Where should I start learning how to play Wolves of Steel properly?

[moeburn]

Originally Posted by THEBERBSTER

Hi vecko

The default 88mm was useable.

The TWOS reduced version I found I was using over 80 shells to sink a small merchant.

This did not feel right.

Even the small coastal boats seem to use an excessive amount.

Firing loads of shells in to a ship I seem to remember Shaefer saying that he did not want to bore us with it.

The Critical Hits mod is not for the purists but it gets the job done.

When you have gamers playing TWOS using torpedo circles you can see why realism to some holds no importance.

Peter

Okay, so should I get the critical hits mod or not? I'd prefer to have the most realistic experience possible - I understand a single 8.8cm is going to take quite a long time to sink a full size merchant, and without a torpedo hit, I don't expect it to sink one in any "fun" amount of time. But I did expect those little wooden tugboats to blow in two on the first hit with an HE shell, and that did not happen.

I was also offered a flak gun upgrade in the upgrades menu - I can't remember the name of it but I believe it increased mag size and fire rate but not caliber. Will that one work?

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi moeburn

If you are trying to keep it realistic then only accept the upgrades as per the upgrade chart.

Critical Hits does over perform.
Unfortunately the less powerful version of Critical Hits is no longer available.

About 3 HE shells will put paid to a Coastal Boat which is not unreasonable for a 90 ton boat depending where they hit.

I personally do not want to have to wait for hours for a merchant to sink.
80 shells to sink a small merchant 1936 tons to me is not acceptable.
If the default 88mm was available I would not be using Critical Hits.

I have played SH5 now for over 3 years and I have never yet used the flak gun.
Whether the flak gun could be used on Coastal Boats firing multiple rounds of HE would be useful if the game allows for the hits to count.
TWOS has the mod R.S.D. in it so the chances of your survival if you try taking on aircraft with a pea shooter is going to be a short career.

Peter

[moeburn]

Originally Posted by THEBERBSTER

Hi moeburn

If you are trying to keep it realistic then only accept the upgrades as per the upgrade chart.

Critical Hits does over perform.
Unfortunately the less powerful version of Critical Hits is no longer available.

About 3 HE shells will put paid to a Coastal Boat which is not unreasonable for a 90 ton boat depending where they hit.

I personally do not want to have to wait for hours for a merchant to sink.
80 shells to sink a small merchant 1936 tons to me is not acceptable.
If the default 88mm was available I would not be using Critical Hits.

I have played SH5 now for over 3 years and I have never yet used the flak gun.
Whether the flak gun could be used on Coastal Boats firing multiple rounds of HE would be useful if the game allows for the hits to count.
TWOS has the mod R.S.D. in it so the chances of your survival if you try taking on aircraft with a pea shooter is going to be a short career.

Peter

Hey thanks for the advice! Wow really you've never used the flak gun? I'm only at Oct 9, 1939 and I've already shot down 6 aircraft. For some reason, some of the aircraft fly right at me like they're going to attack, but they don't fire anything. Usually the twin engine planes. So they're extremely easy to shoot down. Not only that, but the AI flak gunner has laser-like accuracy, a little unrealistic if you ask me but there it is. But yeah, I've discovered that if I try to take on a pair of single engine fighters, my sub is pretty much screwed and I have to reload saved game.

I have yet another question though. After completing the danzig mission, I took the "british coastal waters" mission, either because I didn't see the Breaking the Fortress mission or because it wasn't available. Well it became available, and even though it wasn't my selected mission, I decided to do it anyway, because it was Oct 9 and the objective didn't end until Oct 15. Snuck into that little harbour, spent 10-game hours putzing around at 1.5knots, until I finally found and sunk the Renown, and managed to sneak out, but nothing happened. I got no "objective completed" notice, the objective is still listed at the top left of the map, the only thing that did change is my tonnage sunk in the captain's log, which says I sunk the Renown. What's up with that? I can't complete objectives if I haven't selected them as my patrol?

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi moeburn

The difference between us might be the difficulty level we both play at.

I have done British Coastal Waters (BCW) a few times and the number of aircraft and constantly being attacked by them during daylight is quite ferocious.
The only way I can survive during the day is to run at Decks Awash and keep my Avatar below deck.
I have set my X key as a hot key for crash diving so I can get under as quick as possible as every second counts.

Regarding your comments on Breaking The Fortress (BTF) this always appears later than (BCW) and then North Western Approaches also appears showing you 3 missions that are all date controlled.
There is no notification for completing (BTF) other than the Captain's Log that you mentioned.

I am not sure at this point whether you can see a bonus point for completing (BTF) or you have to wait to receive it next time you load in the bunker.
If you can see it it now it will be in the Crew Management screen.

