Newbie Questions

[Wigabee]

Hi, I have recently joined the forum and started playing SH3. I'm just learning the complex game and I have a few questions. I would really appreciate a little help! Please note that I'm only 12!

1) I enjoy manual targeting but i find it hard to get accurate data. Can you give me an easy way to acquire better data please? (my hit percentage with manual is probably only 15-25% ) I have looked at videos on Youtube but find them hard to use.

2) I have the full version bought digitally from Gamestop (v1.4) and I was wondering about getting a mod that gives me more single missions. If such thing exists, would you direct me towards it please?

3) Last, out of curiosity, I was wondering about what year to start my campaign on. I would like to know a year where there are decent subs to start with but the allies won't have search planes and destroyers out for you right off the dock. Just looking for your opinion on this.

Any help is appreciated and happy hunting!

[frau kaleun]

Welcome aboard!

1) I enjoy manual targeting but i find it hard to get accurate data. Can you give me an easy way to acquire better data please?

Yes... turn on auto targeting assistance.

Or just turn on Weapons Officer Assistance, which I have been led to believe is a nice compromise between auto targeting (game-assisted) and full manual targeting (you do all the work). But I'm still using all the assistance the game will give me, so what do I know? There are many manual targeting gurus here who can help you out better on this one.

) I have the full version bought digitally from Gamestop (v1.4) and I was wondering about getting a mod that gives me more single missions. If such thing exists, would you direct me towards it please?

I think GWX3 adds a bunch of new/extra single missions to the game. Don't know about the other supermods but there are stickies for all of them at the top of the SH3 Mods Workshop Forum. I believe there are also some single missions available for download in the Downloads section here.

3) Last, out of curiosity, I was wondering about what year to start my campaign on. I would like to know a year where there are decent subs to start with but the allies won't have search planes and destroyers out for you right off the dock.

Well, it depends on what you mean by "decent subs." As a person who totally <3s the Type VIIs, I'm perfectly happy to start out right at the beginning of the war with a VIIB, when Allied ASW and air cover is far less effective and widespread than it will be three years later. If you want a boat that carries the maximum possible armament and fuel (for greater range and longer patrols) you are probably gonna want one of the bigger Type IXs which probably means starting out a bit later.

OTOH I haven't played stock enough to know when the different types are available or if there's any difference between stock and GWX in that respect.

[Sailor Steve]

WELCOME ABOARD!

Originally Posted by Wigabee

Hi, I have recently joined the forum and started playing SH3. I'm just learning the complex game and I have a few questions. I would really appreciate a little help! Please note that I'm only 12!

We are a pretty friendly bunch here, and will answer every question we can.

1) I enjoy manual targeting but i find it hard to get accurate data. Can you give me an easy way to acquire better data please? (my hit percentage with manual is probably only 15-25% ) I have looked at videos on Youtube but find them hard to use.

Unfortunately I don't enjoy manual targetting at all. I have it turned on but use the WE Assistance. The only suggestion I can make is never shoot from a distance of more that 500-800 meters. The closer you are, the less you have to be perfect.

2) I have the full version bought digitally from Gamestop (v1.4) and I was wondering about getting a mod that gives me more single missions. If such thing exists, would you direct me towards it please?

All I can think of offhand is the supermod GWX. It comes with lots of single missions.

3) Last, out of curiosity, I was wondering about what year to start my campaign on. I would like to know a year where there are decent subs to start with but the allies won't have search planes and destroyers out for you right off the dock. Just looking for your opinion on this.

Right at the start of the war you can have a Type VII or Type IX, the two main u-boats. At that point the Allies are at their weakest. All you have to do is look at the Flotillas to see which boat is available in each.

After you've gotten used to the game there is a tool called SH3 Commander which lets you control the game and choose what starting point and what boat you'll have with a lot more control than the stock game.

[Gerald]

[HW3]

Welcome Aboard!!!

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by Wigabee

Hi, I have recently joined the forum and started playing SH3. I'm just learning the complex game and I have a few questions. I would really appreciate a little help! Please note that I'm only 12!

1) I enjoy manual targeting but i find it hard to get accurate data. Can you give me an easy way to acquire better data please? (my hit percentage with manual is probably only 15-25% ) I have looked at videos on Youtube but find them hard to use.

...

