Perspective from a complete newbie :(

[poetic hunter]

Originally Posted by Vendor

And of course you will get the help you need,what it is now one may be

Thanks for welcoming me. I suppose the first thing to work on would be understanding Navigation, the F5 map screen and how to intercept a moving target. There is a thread called "The Hunt" which is amazing and explains this very well. But it is very technical, and detailed, and it seems to assume that you already posses certain knowledge. Sometimes, it is possible for help to be too detailed.

[U777]

I suggest trying the navel academy. Wilkommen

[poetic hunter]

Originally Posted by U777

I suggest trying the navel academy.

I did...and that's the problem! As I explained in that long post, the tutorial videos are useless, and some of the academy lessons are still difficult to complete for a new player because many things aren't explained at all. There is help available online, but much of it seems geared towards people who are already familiar and not for complete newbies.

Originally Posted by poetic hunter

I did...and that's the problem! As I explained in that long post, the tutorial videos are useless, and some of the academy lessons are still difficult to complete for a new player because many things aren't explained at all. There is help available online, but much of it seems geared towards people who are already familiar and not for complete newbies.

From only starting playing this game a few weeks ago the best advice I can offer you is to play around with the game itself by this I mean make career and use tactics that intentionally get you killed. The more you play the more you learn, Ive went from knowing absolutely nothing in two weeks to enough to survive a career. As far at the hunt page, if you look farther in the posts of that page a man posted a very easy to read diagram which I copied and referenced every time I needed an intercept (used different colors for each step and such) He didnt explain WHY you used the steps just what to do, which is what I think your looking for. All I can say is that after days (yes at the moment I have time on my hands) of playing and interceptions (successes and failures) it has become second nature to me to intercept ships now and I rarely ever need to use the diagram, save for when I have a small brain fart. Its like muscle memory, do what youre shown (especially if it's simple) enough times, and your body does it without thinking, I caught myself yesterday catching report of a convoy and instantly almost in my head Id figured out around where (within a few kilometers like 30 or so) Id need to intercept. The best advice I can give you is to keep on trying and if that isnt working out keep on asking questions, if you need help with seeing things in a simpler manner (ie. Interception) I might be able to help explain them to you, just send me a PM. However things like manual targetting I cant do, I keep auto targeting for now, and soon I shall turn that off and use the W/A (pretty much like auto, just you have to get your officer to range and set it all in, so in actually its auto with a few more button presses, at least I believe so some one correct me if I'm wrong)

PS: Another thing I'd do is start learning tactics, again by getting yourself killed, I just made a new career and took a Type IX down to about 260 Meters for a few minutes just to see how long I'd survive and how deep I could dive.

Hope that helps and best of lucks Herr Kaulen

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by USNSRCaseySmith

From only starting playing this game a few weeks ago the best advice I can offer you is to play around with the game itself by this I mean make career and use tactics that intentionally get you killed. The more you play the more you learn, Ive went from knowing absolutely nothing in two weeks to enough to survive a career.

Excellent advice, and not something an old-timer like me would have thought of!

You're right. It's a game, and playing and failing is the best training there is, since we can't get hurt doing it. I have the advantage of having played sub sims since 1986, almost twenty years before SH3 was released. This means I had an idea of what was going on, and could jump right in.

But someone new has to learn from scratch, and the two best ways to do that are to ask questions here, and as Casey just said, try and try again until you understand what's going on.

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Excellent advice, and not something an old-timer like me would have thought of!

You're right. It's a game, and playing and failing is the best training there is, since we can't get hurt doing it. I have the advantage of having played sub sims since 1986, almost twenty years before SH3 was released. This means I had an idea of what was going on, and could jump right in.

But someone new has to learn from scratch, and the two best ways to do that are to ask questions here, and as Casey just said, try and try again until you understand what's going on.

Well watching and really loving Das Boot game me a heads up on some stuff

But since youve been playing them since 86, I have to ask what was that like?? I was born in 91' :p I didnt even think they made actual 'sims' in 86, just blips on screen and all hmm

[Draka]

Silent Service - MicroProse - Commodore 64 - Google it! LOL! That was my first taste of being a submariner. 1985 .....

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_...8video_game%29

[poetic hunter]

Originally Posted by USNSRCaseySmith

From only starting playing this game a few weeks ago the best advice I can offer you is to play around with the game itself by this I mean make career and use tactics that intentionally get you killed.

Thanks for your understanding. Speaking of learning from mistakes, I just had a Das Boot moment. I attacked a ship from periscope depth, and instead of running away the thing started charging towards me! Before I knew it, it was right on top of me and smashed my deck and flak guns to oblivion. I decided to dive down below, and rig for silent running, but the ship started pinging for me. I heard beep beep until, boom. Depth charges took out my sonar and radio. Then I started leaking in my command room. I was surprised that the game actually depicted the water coming out from the pipes in the command room. Very nice touch there. Unfortunately, there was no way to recover from that "mistake." I lost my entire crew to the merciless depths of the never-ending blue.

