Perspective from a complete newbie :( - Page 4

poetic hunter · 09-07-10, 10:13 PM

I managed to make it out of the port without taking damage by steering manually.

Is there a better way to enter values into the rudder/compass?

For example, if I need to turn exactly 7 degrees starboard, it's kind of hard to actually click on 7 using that wheel. Perhaps if there was a way to manually enter the values...

Sailor Steve · 09-07-10, 10:16 PM

You can use the binoculars, the UZO, the periscopes or the naked eye to look in the exact direction you want to go, then hit the '=' key. The boat will turn to that exact heading.

poetic hunter · 09-07-10, 10:19 PM

^Excellent tip! I''m starting to fall in love with this forum

poetic hunter · 09-07-10, 10:55 PM

Alright. I cleared the port, made it out to open sea. I have a loooong way to go to get to AN-16.

So I decided to dive to periscope depth, and charge ahead at full speed ! Big mistake.

My sub has come to a complete standstill.

Now I see a bunch of red exclamation marks all over my crew (I assume this means that they are tired and need to be put to bed. Am I correct?)

----------------

Question 1: when you have to travel to a loooong distance, is it better to stay on the surface, or to dive below?

Question 2: How do I get my sub moving again ?

Draka · 09-07-10, 11:07 PM

Answer1: Stay on the surface as much as possible - this will be easy early on, increasingly hard as time goes on and all the aircraft/hunter-killer groups/etc make your life miserable! Two reasons:

1. You travel faster on diesels by a large margin
2. Battery life is limited - save it for maneuvering on attack runs or to get out of REALLY bad weather.

Answer2: If you are using stock fatigue, then you have to watch the green bar above each compartment. Only man those sections you need NOW - lookouts/diesel room on surface, electric room underwater, Command room at all times. Leave everyone not needed in the bow/stern quarters - and rotate out as needed to keep those green bars at AT LEAST 50% - or that compartment quits working.

Pisces · 09-08-10, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poetic hunter

I managed to make it out of the port without taking damage by steering manually.

Is there a better way to enter values into the rudder/compass?

For example, if I need to turn exactly 7 degrees starboard, it's kind of hard to actually click on 7 using that wheel. Perhaps if there was a way to manually enter the values...

It doesn't work like that. If you set a certain angle on the rudder, then it is just the deflection of the rudder 'board'. The Uboat will keep turning indefinately in circles until you set it otherwise. Not a specific amount of degrees on the compass. So 7 out of 40 degrees was just a slow turn setting.

Jimbuna · 09-08-10, 05:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poetic hunter

Alright. I cleared the port, made it out to open sea. I have a loooong way to go to get to AN-16.

So I decided to dive to periscope depth, and charge ahead at full speed ! Big mistake.

My sub has come to a complete standstill.

Now I see a bunch of red exclamation marks all over my crew (I assume this means that they are tired and need to be put to bed. Am I correct?)

----------------

Question 1: when you have to travel to a loooong distance, is it better to stay on the surface, or to dive below?

Question 2: How do I get my sub moving again ?

I'm unaware if you are using SH3 Commander but if not I can thoroughly recommend it.....select the 'no fatigue' option and your crew will never tire.

Failing use of the above, the more patrols you undertake will increase the stamina of your crew and therefore lengthen the time before they become tired/fatigued.

Convycmg · 09-08-10, 07:28 AM

You should stay on the surface. You lose huge amounts of range, speed, agility and situational awareness when you dive. You dive when you detect something that you don't want to be seen by, or if it's already seen you and you need to get away from it.

Later in the war when u-boats changed from being the hunters to being the hunted, it became harder and harder to stay on the surface and so innovations like the snorkel came into play in an attempt to let the u-boats stay submerged as long as possible. This culminated in the Type XXI boats which were the first submarines intended to operate entirely submerged, and were the template for all major navies' submarine designs after the war.

Also it will take a long time or sailing to get to your patrol grid, but you should resist the urge to shorten the journey by travelling at high speed. Large and medium size boats cruised at 6-7 kts, which you can manaully set yourself, or just choose 'ahread one third' which will make you run a bit faster than this but is a reasonable approximation. You can also experiment with asking your navigator to tell you how far you can sail at your current speed (this will change depending on the weather), how far it is to the end of your plotted course, and make your own judgements about fuel economy. Remember though that the faster you run the quicker you use up your diesel.

There is no way round having to babysit the crew and move them to quaters when they get tired, other than using SH3 Commander to dispence with crew fatigue all together as others have said. However on the surface, the game stops keeping track of fatigue at (IIRC) 64x time compression and higher, so while sailing to your patrol grid you shouldn't need to worry too much about it. Managing the game's crew management system is something that you get your head around the more you practice.

Hangman · 09-08-10, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Convycmg

You should stay on the surface. You lose huge amounts of range, speed, agility and situational awareness when you dive. ...
...
This culminated in the Type XXI boats which were the first submarines intended to operate entirely submerged, and were the template for all major navies' submarine designs after the war.
...

