrols were boring. When a contact did turn up the adrenalin would build. That is the facination with a submarine sim. This is the reason people play it with full realisim. Nothing is more rewarding than chasing a radar contact to find out what it is, lining up to shoot and sinking it. On the other side. spending all that time to find out it is a allied fishing boat is disapointing.

[Kweli]

Thanks for the information.... Right now im playing with no fuel until i can master the game more.... Ill end up with full realism as i get better..

How do i 'patrol' and find boats... How close do i have to be to them? When you say "patrol" do you mean just make giant circles in a certain area, or sit still for days?

Im not sure how far i can spot people on my map...

So far ive been doing ALOT of circles and i have yet to find a single enemy anywhere

[OddjobXL]

Send a status report at least every day. A status report is what determines the completion of missions and allows for additonal missions to be received.

This is the biggie right here. Easy to forget and nobody reminds you. I'm not even certain this is in the manual. Once you get out there and do your mission tell the folks back home how it's going. Contact an enemy? Send a contact report and be advised on how to proceed. Complete a mission, sink/kill enemies and send a mission report.

You also, if you're playing on easier levels (or just don't have the patience to make frequent, lengthy, refuelling runs home), might have unlimited fuel. Do keep an eye on your battery and CO2 levels when running submerged with TC on.

TC is the key to a decent experience and coupling that with reporting to HQ will keep things rolling along, IMHO.

I'm still getting my sealegs myself but this is making all the difference so far.

You need to be below periscope depth, say 75-100 feet, for the hydrophones to work. They'll 'hear' much farther than most of your guys can see. The slower you're moving the better they work too. I tend to cruise around in a zig-zag search pattern over the area. Slow speed (1/3 or 2/3), medium time compression if I'm in my patrol zone. I think my guys spot things better the lower it is but I'm too impatient to go /really/ slow. Maybe around 32-128 TC. Keep an eye on CO2 and battery levels (assuming you have those on). I'm also usually submerged during the day to avoid aircraft. I'll come up at night to recharge batteries and stay up until near morning when I go under again.

Interception and approach is a whole nother topic I'll leave to more expert people.

[FIREWALL]

This was great info guys. i dropped out of career patrol 1942 to see what was up here cause i was bored and you all answered alot of questions for me. Thx much.

[Gildor]

Originally Posted by Kweli

Thanks for the information.... Right now im playing with no fuel until i can master the game more.... Ill end up with full realism as i get better..

How do i 'patrol' and find boats... How close do i have to be to them? When you say "patrol" do you mean just make giant circles in a certain area, or sit still for days?

Im not sure how far i can spot people on my map...

So far ive been doing ALOT of circles and i have yet to find a single enemy anywhere

If you dont have radar, you can spot a ship while surfaced, depending on weather, at max 8 or 9 miles probably.

If it is during the day, try and submerge to 60 feet or lower so you can use the hydrophones. These can detect up to 25 nm or so.

Plot a course to patrol in a pattern. A good spot to patrol is at a strait where shipping routes would converge. The ships have a start point and a end point so if you look at the map and make a determination on possible routes near your sector, the chances are you will find ships.

Radar can spot a target at about 30nm I think.

If you are not using realistic fuel then decide to head back to home port at about 3 - 5 weeks max. I dont recall what the real patrol times where though.

[Kweli]

Thanks guys... I stayed surfaced which is why i couldnt find anything... Ill try submerging and using my hydrophones...

Are Hydrophones something i have to purchase, like radar, or will all subs have this?

Ill start reporting more often too...

Any information on how to find enemy ships once i reach the 'waypoint' star on the map? Like my Mission 2 example?

[davejb]

This made me smile (in a mad, wild eyed manner, admittedly) -

even at x8200+ time compression it takes like 1-2 minutes

Yesterday I read about 1/2 book (Evelyn Waugh, 'Officers and Gentlemen' since you asked) while I transitted from a truckstop called Midway to Manchuria. I'm really hoping that even more RAM helps here - I'm serious, I've had entire transits running in chug mode once going beyond 1024, and 2500 miles at 7kts is, errr.... say 350 ish hours of gametime - which ought to take around 20 minutes to run but in chug o'vision takes perhaps 1 to 1.5 REAL hours. No joke, I really have sat here reading a book for an hour and a half while my sim transits to the area. Hope the extra RAM helps - I had 1.5Gb to start with and a 4Gb swapfile on C, defragged, reloaded everything....

Okay, I read the book over several transits really. It's a good book, by the way, despite having only one submarine in it.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Kweli

Thanks guys... I stayed surfaced which is why i couldnt find anything... Ill try submerging and using my hydrophones...

Are Hydrophones something i have to purchase, like radar, or will all subs have this?

Ill start reporting more often too...

Any information on how to find enemy ships once i reach the 'waypoint' star on the map? Like my Mission 2 example?

You will have sonar already. Cruise at 70 feet or you do not hear to much with the sonar.

What I do when I arrive to the star, report in your position so they know you are on stations. Lay out a patrol path on your map but stay around 100nm to the star. You have to hang out for 48 hours. Sometimes you strike gold sometimes you see nothing in that 48 hours. Just a fact of the game and life concerning patrols.

[Kweli]

Perfect, thanks.. I will try that

Now when you guys say "plot a patrol course" what do you mean?

Before i was making circles around the star, getting wider and wider (sort of like one of those weird illusion/bullseye things)

Other times, i just tried zig/zags around the star

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Kweli

Perfect, thanks.. I will try that

Now when you guys say "plot a patrol course" what do you mean?

Before i was making circles around the star, getting wider and wider (sort of like one of those weird illusion/bullseye things)

Other times, i just tried zig/zags around the star

That is plotting! You look to be doing it

[Keellan]

Is there a way to move up in submarine class during your career and approximately how long does it take?

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Keellan

Is there a way to move up in submarine class during your career and approximately how long does it take?

Sink ships and complete you assignments. This will get you better subs to play with.

[Kweli]

Please lord help me.. ive been circling the islands im supposed to find these merchants for 2 hours (REAL LIFE hours)

I have yet to find a enemy ship...

Luckly i found some contacts, but both times they ended up being friendly (in frustration i almost sunk a torpedo into them)

Im doing something wrong, because im still floating along and havent seen 1 ship anywhere in the pacific