GWX has finally brought me to tears! (Literally)

[Penelope_Grey]

It had to happen sooner or later! And tonight was the night. I decided to pinch my brothers PC time as he has been very ill lately. So I am sat there playing and I am having a rubbish patrol, just the odd destroyer, no merchants. The Weather while rough, at least I have been able to see!

Anyways... cutting to the point. I have patroled AM53 and I am on my way down to the lower end of the western approaches and I spots 2 C3's as they used to be called in stock, I think they are large cargo's in GWX.

I line up and I attack. I fire 2 torpedoes at each. One midships at the engine room, the other forward in the bow all 4 hit at the same time it was a beautifully conducted and synchronised attack absolutely flawless. So.... They sail on for ages without any hindereance at all, no sinking.

Fortunately the weather was on the turn back to calm seas so I was able to use my deckgun. The first one took about 25 shells in addition to the two direct hit torpedoes. The second one, took an additional torpedo in the aft section, it sailed on and on... I allowed for sinking... nothing! So I then had to shell that one too. It took 13 shells to put it under and get positive confirmation.

It was here, the frustration overflowed in me. And my eyes leaked water! Luckily a damage control team in the form of a hanky was available to stop the flooding. I mean, I'm lucky, its still 1940. What the hell do I do when every merchant ship is armed?

No matter how hard I try, I absolutely suck at sinking stuff in GWX! I hate to admit this, and I really really do hate to admit this.... but... I think I'm gonna have to stow GWX. I don't think I can carry on with it. Its too hard for me.... The whole point of this is sinking ships... well.... I can't flipping sink them! I can play everything else about the game. Planes. Destroyers. planning convoy attacks. Lining up torpedo attacks. Its just sinking the ship. I can't flipping do it!

I know Im going off on one... but this is like weeks of frustration finally coming out. And I say thanks to anybody who has read this.

[down and out]

Not played GWX yet but under the keel shots work best for me in GW
:hmm: I have read that ther are certain areas that are more productive than others
Someone who uses GWX will be along soon I expect

Its only a game
Chill
Take a deep breath and carry on

You are not alone

Her operational area was around the Canary Islands and nearby Freetown where she sank 14 ships for a total of 86,699 tons, starting with the British merchant SS Eskdene which required some 2 torpedoes and 104 rounds from the heavy 105mm fast firing deck cannon

http://uboat.net/boats/u107.htm - read that the other day in a thread and it stuck

[Der Kolkrabe]

I know that feelings...it's happen me many times when I'm been East Front (played IL-2 series).
Hard dogfight and when finally got some good shots comes AI and collided by your plane

Every day is still different day, so don't give up

[shegeek72]

Hmm, huge C2's can be difficult to sink. It sometimes takes me more than two torps to sink one. Though they usually slow down or stop, especially if you hit the engine room/props. So don't feel bad hun, it happens to others.
--

[Ducimus]

Out of curiosity, What was the windspeed when the torpedos were fired, and at what depth setting?

IF the wind was high, and the fish shallow, the hole they made was probably too high up to properly flood. (conversly too deep and they'll deflect off the curvature that exists where the side curves round to the keel)

[Penelope_Grey]

Windspeed was 5.

It was just calming down after storm. The torpedoes I set all 4 to run at 3.5m well... between 3 and 4 m shall we say.

I lined it all up perfectly, I just royally suck at sinking things in GWX everything else, I can do. Except sink things.... My brother has been playing at this far longer than me and I have seen him struggle too.

Just, I never seem to get it right. I always botch it up. Sometimes I feel like I may as well not bother firing the torpedo in the first place!

[cobalt]

keelbust the bastards!

[Penelope_Grey]

I know, but even the smaller ships like Passenger/Cargo I can't seem to hit them and sink them, its a case of they end up crippled but still afloat. I can shoot and hit, but, when I do hit, its just... meh.... like a dud firework, very anti-climactic.

[Ducimus]

Oh... bah. Sometimes you can have just rotton luck. Im good at rotton luck.

If your having trouble here is what i would do, to increase my own enjoyment out of the game, if your not already.

- Use autoTDC. No shame in that. Just removes a source of frustration if your not getting the manual way down pat.

- Use and abuse the external cam. The eternal camera is acutally a GREAT training tool for lack of a better term. Watch the behavior of torpedos in calm and rough weather. WHen they deflect, when they don't. Later on you'll start turning it off

If you want, D/L that tweak pack for GWX i concocted with the Neutral boyancy sub model. (link in sig). I mention this because i went about changing some things that were minorly annoying around the edges of the game.


BTW, ive been playing SH3 for since about when it was released, and ya know what..

I still miss, i still have those times where i say to myself, "SINK DAMN YOU!". You should see me when i miss, get pissed off, and because im so steamed, end up missing with all six tubess because i lost my head - tis comedy gold.