Think of the uboat as more of a submersible rather than a submarine.
You could dive, but everything becomes very slow and difficult to do. The submersibles were good for going under the water and "hiding" if you will.

A true submarine is a boat that performs better under the water than on the surface of the water. A submarine can run under the surface longer, faster, and all around better than on the surface.

poetic hunter · 09-08-10, 11:22 AM

Yeah !!! What a feeling !!!

I sunk my first ship in career mode today.

I went through so much with this little crew in this little sub. First we had trouble leaving the home port, then my battery ran out, and I came to a standstill because I didn't know that it is better to stay on the surface. Then we spent days just sailing surrounded by the vast loneliness of the blue ocean.

Until finally, my watch officer spotted a ship, and we moved into action. Managed to hit it with both a magnetic and an impact torpedo. I turned my ship, averaged the AOB, fired and voila....two hits in a row.

It just feels so darn satisfying ! And these guys are starting to feel like a little family now. We're basically stuck together in this u-boat in the middle of nowhere surrounded by potential enemies.

Sorry if I'm getting to sentimental for you guys.

Draka · 09-08-10, 12:17 PM

You are beginning to get the total immersion that keeps ALL of us coming back to this. It will get more intense .... wait until you have 5 or 6 patrols under your belt, know each man inside and out - and then nearly lose the boat or do lose crew - gut-wrenching.

Jimbuna · 09-08-10, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poetic hunter

Yeah !!! What a feeling !!!

I sunk my first ship in career mode today.

I went through so much with this little crew in this little sub. First we had trouble leaving the home port, then my battery ran out, and I came to a standstill because I didn't know that it is better to stay on the surface. Then we spent days just sailing surrounded by the vast loneliness of the blue ocean.

Until finally, my watch officer spotted a ship, and we moved into action. Managed to hit it with both a magnetic and an impact torpedo. I turned my ship, averaged the AOB, fired and voila....two hits in a row.

It just feels so darn satisfying ! And these guys are starting to feel like a little family now. We're basically stuck together in this u-boat in the middle of nowhere surrounded by potential enemies.

Sorry if I'm getting to sentimental for you guys.

BE MORE AGGRESSIVE!!

OSU · 09-08-10, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poetic hunter

Yeah !!! What a feeling !!!

I sunk my first ship in career mode today.

I went through so much with this little crew in this little sub. First we had trouble leaving the home port, then my battery ran out, and I came to a standstill because I didn't know that it is better to stay on the surface. Then we spent days just sailing surrounded by the vast loneliness of the blue ocean.

Until finally, my watch officer spotted a ship, and we moved into action. Managed to hit it with both a magnetic and an impact torpedo. I turned my ship, averaged the AOB, fired and voila....two hits in a row.

It just feels so darn satisfying ! And these guys are starting to feel like a little family now. We're basically stuck together in this u-boat in the middle of nowhere surrounded by potential enemies.

Sorry if I'm getting to sentimental for you guys.

Congratulations! No, you're not being sentimental, almost everyone here has felt this way at one point or another.

Jimbuna is right. You NEED to get SH3 Commander. It will add much more immersion and will make managing your crew much easier. I would recommend Grey Wolves Expansion 3.0, but wait until you get comfortable with the stock game before you download a major mod like GWX.

Mittelwaechter · 09-08-10, 06:52 PM

Wait for your first DD to drop some depth charges at your tiny bucket and you'll get caught by this game. Bloody lips and sweat and pure horror. You'll love the tactics and you'll enjoy to simply enter the conning tower and watch and listen to the waves for several minutes. Your trusty crew next to you doing their job...

frau kaleun · 09-08-10, 09:18 PM

And your first successful convoy infiltration. Now there's a nail-biter. Setting up your intercept course, trying to time it just right so you hit them when it's dark, sweating it out trying to sneak past the lead escorts undetected, suddenly realizing you've made it and are now smack dab in between two columns of ships... picking out your targets, trying to get into position and wait for the best moment to fire at the fattest merchants, all the while trying to keep track of the entire convoy because there are ships EVERYWHERE.

Meeeeem-reeeeeeez... light corners of my miiiiiiind....

09-07-10, 10:16 PM	#47
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	You can use the binoculars, the UZO, the periscopes or the naked eye to look in the exact direction you want to go, then hit the '=' key. The boat will turn to that exact heading. __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

09-08-10, 06:52 PM	#59
Mittelwaechter The Old Man Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 1,304 Downloads: 35 Uploads: 0	Wait for your first DD to drop some depth charges at your tiny bucket and you'll get caught by this game. Bloody lips and sweat and pure horror. You'll love the tactics and you'll enjoy to simply enter the conning tower and watch and listen to the waves for several minutes. Your trusty crew next to you doing their job... __________________ 10 happy wolves rear 90 blinded, ensnared sheep. 90 happy sheep banish the wolves. Arrest the 1% - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ6hg1oNeGE

09-07-10, 10:13 PM	#46
poetic hunter Watch Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 24 Downloads: 17 Uploads: 0	I managed to make it out of the port without taking damage by steering manually. Is there a better way to enter values into the rudder/compass? For example, if I need to turn exactly 7 degrees starboard, it's kind of hard to actually click on 7 using that wheel. Perhaps if there was a way to manually enter the values...

