Your Silent Hunter Experience

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Vendor

Is there anything you recommend Mr David Cameron (DID)

That dipstick!

[B.N.R.T.]

I play at 100%+ realism.

- No external torpedo reloads at high winds. In fact: sitting completely still.
- Regular status reports to BdU at midnight, during convoy chases and after significant events.
- No instant firing of deck gun.
- Torpedo maintenance: I won't bother during calm seas, but during heavy storms submerge every day to 'service' the torpedoes.
- Dive/trim checks at noon every day. Otherwise no submerging to check for hydrophone contacts.
- When the situation allows, hang about a bit after sinking a ship to provide aid to shipwrecked crew.
- Keeping a real life Kriegstagebuch where I record everything.

I do have map updates on and crew fatigue off, though.

[redsocialist]

Originally Posted by B.N.R.T.

I play at 100%+ realism.
I do have map updates on and crew fatigue off, though.

Heh, seems to me your more at 99 percent realism for all those realistic checks, but crew fatigue and map contacts Your crew must be like those Energizer batteries they just keep going, and going and going....

[redsocialist]

Well here's what I do.

I have 100% Realism, except usualy I have stable periscope view(It's a mounted piece of equipment, not a device being physcially held FYI.) For me, dead is dead, this enforces me to make wise decisions and understand the consequence. I save periodaclly to deal with CTD, but if I screw up, then whats done is done. Never going back to anything, and always try to take care of the crew. Right now I'm on my 3rd patrol, for the first; the Diesel engines went kaput. . I currently run WAC 4.1 with SH3 Commander. Its different then GWX, for me WAC gives the most sense of realism and adventure. I actually sunk 2 destroyers, of course as you read above I suffered the concequences.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by redsocialist

I have 100% Realism, except usualy I have stable periscope view(It's a mounted piece of equipment, not a device being physcially held FYI.)

For Your Information, it is solidly mounted to a highly unstable platform. Even at periscope depth the sub pitches and rolls in all but a dead calm sea. They were not gyro stabilized in any way. A hand-held device such as a pair of binoculars is actually more stable.

Oh, and I use stabilized views as well, because the periscope did have a split-prism unit available in SH4 but not SH3.

[Missing Name]

69% realism. I still have have external cam on, auto torpedoes, WO help and stabilize view. That last one is necessary, because my computer lags like hell in periscope view. External view is for the pretty stuff. The other two will be disabled eventually.

Using SH3 Commander, I turned off fatigue but turned on malfunctions.

I have increased deck gun ammo (110 increased to 200), to coincide with my unrealistic surface strategy.

And DiD. However, I also save often because my computer is cranky...

[Sailor Steve]

We had a thread on this not too long ago, and I made huge long replies I was going to point to in order not to have to do it again.

I'll be hung-and-dried if I can find it now.

[Jimbuna]

It is possible to go into the gameplay settings and change the realism settings to hike up your renown amounts without suffering the loss of gameplay functionality

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

It is possible to go into the gameplay settings and change the realism settings to hike up your renown amounts without suffering the loss of gameplay functionality

And that, my friends, is how I manage to play at 99% realism.

[desirableroasted]

For careers I care about:

• Dead is dead.
• Load externals only in good weather, one at a time, and always at a dead stop. If attacked during loading, give 60 seconds before getting underway, and "jettison" the torpedo (i.e. count that torpedo as "lost.")
• Attack only merchants unless forced otherwise by orders (Narvik, for example) or tactical situation. Zero renown credit for escorts: destroyers, ASW trawlers, etc (corrected later in career files) under any circumstances.
• Any engine speed over 200 rpms must be justified by a reported target or immediate tactical situation.
• Airplanes never engaged except where tactically required (harbor, loading externals, etc). No credit, ever, for planes (corrected later in career files).
• Realistic loadout of torpedoes. I look at what the game "offers" and use dice to determine.
• At least one week on assigned station. Boat can "go after" nearby contacts in other sectors, but must do one week on station.
• After one week on station, die are thrown every week. A "1" the first week means go home; all else is my option. The next week, "2" also means "go home." I would like to hear your views on this, as it is obviously random.
• Crew manages itself.
• Up to 50% of officers, POs and crew dismissed at end of patrol in home base (determined by coin toss or rolling die, 25% chance of losing any given person). Only "0" renown new personnel recruited.
• All POs have a qualification, and officers have at least one. No helmsman or medic qualifications issued & radio only to POs.
• Officer support in target solutions (though I am slowly learning manual targeting.
• No music or broadcasts after 1945, thought I am not time sensitive (i.e. I might listen to an FDR or Churchill speech before or after its original date, or a song in 1939 that was first released in 1942).

I also always have some throwaway careers -- training careers -- going on, in which I run the same scenario over and over. I treat these as "missions." At some point, of course, these start to CTD & are discarded.

100% "realism".
No external reloads carried.
Manual targetting & no contact map.
Each of my boats, not the commanders, get their own carreer.
Early war VII(A) and IX(A) have non-reloadable stern tubes.
No submerged attacks on dark nights.
Torpedoes are reloaded while submerged, and not engaged.
Hydrophones are manned by a qualified crew member, not me.
(However, I reserve the right to count warships).