[Mush Martin]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

- Use and abuse the external cam. The eternal camera is acutally a GREAT training tool for lack of a better term. Watch the behavior of torpedos in calm and rough weather. WHen they deflect, when they don't. Later on you'll start turning it off

.

This is very true and under encouraged.

one of the great experiences of my modding career so far was when
I was working up River Class Frigate.

I had a chance (albeit in this case with freecam) to sit above
several seperate attacks by a group of four Rivers and watch
their patterns as they sped around using time compression.
(boy would I like to be able to tweak their hunting and attack
patterns)

admitedly I also as a nostalgist watched at least three complete
prosecutions of my sub in real time mostly from above the formation
of escorts.

a real eye opener and an experience that really added to my ability
to evade.
River may have ESP to find sub but I have Hind/ForeSight not to be there
most times.

MM

Ps. If you do decided sadly to drop GWX (i wouldnt) then copy your
sea and air and roster files as well as the campaign layers to put into
your next version you can also take any gwx mission you want
they will work in any game that has the same ships in roster and sea
as are appearing in the mission.
MM

[Spin Doctor]

I'd think that 3.5 is too shallow for anything but the smallest ships. You won't get the full flooding effect. Try 5.5m. You can maybe go a bit lower if you're engaging a Large Cargo ship (C3 in the old game) since it has those big slab sides, but the large merchant has a shallower draft and a rounder side, so wil tend to bounce off if you run the torp too deep.

One other member mentioned that if you aim more forward, under the first mast, you can bring them down with one torp. I supppose that the forward motion of the ship tends to flood the bow more if you hit forward. I happened upon a convoy last night on my 4th GWX patrol and tried that on a large merchant, at about 11,000 tonns or so. I did get the hit under the mast, but all I got for the effort was a 15 to 20 degree list. The ship kept going. The next ship in line got two in the starbord side and went down fairly quickly. A stern shot at a smallish merchant got a hit and kill. I launched my last torp of the skirmish at another large merchant from fairly long range, got a hit, but only damaged it.

I overhauled the convoy, set up again and launched from the port side of the convoy. I found my previously listing merchant and hit him again in the other side and managed to straighten his list, but the bow was pretty low and he eventually went down. His friend behind got two in the side for a slow, but confirmed kill. The last shot of that skirmish was an under the keel shot with a magnetic torp, but it was a dud.

The running battle started at 11:00 pm and it's now about 7:30am the next day. The crew is very tired, but we're going to shadow the convoy till nightfall and try it again. There are two large merchants left in this group and after this next shot of four, we will call it quits. That should leave one torp forward and a couple aft for anything we happen upon on the trip home.

This has been my most fruitful patrol yet with 3 large merchants sunk, two on the plate for our next overhaul, and three shall merchants down, two sunk by deck gun fire a week or so earlier.

I would not worry too much about getting the one torp, one kill shots of the stock game which I found a little dull. Now, I'm quite happy if I just get the hits and escape in one piece. You're a good shot, just aim lower.

[AVGWarhawk]

There is a saying in my office and it is called TIP. Taking It Personally. Many a ship sailed on with the crew flipping me the bird . If it makes you feel any better. I die on all my second patrols. I did, however, made a complete second patrol only to die on my third patrol. This is 1940 This was just last night You wanna talk about who sucks. I'm so bad I think the ghost of Doenitz wants to take the game away from me I'm that bad. Sure, I get good tonnage but I never get to see the people when I return because I DON'T RETURN! I have been playing this game since it hit shelves!!! I'm thinking of going back to jump rope and dodge ball.


We will be holding psyco-therapy next week. Please feel free to attend . I was the first patient

[Brag]

I've been following this convoy for days. I think I've hit every single large ship in it. There's this bloody fleet of large freighters sitting low in the water, decks awash, that refuse to sink. I'm still following this bloody convoytrying to sink the blighters. Don't despair. It happens to all of us

[Keelbuster]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Out of curiosity, What was the windspeed when the torpedos were fired, and at what depth setting?

IF the wind was high, and the fish shallow, the hole they made was probably too high up to properly flood. (conversly too deep and they'll deflect off the curvature that exists where the side curves round to the keel)

Also - sometimes I get a premature detonation in high seas that's really close to the ship - so through the periscope it looks like it hit her, but it really blew just before impact. Keep an eye out for the 'Torpedo Impact' message to know if it really got there. Though, like the 'She's Going Down' message, I don't know if you can really rely on 'Torpedo Impact' to happen every time it should.

Strange though about the deck gun - I've found it to be weirdly effective in GWX - like a powder keg effect on most ships.

Anyways, sometimes you lose - sooner or later you'll find a juicy BB, or maybe even a hospital ship to make it all worthwhile.

[Spin Doctor]

Not even YOU would sink a hospital ship right? That's just....that's just....wrong...