Perspective from a complete newbie :(

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by poetic hunter

Can't you guys see how from the perspective of a new person, this "do whatever you want" objective style is more than a bit daunting. That person wouldn't know where the "Hot spots" you guys keep referring to are. He/She wouldn't know where to go find the hot spots with convoys, enemy ship patrols etc. Therefore the "Do whatever you want !" mission style is daunting in the beginning.

Protip: In GWX, in the NavMap view, if you look up into the top left hand corner of the screen you will see the "corners" of several "cheat sheets" you can use during the game. A couple of them are listings of how far a vessel will travel in so many mins/hrs if it is going so many knots. One has charts of the mines and subnets of Axis ports. Very handy.

Now, the one that is all the way to the left, right up in the corner with the darker tan-colored edge - PULL THAT ONE DOWN!!! It's your map of the SH3 world, but with all the historical (and in-game) shipping routes clearly marked for your viewing pleasure. It also denotes areas of high Allied naval traffic and the areas in which you can expect to find Allied air cover during different time periods between 1939-45.

If you want to leave your assigned grid and go hang around a likely hot spot looking for Allied shipping, this is the best way for a n00b to find one.

Also keep in mind that if you are patrolling around the British Isles, your biggest source of tonnage (and primary objective in terms of enemy shipping) will be ships on their way in and out of British ports. If you are patrolling in the Atlantic (as opposed to the North Sea), a quick glance at the map will tell you where the choke points for all that shipping are. In order to get to Great Britain from the open Atlantic (and vice versa), ships MUST pass around either to the north or south of Ireland.

These areas - to the west, north, and south of Ireland, more or less - make up the famous Western Approaches.




Much good hunting to be found there. All shipping inbound or outbound to/from Liverpool, for instance, must pass through here to reach the open Atlantic (and that's a lot of shipping, including convoys).

The area to the southeast of the one marked in that pic, where the southern English Channel opens up into the Atlantic Ocean, is also good for ships going to/from ports along the south of England and the Channel coast.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by poetic hunter

Wow, what a pleasant surprise to see such helpful responses. They are enough to give me a new burst of inspiration to continue on !



Ok, you are not the only person who said something that borders on snide sarcasm, but even if you're joking, remember that there is a specific reason why I called the thread "perspective from a complete newbie."

That's the mindset from which I'm playing the game, and the reason for that was explained in post 1.

Please try and understand...in most games, you're usually given clear objectives as to what to do. But in so called open-ended games like Morrowind, even though you have objectives, you can do whatever you want. However, if you're brand new to Morrowind, you're better off sticking to the main quest line at least for the early quests until you know the land better.

In SH 3, after GWX, you can also "do whatever you want." But you have the seemingly endless expanse of the ocean at your disposal !

Can't you guys see how from the perspective of a new person, this "do whatever you want" objective style is more than a bit daunting. That person wouldn't know where the "Hot spots" you guys keep referring to are. He/She wouldn't know where to go find the hot spots with convoys, enemy ship patrols etc. Therefore the "Do whatever you want !" mission style is daunting in the beginning.


You guys have been extremely helpful otherwise, and the maturity of the people on this board is refreshing compared to what most game-related boards are like.

I know nothing of your background or knowledge base when it comes to the subject of U-boat warfare during WWII but I'll readily concede it can be a little daunting getting used to the game otherwise, hence my advice that you read the GWX manual.

Another piece I'll offer is the suggestion you get the SpySat nav from my FF account...this will inform you of where most of the traffic is by regularly updating your nav map.

Be advised...it can be a game/immersion killer

[flag4]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

I bit the bullet and printed it because I'd rather have a hard copy to refer to than scroll through a pdf file - easier on my eyes. Plus it's very handy if I need to look something up and I have the game running.

And actually it looks like a lot of folks beat us to the punch!

just out of interest Frau Kaleun, how long did it take to print off. i quite like the idea of having it in my hand (careful!) especially when game is running. maybe you could put up a photo of it? bet it looks like the bible - (it is the bible!)
bet its worth a bob or two on ebay!

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by flag4

just out of interest Frau Kaleun, how long did it take to print off. i quite like the idea of having it in my hand (careful!) especially when game is running. maybe you could put up a photo of it? bet it looks like the bible - (it is the bible!)
bet its worth a bob or two on ebay!

It's hard to say because it was done over a long stretch of time, in sections... but hours and hours.

Of course the worst part was that I started printing out the regular manual, part of the way through I found out about the one that doesn' have all the background imagery on each page. After I got that printing went MUCH faster and took much less ink.

I'll see if I can take a pic with my phone and email it to myself and post it.

[Draka]

WARNING - HIJACKING IN PROGRESS

Funny you should mention Morrowind - I run that as one of my all-time favorite games - with 246 plugins ATM! Starting with Better Bodies (nude) and working up from there ....

Now imagine that you were brand new to Morrowind, and no one at the docks was there to tell you about Caius Colades - that you had to discover him on yer own (one of the Alternative Beginnings plugins). THAT is the situation with SH - ya gotta find out everything on yer own.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Of course the worst part was that I started printing out the regular manual, part of the way through I found out about the one that doesn' have all the background imagery on each page. After I got that printing went MUCH faster and took much less ink.

LOL

If anyone is interested, both standalone versions (with and without the watermark) are available from my FF page.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

I'll see if I can take a pic with my phone and email it to myself and post it.

Yes my phone takes crappy pictures. That's because it's a phone, not a camera, and a million-year-old hand-me-down phone at that.

The notebook lying open contains about 1/2 of the manual, printed out. The one behind it standing upright has the other half. The "stack" of pages you see filling the one notebook is about 2 1/2 inches high.

[Sailor Steve]

Single or double-sided?

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Single or double-sided?

Each page is printed out on a separate sheet, but then I put each pair of consecutive pages back to back inside a clear plastic sleeve - makes it much easier to flip through and avoids having to punch holes in the pages which then get torn up with use and age and start to fall out of the notebook.

In theory I could've printed two pages per sheet of paper and used only half as much paper - but I still would've used the same number of sleeves. And I really didn't want to deal with trying to print on both sides, my printer's not set up for that unless I'm willing to print a small batch and then turn the same paper over and around and put it back through and given the number of pages involved, I wasn't willing to sit here and do that every few minutes.

[Kpt. Lehmann]

TOTALLY jealous of you FK!

Still hoping I can afford to print myself a GWX manual one of these days!

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Kpt. Lehmann

TOTALLY jealous of you FK!

Still hoping I can afford to print myself a GWX manual one of these days!

I stopped counting after the second ink cartridge.

And anyway, I hear that whole "bread and water for 30 days" diet is really really good for you!

[vanjast]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Yoooouuuu are not serious... !!!!

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by vanjast

Yoooouuuu are not serious... !!!!

644 pages.

[Jimbuna]

Quite a Herculean effort if I may say so

[Herr-Berbunch]

@Frau - It would probably have been cheaper, and quicker to nip down to your nearest PC store and buy a cheap laptop just for this one PDF, then you'd also have the advantage of Ctrl+F-ing (not being rude!) to search for something specific.

Otherwise

@Poetic Hunter - I did add my little caveat on the end of not wishing to cause offense (or words to that effect), and I'm sorry if it did sound a little harsh - people nowadays seem to want it all immediately and with subsims it's not just a shooting gallery but it takes time and effort. I was new too and it can be daunting! There is good advice in reading the manuals, written by users not publishers, and advice plastered all over this forum and I think I took your 'rant' (for want of a better word) to be slating my beloved , once again - sorry