What do you guys do for patrols??

[JokerOfFate]

P.S. In GWX you don't get paid for completing patorls so no point really I don't do them, why waste fuel and time for nothing.


Pretty simple if I don't get paid I don't work.

What about the far/mid atlantic? Are there any really nice spots to pick ships off from out there? aside from routes?

[JokerOfFate]

I'll go check the map

[JokerOfFate]

What happened to my avatar?!
-don't worry it changed (thank god)
Anyway point out the grid code (AN,BE) and I'll give you some spots.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by JokerOfFate

What happened to my avatar?!

Avatars change according to how many posts you've made. Keep watching, you've still got some fun surprises in store for you.

[JokerOfFate]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Avatars change according to how many posts you've made. Keep watching, you've still got some fun surprises in store for you.

It was the bangkok one that got me there....

Danke Frau

Yeah I find that being anywhere near that shallow water gets me killed easily. I dont like it one bit. I can deal with around 40 to 60 meters but when Im at P depth with about 10 or 20 M below me, I get reaaaaal nervous. what I usually do is go to my grid. Hit some merchants on the way (usually when Im pretty confident about being alone in the water there) then get nothing on my grid, then head for a nearby port and just camp around outside of it. since merchants come in and out all the time. I have bad luck with convoys and TF's since they almost always are either too far to intercept, or too fast and moving in a ridiculous direction for me to even think of catching up. But I dont mind the single merchant thing for now, Im getting better at intercepts as I dont have to look at a quick reference anymore, so this is a plus

[Draka]

Gonna ask a question, then proceed based on your answer.

From all your posts/threads, I know you are new to this and greatly enthused. This is a good thing! However, about now you kinda hafta make a decision on your goals.

This forum is mainly geared towards those who take this real seriously, with the emphasis on simulation - making it as real as you can. In that vein, skills like maneuvering in and out of berths, navigating the Kiel canal, and so on become as much enjoyment as sinking ships. If this is the way you want to go, then you will get one set of advice - such as remaining in your patrol area for 30 days or so and then "radioing" BdU for another assignment. There is an app that does that. There are many, many mods that will aid in this.

If on the other hand you just want to rack up a massive tonnage rating and/or earn every available award "in game", then you will get a different set - such as where to go for the highest ranking in tonnage, and/or the places to find the most exotic kills. There are a completely different set of mods that will give you abilities or equipment that did not exist, or are enhanced versions of what they did have.

Which way do you feel is what YOU want out of SH3?

Edit: I take so long to type that Frau Kaleun got in first - AND said it better!

Originally Posted by Draka

Gonna ask a question, then proceed based on your answer.

From all your posts/threads, I know you are new to this and greatly enthused. This is a good thing! However, about now you kinda hafta make a decision on your goals.

This forum is mainly geared towards those who take this real seriously, with the emphasis on simulation - making it as real as you can. In that vein, skills like maneuvering in and out of berths, navigating the Kiel canal, and so on become as much enjoyment as sinking ships. If this is the way you want to go, then you will get one set of advice - such as remaining in your patrol area for 30 days or so and then "radioing" BdU for another assignment. There is an app that does that. There are many, many mods that will aid in this.

If on the other hand you just want to rack up a massive tonnage rating and/or earn every available award "in game", then you will get a different set - such as where to go for the highest ranking in tonnage, and/or the places to find the most exotic kills. There are a completely different set of mods that will give you abilities or equipment that did not exist, or are enhanced versions of what they did have.

Which way do you feel is what YOU want out of SH3?

Edit: I take so long to type that Frau Kaleun got in first - AND said it better!

I see it as a simulation and I want to gear up that way, like you said at first however, it being a simulation I want to (again working my way up the realism ladder) be able to be a feared U boat captain with alot of tonnage (realistically) that being, Im also sure that at least a few U boat captains had to deviate from their natural patrol grids to possibly sink tonnage of incoming convoys (why not if it hinders the British?)

Im not in it to over get every award, at this moment I am really just trying to play around with the game and get a feel bit by bit for what I need to do, for example, Interception, Ive now gotten that down pretty good and can make a decent judgement on what and what not I should intercept, next is evasion which Ive done alright at lately, I actually evaded and snuck away from a couple destroyers chasing me and in relatively shallow waters

The only reason Im asking my questions, such as this post, so open ended is because I want answers from either side (tactics wise) that way I a, find and develop a style to my liking and b, I have a variety of tactics I can use in my bag. That being said, my tactics will surely change once I enable more and more realism settings and I am expecting this (ie Ill be more likely to patrol my grid like a real U boat Kaulen would and head home due to fuel, constraints or damage taken) I get enjoyment out of it being a simulation even though its darned hard for me, Im just trying to learn as much as I can as quick as I can (Im a sort of Cram learner/ hands on and in that respect I have to say from my ridiculous number of posts asking various things I would say since day one which was only last Thursday I think I've made quite the improvement from what I was which is what excites me, the fact that Im getting better)

[JokerOfFate]

Just a bit on your tactics there, you'll have a mix of a & b
A) a set tactic
B) a bag'o'tricks you can whip out if needs be

I learned that this game is all about personal preference.

