Going to try LSH2015 when my new PC arrives

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by K-61

I'm just about ready to give up playing. I believe the amount of aircraft, both in the numbers of patrols and the amount of planes sent out is ahistorical. All you need to play this game now is one of those glass birds with the red dye in it that dips back and forth. Set it over your keyboard so the beak hits the C button; because you will have do that hundreds of times in one patrol. I am not kidding. I spent six hours of real life time the other day going from the North Atlantic into the North Sea. I know the U-boats had a tough time after 1943, but this is simply unplayable. Stay down for 15 minutes or 15 hours; within a few minutes of surfacing you will have a gaggle of Sunderlands or B-24's lining up to gangbang you.

Try a different mod; both GWX and NYGM depict aircraft in a more historical/realistic fashion.

[propbeanie]

... and the key for airplanes early in the war is to not be seen by them. Once you are seen, all they have to do is draw a little circle around your location for you to travel at 3knots, and they know that you'll not be far in an hour... "Send more planes!" is what they say. The closer to Allied land, the worse it is for your U-Boat. Later in the war, there are a lot of airplanes, and the most of them have radar with which to home in on you. Not a pleasant time at all. Most of all, do NOT fight them. Crash Dive is what you want to do.

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by propbeanie

Oh, the controller for the AI_Ship is fine. There is really nothing restricting it from flying an airplane. I'm just making fun of the fact that a controller named for controlling an AI ship is flying airplanes also... But ships have "Height", such as "zero" for the surface, or -35 for a submarine 35 meters below the surface, or +35 for an airplane 35 meters above the surface, about to crash into your submarine ... The controller also has Headings for things like "zero" at True North, 90 for a ninety degree heading, etc. All of what controls a ship has applications in controlling airplanes. Even the waypoint system is similar. The thing with airplanes, they have "stall" speed and will fall from the sky if care isn't taken by the dev or modder who places planes on the map and configures them. You also cannot "turn" an airplane in too tight of a spot, else it will fall from the sky. They also tend to crash into each other if grouped too closely together, or turned too tightly.

Good info., thanks.

[K-61]

I got so frustrated last night that I hard exited out of patrol and abandoned career. Then went to bed. It's now 4 AM in my time zone and my wife has just woken me up with her night time indigestion fidgeting. I'm not getting back to sleep so I am going to resurrect my abandoned career and try to tough it out to the end of the war.

I am thinking of reviving my GWX. Years ago I played it and it was enjoyable. I have never tried NYGM, so thanks for the suggestion. All I want to do is have as realistic a recreation of U-boat life as possible and use my brain to be a successful commander who brings his boat and crew home alive. And to do so I wish to be able to employ a super mod and have all the bells and whistles working [h.sie, etc.] To date that part has been frustratingly unsuccessful as detailed in other posts; LSH2015 was the one package that got it all working for me. I'm not being harshly critical or ungrateful, just feeling disappointed.

Are there any suggestions as to how to cope with the clouds of blackflies that swarm your boat? I am guessing along the line's of John' post, that they kind of figure out a circle around your boat and think you are in there. Can I submerge for say, 12 hours, and come up with a reasonable hiatus to beat feet? At present I am sailing out of Bergen to my grid in the BF area and I am traversing a curved path north of the Faeroes, staying as far away from the U.K. as practicable.

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by K-61

I got so frustrated last night that I hard exited out of patrol and abandoned career. Then went to bed. It's now 4 AM in my time zone and my wife has just woken me up with her night time indigestion fidgeting. I'm not getting back to sleep so I am going to resurrect my abandoned career and try to tough it out to the end of the war.

I am thinking of reviving my GWX. Years ago I played it and it was enjoyable. I have never tried NYGM, so thanks for the suggestion. All I want to do is have as realistic a recreation of U-boat life as possible and use my brain to be a successful commander who brings his boat and crew home alive. And to do so I wish to be able to employ a super mod and have all the bells and whistles working [h.sie, etc.] To date that part has been frustratingly unsuccessful as detailed in other posts; LSH2015 was the one package that got it all working for me. I'm not being harshly critical or ungrateful, just feeling disappointed.

Are there any suggestions as to how to cope with the clouds of blackflies that swarm your boat? I am guessing along the line's of John' post, that they kind of figure out a circle around your boat and think you are in there. Can I submerge for say, 12 hours, and come up with a reasonable hiatus to beat feet? At present I am sailing out of Bergen to my grid in the BF area and I am traversing a curved path north of the Faeroes, staying as far away from the U.K. as practicable.

Yes, in both those mods you won't get the aircraft behavior you're experiencing.
That's not to say aircraft aren't a problem for a U-boat. But it's entirely possible to crash dive and then resurface a few (much fewer than 12) hours later and continue on.
I tend to stay under for around three hours after spotting an aircraft, i.e. Figure by that time, they'll be long gone.
I have yet to be damaged by one in either mod. I never try to attack them.
That (swarm of planes) was a stock sh3 problem; maybe LSH doesn't address it, don't know.

