Captain Hammered on (well, under) the waves!

Captain Hammered · 06-21-17, 01:10 PM

Hallo folks - I love subsims but due to circumstance don't get to play too often; to this point my fave games have been 688(i) and AoD - both of which I still play. I bought that new atrocity on steam: 'Cold Waters' and figured it was money fairly lost; I hadn't done my research prior to buying. BUT wanting a new subsim I thought I'd try SH5; learned of its problems and settled on SH4 and am having a WHALE of a good time learning it. I gushed a bit over it on the Steam forums and was advised to come over here where the rest of the subsim subhumans (

) hang out. I've had it a couple of weeks now and have just departed on my first career-mode patrol. I'll tell you how it went for the sheer pleasure of sharing the story, rather than typing it out afresh I'll just copy it from my Steam post. Partly because I currently have a broken bone in my hand and typing is a pain, but mostly because the first post was kind good, don'tcha know

Anyhoo:
HMCS (Oops, I mean U.S.S. ) Searaven departed Manila at 7am 9 dec. '41. Following sea trials and a little practice we set our nose for the Philipine Sea with orders to attack merchant shipping; a nice easy first patrol. Or so I thought; A Japanese destroyer interdicted us right off the port mouth; barely an hour into the patrol. Following a hasty dive and a few shots that were WAY too close for comfort we got below the thermocline at 210 ft. and entered normal evasion tactics - aim for the enemy, wait for him to pass overhead, go to flank, enter a 3D turn and sweat until the charges go off. Fortunately the guy wasn't very good and we were able to creep away unscathed - a serious wake-up call.

We continued our patrol unmolested and following a nice cruise seeing nothing except a couple of Bettys arrived at our patrol station. We stooged around for a couple of days until we got the grey star then, determined not to return with fish in the belly, I set course around the coastal perimeter of the Sea; assuming Japanese civilian shipping would be close in-shore. I was right - and two days later encountered a sound contact coming the other way. We aimed for them and went to flank; within a couple of hours the sound contact resolved into two contacts; both merchants moving at a decent speed. We continued on until the ships came in view; two freighters heading southward in heavy seas and rain.
Searaven dived and I spent half a battery at flank speed recording and gathering as much information as I could: a Large European Composite leading a Medium Modern Split. Heading:186, speed between 12-14kts. I promptly ordered supper early and sent the men to their bunks; it would be a busy night. Following the initial plot I put our stern to the ships and crawled out of view, surfaced then raced hell-bent-for-leather for six hours to get way WAY ahead of the ships.
Full night; the weather had deteriorated even further: gale-force winds, blinding rain and massive seas. My original intent was a surfaced night approach; that was soon to be proven impossible. After doing a little math, placing myself directly in the ships' path and turning to 006 we flew at Flank towards the enemy - hardly spectacular given a Sargo's top speed but what the heck; I don't have to walk.
Following an hour of reflecting on Jerome's brilliant passage describing a horse moving "At a speed that would have done credit to the swiftest steam-roller ever built" the freighters hove into view again. Searaven dived again - though in this case she more or less just went straight and went under when the bloody ocean tilted 45 degrees.
My plan was to approach bows-on then turn 90 degrees away and strike with the stern-tubes; a favoured tactic in AoP. Using the Stadimeter was ridiculous; almost impossible - all I got was quick glimpses of the lead vessel between towering waves. I ordered Searaven up to 50 ft.; that helped, though my inexperience using the device in-game really slowed me down. At 4000yds I turned to 270 and slowed to 1/3; making numerous observations until I got something that looked reasonable. At 2500yds. I turned to 186 and set 2/3rds; my intent to fire at precisely 1nm: 2025 yds.
This is about the time where it all went pear-shaped.

