Repairing ship damage

[Sanctuary]

I've been playing SH4 1.5 for about three weeks, and find myself enjoying it so much I glance at the clock and find that hours have gone by. There were a few bumps in the road but reading the posts and guides you folks have posted have made the game experience smooth sailing. (For this side of the parascope anyway. )

I have, however, run into a problem. While I'd like to have solved it without needing help, I must admit defeat.

Components on my boat refuse to be fixed, a problem that has persisted though the American campaign (Wolves) and on into U-Boat Missions. For some time I have simply ignored what little damage my boat received, but my boat could really use a bit of wrench-work.

The below is a list of my current condition.

• U-boat Missions 1.5 - Vanilla
• Type IX D2 (Though I've never managed to repair dmg in any model boat)
• Bulkhead dmg to bow torpedo room (0.17 on the tool-tip)
• Damage control is fully crewed and active via button on toolbar.
• Boat is surfaced and traveling at zero knots.
• Silent running not active (button unavailable while surfaced anyway)
• Bow torpedo room bulkhead is at the top of my "repair team priority" list.

After 24 hours my crew has made exactly zero progress in repairs. The only thing that has changed is my torpedo room is now completely flooded. The tool-tip claims the "flooding is under control" though.

Any submariners out there can tell me the check box or perhaps the big red button I've no-doubt moused over hundreds of times to get my repairs underway, or am i doomed to be forever known as Captain Leaky.


-Sanctuary

[Kodiac]

Greetings Sanctuary, I myself have only been playing SH4 for about 5 days and doing the same as you, trying to get all my answers on the forums. Tried looking around to answer your question and found this on another forum created by Tambor198.

DAMAGE CONTROL

1. If you play long enough, you are going to take damage. From reading through the posts since the game's inception, it seems that a fair number of skippers aren't too sure what to do when that happens.

2. Before you go on patrol, make sure that all of your damage control team slots are full. Yes, you can pull a damage control team together from other compartments if you want to, but why? It's not like the game is going to reduce your crew's oxygen consumption if you have less men on the boat. Pick at least one chief petty officer, fill the other slots with guys who have engine (propeller) qualifications. Get the green status bar on the left as close to the top as you can. And when you are handing out promotions and medals, not a bad bunch of guys to keep happy and efficient.

3. If you take damage and you haven't done so already, A) send your crew to general quarters. This activates the damage control team, and at least in theory allows them to utilize the regular crew in the compartments as well. B) Secure from silent running. I don't know if that mode keeps repairs from being made, but why chance it.

4. What to pick from the damage control list? Well, that's your call, but I tend to put things into a couple of broad categories, going from most important to least important:

1. Survivability
2. Maneuverability
3. Everything else

Survivability, fix leaking bulkheads, make sure my main pump is intact to pump the water out, and that my compressor is working so I can surface. Also, the amount of blue in the gauge on the right shows how badly the bulkhead is leaking. The more blue you see, the higher on the list I would put it. Blue in the compartment indicates how much water is in there. Again, more blue is bad. Fix the worst flooding first.

Maneuverability, diesels, electric engines, batteries, props, dive planes and rudder. If I get through all the stuff above, I'm going to need these.

Everything else, as the name implies, is just that. If I've taken any sort of major damage, I'm not attacking anything anymore. Why worry about my attack periscope, or my deck gun when I plain to dive if I see so much as a seagull checking me out.

And keep in mind, that some items (such as deck guns) an only be repaired when you are on the surface.

3. While you are trying to get flooding under control it may be necessary to increase your speed to keep from sinking below crush depth. And keep in mind that if you are taking on water, crush depth is a lot less that it used to be. I try not to run flat out at a sustained speed, unless I have already sunk the one escort that was in the area. Otherwise, crank on the speed and move towards periscope depth, reduce speed when I get there so my batteries last, and hopefully sink slowly back down. Repeat as necessary.

4. If your batteries took damage be very careful. If and when you get back to the surface watch your battery status bar to make sure you are getting a charge back in the batteries. If you are, be sure they recharge to 100% (wait for the text message). If they don't turn battery charging off when they've taken all they can or you will suck up fuel like there's a hole in your tank.

Hope this helps you with damage control.

[Sanctuary]

I did happen to see that post as well. I've tried repairing after banging to quarters and no go on any repair progress after a good deal of time. I've never gotten repairs to commence in any boat on either campaign, trying all sorts of different things.