Unrelated but in my current NYGM career, I've just spent 48 game hours repairing the boat after damage via escorts suffered in a March 1943 convoy attack.
Hull is intact though, so onward. But not until submerging for awhile so the crew gets some rest.
I like GWX too but it's sub and other boats tend to sail a bit to "rubber ducky" like to me; bobbing all over like corks whenever the water gets any chop in it.

But I believe either mod will give you what you're looking for, especially with Hsie's and Stiebler's patches.

[K-61]

Thanks for your observations, John. Yes, a good repair crew is vital. I have four or five POs qualified for repair, as well as trying to have my officers have a repair qualification. I also add a few seamen to the repair crew as "tool haulers" to help fill out the green bar.

Yeah, taking on aircraft is suicidal. You can shoot down planes all day, but all you need is them to get lucky once and you are a goner.

I just got to Bergen after sticking it out. I tended to stay down longer after an aircraft alert. As well, it being December 1944 I had a lot of bad weather, which seems to have the effect of grounding most planes or, if the game models it, reducing their radar effectiveness.

I agree, the number of planes in one group on random searches is ridiculous. I have a hard time believing, for example, that Sunderlands were so numerous in supply that they flew them in groups of six or eight planes as is common in the game. The Allies had only 20 VLR Liberators on ASW patrol, but I routinely see them in groups of four.

Anyhow, going to try to stick it out until May 1945, then perhaps go back to GWX or try NYGM. Thanks for your help and advice.

[Randomizer]

I gave up on LSH 2015 when my Type IXD2 was swarmed by six aircraft off Freetown and I shot down five of the attackers suffering no damage in the process. Also only one of the three flak guns would fire at a time so the slaughter of the aircraft was due to either one-twin 20mm or the single 37mm. No idea why the guns failed to shoot, seems endemic to the mod. I had posted about this fiasco somewhere on this forum.

All in all an extremely unreasonable and highly improbable day for Coastal Command.

Given all of the occasions that I have been sunk by planes in GWX and NYGM, this incident caused me to abandon LSH despite its undeniable and exquisite visual appeal.

-C

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by K-61

Thanks for your observations, John. Yes, a good repair crew is vital. I have four or five POs qualified for repair, as well as trying to have my officers have a repair qualification. I also add a few seamen to the repair crew as "tool haulers" to help fill out the green bar.

Yeah, taking on aircraft is suicidal. You can shoot down planes all day, but all you need is them to get lucky once and you are a goner.

I just got to Bergen after sticking it out. I tended to stay down longer after an aircraft alert. As well, it being December 1944 I had a lot of bad weather, which seems to have the effect of grounding most planes or, if the game models it, reducing their radar effectiveness.

I agree, the number of planes in one group on random searches is ridiculous. I have a hard time believing, for example, that Sunderlands were so numerous in supply that they flew them in groups of six or eight planes as is common in the game. The Allies had only 20 VLR Liberators on ASW patrol, but I routinely see them in groups of four.

Anyhow, going to try to stick it out until May 1945, then perhaps go back to GWX or try NYGM. Thanks for your help and advice.

When you get to them, just post if you need help with the Hsie/Stiebler patches.
They're not difficult to install, though the instructions can appear daunting.

Yes, multi-aircraft attacks as you're experiencing are not historical. You definitely won't find those in either GWX or NYGM.

Have fun in the meantime !

[K-61]

Just got back to Bergen in mid-January 1945. I go worked over by some angry escorts [4] after sinking their beloved Bogue carrier with a single acoustic torpedo. 79% hull integrity, destroyed flak guns. It was a chance encounter with a task force; they ran right into me and I was able to dive and set up for an attack. In spite of the escorts snooping around I was able to put one into her. So satisfying to sink one of those fat sluts. About to set out February 11, 1945 for a North Sea grid. Hope to survive to the end of the war. This will be career patrol # 5 for KL Otto Seruga; name for an Austrian I used to work with.

The scripted ambushes by Allied bombers at the same spots every time as I depart and arrive the long fjord into Bergen is getting tiresome. Especially as this time when I came home it was rough weather and I had no flak guns anyway, even if the weather were smooth. Oh, well, three more months... I heard a rumour in the night club that the Reds were only 60 miles from Berlin. Which was strange, since we Germans use the metric system.

[K-61]

Finally got through to the end of the war. On my penultimate patrol I got jumped at close range by a Sunderland. Boat damaged, 65% hull, flak guns destroyed and a bunch of other damage that I fixed. I was not far into the North Sea so I returned to base. Got my last patrol April 28th, 1945.

While at sea I got gradually developing orders. First I was told to stop all offensive action, then I got ordered to take my special cargo [not told I had such cargo or what it was] Buenos Aires. Yeah, sure, in a VIIC '42. No matter how I plotted it I did not have enough fuel to make it. I returned to Wilhelmshaven, got informed that Germany surrendered whilst at sea. Did not stop the Allied schweinhunden from trying to bomb my boat on May 9th. Upon return to base the war was over and it was all anticlimactic. Got told by SH3 Commander that my captain died in 1996. No bio write up. All rather a let down. Just before telling him to go home I awarded my juniormost crew member his U-boat badge for completing two war patrols.

Now... GWX, NYGM...?