Perfect engagement to that point other than my ham-handed stadimeter use; plot looked good, solution looked good. Shooting observation at 2025 on the TDC; still looks good; I fired tubes #7 and 8. Both fish travelled about half the distance before disappearing - whu?! Recalculate - fire tube 6 with the fish set to low speed...it just disappeared.
Following a brief check to see if Rod Serling was somewhere in my crew I waited until the lead vessel chugged past me to 80deg. - fired 1 and 2....1 missed by a football field, 2 disappeared. I went to full speed, cursed, growled (whined a bit) and turned bows-in to a 45 degree approach. By this time we were down to stupid-close range; 1000yds. Fire 3&4 just as the aft torpedo room announced that #7 was reloaded...#3 scraped the target's stern so close it left paint on the rudder, #4 took the ship dead-center right under the funnel. BOOM!
Nice - too bad I wasn't watching; I was frantically taking a bearing on the smaller following freighter. The moment the torp went off he took violent action - as one would - and threw the wheel hard-a-starboard. Unfortunately for him that took him right across my stern at point-blank range.
After a couple of quick mental calculations - which is my way of saying blind guesses - I left the speed and range where they were, placed the bow angle at 90 degrees and fired #5 - at 240 yds (tops) he was a pretty wide target. I aimed for the midpoint, the fish struck smack under the foremast, and this one I DID get to watch. Lovely! Huge explosion, flying debris, flames on deck...close enough to break out the weenies and marshmallows. The second freighter reeled; heaved around to port and slowed to a crawl, drifting between me and target one. I ordered Searaven to the surface with instructions to the deck crews. Fortunately my gunner - CPO Peary - is absolutely kickarse and was able to lay the gun on with brilliant accuracy despite the wild sea. The large freighter opened fire with its machine gun mounts, but wasn't any threat even if it wasn't blocked by the smaller. A few moments of deck gun action and it was all over - in my after-action report I mentioned Chief Peary in hopes that he'll be mentioned as the first Canadian (Oops...I mean 'American' heh heh heh) sailor to sink two enemy ships in as many minutes and a dozen rounds.
Quite a wonderful, engaging (pun intended) action. Searaven stood down, reset heading for our patrol route and departed happy and successful.

Luvvery - I love the new game and am enjoying it thoroughly. ATM I'm on pure vanilla; it'll be a while before I start exploring mods, I want to enjoy the basic game first

Cheers folks!

fumo30 · 06-21-17, 04:22 PM

Welcome to Subsim mate.

u crank · 06-21-17, 04:30 PM

Welcome to SubSim Captain Hammered.

HW3 · 06-21-17, 05:10 PM

Welcome Aboard!

Jimbuna · 06-22-17, 05:08 AM

Welcome

Commander Wallace · 06-22-17, 07:31 AM

Welcome to Subsim CH.

SH5 with modifications is a decent game but everyone has their preferences. Peter / TheBerbster is the one to talk with regarding SH5. You may find it as Immersive as Peter does.

Enjoy your time here and welcome aboard.

Aktungbby · 06-22-17, 01:22 PM

Captain Hammered!

THEBERBSTER · 06-22-17, 02:49 PM

A Warm Welcome To The Subsim Community > Captain Hammered
Subsim <> How To Donate <> See The Benefits <> Support The Community
Steam Conversion Installation Instructions for SH5 Updated Version
Highly Recommended SH5 > The Wolves Of Steel Mega Mod > Includes > Optional KSDCommander And Working Enigma M4 Machine > Sub Flags > Not Compatible With STEAM
Highly Recommended SH3 > LIVING SILENT HUNTER III EDITION 2015 Mega Mod > 99.99% Stable > Full Tutorials And Much More In My Signature
SFSF-MODULE - The New Solution for "Steam" & "Starforce"
Support The New SH4 Mega Mod Project FOTRSU > 100_FalloftheRisingSun_Ultimate_v0.61 PublicBeta_EN
Steam Conversion SH4 Installation Instructions By ValoWay

