Last Chance at my Skipper stripes...

[Enigma]

Ive tried with DW. I reeeally have. And I just dont "get it".

I havent figured out if I dont know enough about whats going on, or if I just dont like the game that much. (im thinking its the former.) But ive had DW for almost a year now I suppose, and I still find myself completely hopeless at it. Ive tried to learn all the stations and equipment, but so far with minimal success. Sure, ive won a few missions, had some fun moments of glory, but the vast majority of time has been spent wondering what the hell is going on, how to target and kill an enemy, and what the hell that DEMON display is telling me.
Now, I can safely and professionally fly an airplane in the real world. I have figured out all the sophisticated equipment in "Lock on" and "Falcon 4.0" that allows me to pinpoint a small target with a laser and guide a AGM-65 there, and destroy it, but to this day, DW evades me, terribly.

Im going to cram the books, use this forum, and use tutorials, and take one last shot at figuring this game out. Either I figure it out and get my skipper stripes, or I fail, and the game goes on ebay.

[DAB]

Good luck with all of that. I hope you figure out what the sticking point is because the games worth the effort. And keep posting on the forum

DAB.

PS. DEMON is telling you the speed of your target. Once you've worked out (and sometimes it takes an educated guess) what the identity of the platform is on the Narrowband sonar system, you look it up on the USNI Reference and find the T.P.K (turns per knot) figure which is usually near the top of the platform description. On Demon on the 688i, where it says Turns Per Knot, enter the figure you got from the USNI reference and then move the curser on the display to the middle of the first vertical stripe on the left. The figure in the bottom right then gives you the speed of the platform in knots. If you then go to TMA you can put in the speed in knots for the platform as one of the figures you need for a firing solution and lock that part of the solution (push the button next to knots on TMA). That makes it easier to figure out an accurate firing solution

[Dr.Sid]

Play with 'show truth' on and just blast them away

[sonar732]

I might suggest joining a virtual navy that has a good training department or people who know their stuff to mentor you.

[SeaQueen]

Originally Posted by Enigma

Ive tried to learn all the stations and equipment, but so far with minimal success.

Naval simulators are a lot more slow-moving and abstract than flight simulators. They also involve more guess work. Perhaps we could help you more if you described a specific thing you didn't understand, or a particular problem you are having. We could expand from there. Have you tried occaisionally turning "Show Truth" on so that you can check what's going on against what you thought was going on, and building confidence that way?

My experience has been that a lot of missions are quite poorly designed. They're so poorly put together that you really can't learn much on them.

I also think it's hard sometimes to explain naval tactics without drawing pictures, but that's just me...

[Dr.Sid]

Yeah .. especially TMA without pictures is impossible
I figured most things out with help of the mission editor. I edited one civilian ship in 5nm distance and I tracked it. It's all much easier when they don't shoot back.

I did the same when I was unable to shoot down bombers in IL2 .. I just setup some friendlies and practiced.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Originally Posted by Dr.Sid

I did the same when I was unable to shoot down bombers in IL2 .. I just setup some friendlies and practiced.

You are better than me at fighter games, then. When I actually had Flanker 2.5 installed on my laptop, I tried to shoot down the tanker that I was supposed to practice refuelling from (actually refuelling from it is so far over my head its not worth trying). I managed to burn up 150 rounds of cannon and the darn tanker didn't go down.

But the real thing that made me uninstall it, FYI, was a joystick issue. The joystick is fine, until you engage the autopilot (which you'd think is a great help to a lousy pilot like me). If the plane's speed wasn't just right, the nose won't be level and the elevators won't be in a neutral position. For example, say my elevators are 5 degrees up to maintain level flight. When I disengage my autopilot, the "center" position of my joystick equates to this 5 degree up angle, forcing me to push the stick forward just to keep the elevators neutral. Needless to say, any chance of realistic control goes after that.

[Officerpuppy]

It took me years to master 688i So playing DW is almost like starting over again,
but don't give up, DW is a great game once you get the hang of it.

And speaking of flying, prior to getting a joystick I used to fly a 747 on Microsoft flight sim 98? with a mouse and keyboard! lol. I think I tried to take one off an aircraft carrier once, but I cant remember if I ever pulled it off at least once.

[swimsalot]

I've had F4-Allied Force for maybe a month now, and it seems way more difficult to learn than the DW platforms. If you have mastered the ability to fly the F16, while accurately using the different AA/AG radar modes, and launching a succesful attack at the proper TOT, without getting shot down by SAM or other fighters, I think you can master DW. Try to get with someone on a Voice system (ie Teamspeak) to walk you through the stations- it's alot easier to have someone verbally coach you through something than just reading it in a book.