Assaut on Scapa Flow GWX advice

[Alexdk]

Hi,

I have owned SHIII for a week now and managed to infitrate Scapa Flow and sink the Revenge batteship there on SHIII 1.4 + SHIII commander. It took about 5 hours but I managed it (barely). It was that characters first patrol and didn't even get a medal for it!

However now I am going to try and attempt it again using GWX mod. Now with destroyers more aggressive than before and relistic air patrols as well as an improved damage model this is going to be hard. Any advice from the vetrans on how best to handle the slipping past the escorts and taking out the beast?

Last time I slipped past the escorts while rigged for silent running, going about 2k. Was only using 25% realism ie realistic batteries and O2 and sensors. However I still had to target the ship manually because it was heavy fog (by England who would have guessed? ) and visibility was about 400m. Now I wanted to take the shot at about 2000m so I would not be too close when the escorts when haywire. It ain't easy trying to hit the ammo cache when I cannot see the target. Fired 3 torps and proceeded to head West, toweards the mined entrance. The first 2 torps (I-Trig, 3m depth) impacted the hull but the third...BOOM! The explosion light up through the fog....amazing! Then the escorts when crazy! All proceeded towards the explosion and the west entrance escort headed straight for me! However, they ain't to smart and he passed within 500m of me and missed me! They started pinging away with sonar in the opposite direction of where I was! Very lucky. Then just a matter of navigating the mine field and I was home free! Of course I used the external camera...I ain't good enough yet to do it blind!

Does anybody have any suggestions on how to attempt this with the GWX mod? Anybody penetrated Scapa Flow. The date was Oct 8, 1939.

Thanks in advance

Alex

[melnibonian]

Short answer: Don't even get close to Scapa. It's too shallow and if you get caught you will die

Long Answer: Try to avoid it. If you still want to give it a try make sure that you:
1. Approach on the surface (you're much faster like that) and submerge inside the lagoon.
2. If the weather is bad it's even better but try to do it at night.
3. Approach from the east entrance and be careful not to hit the barrier ships. Don't even try the other entrances they're mined and heavily armed.

Good Luck (you're going to need it )

[Alexdk]

Ah barrier ships...something new from the stock game! :hmm: Have to consider those.

If I fail at Scapa, any other ports with nice juicy capital ships just waiting to be sunk? I REALLY want to sink a battleship and/or Carrier and get that Knights Cross!

[danlisa]

Loch Ewe but watch out for the sub nets.

SPOILER................







Below are the dates and locations of moored capital ships, extracted from the game data files and listed in chronological order. Note that the dates only seem approximate.

• 1939/09/15 - 1939/10/10, Auxiliary Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1939/10/04 - 1939/10/14, Battleship Revenge, Scapa Flow
• 1939/11/01 - 1940/01/05, Battleship Nelson, Loch Ewe
• 1940/03/01 - 1940/05/01, Auxiliary Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1940/03/07 - 1940/04/25, Aircraft Carrier Illustrious, Scapa Flow
• 1940/04/01 - 1940/06/01, Auxiliary Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1940/05/17 - End of war, Fiji Light Cruiser, Loch Ewe
• 1940/05/24 - 1940/06/30, Dido Light Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1940/12/11 - 1940/12/31, Battleship King George V, Scapa Flow
• 1941/02/01 - 1941/02/17, Auxiliary Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1941/02/10 - 1941/03/20, Auxiliary Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1942/02/03 - 1942/02/28, Battleship King George V, Scapa Flow

Overlapping dates mean there are 2 ships in the same harbor, ex. Oct. 9 1939 both Revenge and Aux. Cruiser are in Scapa Flow



I don't know how accurate these are now.(taken from stock SH3)

[melnibonian]

Alex today is your lucky day. I'm giving you for free all the info you need, and it took me more than a year of game-play to accumulate If you want Capital Ships this is what you need:

Below are the dates and locations of moored capital ships, extracted from the game data files and listed in chronological order. Note that the dates only seem approximate.

• 1939/09/15 - 1939/10/10, Auxiliary Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1939/10/04 - 1939/10/14, Battleship Revenge, Scapa Flow
• 1939/11/01 - 1940/01/05, Battleship Nelson, Loch Ewe
• 1940/03/01 - 1940/05/01, Auxiliary Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1940/03/07 - 1940/04/25, Aircraft Carrier Illustrious, Scapa Flow
• 1940/04/01 - 1940/06/01, Auxiliary Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1940/05/17 - End of war, Fiji Light Cruiser, Loch Ewe
• 1940/05/24 - 1940/06/30, Dido Light Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1940/12/11 - 1940/12/31, Battleship King George V, Scapa Flow
• 1941/02/01 - 1941/02/17, Auxiliary Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1941/02/10 - 1941/03/20, Auxiliary Cruiser, Scapa Flow
• 1942/02/03 - 1942/02/28, Battleship King George V, Scapa Flow

Overlapping dates mean there are 2 ships in the same harbor, ex. Oct. 9 1939 both Revenge and Aux. Cruiser are in Scapa Flow

EDIT: Dan you're quick and we do think alike

[danlisa]

Originally Posted by melnibonian

Alex today is your lucky day. I'm giving you for free all the info you need, and it took me more than a year of game-play to accumulate

Hehe, that made me giggle. I didn't take me a year to find the link to the community manual.:rotfl:

[melnibonian]

Originally Posted by danlisa

Hehe, that made me giggle. I didn't take me a year to find the link to the community manual.:rotfl:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[Brag]

Originally Posted by Alexdk

Ah barrier ships...something new from the stock game! :hmm: Have to consider those.