Other then that I don't see anything there I haven't done, since everything else seems to be working swimmingly I still feel like its something simple I overlooked.

Perhaps I should re-install anyway though?

[Sanctuary]

Now isn't that interesting, searching these forums for an answer to my little problem I got attracted to the mods section like a bee to honey.

I decided on the latest version RFB with RSRD, to test 'em I tried one of the "sub school" missions. Got surprised by an aircraft I wasn't really looking for (sneaky, these mod devs are) and got damaged. And by golly the repair functions worked just fine.

Now to see if it was the mods or just the sub-school mode. But I have hope that whatever the mods did they fixed my problem right up. Thanks for the reply Kodiac.

[Paajtor]

SH4 is a gem, but needs polishing...that's why those modders are such a great bunch of guys.

Happy sailing.

[Kamikaze Krazy]

"Survivability, fix leaking bulkheads, make sure my main pump is intact to pump the water out." -Kodiac

I thought that the main pump is for the Dive Control Systems while the hydraulic pump is for the both the Fore and Aft Dive Plane Transmissions and the Rudder Transmission? I just checked the Damage Control Station and clicked on the left part of the screen. When I did that, it highlighted the components that make up the systems.

Maneuverability, diesels, electric engines, batteries, props, dive planes and rudder.
-Kodiac

Props? How in the heck can you repair a propeller shaft at sea? In real life, could it be done? I mean without calling in a tug?


And now for a question of my own...

How do you use the small graphs on the Damage Control Station?

For example, you have damage to the deck gun. On the D.C.S., there is a small red bar on the damaged part tab. What does that mean?

I wish I could show you because I have no idea how to put a screen shot on this.


To Sanctuary:
Oh, and before I forget, welcome to Subsim! We have a lot of mods to help sink boredom.

[Rockin Robbins]

There are some things that get damaged on a submarine that just couldn't be repaired at sea. This was a fact of life in the real boats and it is not a bug in Silent Hunter 4. When your crew can't fix something, it can't be fixed until you return to port.

Hull damage, for instance, is a favorite of the "my crew won't fix damage" crowd. The only unrealistic thing about hull damage is that we have the stupid arcadey hull damage meter. Show me a WWII sub with a hull damage meter! That's crazy. We've become a bunch of babies that the real submariners would laugh at.

Check this out:

REMEMBER THIS USS TRIGGER?

After attacking a convoy of 20 ships, with 25 escorts, on 23 March 1944, Trigger (Harlfinger) was attacked by six of the escorts for over 17 hours. When she surfaced, Trigger's forward torpedo room was flooded up to the deck plates, her hull air induction was flooded, bow planes, trim pump, and sonar gear and both radars were dead and her radio antennas grounded. After making repairs for the next four days, she rendezvoused with Tang, borrowed air compressor parts, and continued her patrol.

This means that without rendezvousing with another boat they couldn't fix their air compressor. Case closed.

[-Pv-]

Pass your mouse over the damage indication bar for the damaged item (not in the priority list.) You will see a decimal number between .0 and 1.0. 1.0 is unrepairable.
-Pv-

[Kamikaze Krazy]

"Pass your mouse over the damage indication bar for the damaged item (not in the priority list.) You will see a decimal number between .0 and 1.0. 1.0 is unrepairable.
-Pv-"

Thank you Sir, that was very helpfull!

"The only unrealistic thing about hull damage is that we have the stupid arcadey hull damage meter. Show me a WWII sub with a hull damage meter! That's crazy. We've become a bunch of babies that the real submariners would laugh at." -Rockin Robbins

I agree with you Sir. That would be a bit strange.

Hypothetical Scenario:

Admiral Nimitz is taking an inspection on a sub at pearl when he noticed something out of the ordinary...

"What is this gauge here for Captain?" :hmm: Nimitz barked

The Captain says: "Oh, that Sir? That is our "Hull Integrity Meter"!

Nimitz is dumbfounded... then says: "Oh, ok then." Wait a minute...... huh? WHAT??!!"

[gimpy117]

are you sure they aren't destroyed??

[NeonsStyle]

As you said sometimes they don't repair. Especially if submerged. Make sure silent running is off and battlestations are not on. They won't repair when either of those are on, for obvious reasons.

[-Pv-]

Battle Stations do not hinder repair, but enhances it by assigning more active crew to the compartment. BS also by default activates your DC crew.
-Pv-