06-21-17, 01:10 PM	#1
Captain Hammered Seaman Join Date: Jun 2017 Posts: 41 Downloads: 18 Uploads: 0	Captain Hammered on (well, under) the waves! Hallo folks - I love subsims but due to circumstance don't get to play too often; to this point my fave games have been 688(i) and AoD - both of which I still play. I bought that new atrocity on steam: 'Cold Waters' and figured it was money fairly lost; I hadn't done my research prior to buying. BUT wanting a new subsim I thought I'd try SH5; learned of its problems and settled on SH4 and am having a WHALE of a good time learning it. I gushed a bit over it on the Steam forums and was advised to come over here where the rest of the subsim subhumans ( ) hang out. I've had it a couple of weeks now and have just departed on my first career-mode patrol. I'll tell you how it went for the sheer pleasure of sharing the story, rather than typing it out afresh I'll just copy it from my Steam post. Partly because I currently have a broken bone in my hand and typing is a pain, but mostly because the first post was kind good, don'tcha know Anyhoo: HMCS (Oops, I mean U.S.S. ) Searaven departed Manila at 7am 9 dec. '41. Following sea trials and a little practice we set our nose for the Philipine Sea with orders to attack merchant shipping; a nice easy first patrol. Or so I thought; A Japanese destroyer interdicted us right off the port mouth; barely an hour into the patrol. Following a hasty dive and a few shots that were WAY too close for comfort we got below the thermocline at 210 ft. and entered normal evasion tactics - aim for the enemy, wait for him to pass overhead, go to flank, enter a 3D turn and sweat until the charges go off. Fortunately the guy wasn't very good and we were able to creep away unscathed - a serious wake-up call. We continued our patrol unmolested and following a nice cruise seeing nothing except a couple of Bettys arrived at our patrol station. We stooged around for a couple of days until we got the grey star then, determined not to return with fish in the belly, I set course around the coastal perimeter of the Sea; assuming Japanese civilian shipping would be close in-shore. I was right - and two days later encountered a sound contact coming the other way. We aimed for them and went to flank; within a couple of hours the sound contact resolved into two contacts; both merchants moving at a decent speed. We continued on until the ships came in view; two freighters heading southward in heavy seas and rain. Searaven dived and I spent half a battery at flank speed recording and gathering as much information as I could: a Large European Composite leading a Medium Modern Split. Heading:186, speed between 12-14kts. I promptly ordered supper early and sent the men to their bunks; it would be a busy night. Following the initial plot I put our stern to the ships and crawled out of view, surfaced then raced hell-bent-for-leather for six hours to get way WAY ahead of the ships. Full night; the weather had deteriorated even further: gale-force winds, blinding rain and massive seas. My original intent was a surfaced night approach; that was soon to be proven impossible. After doing a little math, placing myself directly in the ships' path and turning to 006 we flew at Flank towards the enemy - hardly spectacular given a Sargo's top speed but what the heck; I don't have to walk. Following an hour of reflecting on Jerome's brilliant passage describing a horse moving "At a speed that would have done credit to the swiftest steam-roller ever built" the freighters hove into view again. Searaven dived again - though in this case she more or less just went straight and went under when the bloody ocean tilted 45 degrees. My plan was to approach bows-on then turn 90 degrees away and strike with the stern-tubes; a favoured tactic in AoP. Using the Stadimeter was ridiculous; almost impossible - all I got was quick glimpses of the lead vessel between towering waves. I ordered Searaven up to 50 ft.; that helped, though my inexperience using the device in-game really slowed me down. At 4000yds I turned to 270 and slowed to 1/3; making numerous observations until I got something that looked reasonable. At 2500yds. I turned to 186 and set 2/3rds; my intent to fire at precisely 1nm: 2025 yds. This is about the time where it all went pear-shaped. Perfect engagement to that point other than my ham-handed stadimeter use; plot looked good, solution looked good. Shooting observation at 2025 on the TDC; still looks good; I fired tubes #7 and 8. Both fish travelled about half the distance before disappearing - whu?! Recalculate - fire tube 6 with the fish set to low speed...it just disappeared. Following a brief check to see if Rod Serling was somewhere in my crew I waited until the lead vessel chugged past me to 80deg. - fired 1 and 2....1 missed by a football field, 2 disappeared. I went to full speed, cursed, growled (whined a bit) and turned bows-in to a 45 degree approach. By this time we were down to stupid-close range; 1000yds. Fire 3&4 just as the aft torpedo room announced that #7 was reloaded...#3 scraped the target's stern so close it left paint on the rudder, #4 took the ship dead-center right under the funnel. BOOM! Nice - too bad I wasn't watching; I was frantically taking a bearing on the smaller following freighter. The moment the torp went off he took violent action - as one would - and threw the wheel hard-a-starboard. Unfortunately for him that took him right across my stern at point-blank range. After a couple of quick mental calculations - which is my way of saying blind guesses - I left the speed and range where they were, placed the bow angle at 90 degrees and fired #5 - at 240 yds (tops) he was a pretty wide target. I aimed for the midpoint, the fish struck smack under the foremast, and this one I DID get to watch. Lovely! Huge explosion, flying debris, flames on deck...close enough to break out the weenies and marshmallows. The second freighter reeled; heaved around to port and slowed to a crawl, drifting between me and target one. I ordered Searaven to the surface with instructions to the deck crews. Fortunately my gunner - CPO Peary - is absolutely kickarse and was able to lay the gun on with brilliant accuracy despite the wild sea. The large freighter opened fire with its machine gun mounts, but wasn't any threat even if it wasn't blocked by the smaller. A few moments of deck gun action and it was all over - in my after-action report I mentioned Chief Peary in hopes that he'll be mentioned as the first Canadian (Oops...I mean 'American' heh heh heh) sailor to sink two enemy ships in as many minutes and a dozen rounds. Quite a wonderful, engaging (pun intended) action. Searaven stood down, reset heading for our patrol route and departed happy and successful. Luvvery - I love the new game and am enjoying it thoroughly. ATM I'm on pure vanilla; it'll be a while before I start exploring mods, I want to enjoy the basic game first Cheers folks!

