Just got Silent Hunter 3, I think I'm doing it wrong. Is there a guide?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Pisces

There is a bug in the game that makes you loose all renown earned during the 1st patrol, because you modified anything to your Uboat load-out before the 1st patrol. That includes crew.

Are you sure about that one? I always fill out my crew right from the start and haven't had that problem. On the other hand for awhile now I've been in the habit of running a first "false patrol" (a quick trip around the harbor), just to make sure my first real patrol doesn't start on the first day of the month, so I may be misremembering.

On the other hand, not long ago someone commented that the only things that cause renown loss are equipment upgrades, because they delay the start date.

[Brag]

Welcome aboard!
There is little I can add to the above. I seldom run TC above 128. The micromanaging the crew represents the many frustrations a green crew causes.

To learn where the ship traffic is, visit the Operation Spinnennetz thread.

[Tinman764]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Are you sure about that one? I always fill out my crew right from the start and haven't had that problem. On the other hand for awhile now I've been in the habit of running a first "false patrol" (a quick trip around the harbor), just to make sure my first real patrol doesn't start on the first day of the month, so I may be misremembering.

On the other hand, not long ago someone commented that the only things that cause renown loss are equipment upgrades, because they delay the start date.

That's exactly how what I do. As I understand it, you can change crew and torpedos without a problem.

@ Jonny K, welcome I'm pretty new to SH3 myself. You definatly want to take a look at SH3 Commander and GWX3.0 mod.
Only thing I think needs stressing is to be patient when you're setting up attacks, especially on convoys. Nothing worse than rushing an attack and spending the next 2 hours dodging escorts without scoring a hit lol

Hey,

Thanks for all the input guys, this is a lot of good info for only a few hours time! I can't believe I missed the newbie guide in the forum, stickied and everything.

Yes, this was a steam sale purchase (gotta love Steam). It's good to see mods and updates for the game. I'll try to run a few conservative mods, but I'm also cautious about changing the game too much just yet. It's always possible to mod a game until it no longer resembles what it should, and if the original game was so good then I shouldn't need to change too much, just a little. I'll see if I can keep fatigue enabled for the moment. As for realism, I'm currently running about 60% realism with most options on but not manual targeting. I know this is a major point of the game, but I'll work my way up to it. I'm going to assume I have a competent crew who will do that for me.

As for loosing renown after your first patrol with a modified crew, I didn't encounter that.

I should admit that I did have an encounter on my first patrol, but I lost the ship. In very stormy waters I detect a merchant ship via hydrophone, I put the periscope up and see it's right in front of me and extremely close (only a few meters) and moving away. I jump to my crew section and start throwing guys into the torpedo room to prepare an attack. I jump back to the periscope and the ship was gone. I searched around the area but never found it again. It was exciting for a moment though. :-)

I'm going to go through the guides and check out the mods. One other thing I was wondering - when identifying ships, I have that guide book, but the book doesn't tell me the nationality of the ship (specifically, is it an enemy or not?). I assume that the color of the ship on my map and in the periscope indicates it's an enemy if red, correct? And blue is ally, right? I couldn't find any description of the colors.


Thanks,


Jonny K

[frau kaleun]

In the stock game:

red=enemy
blue=friendly
green=neutral

For realism's sake, GWX (and maybe the other supermods, I'm not familiar with those) remove the color-coding and require you to ID ships the way real sub commanders did - by getting close enough to make out the flags and markings on them. But with GWX at least you can add the colors back easily enough if you find you'd rather keep them around.

Also be aware that in the game a torpedo needs to run at least 300 meters to arm itself, so if you find yourself a few meters away () from an unexpected target there's really no rush to set up a shot... you've got to get some distance before there's any point in firing off an eel at her.

Ok, an update. I went through much of the newbie guide thread and found that most of the links are dead (5 years old). Is there a new place I can find the community manual?

I think I'm going to try playing a little more on the stock game first to get some experience before I crank it up with the Grey Wolves or anything else. Are there any graphics only mods? I'm suffering info overload and have spent so many hours studying stuff while playing the actual game very little, so I need a break.

One more question - when I have my navigator ping for the ocean depth does that give away my position? I've hit the bottom before (I thought ordering my engineer to dive would mean he'd dive to a reasonable level, but he just kept going). The Nav map seems to show some depth colors, but they are hard to make out and I don't know the legend for how deep the colors mean.

Thanks,


Jonny K

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Jonny K

Ok, an update. I went through much of the newbie guide thread and found that most of the links are dead (5 years old). Is there a new place I can find the community manual?

The original URL for it has been dead for a while IIRC, every so often someone inquires about it and I don't remember anyone posting an updated link for it. You can try doing a search of the forum for "community manual" and see if you have any luck.

I think I'm going to try playing a little more on the stock game first to get some experience before I crank it up with the Grey Wolves or anything else.

