Absolute n00b questions [again]

ET2SN · 02-09-19, 01:34 PM

I have multiple versions of DW, RA, and LWAMI installed on my machine (Win10, 64 bit).
I don't play with the mod enabler because RA has a lot of mod files associated with each version.

I started out with the Strategy First direct download version of DW which is installed in my Program Files (X86) folder. I then copied the main DW folder out to my desktop, ran the RA or LWAMI installer, then renamed the copied main folder (DWLWAMI, DWRA142, DWRA1477, etc.) and finally moved the new main file directly into my C drive folder.

The Strat First version of DW comes with a program called LaunchDW.exe located in each DW main folder. I click on that in the version I want to use and select the top Launch option to start the game. This also updates the entries in my registry so I can just click the Start icon on my taskbar to play the version I selected. I have LWAMI and 5 or 6 versions of RA installed, which is over kill but, well, why not?

This isn't the most efficient use of hard drive space but I have a 1TB hard drive that mostly plays DW and Flight Sim 2002 so space isn't a huge concern.
And, best of all, it works.

One of the things I really like about DW (besides the fidelity of the over all game) is that you can develop your own tactics and play the game the way you want and its equally as valid as anyone else.

The way I play is fairly unique. I did this stuff for real from 1987 to 1993. I qualified submarines aboard the USS Barbel (SS580) when we were homeported in Sasebo Japan and then transferred to the USS Bremerton (SSN 698) in Pearl Harbor after the Barbel was de-commissioned. I guess you could say that the way I play the game is tainted by the real world.

What I was getting to with the torpedo dodging question is that you are now in charge of a multi billion dollar national asset and a crew of approx. 130 people. Don't forget that. Its hard to say "Sorry about that" 130 times when the ship is flooding.

Attack submarines can (should?) be thought of as sniper rifles. You're set up to make long range shots while staying concealed. Your game is ambush, not YOLO.

That's just a pet peeve of mine when I watch YouTubers dodging torpedoes in Cold Waters. Yeah, its entertaining but dude, you've already lost the fight.

ET2SN · 02-09-19, 02:26 PM

Learning the game with LWAMI should work well.
You'll have updated 3D models and more units represented. Just remember, LWAMI came about when the player community started to get bored with the stock game.

Your sonar displays have some "blinders" added to them. This will change some tactics, for example how you track contacts or use your towed array.

I can make arguments both for and against using LWAMI to learn the basic game, just stay aware of those blinders as you gain experience.

VulcanRidr · 02-09-19, 04:12 PM

First, let me say thank you for your service.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ET2SN

I have multiple versions of DW, RA, and LWAMI installed on my machine (Win10, 64 bit).

I'm one of those weird corner cases. I am playing on Unix (FreeBSD, specifically) under WINE. The nice part is that WINE rates DW as "Platinum," which means everything works. The other nice thing is that FreeBSD (or Linux, for that matter) doesn't use nearly the resources just for the operating system that Windows does.

Quote:

I started out with the Strategy First direct download version of DW which is installed in my Program Files (X86) folder. I then copied the main DW folder out to my desktop, ran the RA or LWAMI installer, then renamed the copied main folder (DWLWAMI, DWRA142, DWRA1477, etc.) and finally moved the new main file directly into my C drive folder.

The Strat First version of DW comes with a program called LaunchDW.exe located in each DW main folder. I click on that in the version I want to use and select the top Launch option to start the game. This also updates the entries in my registry so I can just click the Start icon on my taskbar to play the version I selected. I have LWAMI and 5 or 6 versions of RA installed, which is over kill but, well, why not?

I just have the two CD version of the game that I bought (and forgot about) years ago. I think my CD set shipped with version 1.02 of DW.

Quote:

This isn't the most efficient use of hard drive space but I have a 1TB hard drive that mostly plays DW and Flight Sim 2002 so space isn't a huge concern.
And, best of all, it works.

Meh, I do IT for a living (Unix/Linux system administrator, which is why I run FreeBSD on my desktop/laptop). Spindles are cheap. 3TB drives are less than $100. DW+RA plus DW+LwAmi is 3.9GB. You could fit almost 800 copies of that on a 3TB drive.

Quote:

One of the things I really like about DW (besides the fidelity of the over all game) is that you can develop your own tactics and play the game the way you want and its equally as valid as anyone else.

I believe that is called "if it's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid" rule...

Quote:

The way I play is fairly unique. I did this stuff for real from 1987 to 1993. I qualified submarines aboard the USS Barbel (SS580) when we were homeported in Sasebo Japan and then transferred to the USS Bremerton (SSN 698) in Pearl Harbor after the Barbel was de-commissioned. I guess you could say that the way I play the game is tainted by the real world.

What I was getting to with the torpedo dodging question is that you are now in charge of a multi billion dollar national asset and a crew of approx. 130 people. Don't forget that. Its hard to say "Sorry about that" 130 times when the ship is flooding.

Attack submarines can (should?) be thought of as sniper rifles. You're set up to make long range shots while staying concealed. Your game is ambush, not YOLO.

That's just a pet peeve of mine when I watch YouTubers dodging torpedoes in Cold Waters. Yeah, its entertaining but dude, you've already lost the fight.

I agree. I have watched some Cold Waters videos and I can't remember the dude's name, but every mission, he ends up getting detected and fired upon. I understand the whole time sensitive thing, but once you get the call of "torpedo in the water!", you go from hunter to hunted. Obviously, I don't have the depth of experience that you do, I was a SATCOM puke in the Army. But subs and aircraft have always fascinated me. It sounds like we are about the same age. I was in from '84 - '92.

And I like the analogy of sub combat being the same as a sniper. That is even more accurate than my personal one of sub combat being like a mugging.