I assume you do manual targeting with the notepad. Since it's hard to say how you can do better if we do not know how you do it now. The Notepad method requires you to make a good ID of the target, measure the range quite well, and similarly the AOB. If you got the wrong values (not as exact as they should be), then the speed measurement will be off because it is dependant on those values.

Alternatively you might consider ploting the positions of the target and measure the course and speed from those. While you are trying to get ahead of the target, keep your distance to the side to not get noticed. (Even if you do get noticed it isn't so bad, as long as they do not have destroyers nearby.)

Here is an old but classic topic by Dantenoc explaining how you can use plotting to set up manual targeting:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=90234

[EDIT]Youtube!?! You missed these:
part 1a
part 1b
part 1c

[Jimbuna]

Welcome Wigabee
If you decide on using GWX3.0 you will find it contains 58 single missions and 41 multi missions.

These were created by a variety of people myself included.

I usually keep an unmodded (no additional mods) installation of GWX3.0 for testing and mission building purposes on my system and as such would be happy to build/create a few for you if you wanted.

Simply inform me of the historical/hypothetical detail you would require.

Remember though...for them to work you would need only the basic GWX3.0 added to stock/vanilla SH3.

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by Wigabee

Hi, I have recently joined the forum and started playing SH3. I'm just learning the complex game and I have a few questions. I would really appreciate a little help! Please note that I'm only 12!

Age doesn't matter here, just so long as you're having fun! Welcome and enjoy the site!

[Wigabee]

Thank you all for your help! It is really appreciated. Can't wait to explore the forum more!

[1480]

Since you are actually teaching your Dad how to play and he is too embarrassed to ask these questions, we will gladly help just kidding!
Welcome aboard Herr Kaleun!

In regards to manual targeting: reading the book by Dick O'Kane about his service on the Wahoo, he actually explains how he learned to judge angle on the bow which is the hardest to explain via words.

Before I get spanked for mentioning a fleet boat commander's strategy within the context of U-boots, you can achieve this by doing it in game as practice.

He actually took model ships and fastened them to a board in such a way that they could be angled slightly with your hand. He set up a pair of binoculars some ways away from it and started to judge AOB be sight alone, which was the case in real life.

The way you do this in sh3 is set for auto targeting. Once you hit 'lock' button in the torpedo station, the target ships heading, speed, aob and its bearing relative to your boat is calculated. If you use OLC's GUI, it has a nice feature in that the dials are hidden until you hit the button to bring them up. Before you bring them up make your own observations and on a piece of paper draw an exaggerated long triangle representing the ship and using the top as the bow of the ship draw it in relation to what you observed. When you get good at being able to pick that out then you take the next step and start calling out the numbers. When that happens hit us up again for step two

[Wigabee]

Thanks 1480. I actually have read ''Wahoo'' by Richard H. O'Kane and am reading currently ''Clear the Bridge'' also by him (great books!). He mentions lots of that stuff that I can relate to the game. I am finding AOB by drawing the target's course on the map and using the protractor going from the course line to the ship to my bow and measuring the angle. It seems to work really well. My dad is friends with Richard's son Jim. Thought that was kinda cool. Thanks for all of the help guys!

Happy Hunting

[1480]

Originally Posted by Wigabee

Thanks 1480. I actually have read ''Wahoo'' by Richard H. O'Kane and am reading currently ''Clear the Bridge'' also by him (great books!). He mentions lots of that stuff that I can relate to the game. I am finding AOB by drawing the target's course on the map and using the protractor going from the course line to the ship to my bow and measuring the angle. It seems to work really well. My dad is friends with Richard's son Jim. Thought that was kinda cool. Thanks for all of the help guys!

Happy Hunting

It isn't rocket science (thank God) but when you find a system that you are accurate, quick and comfortable with the world is your oyster.

Don't forget Flukey's book too. And if you really want to get bogged down in the actual patrol histories Clay Blair has two volume's on the U-boats and one book on the fleet boats.

[89]

Originally Posted by Wigabee

1) I enjoy manual targeting but i find it hard to get accurate data. Can you give me an easy way to acquire better data please? (my hit percentage with manual is probably only 15-25% ) I have looked at videos on Youtube but find them hard to use.

According to one true SH3 experten uber-Ace I know, it is impossible to shoot accurately at medium to long distances with stock SH3 instruments. (Her record is a kill from 7.5km). SHe plays at 100% realism, has no "lock" button and no graphical map helpers at all, and hardly uses the periscope even (compared to me anyway. See what she uses and how here (just one of her many methods):