Getting really frustrated....

[clayp]

Running a basicly stock 1.4 game with these mods..

Clayps Mod
Maxoptics3
Improved Night Visibility Mod Stage 1
Improved Underwater Visibility Stage 2
Brighter torpedo wakes
Kosh_9km_Visibility_Apr28_07
MetalHudKit_1_0
MHMSC-MetalHUD-workaround
Nisgeis' Radar Range Mod v2.05
COMBINED UNIFORM MOD 1.0
Remove grain effect
sobers better crew II (1.4)
WEBSTER's Better Sub Marker for v1.4 or v1.5
WEBSTER's Improved US Torpedo Power for v1.4 and v1.5
Nisgeis' Range Ring and Bearing Line Mod

On patrol from Pearl in 1941 when ever I spot a sq red enemy ship icon on the map I go to the area and there is no ship there.Nothing shows on radar,sonar,the lookouts etc.. ..Patrol the area for hours and nothing..What is going on??..Is it the stock game or am I doing something wrong?

[Soundman]

It's a mystery to me Clay. I have not played stock since Ducimus came out with his "Flavored to Taste" mod (TMO) and never looked back. Have you changed your mods recently? I see you posting here often, is there a reason you don't use TMO, RFB or RSRDC ? I would tend to believe any of these would remedy your problem and vastly improve gameplay. Wish I had some better advice for you, maybe it's one of those "ghostships" I've heard about.

[peabody]

Originally Posted by clayp

Running a basicly stock 1.4 game with these mods..

Clayps Mod
Maxoptics3
Improved Night Visibility Mod Stage 1
Improved Underwater Visibility Stage 2
Brighter torpedo wakes
Kosh_9km_Visibility_Apr28_07
MetalHudKit_1_0
MHMSC-MetalHUD-workaround
Nisgeis' Radar Range Mod v2.05
COMBINED UNIFORM MOD 1.0
Remove grain effect
sobers better crew II (1.4)
WEBSTER's Better Sub Marker for v1.4 or v1.5
WEBSTER's Improved US Torpedo Power for v1.4 and v1.5
Nisgeis' Range Ring and Bearing Line Mod

On patrol from Pearl in 1941 when ever I spot a sq red enemy ship icon on the map I go to the area and there is no ship there.Nothing shows on radar,sonar,the lookouts etc.. ..Patrol the area for hours and nothing..What is going on??..Is it the stock game or am I doing something wrong?

Hey buddy!! Don't waste your time (and fuel) chasing red squares. They are set to update their position at certain intervals. Some might not update for 2 or 3 days. So when you see a red square that is where he was when it appeared, but by the time you get to it he is long gone, but the red square does not move unless there is an update but he has travelled for 2 days before you see the new location.

So the ship is moving all the time that it take for you to get to the red square. So for example if it take you 6 hours to get there and that is assuming you are close, he will be about 60-70 miles away from where you are looking and still moving. And you don't know for sure which way he went.

Peabody

[Vandrith]

You're simply getting ther too late. Like leading a target if you're hunting, you gotta guess where the ship will be, not where it is. Japs don't wait around for you to sink them ya know.

[rubenandthejets]

When I get a red square or a radio update, I stop the time compression as soon as I can (backspace) check the map, measure the distance and figure if it's close enough to check out. Keeping the compression below 128 I'll investigate on a likely intercept course, scanning about with the radar or sonar myself now and then.

If I haven't been paying attention to the map, and there are some contacts showing when I say, expand the map or it scrolls, clicking on them shows the time of the contact. An old report of a medium or fast moving ship is pretty useless unless I'm right in their "path"-they change course, visit harbours etc too.

As for mods, check out "Fall of the Rising Sun" as it's compatible with SH 1.4 and is a supermod with a lot of surface traffic, sealane and destination work in it-the careers are a lot more realistic than stock. Definitely worth a look.

If all else fails, you can't beat sitting 20km south of the mouth of Tokyo Bay. Just about everything goes in or out of there sooner or latter. No need to flank speed after some elusive contact, they come to you.

[Elder-Pirate]

Clay,
When a red square pops up move your mouse over it and click. You will notice the time ( 24 hour time ) that the square was positioned in this spot along with it's estimated speed ( slow = 5-7 kts, medium = 9-11 kts or fast = 15-17 kts ) and its estimated direction. If it is a merchant it will say "ship" ( minus the quotes ), if more than one ship it will say "small convoy or large convoy" and also be a larger red square. Same thing if a "diamond" but those are WAR ships.