09-07-10, 10:19 PM	#48
poetic hunter Watch Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 24 Downloads: 17 Uploads: 0	^Excellent tip! I''m starting to fall in love with this forum

09-07-10, 10:55 PM	#49
poetic hunter Watch Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 24 Downloads: 17 Uploads: 0	Alright. I cleared the port, made it out to open sea. I have a loooong way to go to get to AN-16. So I decided to dive to periscope depth, and charge ahead at full speed ! Big mistake. My sub has come to a complete standstill. Now I see a bunch of red exclamation marks all over my crew (I assume this means that they are tired and need to be put to bed. Am I correct?) ---------------- Question 1: when you have to travel to a loooong distance, is it better to stay on the surface, or to dive below? Question 2: How do I get my sub moving again ?

09-07-10, 11:07 PM	#50
Draka Lieutenant Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 256 Downloads: 322 Uploads: 0	Answer1: Stay on the surface as much as possible - this will be easy early on, increasingly hard as time goes on and all the aircraft/hunter-killer groups/etc make your life miserable! Two reasons: 1. You travel faster on diesels by a large margin 2. Battery life is limited - save it for maneuvering on attack runs or to get out of REALLY bad weather. Answer2: If you are using stock fatigue, then you have to watch the green bar above each compartment. Only man those sections you need NOW - lookouts/diesel room on surface, electric room underwater, Command room at all times. Leave everyone not needed in the bow/stern quarters - and rotate out as needed to keep those green bars at AT LEAST 50% - or that compartment quits working.

09-08-10, 07:28 AM	#53
Convycmg Watch Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: London Posts: 19 Downloads: 16 Uploads: 0	You should stay on the surface. You lose huge amounts of range, speed, agility and situational awareness when you dive. You dive when you detect something that you don't want to be seen by, or if it's already seen you and you need to get away from it. Later in the war when u-boats changed from being the hunters to being the hunted, it became harder and harder to stay on the surface and so innovations like the snorkel came into play in an attempt to let the u-boats stay submerged as long as possible. This culminated in the Type XXI boats which were the first submarines intended to operate entirely submerged, and were the template for all major navies' submarine designs after the war. Also it will take a long time or sailing to get to your patrol grid, but you should resist the urge to shorten the journey by travelling at high speed. Large and medium size boats cruised at 6-7 kts, which you can manaully set yourself, or just choose 'ahread one third' which will make you run a bit faster than this but is a reasonable approximation. You can also experiment with asking your navigator to tell you how far you can sail at your current speed (this will change depending on the weather), how far it is to the end of your plotted course, and make your own judgements about fuel economy. Remember though that the faster you run the quicker you use up your diesel. There is no way round having to babysit the crew and move them to quaters when they get tired, other than using SH3 Commander to dispence with crew fatigue all together as others have said. However on the surface, the game stops keeping track of fatigue at (IIRC) 64x time compression and higher, so while sailing to your patrol grid you shouldn't need to worry too much about it. Managing the game's crew management system is something that you get your head around the more you practice.

09-08-10, 11:22 AM	#55
poetic hunter Watch Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 24 Downloads: 17 Uploads: 0	Yeah !!! What a feeling !!! I sunk my first ship in career mode today. I went through so much with this little crew in this little sub. First we had trouble leaving the home port, then my battery ran out, and I came to a standstill because I didn't know that it is better to stay on the surface. Then we spent days just sailing surrounded by the vast loneliness of the blue ocean. Until finally, my watch officer spotted a ship, and we moved into action. Managed to hit it with both a magnetic and an impact torpedo. I turned my ship, averaged the AOB, fired and voila....two hits in a row. It just feels so darn satisfying ! And these guys are starting to feel like a little family now. We're basically stuck together in this u-boat in the middle of nowhere surrounded by potential enemies. Sorry if I'm getting to sentimental for you guys.

09-08-10, 12:17 PM	#56
Draka Lieutenant Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 256 Downloads: 322 Uploads: 0	You are beginning to get the total immersion that keeps ALL of us coming back to this. It will get more intense .... wait until you have 5 or 6 patrols under your belt, know each man inside and out - and then nearly lose the boat or do lose crew - gut-wrenching.

09-08-10, 09:18 PM	#60
frau kaleun Rear Admiral Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Skyri--oh who are we kidding, I'm probably at Lowe's. Again. Posts: 12,706 Downloads: 168 Uploads: 0	And your first successful convoy infiltration. Now there's a nail-biter. Setting up your intercept course, trying to time it just right so you hit them when it's dark, sweating it out trying to sneak past the lead escorts undetected, suddenly realizing you've made it and are now smack dab in between two columns of ships... picking out your targets, trying to get into position and wait for the best moment to fire at the fattest merchants, all the while trying to keep track of the entire convoy because there are ships EVERYWHERE. Meeeeem-reeeeeeez... light corners of my miiiiiiind....