Big Tip: Use Map Contacts

[Vreith]

Not sure if this is the right topic, but
I don't mind map contacts, i know the edge such as playing sh3 forwarding to a N/E position or more so the Grid used by kreigs back then

But one issue that im yet to find out, did try the "shadowing" as they did back in the day regularly reporting a large convoy I SIGHTED, in a mission i would of attacked, but i finished all my mission objectives way before time, well 2 months before, raking up a battleship in my kills, but here's the thing, i reported my shadowing every 2 hours or so, did this for a day, seeing if any other u-boats in near vicinity could catch in on the unguarded kills. but i heard nothing from Berlin/kreig HQ about the other boys getting my msg nor anyone showing up for a couple of days, so just started after shadowing for couple of days. before they got to far into the atlantic.

Sure enough being 1st 3rd of 1940 not as many u-boats scoutn around, but SURLEY 1 could of contacted saying will try to get in? etc etc.
but nothing.

I beg the question, why send my position away for enemy even tho enig not cracked by then to just be left alone and the whole wolf pack theory being pointless, i was hopping for boon in rank/skill points to dist from this but it seems a novelty

In anycase anyone else had these issues or does wolf-pack strat work with reporting at least once for them???



Also hi all new to the forums n all, didn't play SH4 but played SH3 late when in bargain bin for 20 AUD , best bargain buy i ever made, i now buy SHV and feel it could of had more polishing

Cheers
V

[Turm]

Originally Posted by Bosje

besides, turning map contacts off makes the game a lot less realistic, so it's not actually 100% at all
you wouldnt be painstakingly drawing all those lines yourself in real life, there are crewmen to do that for you, it's just that the map contacts reveal far too much information which makes it tempting to turn them off altogether

Yes, I wouldn't draw the lines myself, but then I wouldn't ever man the hydrophone either, but I do that due to game limitations and lack of info from the sonarman when under attack. It's the same reason I have a higher work load when flight simming, as I never have a co-pilot or flight engineer to do certain tasks. In combat sims I don't have a bombardier either. In any case, I enjoy taking on all the roles to a degree

Part of the sense of satisfaction for me comes from challenging myself to learn new skills and use them successfully, hence why I prefer map contacts turned off and 'doing it all myself'. Not totally realistic, but that's not necessarily what I'm striving for. I'm looking for good realism in each aspect of submarine warfare (plotting, targeting, etc.), rather than a totally realistic captain-only experience. Each to their own, of course!

As gutted said on the last page, map contacts practically take all chance of missing out of the game, and as you said yourself, they give too much information.

With SH3 and OLC's GUI, I had a pretty high hit rate even from medium ranges and at awkward angles. I could probably do okay with SH5 if the stadimeter would work properly (well, if the ship dimensions were defined properly) and the crew were more useful. Oh, and if map plots were saved between games...

Although I might succumb to using map contacts on my next patrol, I guess that means I'll see all the sensor information too, like passive & visual range of targets - I don't think they fall under separate difficulty settings. That will make it incredibly easy to evade detection... having map contacts is one thing, but having all that information is another matter entirely.

I would much prefer that my own observations resulted in contacts being drawn on the map (automatically, by the crew) for indicative purposes or with some randomised inaccuracy, but without all the detailed and exact information provided as we currently see (heading, speed and so on).

There need to be more scalable options in that area - about what kind of information is shown by the map contacts. Oh, now there's an idea nobody could have ever thought of

You know, rather than map contacts counting for X% of realism (say 10%), each specific piece of data could count separately. 2% reduction if you have speed shown, 2% if you have the heading on, 5% if you have all the sensor information... you get the idea. The "map contacts on" option would just be the master switch to toggle them all on/off.

Ah, why am I singing to the choir anyway?

[karamazovnew]

I understand what all of you are saying. I feel the same way and I wouldn't play the game like this if it didn't have so many bugs. I don't mind calculating things manually, it's just that atm the game has a few bugs and design choices that limit our SH3+SH4 tactics. Map Contacts just gets things moving into the right direction again.

And by the way I've noticed something very interesting. The sonar actually displays very well. It updates all contacts in a circular pattern and it leaves gaps at the front and rear of the sub. It's quite nice. as for the sensor circles, I'm sure we can edit those colors to make them transparent. But they're a great tool to figure out how the game sees you. I just wish they wouldn't disappear when you go below a certain depth.