This is the very first time I ever got attacked by a (destroyer?), so there was definitely something wrong with my previous installation. I'm having a lot more intense but fun moments on my patrol this time around. In fact, I've had more encounters on this one patrol, than I had in about seventeen patrols on my previous installation.

Originally Posted by poetic hunter

Thanks for your understanding. Speaking of learning from mistakes, I just had a Das Boot moment. I attacked a ship from periscope depth, and instead of running away the thing started charging towards me! Before I knew it, it was right on top of me and smashed my deck and flak guns to oblivion. I decided to dive down below, and rig for silent running, but the ship started pinging for me. I heard beep beep until, boom. Depth charges took out my sonar and radio. Then I started leaking in my command room. I was surprised that the game actually depicted the water coming out from the pipes in the command room. Very nice touch there. Unfortunately, there was no way to recover from that "mistake." I lost my entire crew to the merciless depths of the never-ending blue.

This is the very first time I ever got attacked by a (destroyer?), so there was definitely something wrong with my previous installation. I'm having a lot more intense but fun moments on my patrol this time around. In fact, I've had more encounters on this one patrol, than I had in about seventeen patrols on my previous installation.

Thats good. general rule of thumb, especially if you have GWX. dont attack destroyers, I dont like doing it even in deep water, I tried it once and I may try it again just to see if I can sink them but as far as being depthcharged goes heres what I understand.

1) Face him head on (presents the smallest target
2) run silent and manually set for 1 knot (so you run under 50 rpms and he cant 'hear' you
3)dive as deep as possible
3) when he makes his run (when you hear depth charges hit the water) change depth, and crank up to full speed, then do a hard knuckle left or right, depending on which way he turns after the attack, but as soon as you evade the DCs level out and kick it back down to 1 knot.

Am I correct to you older more experienced Kaulens?

And if you need help PH, like I said just send a PM and I'll try and help ya out

Welcome aboard!
I would suggest that you stop "trying to get your feet wet", and just "dive in".
You do, in fact, have a "life preserver", in that you can begin a new carreer following any "fatal" mistakes. Consider it to be your training period, and you have much to learn.

Just select the highest "Realism Level" you feel comfortable with, and start a (training) patrol. Whether you go to the assigned patrol grid, or not, is entirely up to you, as your objective is to learn.

Learning the basics of safe Navigation and Ship Handling should be your primary goal.
I recommend the Weapons Officer as a fine instructor. Ask him to identify the contact, and provide a solution. Use all the information provided in that solution to decide how to avoid a collision with that vessel (if friendly), or how to evade (if hostile). Write down any questions which may arise, and if you haven't stumbled on the answer by the end of the patrol, post the question here.

Raise the "Realism Level", and extend the training patrol length as you see fit. You'll know when you're ready for the real Patrol 1. Experiment. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. That's how we all learned.

(I recommend that you not mod your game before becoming familiar with the stock version, and being able to logicaly form a judgement on what more you do, and don't want out of your game.)

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by poetic hunter

Thanks for welcoming me. I suppose the first thing to work on would be understanding Navigation, the F5 map screen and how to intercept a moving target. There is a thread called "The Hunt" which is amazing and explains this very well. But it is very technical, and detailed, and it seems to assume that you already posses certain knowledge. Sometimes, it is possible for help to be too detailed.

and how are you supposed to put up your strategy,here is a link to some of your concerns..


http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=96026

[timmy41]

GWX3 comes with a several hundred page manual, all of which is useful!
dont worry, half the pages are illustrations or space
i read the whole thing before getting in to the game, and i refer back to it very often. read it even if you arent going to use the mod.
its very interesting, even if one would not play the game at all as it has a lot of history in it.
there are many suggested tactics in it that should be ones rule of thumb in many situations.
but most importantly of all, practice! even if you feel like a fool doing it, just get your uboot and navigate the baltic and go in circles and whatnot. get used to the tools. find a neutral ship and learn how to plot it, then find another and submerge and learn how to plot it, then another, and learn how to plot it using the hydrophones!

dont be discouraged if its hard, ive been playing for months and im still only mediocre at gathering target information. i learn a new thing every time i come here, and the odd things i learned here have saved my life more than once!
also, learn the shortcuts to commands, youll just inherently learn them eventually. it makes the game that much easier when you dont have to click on every little thing.



oh and be more aggressive! :P

[HW3]

Welcome poetic hunter! If ever we give an answer that you do not understand, just say so, and we will try again to give an answer that makes sense to you. Remember, we all were newbies once.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by HW3

Welcome poetic hunter! If ever we give an answer that you do not understand, just say so, and we will try again to give an answer that makes sense to you. Remember, we all were newbies once.

Precisely....simply ask and we will do our best to enlighten you.

NONE OF US IS AS CLEVER AS ALL OF US

[Herr-Berbunch]

Welcome aboard

There is not a friendlier forum out there, ask and ye shall receive (but try searching first )

We look forward to your tales of derring do in hunting down the convoys, but mostly we're looking forward to your tales of hitting the harbour walls as you embark on a mission - we have ALL done that, probably more than once too