Happy Hunting

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Draka

Which way do you feel is what YOU want out of SH3?

After playing for a while and getting the feel of it, I decided that what I really wanted was to have fun, blow up enemy shipping, and be amply rewarded for it.

For me this meant modding the realism config data so that no matter what options I choose, I always play at 99% realism. This means I can choose whatever realism options I want and still be rewarded as much as possible without losing the ability to teleport back to base... something I don't ever do anyway, since it would foul up my patrol logs and that would be an element of "non-realism" that would not be fun for me personally.

I think without the modding that I'd be playing at between 65-70% at the moment... I've added in more realism options as I've gotten more confident, and my plan is that when any current set of options becomes so easy that it's not fun any more, I'll change them up and make it a little harder.

The remainder of any "realism" involved (or not) comes from choosing to do things in a particular way, ways that the game itself leaves up to each player. Want to cruise around at p-depth with your 'scope up at flank speed? The game will let you, but in RL the 'scope couldn't withstand it. Want to load externals in the pitch dark at ahead full in a choppy sea? The game will let you, but in RL no responsible commander would ever attempt such a thing. Want to take up command of a u-boat in August 1939 and still be out there in a frontboot in May 1945? The game will let you, provided you survive that long, but in RL you would've been promoted off your boat and given a job on land long before the war ended.

If you hang around here you will no doubt find out a lot of stuff about what was possible and how things were done in RL - some of them may change how you play, some may not, and some you may remember and adhere to one day but not the next. It's all up to you.

[fastfed]

Originally Posted by JokerOfFate

P.S. In GWX you don't get paid for completing patorls so no point really I don't do them, why waste fuel and time for nothing.


Pretty simple if I don't get paid I don't work.

YEP!! It really sucks!! I don't go to my "grid area" any more either.. I don't know why the GWX team couldn't of added (XXX renown for getting to grid, XX renown for 24 hour patrol, and XXX renown for making it home)

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by fastfed

YEP!! It really sucks!! I don't go to my "grid area" any more either.. I don't know why the GWX team couldn't of added (XXX renown for getting to grid, XX renown for 24 hour patrol, and XXX renown for making it home)

I think GWX started out as a few people getting together to create something that reflected the way they, personally, wanted to play SH3. A lot of it had to do with making it more realistic and historically accurate, but with something like renown that didn't exist in any analogous quantifiable way in RL - it was probably just a matter of personal choice. And it's easily moddable, just a matter of changing a couple lines in the basic.cfg file. You can give yourself as little or as much renown as you like for completing those objectives, or none at all. The GWX team chose none, but it's not set in stone for every player.

As I said above, I put it back in simply because it gave me a solid reason to obey my initial patrol orders, something the game doesn't otherwise require, and lessens the temptation to go rogue once I leave base. Others have made the argument that one should even increase the rewards as the war progresses, since just reaching one's grid and surviving for any length of time became more and more difficult as Allied technology improved and ASW tactics turned many a crew's first patrol into their last.

[Draka]

Renown - that is one of the things I was referring to. As Frau Kaleun just said, it is not something that can be measured, or in any real way USED in a historical setting. For myself, I have gotten to the point that I choose to find a Kaleun I like or think I can do better than, give myself his starting rank and the crew and equipment of his ship, and go to his assigned patrol area - and go from there. Awards I give based on RL criteria, rank ditto - as you can tell I am one of the hard-core ones!

But just to make myself a tad more human - I STILL haven't really gotten the hang of manual TDC - and in reality that was actually the job of the I WO and his crew - the Kaleun gave the input but didn't actually run the TDC etc, so I kinda justify my lack of knowledge there. So I still have auto-targetting on most of the time.

Of course, I am fully aware that I SHOULD know how as every Kaleun was once a I WO!!!

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Draka

Renown - that is one of the things I was referring to. As Frau Kaleun just said, it is not something that can be measured, or in any real way USED in a historical setting. For myself, I have gotten to the point that I choose to find a Kaleun I like or think I can do better than, give myself his starting rank and the crew and equipment of his ship, and go to his assigned patrol area - and go from there. Awards I give based on RL criteria, rank ditto - as you can tell I am one of the hard-core ones!

I've tinkered with the values required for medals and such, because I felt I was getting them too soon to be "realistic" - which basically just means that it felt "wrong" to be getting something for what seemed like too little in the way of accomplishment given what I typically accomplish per patrol with the realism options where they are right now. I mean, I finished my last patrol in August 1940 and the game gave me swords AND diamonds to my KC with oak leaves and I'm like, lolwut?

I went into my career files and took them away once I exited the game, but I'll probably get them again if I do anything worthwhile at all on the current patrol. So I will either adjust all the values upwards again for my next career, or else amp up the realism a bit.

Of course, I am fully aware that I SHOULD know how as every Kaleun was once a I WO!!!

Not true, when I joined up they gave me my own boat right off. What can I say... they just knew.

EDIT: Okay it's like 3 AM here, STOP MAKING ME POST THINGS.