How realistic do you play SH3

[Chisum]

Originally Posted by Klaus_Doldinger

Don´t worry. Let´s forget this misunderstanding.
By the way, I agree wiht you that "realism" is a quite subjective matter. You say that the first time you were "killed" you were three hours thinking about the horrible death of your crew. I understand.

For me there is realism too when I put time at 1, and request to my radio operator to put a record in the gramophone. I can spend hours listening music at home while I do other things; sometimes I take a walk to the bridge and join myself to the watch crew, or I go downstairs to "Zentrale" and I request the "Chief" for the fuel or battery levels. Few times, very few times, you can be, for example, washing your teeth when from the computer you hear: "Schiff gesichtet, Lage drei-drei-funf, grosse Entfernung!", and you run like hell to the computer to press "B" and take your binoculars to give the proper orders. That´s also my realism.

Regards y... ¡Buena caza!

I had not seen your answer !


Ok I thing that we understood finally.
The most important remainder intensity of the universe in which we are able to plunge us.

Now, I hope only that when I would give the final score of my first campaign, BDU will not shoot me. Because in only 54% of realism, that must appear easy to send more than 1.250.000 tons in the bottom !


Hasta luego Herr Kaleun !

[Kunsa]

100% minus the external view cam. but I only have because I love looking at the ships(mostly my u-boat) with real nav. I usually dive when aircraft spotted instead of just shooting them down

[Heibges]

For all it's many good qualities, in SH1 you couldn't help but average 75K per patrol no matter how realistic you tried to be. Just switch on the surface search radar, and it's all over. :hmm:

I'm not sure what zoom level I use on the Nav Map, but I usually zoom in until it looks like a real map. So probably 4 or 5 zoom levels in.

Except through the Kiel Canal, where I zoom in all the way.

I rammed a friendly boat and sunk the first time through the canal using the GWX Kiel Canal plots. Second time through it worked fine. Haven't made the trip a third time in GWX yet.

[Canovaro]

I think the very reason for this discussion is a feeling of competition.
If someone is bragging about his 100.000+ patrol at a high realism percentage, then most of us feel jealous. And that's good!!

However if somebody is proud about sinking two ships in one patrol, you should congretulate him, even if that would have been lousy to your avarage patrol.
Because in the end, everybody is using different realism levels and approaches to playing the game, so there's no way of comparison to be made. The only one you could compete with is yourself, on your last career...

What stands out imo is that we all are looking for something else in the game. Everybody has his own favourite level of realism and approach to the game, and as said before, there's no such thing as a real '100% realism'.

I myself like to roleplay in this game. As commander, as watch officer and as mechanic aboard my boat. That's why I have a 100% game realism and I leave map updates off. But I won't go as far as manual nav. Yet.
You know what I really love about Silent Hunter III? Not playing it!
And being at my work breaking my head about how to survive the next convoy attack. Playing it hard encourages these things imo. It also encourages my to return to subsim over and over again.
So that's my approach to the game. And everybody has his own. Being able to serve so many different players is one of the strong points of both SH3 and the supermods imo.

---

Somebody asked what's the point of high realism settings if it never will be as real as in real life. Why miss al the fun?
To me the answer is roleplaying and getting into the story. Letting that battleship pass by and being frustrated about it is also part of the fun. Having external view turned off and view being limited to the periscope is also part of the fun.

---

Originally Posted by Thniper

...The only time when realism level really matters is when someone is giving advice here on the forum. Maybe his advice isn't that usefull for you, because he has a lower realism setting OR modified some data of the game.
It would be nice to remember this when you are posting, in order to NOT confuse too many other subsimmers here on the forum.
This is no personal attack, but it really took me some time to find out why Mr. Mohr actually COULD pass through Gibraltar or the English channel on SURFACE.
I find this very confusing sometimes...

I agree, we all should consider this more.


Have fun playing the game everyone!

[XLjedi]

Originally Posted by Heibges

For all it's many good qualities, in SH1 you couldn't help but average 75K per patrol no matter how realistic you tried to be. Just switch on the surface search radar, and it's all over. :hmm:

I'm not sure what zoom level I use on the Nav Map, but I usually zoom in until it looks like a real map. So probably 4 or 5 zoom levels in.

Except through the Kiel Canal, where I zoom in all the way.

I rammed a friendly boat and sunk the first time through the canal using the GWX Kiel Canal plots. Second time through it worked fine. Haven't made the trip a third time in GWX yet.

So far, I tried the canal ONCE. I thought, "Oh cool, look at that, a shortcut." Next time I'll make sure I have my config file land proximity TC adjusted appropriately before venturing into the canal! Took me like 40 mins at mostly 4x compression! ...and I thought Lorient was a pain.

Originally Posted by Chisum

I understand very well your point of vue.
But for the real realism you must playing in x1 time compression because in that case, you can feel the real sensations of a seaman in the Ocean.
It means that you'll need 5 years to make a campaign and perhaps never meet a convoy...
Do you do that ?

To play in real time there had to be made some tweaks like a crewman getting me out of bed shouting shiff gesichtet into my ear and crash diving hard when flugzeug ge... not just standing like an idiot and waiting for a bomb But I play often in 128-256 TC while cruising and during that time I read a book or look at my work on a laptop. Have lots of time to get bored, dull... than take the sub deep to get some rest from the wind and waves for me (sleep) and my crew. Imagination is a very powerful device

I also do all the attacks in 1xTC, after sighting a convoy I eventually wait till I have few hours of undisturbed time to conduct an attack and evade the escorts.