Peter

[moeburn]

Originally Posted by THEBERBSTER

Hi moeburn

The difference between us might be the difficulty level we both play at.

I have done British Coastal Waters (BCW) a few times and the number of aircraft and constantly being attacked by them during daylight is quite ferocious.
The only way I can survive during the day is to run at Decks Awash and keep my Avatar below deck.
I have set my X key as a hot key for crash diving so I can get under as quick as possible as every second counts.

I clicked the 2nd highest difficulty, I think it was "High", just under "Realistic". Don't get me wrong, if I see a pair of planes heading straight for my sub, I have to dive, otherwise they're gonna tear me to shreds. But when it's just a lone single plane, my god is the AI gunner ever good. He can pick them off from so far away. Even when it's a pair doing an attack run, he'll usually get one of the two planes before they even pass over my sub after the first run. But then I'll be dead, because they'll still fire and hit.

Originally Posted by THEBERBSTER

Regarding your comments on Breaking The Fortress (BTF) this always appears later than (BCW) and then North Western Approaches also appears showing you 3 missions that are all date controlled.
There is no notification for completing (BTF) other than the Captain's Log that you mentioned.

I am not sure at this point whether you can see a bonus point for completing (BTF) or you have to wait to receive it next time you load in the bunker.
If you can see it it now it will be in the Crew Management screen.

Peter

Well that's kind of a bummer. You don't really get the dopamine high that you would get if you got a message saying "Objective completed!" on something as difficult and tedious as Breaking the Fortress. What are these "bonus points" you speak of? What will they look like?

Also, let me just say that I can't thank you and everyone else here enough for being so incredibly helpful and answering all my questions so thoroughly. I don't think I've ever experienced a gaming community as welcoming and as helpful as this one before.

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi moeburn.

You receive promotion/bonus points for completing tasks/objectives.

Each grid reference completed is worth 1 point.

In picture 1 the 3 Primary Objectives have been completed so is worth 3 points.


In picture 2 you can see at the top I have 4 points to play with.
Here I am giving 1 of those points to the Bosun.


If you have not checked out your crew previously there are a number of free points that can be awarded straight away.

The Subsim community has a good spirit and there is always someone around to help you out.

Because I am retired I have the time to reply to questions quite quickly where others might be at working.

Peter

[maillemaker]

Totally unnecessary and unrealistic mod which will make deck gun shells almost strong as torpedo warhead ...Wind and smoke...

I agree Critical Hits 1.2 is probably over-powered but think default WoS is too weak.

With Critical Hits 1.2 it takes about 15 shots, aiming for the waterline, to do in a 7,000 ton ship, with the 10cm gun. This is about what you could expect in SH3+GWX with the 10cm gun.

With stock WoS you can put 15 shots into it and it might catch on fire. But with stock WoS you can strafe the same ship end-to-end with AAA using HE shells and the ship will be burning stem to stern.

Last night I hit a 30+ ship unescorted convoy and took out 16 of them using all my internal torpedoes (3 misses) and the deck gun, for over 130,000 tons.

Probably unrealistic. Sure was fun though, watching them all scurry around in the dark!

Steve

[Frank Ravelli]

Hi there, I have the dumbest question: how do I open the XO TDC dialogue box? Do i need to have previously locked a ship in order to do it? I was doing one of the trevally tutorials and I couldn´t do it when it asked me to
Also, I think that there are this kind of dialogue boxes for other officers too, but I cannot get to open any of those.

Thanks for your patience

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi FR

Yes, you cannot open the TDC unless you have locked on to a target.

You can also see the XO here in this picture.



If you wish to close the TDC then this Icon is useful.
Peter

[letterboy1]

When I am looking at the Nav Map and choose (for example) to make sonar contacts visible, it will only last for the duration of that game session. When I start the game back up all settings return to default. A minor nuisance, but is there a way to make the settings stay?

[Frank Ravelli]

Thanks for your fast answer TheBerbster, I probably wouldn´t have noticed that icon in ages ;-)

What about the dialogues for the rest of the crew? Do they exist? I think I´ve seen them in some YT videos...

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi letterboy

You can make any of temporary changes permanent in TDW's Options File Editor Viewer.

See my tutorial post #6

Peter

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi Frank

I cannot say that I have missed any dialogue with TWOS as against previously using my own mod soup.

If you are referring to the written dialogue mod EMCCD this is the one that sober uses in his mega mod.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=210521

Whether this is compatible with TWOS I cannot say.

sober has an additional mod that seems to contain more mumbling than actual words being spoken.

sobers talking conning crew mod

Peter