Some folks will advise just that, others will say to go ahead and install a supermod right away. Do whatever floats your own boat.

One more question - when I have my navigator ping for the ocean depth does that give away my position?

I real life? I'm guessing yes, if there's another ship near enough listening in with some type of sonar that can pick up on your ping.

In the game? Nope. The enemy AI doesn't hear it. Ping away to your heart's content, unless you want to refrain from it for realism's sake.

I've hit the bottom before (I thought ordering my engineer to dive would mean he'd dive to a reasonable level, but he just kept going).

The officers do what you tell 'em to. No more, no less. If you order a dive, the LI will keep you in a dive until you tell him to level off or go in the other direction, even if it means he sends you bow first into the sea bottom at flank speed (or takes you below crush depth and kills you all that way).

If you order a heading or plot a course, the navigator will keep you on it even if it ends up with you slamming into another ship or the dock or running a stop sign in downtown Kiel. Oh, they may alert you to the fact that there's another ship in the vicinity, or that you're getting close to land, or that you're taking damage from the pier on which you've impaled the boat, or that the traffic cop behind you is motioning franctically for you to pull over and produce your license and registration*, but they won't change course to avoid any of that unless you order it.

In other words, it's all up to you.



*I may have made this part up.

[Arnold]

Originally Posted by Jonny K

Is there a new place I can find the community manual?
One more question - when I have my navigator ping for the ocean depth does that give away my position?

^
I have a link to the Silent Hunter 3 Community Manual yet I cannot get the link to work here. From history, considering the HF/DF technology the British used, it may also be prudent to limit your radio traffic to Bdu to eliminate detection. Rather than give Bdu contact reports every two hours, if a convoy is detected, in the game, every 12 hours is adequate.
As a fellow noob, it would be nice to locate a tutorial for learning to use the tools in the navigation map.
Good hunting!

[Gargamel]

Pinging for depth does not give away your pos, and I'm pretty sure HuffDuff is not modeled in the game.

[TwoGamers]

Going half-way across the world is a bad idea and in order to avoid battleships just watch the updates down thwe bottom this will tell you what to do

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by TwoGamers

Going half-way across the world is a bad idea and in order to avoid battleships just watch the updates down thwe bottom this will tell you what to do

If you're counselling the original poster, he hasn't been on this board in well over a year.

[Steve Gad]

Originally Posted by TwoGamers

Going half-way across the world is a bad idea and in order to avoid battleships just watch the updates down thwe bottom this will tell you what to do

Updates? Bottom? Crumbs, I'm worse at this than I thought!!

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by Jonny K

Hey,and if the original game was so good then I shouldn't need to change too much

Actually, the original game wasnt that good, just created a foundation for the modders to make a good game. I would start with a clean install, and Install one of the Super mods out there, GWX seems to be the consensus, but there is nothing wrong with using any of the others.

And until it becomes a liability, I'd run on the surface as much as you can, only occasionally dropping down for hydro checks. The RAF/RN don't get radar until early-mid '42, and the air cover doesn't seem to get oppressive till slightly after then.

99% of this game is waiting. You can alleviate this by using TC, but only to a certain point. While most games are action action action, you have to think of this as a Sim. Its wait wait wait wait wait wait SHOOT OH MY GOD WERE GONNA DIE wait wait wait wait etc.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Jonny K

I jump to my crew section and start throwing guys into the torpedo room to prepare an attack.

You don't need anyone in the torpedo room to fire torpedoes - just to reload them.

I've hit the bottom before (I thought ordering my engineer to dive would mean he'd dive to a reasonable level, but he just kept going).

P: Takes you to periscope depth.
C: Takes you to 70 meters, very quickly.
D: Takes you deeper until you tell him to stop. If you don't tell him to stop, he won't.

If I want to go to periscope depth or crash dive, I use those keys. Otherwise I use the guage to order a specific depth. I never touch the 'D' key.

Originally Posted by Pisces

It's the first bug of SH3 that is mentioned in the GWX manual. Page 14 (page 27 in pdf-counts)

"If you upgrade your U-boat before the first patrol of a new career, you may not receive any renown for ships sunk during the first patrol, so you should not upgrade or change anything on your U-boat on your first patrol of a new career before leaving port."

It doesn't say anything about adding crew.

Another update. First, I learned that mis-typing a key while in compressed time mode is pretty bad. Ooops, I hit D. Oops, my sub is destroyed in an instant. So don't do that.

Anyway, I'm on a new campaign on my first patrol. I didn't add any new crew, and I've done most of the trip on the surface. In the middle of the night I found a ship and spend an hour or so tracking and then sinking it. Then I sunk another. Then I sunk a war ship without even looking (fired and then dived). Then I evaded the other war ships. It's getting interesting. I still haven't made it to my patrol area, I'm maybe 50% of the way there and down 25% fuel. I'm not sure how I'm going to make it back again at this fuel burn rate.


Jonny K