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by desirableroasted

Dead is dead.

Of course. I would make an exception for the "death dive" bug, but any time that has happened it wouldn't let me fix it anyway.

Load externals only in good weather, one at a time, and always at a dead stop. If attacked during loading, give 60 seconds before getting underway, and "jettison" the torpedo (i.e. count that torpedo as "lost.")

Yep. I also don't load internals in bad weather unless I'm 50 meters or more down, and never reload when being chased by escorts. A ton of torpedo hanging from chains is a dangerous toy when you're at 15 degrees down bubble and turning as hard as you can. I fire my load, and that's that until I'm well away from trouble.

Attack only merchants unless forced otherwise by orders (Narvik, for example) or tactical situation. Zero renown credit for escorts: destroyers, ASW trawlers, etc (corrected later in career files) under any circumstances.

I don't worry about renown, as I never use it for anything, but like you I never attack any escort unless I feel I have absolutely no choice.

Any engine speed over 200 rpms must be justified by a reported target or immediate tactical situation.

Good idea. Never waste fuel.

Airplanes never engaged except where tactically required (harbor, loading externals, etc). No credit, ever, for planes (corrected later in career files).

Again our thinking is the same, though again the renown angle doesn't concern me.

Realistic loadout of torpedoes. I look at what the game "offers" and use dice to determine.

I just take what they give me.

At least one week on assigned station. Boat can "go after" nearby contacts in other sectors, but must do one week on station.
After one week on station, die are thrown every week. A "1" the first week means go home; all else is my option. The next week, "2" also means "go home." I would like to hear your views on this, as it is obviously random.

I've used a single six-sided die for years now, but I never go home until fuel or ammunition requires it. After a week on station I throw a die. A '1' means that I've been ordered to move to an adjacent grid, also selected by die. After two weeks I move on a '1' or '2', and so on. This is one of the things I like about SH4 - after an ordered time you might be ordered somewhere else.

Crew manages itself.

That's something I can never quite bring myself to do. Yes, they should take care of themselves, but if they don't move I feel guilty, so I keep with '8-Hour Fatigue', and I keep moving them.

Up to 50% of officers, POs and crew dismissed at end of patrol in home base (determined by coin toss or rolling die, 25% chance of losing any given person). Only "0" renown new personnel recruited.

Even the US navy only rotated 30%, and I don't know what Kriegsmarine policy was, so I let SH3 Commander do what it wants in that respect.

But yes, I too never use renown for 'better' crew.

All POs have a qualification, and officers have at least one. No helmsman or medic qualifications issued & radio only to POs.

I don't hold with that one. Even if those don't do anything it was still a valid qualification. My planesmen are always low-grade enlisted, but the guy standing at the pumps is always a qualified Helmsman.

Officer support in target solutions (though I am slowly learning manual targeting.

I hate manual targetting, and always use WE Assistance. I still manage to miss plenty, so I don't let it bother me much. I also use h.sie's Colored Hull Integrity Indicator, which gives a general idea about the state of the boat without strict numbers.

No music or broadcasts after 1945, thought I am not time sensitive (i.e. I might listen to an FDR or Churchill speech before or after its original date, or a song in 1939 that was first released in 1942).

I don't get that one, but I've never played past 1940, so what would I know?

I also always have some throwaway careers -- training careers -- going on, in which I run the same scenario over and over. I treat these as "missions." At some point, of course, these start to CTD & are discarded.

I figure that's what Single Missions are for.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by redsocialist

Heh, seems to me your more at 99 percent realism for all those realistic checks, but crew fatigue and map contacts Your crew must be like those Energizer batteries they just keep going, and going and going....

Crew management is, AFAIK, impossible to do in any truly realistic manner when it comes to SH3 and fatigue.

On the one hand, to use a "no fatigue" model and possibly have the same man on duty 24/7 for an entire patrol with no ill effects is, obviously, completely unrealistic.

On the other hand, to use any fatigue model that requires you, as the boat's commander, to manually take a man who's on duty and move him to his quarters to get some rest is also completely unrealistic.

So it's not one of those things that can be factored into one's level of realism, IMO. There's just no truly "realistic" way to do it.

[Corsair]

I like to get the "real" feeling, so it is 100%, manual targeting. No map contact updates. Dead is dead. Manual navigation (no sub on the map) and no use of the waypoint tool. Never man the deck or AA guns myself.
No external views ( I tried to leave it on only to take screenshots, but found out that in tricky situations I couldn't resist to have a quick look at where the damn Black Swan is... and anyway I already have hundreds of screenshots...lol ). Forcing you to no external view in my opinion is one of the greatest enhancers of "real feeling"
For crew fatigue I use the mod model I am playing. (with NYGM I usually rotate every 12 hours on patrol and every 4 hours in combat situations) TC limit 128 in enemy zones. All attacks at real time from spotting. Radio msg to Bdu every day around midnight together with the night shift of crew.
If I need to reload external torpedoes, I head to the coast and find a sheltered cove where I "anchor" for the duration of the operation.