ET2SN · 02-09-19, 05:29 PM

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can relate to a lot of stuff. Especially back in '92 and '93.

"Geez, I've been doing this long enough and I could do another 14 years standing on my hands. All they have to do is let me re-enlist and... Oh. Maybe not. "

BTW, this had nothing to do with Bill Clinton. If anything, Bill kept the Seawolf program alive and authorized the third hull (USS Jimmy Carter).
I had been angling to go to a 637 stretch (Sturgeon class) after we de-commed the Barbel but by then the entire class was slated for scrapping.
When my time was starting to run out on the Bremerton, I was playing around with the idea of re-upping and staying on sea duty or going to shore duty as an instructor in one of the ET schools.
Yeah. There was no way to stay on sea duty, there were no new ETs in the training pipeline to instruct, and what was that you were saying about re-enlisting?

I knew guys who re-upped early and stayed in touch with them after I got out. It got as nasty as I feared it would get so I didn't cry into my beer a lot.

p7p8 · 02-09-19, 07:26 PM

DW is NOT game based on real events - all is hypothetical.
And hypothetical you can be detected sooner or later and better is to know how to act than suspects "it willnever happen"

I know most of "submariners" thougtt "i won't be detected" but.. in every NATO maneveurs all sub or warship is detected and succesfully engaded many times. For example in "Cold Rsponse" or "Dynamic Mongoose" excercies even Seawolf class was detected and succesfully engages in last years.

You can pretedn "you won't be detected" and panick when "you will" or you can train "what to do" when you are detected and attacked. Choice is yours.

And don't forget it's only game so political "binds" like in real - havent matters in fictional scenarios.

02-09-19, 07:26 PM	#5
p7p8 Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 742 Downloads: 136 Uploads: 6	DW is NOT game based on real events - all is hypothetical. And hypothetical you can be detected sooner or later and better is to know how to act than suspects "it willnever happen" I know most of "submariners" thougtt "i won't be detected" but.. in every NATO maneveurs all sub or warship is detected and succesfully engaded many times. For example in "Cold Rsponse" or "Dynamic Mongoose" excercies even Seawolf class was detected and succesfully engages in last years. You can pretedn "you won't be detected" and panick when "you will" or you can train "what to do" when you are detected and attacked. Choice is yours. And don't forget it's only game so political "binds" like in real - havent matters in fictional scenarios. __________________

02-09-19, 01:34 PM	#1
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	I have multiple versions of DW, RA, and LWAMI installed on my machine (Win10, 64 bit). I don't play with the mod enabler because RA has a lot of mod files associated with each version. I started out with the Strategy First direct download version of DW which is installed in my Program Files (X86) folder. I then copied the main DW folder out to my desktop, ran the RA or LWAMI installer, then renamed the copied main folder (DWLWAMI, DWRA142, DWRA1477, etc.) and finally moved the new main file directly into my C drive folder. The Strat First version of DW comes with a program called LaunchDW.exe located in each DW main folder. I click on that in the version I want to use and select the top Launch option to start the game. This also updates the entries in my registry so I can just click the Start icon on my taskbar to play the version I selected. I have LWAMI and 5 or 6 versions of RA installed, which is over kill but, well, why not? This isn't the most efficient use of hard drive space but I have a 1TB hard drive that mostly plays DW and Flight Sim 2002 so space isn't a huge concern. And, best of all, it works. One of the things I really like about DW (besides the fidelity of the over all game) is that you can develop your own tactics and play the game the way you want and its equally as valid as anyone else. The way I play is fairly unique. I did this stuff for real from 1987 to 1993. I qualified submarines aboard the USS Barbel (SS580) when we were homeported in Sasebo Japan and then transferred to the USS Bremerton (SSN 698) in Pearl Harbor after the Barbel was de-commissioned. I guess you could say that the way I play the game is tainted by the real world. What I was getting to with the torpedo dodging question is that you are now in charge of a multi billion dollar national asset and a crew of approx. 130 people. Don't forget that. Its hard to say "Sorry about that" 130 times when the ship is flooding. Attack submarines can (should?) be thought of as sniper rifles. You're set up to make long range shots while staying concealed. Your game is ambush, not YOLO. That's just a pet peeve of mine when I watch YouTubers dodging torpedoes in Cold Waters. Yeah, its entertaining but dude, you've already lost the fight.

02-09-19, 02:26 PM	#2
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Learning the game with LWAMI should work well. You'll have updated 3D models and more units represented. Just remember, LWAMI came about when the player community started to get bored with the stock game. Your sonar displays have some "blinders" added to them. This will change some tactics, for example how you track contacts or use your towed array. I can make arguments both for and against using LWAMI to learn the basic game, just stay aware of those blinders as you gain experience.

02-09-19, 05:29 PM	#4
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Yeah, I'm pretty sure we can relate to a lot of stuff. Especially back in '92 and '93. "Geez, I've been doing this long enough and I could do another 14 years standing on my hands. All they have to do is let me re-enlist and... Oh. Maybe not. " BTW, this had nothing to do with Bill Clinton. If anything, Bill kept the Seawolf program alive and authorized the third hull (USS Jimmy Carter). I had been angling to go to a 637 stretch (Sturgeon class) after we de-commed the Barbel but by then the entire class was slated for scrapping. When my time was starting to run out on the Bremerton, I was playing around with the idea of re-upping and staying on sea duty or going to shore duty as an instructor in one of the ET schools. Yeah. There was no way to stay on sea duty, there were no new ETs in the training pipeline to instruct, and what was that you were saying about re-enlisting? I knew guys who re-upped early and stayed in touch with them after I got out. It got as nasty as I feared it would get so I didn't cry into my beer a lot.