I do the above with my mouse then I click on the "Protractor" A tool that looks like a triangle left lower part of your screen, zoom in on the square as far as I can go and put the tip of the protractor on the straight line at the rear of the square, note that this is not really accurate but a close guess until he gets closer and then you can zoom down to the silhouette of the ship and draw the protractor from the stern through the bow and this will give you the degree heading the ship is heading. ( although he may change headings before he gets to you ? )

Then I click on the ruler and put it at the front of the square ( opposite of the small straight line running through the square ) and drag it till it crosses the path of my boat ( front or rear as in a minute I'll know how far he will pass me ) and maybe drag the ruler line just a little farther for the sake of it. ( he may change directions ) Lets say the enemy ship is a small lone freighter moving at 7 kts and according to my ruler he is 42 Nautical miles away. I use a calculator and divide 42 by 7 and get 6 which would be a close 6 hours before he lines up with my boat. Now I did say NAUTICAL miles but instead of using fractions I just round it out to an even 42, as 6 hours gives me plenty of time to maneuver to approximately a 1000 yard torpedo shot. As said before this ship may change directions way before he gets to you and may not even be worth messing with.

IF you are surfaced and have no fear of any enemy air craft keep you radar ( F9 ) set to 600 on the left radar screen and you can see just who he is at approximately 21.25 NM. Enemy in game only has about 10 or less NM diameter radar, so you can see him long before he sees you. If you click on the ship at close zoom you will see the radar circle he is transmitting, you will not see your subs radar circle on the 2D map, instead you will see the red square change to a ship silhouette.

Now is a good time to double check ( click on pause if your scratching your head by this time as you can take your time figuring out the mess ) if he's changed course even a little by again using the protractor and zooming in as close to enemy ship silhouette as possible then drag the protractor from stern through the bow, notice the "Degree" and line that same degree up just past the front of your boat. Use the ruler and start at the degree line in front of your boat,drag the ruler toward your boat until it says 1000 yards ( or whatever in "Meters as I'm not a meter man ).

This is only one way of doing it and there is many other ways of doing this task but be warned that the harder the game ( maybe a very strict Mod? ) the harder this task will be to preform, that is until you get used to it.

Of course you may be using a mod that may not let you do some -or any- of this ? as I notice you have a pack of mods listed.

Hope that this may help some Clay.

P.S. I'm sure there are a few things that I missed or should be corrected on so please guys don't hit me too hard just educate me.


EDIT: When you first notice a red square or diamond pop up and your are in hyper drive ( compression ) hit the backspace twice for 1 time compression ( real time ) IF you really want this bugger, or else you may not even come close. ---or-- If on a death course with your boat it could be Davey Jones time?

[clayp]

Originally Posted by peabody

Hey buddy!! Don't waste your time (and fuel) chasing red squares. They are set to update their position at certain intervals. Some might not update for 2 or 3 days. So when you see a red square that is where he was when it appeared, but by the time you get to it he is long gone, but the red square does not move unless there is an update but he has travelled for 2 days before you see the new location.

So the ship is moving all the time that it take for you to get to the red square. So for example if it take you 6 hours to get there and that is assuming you are close, he will be about 60-70 miles away from where you are looking and still moving. And you don't know for sure which way he went.

Peabody

Peabody thanks bud I didnt know about this... and Elder Pirate that is a great read,I never heard about doing that guess I havent been paying attention... ..I will have to lears how to do that..Thanks to the rest also that posted..I will search the data base to learn this stuff...

[Elder-Pirate]

Clay,
Was just messing around here a few hours ago. I ran across these freighters with three DD's in a heavy fog and pouring down rain. I've done a quick run through of the degree line as in this case I picked a freighter in the middle and they are all running 83 degrees. In the area they are I don't expect them to alter course just yet but getting to that 700 yard mark ( may push 600 if I can sucker that first DD ) will be close to their getting there before I do.



We will see what happens later. ( like in a couple of days ? )
BTW that large circle is the first DD's radar range and I'll be safe on the surface ( as I am at this point ) until that circle hits where my waypoint line is, by then I'd BETTER be below the surface although the rain and fog will mess me up on seeing him I'm not taking any chances on him not seeing me.

Jeez its in the wee hours I need sleep.

[clayp]

Thanks Pirate....Its going to take ma awhile to learn this..