Stuck...on first mission

[Frame57]

Originally Posted by Stonn

Just back to SC myself after playing a "few" other games the past year and a bit.
Reinstalled SC, patched to 108 and then added SCXII.
Try the first mission with that combination!

As the scenario opens you are "cavitating" and within 20-seconds the tanker is sunk - game over!

I have no idea how to get past it...foolishly I've opened that mission 3 times to the same result?!?

Make sure "show truth" is off becaue a kilo launches a missile at the tanker. i think the designers set it up so if you use that, the scenario is even more difficult.

[Robsoie]

I went ahead at full speed ahead of the tanker, had to go at depth 40 because the sea floor was coming dangerously near my sub.

Then once i thought i was in the "danger zone" and could now be in enemy sonars, i slowed down to +/- a speed of 2.

After looking at narrowband and broadband and always noticing no contact on any panels, i decided to ping the water as that damn tanker was going full speed and my advance of it was becoming smaller and smaller and always saw nothing.

So i used the periscope and far away at +/- bearing 300 in zoom maximum i saw what looked like something "light blue" on the "deep blue" of the water, but it could just have been a visual bug .

As the shape of that bizarre anomaly was strangely similar to one of a sub (like if it was floating on the water, i snapshot-ed it and launched a torpedo at this far away snapshot that i designed as a sub platform.

And i was right, as after some time, explosion -> kilo destroyed. That strange bug (as it was the shape of the whole sub instead of just a periscope) for once was helping.

During that time, sadly the tanker certaionly commanded by some really stupid guy arrived at my side always at full speed, and then "torpedo in the water" with the conclusion minutes later that tanker went down with the fishes.

A second torpedo was in the water after that while i was again trying to ping everywhere, obviously i was the target as i was revealing myself, so i moved away while firing another torpedo to where the enemy one +/- appeared.

Launching countermesures just in case and going away, unfortunately i lost the wire and the torpedo went berserk living a life of its own.

I used again the periscope and clearly saw what looked like another periscope relatively near in a different direction from where was coming the torpedo, there was a 3rd enemy sub ? .
No wonder that idiotic tanker stood no chances...

Good that i used the periscope, as there was a far away civilian ship that i could have hit with a random shot if i believed the sonar contacts.

Strangely exploring the narrowband showed always nothing related to any kind of submarine (and the broadband was always looking the same, at least it showed my torpedo going away).
I stopped pinging this time (as i remembered the enemy torpedo running somewhere).

So i snapshoted the enemy periscope, and launched another torpedo.

Unfortunately, as i was following the events on periscope i totally forgot to check what was happening with the enemy torpedo, where it was and where it was heading on.
I should have looked and used another countermesure while going elsewhere because soon after while looking at periscope to check the behaviour of the enemy while my torpedo was away i was hit and sunk by that roaming torpedo launched by the sub i never saw.

On the debriefing i noticed the scoring said there were indeed 3 kilo against me (last time i played that mission the debrief said there was only 2).

Next time i try, i will launch salvos as you suggest Frame57 instead of making sure my contacts are indeed kilos, as i can't see how to save that damned tanker as if i slow down to catch the kilo, that idiot try to run full speed ahead of me and is always destroyed during that time even when i manage to sink a kilo before.

[Frame57]

I think the game randomly sets up a third Kilo. Because i have seen it with 2 and then 3. If the scenario was different where you did not have to protect the tanker, then a slow stealth approach would work using passive sonar. But I doubt that the Kilo's can be picked up using it. Because I was using active sonar I surfaced the boat to avoid grounding it. I went SE of the tanker and went flank while continuously pinging, so I made sure the tanker was a couple of miles away from me, then I slowed to 3 knots. i figured the Kilo's (at least one of them was in water about 140 feet (to the floor). The other was definately surfaced, but those dang harpoons just will not home in one it. So 48's were the only way to go. Interesting that one the submerged Kilo that active sonar would give me a return audible blip, but not strong enough to see the blip on the display, so I had to guess that the boat was in the SE area of the staright somewhat near a land mass jutting out of the water. that may be why the sonar signal was weak. I got the idea of steaming fast and using active sonar from my former COB who was a Torpedoman. They were more up on combat tactics than squids like me who just fixed the boat, but it seems to be the only way to beat this mission.