Also, clicking on a visual contact selects it. Maybe clicking a sound line would allow you to focus on it?

[gutted]

Dont get me wrong, contacts on is a great learning tool. Especially with the sensor circles.

That feature by itself is awesome, as now i can see how far away i can be and at what visibiity/weather and speeds before being detected. This info arms me with the knowledge i need when i turn the map contacts off.

[Chromius]

Well , even with map contacts off atm, I have a bug where when I am plotting on the map if you mouseover the location of an actual ship it shows the "invisible" ship type and speed where the marker would be, so even with map contacts off its purpose is ruined, as I know the markers I made are dead on, with no mystery. I like them off, otherwise It gets a bit to boring for me personally, yes someone else would be plotting the contacts but still. And until that bug is fixed having map contacts off is even more broken.

[AVGWarhawk]

At 100% you need to give points to your crew for them to work...it is called experience. My first 100% patrol my hydrophone man would only say "I can not do that right now" when asked to reveal hidden targets. Now on my second patrol at 100% I gave him experience points and he now tracks ships! You need to work your crew and give them experience points! It is all part of the game, make your crew grow and perform well. Your first patrol at 100% you are pretty much left to work a lot of the functions.

[sergei]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

You need to work your crew and give them experience points! It is all part of the game, make your crew grow and perform well.

Can I ask a quick off topic question.
Has having an experienced crew improved the depth keeping of your boat?
Or do you still sink at less than 3 knots?
I'm wondering if the lousy depth keeping is due to lack of experience, or the U Boat model.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by sergei

Can I ask a quick off topic question.
Has having an experienced crew improved the depth keeping of your boat?
Or do you still sink at less than 3 knots?
I'm wondering if the lousy depth keeping is due to lack of experience, or the U Boat model.

I believe it does. My hydophone man just sat there the first patrol. I thought it was a bug. I gave him points and now he says he can listen/work the hydrophone. It is worth a shot!

[sergei]

Gotcha, I'll try and get some patrols in for experience then.
Thanks for the reply.

[longam]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

At 100% you need to give points to your crew for them to work...it is called experience. My first 100% patrol my hydrophone man would only say "I can not do that right now" when asked to reveal hidden targets. Now on my second patrol at 100% I gave him experience points and he now tracks ships! You need to work your crew and give them experience points! It is all part of the game, make your crew grow and perform well. Your first patrol at 100% you are pretty much left to work a lot of the functions.

Hmm, that's why some things don't seem to work...

[Safe-Keeper]

I miss the SH3 feature where you just point at a ship and your Weapon Officer aims and fires for you. I don't mind the current system either (where you line up the numbered circles), but I'd like a third setting which just had him do the dirty work for you.

[Turm]

I'm still on my first patrol, and the state of the sonarman being awake or asleep seems to be determined randomly when I reload my game!

Some days he will report contacts, even whilst surfaced. Other days (most days) he doesn't report a thing, even when near ships, when submerging, or being attacked. Possibly related to the morale bug. I haven't given him any 'special' abilities yet. I don't care for 'hidden contacts' at the moment. Just the obvious ones that are about to depth charge us would be nice.

I just want him to use his regular abilities, like, you know, his hearing, his speech....

I guess 'experience points' are assigned at the end of a patrol? If so, haven't come across them yet as I'm still on my first.

[Safe-Keeper]

I miss the SH3 feature where you just point at a ship and your Weapon Officer aims and fires for you. I don't mind the current system either (where you line up the numbered circles), but I'd like a third setting which just had him do the dirty work for you.

[reaper7]

Originally Posted by Chromius

Well , even with map contacts off atm, I have a bug where when I am plotting on the map if you mouseover the location of an actual ship it shows the "invisible" ship type and speed where the marker would be, so even with map contacts off its purpose is ruined, as I know the markers I made are dead on, with no mystery. I like them off, otherwise It gets a bit to boring for me personally, yes someone else would be plotting the contacts but still. And until that bug is fixed having map contacts off is even more broken.

Between that and the notepad for sonar broken in the current patch, and the sonar indicators on map showing the exact position's of ships I have given up using no map contacts.
At least untill issues are resolved.