Originally Posted by Canovaro

You know what I really love about Silent Hunter III? Not playing it!
And being at my work breaking my head about how to survive the next convoy attack. Playing it hard encourages these things imo. It also encourages my to return to subsim over and over again.

Exactly! After finding this forum I play less and less, talk about it here, think about it and than do a long patrol for few real days with sh3 is in my tray all the time while working etc.

Great thread

[don1reed]

100 %

plot course on paper. (mostly ded reckoning, the realnav mod doesn't come close enough to the accuracy one obtains in real life (using sextant with Nautical Almanac and HO 211, HO 229, HO 249, or NAO sight reduction tables))

use whiz-wheels and sliderule.

use maneuvering board.

do x1 TC patrols occasionally.

when strapped for time, just run the academy convoy for practice.

retired? of course

[rogorogo]

84%, never use external cam for spying, but watching the eye candy (she´s going down...)

[Marko_Ramius]

Since few days, i began the manual targeting ; Not easy but rewarding.

I keep Weapon Officer assistance for target id. ( This really bother me to do it myself..).

I have External view on and never put it off. But i don't use it in fight even if sometimes there is some temptation.


Problem is map contact update : Too much information, a lot too much .. But i use it. I plan to not use it anymore in future, but one step by step. The goal is : learning .

I really wonder a mod for keeping map update but with a lot less info ( course/exact distance ..). And while submerged, some update but with less precision. That would make me happy.


Anyway, everyone play like he want. SH3 is a great game, and the fact that we can play arcadish or hardcore is, for me, part of the quality of the game.

[Chisum]

Originally Posted by Marko_Ramius

Anyway, everyone play like he want. SH3 is a great game, and the fact that we can play arcadish or hardcore is, for me, part of the quality of the game.

Correct !
I agree at 100%.
For me the great moment in SH3 is the convoy approach, silently and precisly. Sometime that need few hours of big intensity.
In this situation, 54% or 100% are not very different and the pleasure of hunting is the same.

But, to be honnest, later in the war, about 1944/1945, to play in 100%, without F12, without contacts map, without de references of the controlled air sector, etc, you can make just one thing any more: to hope not to meet a convoy. If not, it is assured death because you do not have any more the least chance to leave there.
For example, few days ago I was between Cherbourg and Le Havre, it was june 6th 1944, the D Day...
Many packs of 40 schips everywere, and no chance to survive in 54%.
What about in 100% ?
The only way of going at the end of the war is to be held far from the zones of the convoys.
Just because de difficulty is to hard.
Is this really the finality of SH3 ?
To remain hidden 2 years ?

[mapuc]

To you who play in overkill mode

When you die in a mission do you do this then?

Take two Dices and through them. If they show less than 4, you have survived the destrucion. I presume you through the dices a second time, to see if you shall become a POW or saved by your own.

When the "eyes" are showing more than 4 I presume you see you self as KIA.

If that's the case, what then? do you start a new mission or do you play overkill irl as well and throw away the game???


Markus

[Klaus_Doldinger]

The problem I find with map contacts update is, certainly, that you get a lot of precise info about the escorts chasing you. Up to 1943, I find relatively easy to evade from escorts after a convoy attack; my experience tells that if you dive at one or two knots after attacking a convoy in silent running, you'll be depth charged for an hour more or less, and that some of the depth charges will fall quite near of you, but with ahead flank speed and some maneuver in the precise moment you´ll be at surface, normally, in an hour more or less and almost intact, if not intact at all. The black lines (it doesn´t matter if GWX doesn´t difference between red and black lines) coming near give you a quite precise idea of when to evade at flank speed (I don´t mention the propellers noise because it´s obvious that if you hear propellers al high speed above you someone is about to depth charge you!).

In any case, I survived also to depth charges not using map contact updates keeping the golden rules: silent running and ahead flank when you hear propellers coming at high speed.

For me, map contacts updates are neccesary by the only reason that the TDC is not a good tool to get target speed. With a little practice, anyone can get a more or less precise AOB or even distance in rough seas, but speed is the Achilles' heel of your calculations. TDC normally gives you tremendous and obvious errors, so finally I decided to update map contacts to have a chance of getting more or less precise calculations about target speed (I´m a complete failure in mathematics).

If one of these days someone designs a manual targeting system for mathematics anaphabets like me with a reasonable percentage of error, that day I´ll switch off the "map contacts update".

[Chisum]

Originally Posted by Klaus_Doldinger

If one of these days someone designs a manual targeting system for mathematics anaphabets like me with a reasonable percentage of error, that day I´ll switch off the "map contacts update".

Good idea !

I request also a real engine room with real mecanical failures which will need a manual intervention(like in the film "das boat" after the crash at Gibraltar)because the ability of the enginers was essential for the survival of the submarines.
I request also the possibility of being posed on the bottom to repair, the possibility of surrender as much did.
I request of course a real periscopic immersion witch was at 18 meters and not at 13 meters, I request the possibility of mining the enemy estuaries, I request also a real radio contact with bdu and the other U-boot witch gives us the longitude and latitude of de convoy/ships alone.

After that, maby I will playing in 100% realism because in that case, it will be real.


Edit:
+ real night optical Zeiss, + name and home port on every merchand ship(for example "Eraklion" La Valette).

[Indiana_Jones]

I have GWX 1.03, everything thing switched on, minus disable external view, so i think that's like 83% realism?

I enjoy the graphics too much to turn them off lol

-Indy

[XLjedi]

Originally Posted by Klaus_Doldinger

If one of these days someone designs a manual targeting system for mathematics anaphabets like me with a reasonable percentage of error, that day I´ll switch off the "map contacts update".

I may have a tool you'd like...