Random Questions

[Paladin132]

Hello all,

I have played SHIV but not very realistically for some time. I put it aside for a year or so and now am coming back to it but with a different intent. I want to learn to do things manually.

That said, there have been some questions that came up and I thought I would post a thread and see what folks had to say.

1. Can you tell if a destroyer is pinging you or pinging away from you?
2. Do you ever stay on station after taking damage?
3. What do you do to avoid destroyers after the charge at you? I have found that I cannot maneuver the boat fast enough to present a minimum aspect to him, and I definitely cannot outrun him, and I am not sure how deep I should go other than max depth below a thermal layer.

[gi_dan2987]

Originally Posted by Paladin132

Hello all,

I have played SHIV but not very realistically for some time. I put it aside for a year or so and now am coming back to it but with a different intent. I want to learn to do things manually.

That said, there have been some questions that came up and I thought I would post a thread and see what folks had to say.

1. Can you tell if a destroyer is pinging you or pinging away from you?
2. Do you ever stay on station after taking damage?
3. What do you do to avoid destroyers after the charge at you? I have found that I cannot maneuver the boat fast enough to present a minimum aspect to him, and I definitely cannot outrun him, and I am not sure how deep I should go other than max depth below a thermal layer.

1. Yes you can, if you know how to listen for the strength of the ping. If it's a loud and resounding ringing ping, they're right on you. Make sure to keep the pinging DD either at bearing 000 or 180 to minimize the amount of your sub that returns the signal. Pinging away sounds softer and a bit faint. You'll pick up on the difference after a while.

2. It depends on the type and amount of damage in question. If you're flooding and your hull integrity has been compromised a good amount, I would return to base. If your main pump gets slightly damaged during a DC attack, you could probably fix it and continue your patrol. Your hull integrity is the most important. Ultimately there is no exact way of telling, you just kind of get the feel for it after a while, as real skippers would have.

3. Go as deep as you possibly can, preferably under the thermal layer. A DD that is pinging is not listening, and a DD that is listening is not pinging. If you have only one DD after you, turn right towards his rush. As soon as he goes over you, cut your engines back to silent running and make a hard rudder to port or starboard. What that does is makes him think you're still going straight, but you're actually using your inertia from running at flank speed to turn the sub, and at silent running, it should throw him off enough to where he'll be listening/pinging/DC'ing in the wrong spot. Be creative! It's a game of cat and mouse, there really is no right or wrong way per se.

[Tombomsee]

Good advice, thanks !
How do you identify a "thermal layer" ?

[Admiral Halsey]

Originally Posted by Tombomsee

Good advice, thanks !
How do you identify a "thermal layer" ?

You should get a message stating you've passed it. If not it's normally around 165 feet in game.

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by Tombomsee

Good advice, thanks !
How do you identify a "thermal layer" ?

Usually, the only indication you get of a thermal layer is a voice from the crew saying "detecting thermal layer" or something to that effect. There is no bathythermograph thermocline indicator installed aboard that you can read yourself.

[Tombomsee]

Thanks alot, I will start paying more attention to my crew then

[merc4ulfate]

1. Sometimes but not all the time.. If there are more than one pining it is hard to tell. Also ask the sonar man to report the nearest warship. He will give you frequent and constant updates on bearing and closing or moving away.

2. Yes I will stay on station after damage. The only way I would leave is if my tubes were destroyed or damaged to such an extent that it would take less time to go home that it would to fix them.

3. I will crash dive. Go about 50-100 feet past test depth and then go all quiet and turn 90 degrees in the direction of the fewest warships. After 20 minutes or so I will make another 90 degree turn again towards which ever section of ocean has the least amount of sonar signals and creep away. When I am about 8000 yards from my last firing point I will surface to see if there are any stranded vessels I could fire at long range. If there are but I can not get a good shot I will wait for the escorts to lean the stranded ship and then sink it with another torpedo.

With the mods I run I am told if a ship is sunk but I do not know which ship or its tonnage until I return to port. I return to look for stranded ships especially if I have had torpedo impacts but no message of a sunk ship.

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Generic Mod Enabler - v2.6.0.157
1_TriggerMaru_Overhaul_2-5
1_TMO_25_small_patch
RSRDC_TMO_V502
RSRDC_V5xx_Patch1
Traveller Mod v2.6 TMO
#1 Real Environment mod install
Traveller Mod 2.6 Patch 1 - ISE v3 Patch
#4 Warships retextured
Traveller Mod 2.6 No Midway Transfer
Traveller Mod 2.6 No DC Camera Shake
Traveller Mod 2.6 Larger Search Patterns
Traveller Mod 2.6 Harder Enemy AI Escorts
Traveller Mod 2.6 Automatic Ship ID
Traveller Alternate Main Loading Screens
Convoy Routes TMO+RSRD
tambor198's TMO+RSRDC missions pack



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[Cfant]

Ship ahoi! I'm playing SH4-Monsun-Mod (vers. 720) at the moment. I think a have an alien on board, which kills my crew step by step In other words, I can't explain what happened:

Returning home from the Feindfahrt to Kiel, suddenly the U-Boot was reported damaged. The deck-watch hat causalities, while I was swimming on the surface. So I thought, my watch had missed an aircraft. But - none was to see, not on the map, not with the glasses. The sea too was calm and quiet. No other ships. Casualities only hit the deck-watch.
Next I thought of mines, but still... end september 1939, quite some miles off the coast of Denmark, I can't imagine it was mines?
However, I went on - next day the same event. No plane warning, no plane ever was seen, I also heard no explosion, still I head a lot of dead people And a kaputtes (extremly damaged) ship.
So my questions: What can have been the cause of this events?
And one more: What can you do about mines? I was warned of mines off the english coast, what can I do to evade them?

Last thing I have to say: It's a much more intense feeling to play the mod! I come home with 2 ships sunk - and am really proud (instead of a dozen sinkings in vanilla). But who would send a boat with only 5 torpedos to England?????

[merc4ulfate]

Are you playing with time compression?? If you are and you have no air search radar then as soon as the plane see you it begins an attack and since your time compressed it sees, attacks and leaves before you even know what hit you. Time compression kills.

Run the surface at night, submerge during the day if your running time compression and this will minimize the air craft hits on you.

As to mines:

You can only avoid what you see. This is the trouble with mine fields. Stay out of areas where mines have been known to have been placed. The only way to avoid them once your in the field is to dive below periscope depth and raise the scope to see under water or be surfaced and go slowly with a man perched on top of the raised scope for a greater field of view to the water ahead and hope you do not miss one.

[Paladin132]

Is there any way to use radar to launch an attack? I am reading a book right now Silent Service: My years on... Something I forget. Anyway, he was talking about shooting after dark by radar alone a few times.

[merc4ulfate]

Yes you can plot solutions with radar alone. It is harder to do sometimes but if your patience you can can find exact heading, speed and distance and then fire away.

Unlike sonar your given fairly close measurements in how far away something is as well as speed and heading. A little plotting and boom. I think the biggest error is made in calculating lead.

I sank the Yamato in a typhoon one day using only radar. It was somewhere NW of Truk and I had gotten within 800 yards of her so the error on the lead time was almost non existent.

[fireftr18]

If you're able to attack manually, then using radar is a cinch.

[Cfant]

Once again I have to thank you Sounds quite logical No more time compression during day

[Paladin132]

How do you enter information when you cannot get the scope to give you a lock? Not even a intermittent one but completely without being able to see the target?

[merc4ulfate]

If your playing manually then all information is set by the dials on the right and left of the screen on the TDC or scope.

Bearings can be sent to TDC by sonar and radar as well.