Ship Disappeared

[Zosimus]

I engaged a merchant in heavy range and scored a solid torpedo hit to the starboard side. I followed the ship for awhile yesterday but ran out of time (couldn't get TC better than 8) so I surfaced, saved, and quit.

This morning I continued the slow motion chase until the ship disappeared entirely from my hydrophone. I manned the hydrophone myself and heard no trace of the ship. I assumed that the ship had gone all stop because of the damage and so I waited a few more hours submerged. I received no "She's going down" message.

So I surfaced into the rain and waited 5 days for the rain to clear expecting to find the ship damaged and stopped in the rain expecting to finish it off when the visibility improved. However, when the rain stopped, there was no sign of the cargo ship.

Possibiltiies:

1. The ship was damaged and eventually went to 1 knot or slower and eventually crawled away in the rain and I never heard it.
2. The ship sunk but because I had saved after hitting it and before sinking it, I got no credit.
3. Something else?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[UKönig]

Yes, try not to ever save and quit after damaging a ship.
(conditions apply)
I'll try to explain as something very similar has happened to me on occasion.

If I hit a few ships in convoy and some are straggling it can take more time than I have to finish them off. So I save and quit and try later. Resume game. If a ship I hit previously sinks suddenly, with no more action or intent by me, then the game "forgets" who did the first damage, and it will sink with no trace, and even though I expended ammo, I will get no credit. No marker on the map to indicate sinking spot, no notice from the watch or hydrophones
There are variations of this bug, I think is made worse with bad visibility. So if you save and quit and resume later, try to get in another shot right away. the longer it goes with no more intervention by you, the less likely you are to get the points for your "work".
This is just something I have noticed after almost 3 years of almost exclusively playing SH3...

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by Zosimus

Possibiltiies:

1. The ship was damaged and eventually went to 1 knot or slower and eventually crawled away in the rain and I never heard it.
2. The ship sunk but because I had saved after hitting it and before sinking it, I got no credit.
3. Something else?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

1: It is certainly possible the ship wandered off. In thick weather, you really need to stay within 500-700 meters of a cripple, because if you do lose her, your chances of reacquisition fall exponentially even if you can hear her. Someone here once explained the math, which I forget, but the message was "don't lose sight of that ship!

If you can't reacquire her after a couple of hours of game time, just move on.

2: Save-and-Exit in the presence of other ships can cause reload failures, but if you can successfully reload, which you did, the tactical board does not change.

3. You mention rain, but not storms. But if it was stormy, the AI could have killed her. Perhaps you brought her to the brink and a rogue wave came along... in which case the AI kills the ship.

In rough seas, I have seen small ships sink with no help from me.

One of the great things about this game is, just as in real life, stuff happens and you will never know why.

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by UKönig

the game "forgets" who did the first damage, and it will sink with no trace, and even though I expended ammo, I will get no credit.

The game remembers the last damage.... it doesn't care about the first.

As you will find out the first time the Luftwaffe comes into finish off a battleship you crippled.

[maillemaker]

As you will find out the first time the Luftwaffe comes into finish off a battleship you crippled.

Or if you get between a wounded ship and its friends and they hit the wounded ship while trying to gun you down.



Steve

[HW3]

Another possibility is that when a ship reaches its last scripted waypoint it disappears.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by desirableroasted

The game remembers the last damage.... it doesn't care about the first.

Rgr that.

Originally Posted by HW3

Another possibility is that when a ship reaches its last scripted waypoint it disappears.

Another possibility.

[flag4]

Originally Posted by UKönig

This is just something I have noticed after almost 3 years of almost exclusively playing SH3...

what...that you're in love with SH3?

Roger that. she has the affections of many men ( and women. )

...she got somethin' special goin' on

[UKönig]

I am.
Even with all of its faults and flaws (which i have learned to recognize and work around) I am still in love with this game.
Maybe I was a u-boat captain in a previous life (as maybe we who are most interested in the genre were) and am just finishing 'unfinished business', from the safety of my PC/desktop. I have no other explanation for it. I am Scottish by heritage, so I should *hate* the Germans, but I don't.
No matter.
Actually for a very long time, I had no idea there were bugs in the program. Maybe it was a bit of "hero worship" on my part, and I assumed the designers would not release an imperfect program, but also, for a long time, I was only a casual player. I never put in enough time (until 3 years ago), to notice there were any mistakes at all.
If the day comes and I can get a better computer, faster engines and graphics, then I will see about modding the hell out of the program, but for now, I play it safe. A bugged game that I can deal with is still a game, and that is better than no game at all.
My 2 bits worth...