SH3 Newbie Guide, FAQs, Tactics & Tips, Links, & other helpful stuff

[KptnLt Eric Karle]

Hi all, been a long time since I was around. I have just recently started playing this wonderful game again and was looking for a copy of Wazoo's Manual Charting & Targeting Tutorial, to brush up my rusty manual targetting skills however the link at the beginning of this threadappears to be dead, does anybody have a copy of the file or knows if it is uploaded anywhere I could get it from. Much appreciated

[FlankSpeed]

Wazoo's guide:

http://www.finael.fr/sh3/charge/charting_&_targeting.doc

And if you like video here is a series of youtube vids called 'The Hunt' which is pretty much the same as Wazoo's method, except he uses the WO for range instead of the stadimeter thingy.

[KptnLt Eric Karle]

Originally Posted by FlankSpeed

Wazoo's guide:

http://www.finael.fr/sh3/charge/charting_&_targeting.doc

And if you like video here is a series of youtube vids called 'The Hunt' which is pretty much the same as Wazoo's method, except he uses the WO for range instead of the stadimeter thingy.

Thanks Mate, really appreciate this

[Mustang01]

Gentlemen,

I'm currently playing GWX 3.0 w/SH3 Commander and loving it. I'm in my first "real" patrol with a Type 7 out of Wil in Dec '39. In playing a few "prototype" patrols before starting my "real" career, I started to feel that the "Opportunity Map Contacts" seemed unrealistic. I felt as if I had an AWACS or JSTARS flying for me that was way too effective at spotting random shipping contacts. My kills skyrocketed but I was nagged by the feeling that I was cheating. As such, I turned the decay time for the Opportunity Contacts to zero so I do not see them (note, this is not the Important Contacts that you get from BdU). This makes quite a difference as I now have to really hunt with the hydrophones and waiting for that fateful BdU message of "convoy spotted" takes on a lot more meaning. Am I the only one who feels this way or have other skippers done the same? BTW, what are the opportunity contacts supposed to represent, reports from other boats, Kondors, SIGINT? I strive for max realism in all things SH3 and have really gotten into manual targeting, trying to learn in the early years in order to survive after '41 if possible. Would appreciate any perspective.

[gi_dan2987]

Originally Posted by Mustang01

Gentlemen,

I'm currently playing GWX 3.0 w/SH3 Commander and loving it. I'm in my first "real" patrol with a Type 7 out of Wil in Dec '39. In playing a few "prototype" patrols before starting my "real" career, I started to feel that the "Opportunity Map Contacts" seemed unrealistic. I felt as if I had an AWACS or JSTARS flying for me that was way too effective at spotting random shipping contacts. My kills skyrocketed but I was nagged by the feeling that I was cheating. As such, I turned the decay time for the Opportunity Contacts to zero so I do not see them (note, this is not the Important Contacts that you get from BdU). This makes quite a difference as I now have to really hunt with the hydrophones and waiting for that fateful BdU message of "convoy spotted" takes on a lot more meaning. Am I the only one who feels this way or have other skippers done the same? BTW, what are the opportunity contacts supposed to represent, reports from other boats, Kondors, SIGINT? I strive for max realism in all things SH3 and have really gotten into manual targeting, trying to learn in the early years in order to survive after '41 if possible. Would appreciate any perspective.

Welcome aboard
Kudos on your quest to maintain 100% realism. Many out there that play SH3GWX3 do not take advantage of the full capabilities of the sim because they play with certain things enabled like Weapon Officer assistance, map contact updates, sonar updates, external camera view (im sure real U boat Kaleuns would have loved having a birds eye view of their sub in relation to attacking DD's during a DC attack). All in all, 100% realism means exactly what it says. You get as real as you can get without physically stepping into a U boat in WW2.

The opportunity contact updates you get are ships that are spotted by any friendly unit that decided to put out an enigma message. Examples of friendly units are: Another U-boat, friendly aircraft, friendly merchant, or friendly naval vessel. Likewise you can radio out map contact updates if you spot a ship or convoy. I'm not sure if you get wolfpack assistance or not in GWX3, but it enhances the realism.

The one thing I have a problem with is doing night attacks against convoys. you really cant see enough on the surface to do visual targeting, and if you go below the surface to use the 4 bearing hydrophone method, your math will be off since you will be picking up numerous contacts. In case you didn't know, the 4 bearing method only works if the following statements remain true: the contact is a single contact, contacts course remains the same, contacts speed remains the same. If any of those variables change drastically at anytime during the hydrophone calculations, you will get false information, and therefore your torpedo solution will be trash. You also will not be able to tell if the contact made any of these changes until you fire and your torps miss. It happens a lot in the dark during stormy weather, as the wind and waves make ships cross drift and change speeds. Also if you can't see, you can't accurately identify your target, so you better not be in an area that is also traveled frequently by friendly or neutral ships too.

Renown in this game is much less than stock SH3, in the way that you don't get credit for merely reaching your patrol sector or returning to port. Merchants carry much less renown value, and if you happen to sink a friendly or neutral, you will watch all your hard earned renown go down the ****ter. Unless anyone has any better ideas of racking up immense tonnage scores, I would say your best bet is to attack during the day AFTER properly ID'ing your target. Good Hunting!

-Commander, U-65

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by gi_dan2987

I'm not sure if you get wolfpack assistance or not in GWX3, but it enhances the realism.

Sadly no...

Would be a great addition if the engine could be adapted.

[gi_dan2987]

Originally Posted by Fish In The Water

Sadly no...

Would be a great addition if the engine could be adapted.

There are things about video games that can't encompass real life, and there's things in real life that can't encompass video games. I suppose being in a real U-boat would not have been a pleasant experience, but you would also have had more options and abilities available to you than a video game allows you to have. One being the ability to bottom out in shallow water to escape from enemy sonar pings, and two, the ability to jerry rig your sub if you had to in order to make it home. None of this, woops rudders gone, game over type of stuff.

I'm still curious as to how they did night surface attacks against convoys when it was a pitch black night.......