If I fail at Scapa, any other ports with nice juicy capital ships just waiting to be sunk? I REALLY want to sink a battleship and/or Carrier and get that Knights Cross!

You need to live to enjoy a Knight's Cross

Stay out of: Scapa, Shallow Water, Der Kanal, Harbours!!!!
Clever U boat commanders go after the easy targets before it gets hard. Welcome aboard and good luck!

[hotdog]

I am no where near a veteran but i managed to infiltrate scapa the other day. I sneaked in from the east entrances, went 1 knot silent running through the whole lagoon and dodged two or three DDs only to find a troop transport, a medium tanker and a small tanker inside. I sunk them and went out the way i got in, hugging the coastline. It was my first patrol in september 1939 so the DDs wasnt extremely hard to get away from.

[Der Kolkrabe]

Originally Posted by Brag

You need to live to enjoy a Knight's Cross

Stay out of: Scapa, Shallow Water, Der Kanal, Harbours!!!!
Clever U boat commanders go after the easy targets before it gets hard. Welcome aboard and good luck!

Agreed

But my last patrol I infiltrade Dunkirk and total tonnage was 92052

Got Knight' Cross

But it's same Kaleun who lost his sub in his second patrol....

Another deterrent is the fact that Bernard likes to make appearances at depth control while your infiltraiting harbours, its hard to sneak out while your surfaced! :rotfl:

[Mooncatt]

i did scapa once........then GWX came along cant do it now

[melnibonian]

I did Scapa a couple of times (one in GWX actually) with huge success. The whole experience left me so scared and scared though that I will never try it again after 1940

[Alexdk]

Did it! ARGGHHHH!!! Hahaha

Penetrated Scapa Flow in GWX and sunk the Revenge batteship and got out...and it was much more difficult than on the Stock shIII + SH commander!

First, on my way to Scapa Flow I am attacked by a pair of british planes who think it prudent to depth charge me Lucky for me their aim was questionable to say the least and I suffered to ony minor damage to my flak and deck gun. Undetered I made my way to Scapa Flow. I reach the outskirts around noon and since, for the bloody first time it was clear skies and now wind around britain I waited submerged til nightfall. Then I crept my way in at 2 knots rigged for silent running. (entered from East enterance). I hugged the coast and avoided the sentry ships. However, just as I was manuering past the subnet I realised I had just under 50% oxygen!

Bad news, but I continued. I entered the bay, spotted my prize, and then planned my escape. I would exit West, via the mine field. So I line up my shot and fire off 3 torps from about 2500m and then procceed West torwards my exit. The first torp had the cheek to bounce of the hull! The second hit just in from of the second gun turret and the third hit the jackpot...and moments later the entire ship exploded into a most satisfying ball of flame So all the destroyers head at full speed towards the explosion and I quietly slip away. Unfortunatly my oxygen was running out fast, was down to about 25% so I increased speed to 1/3. Unfortunatly once things calmed down the destroyed returned to their posts and the western destroyer picked me up. I immediatly went to 2 knots and prayed. The destroyer decided to depth charge the area. Again, the flak and deck guns sustained damage but he was fireing blind. In a vain effort to find me he sailed in circles. I, however was hugged against the coast. In a brilliant tactical move the destroyer decided to go hover craft and slammed straigt into the beach! :rotfl:That was almost worth the whole trip! His friends gave up and I continued my egress. Now, as soon as I hit the mine field, with a patrol boat behind me and 2 destroyes in from of me, I run out of Oxygen! Great! In a stroke of good luck it had hit nightfall again and al three ships where about 5k away so I surfaced for a little while, dived, exited the mine field, and observed the patrol patterns so I surfaced everytime the destroyers moved away from me. In the end I escaped and sunk a 31000 ton batteship! Woohoo! Now that Knights cross is mine! And if it ain't I will go sulk in a corner.

Sorry to bore you all but after such a long and hard journey with my heart about to pop outta my head several times I just had to share it.

Thanks to all those who helped me accomplish this!

[Keelbuster]

Originally Posted by melnibonian

It's too shallow and if you get caught you will die

Yea - it's too shallow for evasion. If you get caught, your only option is to destroy your attacker. The few times I went into scapa I thinned the patrol force out quite a bit. During evasion, when your attacker circles around, he opens up enough distance for you to snap off a zero-gyro keelbuster. If you get caught, it's you or it's him.