[Frame57]

I noticed I said SE and meant SW. So one Kilo is SW of the lane and the other sufaced one is NW, so depending on your position one set of snapshots at about bearing 200 the other at about 310. The trick here agian because of shallow water and other surface craft is have presets for depth and enablement correct.

[Robsoie]

Originally Posted by kittpeak

Hi Robsoie,

tell me if you have tried this mission with only SC 1.08 or with SCXII, please.

Thanks

For now, i am playing those missions without SCXIIc, as i imagine they were designed for the specific sonar/detection range of the stock 1.08 game.

If you are interested to play stocks campaign with SCXIIc, i noticed someone reworked the Akula campaign for SCXIIc there :
http://www.subguru.com/missions.htm


Anyways, i edited this mission in the editor and placed the super tanker 4 nautic miles behind you.

It should make the mission less crazy due to the tanker not moving anymore ahead of you in the beginning and forcing you to speed up so much you will cavitate and be easily detected while being nearly blind.

Giving you more time to hunt enemy subs, i then removed 1 difficulty star (even if they serve no purpose, at least it warns you that this edit version of the mission is less difficult than the original 3 stars one).
I edited nothing else for the mission, so there are always a random amount of enemy sub, and they are always randomly placed.

While made for SC 1.08, having the super tanker 4 mni behind you should make the mission compatible with SCXIIc too.

You may notice the briefing text is modified, as i have downloaded a translation of the stock mission in my own langage and had not anymore the original mission files .
So i translated them back into english, and it may use different wording.

But nothing impacting the mission itself as i modified nothing else at all.

Download the edit version of the mission here
http://files.filefront.com/editmissi.../fileinfo.html
for people having not being able to get it from Filefront, here are some mirrors :
http://superuploader.net/83b626e537e...nSM01-zip.html


Extract SM01 Super Escort Edit.ms from the editmissionSM01.zip and place SM01 Super Escort Edit.ms in your ..\Sub Command\Scenario\ folder.
Don't worry, it does not replace the original version, as i named it differently.

[Frame57]

Hi Rob, you brought up an Interesting point. The difficulty stars i knoe obviously mean the level of difficulty. But do you know if they do or do not affect certain things in the game. For awhile I thought that maybe it either increased or decreased sensor and weapons abilities. Not sure of it but would like to hear what you thibnk about it> Thanks

[Frame57]

Also, I am having keyboard problems. Need a new one. So to all who read my posts, please forgive the many typos. I do know how to spell. just toooo lazy to edit. Apologies!

[Robsoie]

Originally Posted by Frame57

Hi Rob, you brought up an Interesting point. The difficulty stars i knoe obviously mean the level of difficulty. But do you know if they do or do not affect certain things in the game. For awhile I thought that maybe it either increased or decreased sensor and weapons abilities. Not sure of it but would like to hear what you thibnk about it> Thanks

Good point,

I can't say for sure the stars have no impact on AI ranges, detections, accuracy etc... But from all my mission editor quick skirmishes i built to learn the simulation mechanics, i noticed that even changing the amount of start from 1 to 3 and vice-versa when saving the missions never seemed to give an advantage or disadvantage of any kind to the AI.

I was able to be targeted by enemy and target them myself at 1 star or 3 stars the same. So i assumed setting the amount of star is just an indication you give to the player on how the mission will be difficult.

If anyone can confirm that stars are just an indication for the player, or instead of that will have a real impact on the AI values, it would be very nice.

[kittpeak]

Originally Posted by Robsoie

Next time i try, i will launch salvos as you suggest Frame57 instead of making sure my contacts are indeed kilos, as i can't see how to save that damned tanker as if i slow down to catch the kilo, that idiot try to run full speed ahead of me and is always destroyed during that time even when i manage to sink a kilo before.

Hi Robsoie,

tell me if you have tried this mission with only SC 1.08 or with SCXII, please.

Thanks