06-21-17, 04:22 PM	#2
fumo30 Grey Wolf Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 872 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	Welcome to Subsim mate. __________________

06-22-17, 02:49 PM	#8
THEBERBSTER Growing Old Disgracefully Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Hythe - Southampton Posts: 9,609 Downloads: 1133 Uploads: 0	A Warm Welcome To The Subsim Community > Captain Hammered Subsim <> How To Donate <> See The Benefits <> Support The Community Steam Conversion Installation Instructions for SH5 Updated Version Highly Recommended SH5 > The Wolves Of Steel Mega Mod > Includes > Optional KSDCommander And Working Enigma M4 Machine > Sub Flags > Not Compatible With STEAM Highly Recommended SH3 > LIVING SILENT HUNTER III EDITION 2015 Mega Mod > 99.99% Stable > Full Tutorials And Much More In My Signature SFSF-MODULE - The New Solution for "Steam" & "Starforce" Support The New SH4 Mega Mod Project FOTRSU > 100_FalloftheRisingSun_Ultimate_v0.61 PublicBeta_EN Steam Conversion SH4 Installation Instructions By ValoWay __________________ LSH3-2015 <> TUTORIALS <> ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW <> ALL IN ONE PLACE SH4 <> TUTORIALS <> HOW TO DO IT <> INFORMATION <> DOWNLOAD LINKS SH5 <> TUTORIALS <> HOW TO DO IT <> INFORMATION <> DOWNLOAD LINKS Always Here To Help A Fellow 'Subber' \| Need An Answer to A Question Just Send Me A PM

06-21-17, 04:30 PM	#3
u crank Old enough to know better Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Prince Edward Island Posts: 11,744 Downloads: 136 Uploads: 0	Welcome to SubSim Captain Hammered. __________________ “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” ― Arthur C. Clarke

06-21-17, 05:10 PM	#4
HW3 Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Gresham Oregon Posts: 6,574 Downloads: 458 Uploads: 0	Welcome Aboard! __________________ "Some ships are designed to sink...others require our assistance." Nathan Zelk

06-22-17, 05:08 AM	#5
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,539 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	Welcome __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

06-22-17, 07:31 AM	#6
Commander Wallace Navy Seal Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Under the sea in an Octupus garden in the shade Posts: 5,295 Downloads: 366 Uploads: 0	Welcome to Subsim CH. SH5 with modifications is a decent game but everyone has their preferences. Peter / TheBerbster is the one to talk with regarding SH5. You may find it as Immersive as Peter does. Enjoy your time here and welcome aboard.

06-22-17, 01:22 PM	#7
Aktungbby Gefallen Engel U-666 Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: On a tilted, overheated, overpopulated spinning mudball on Collision course with Andromeda Galaxy Posts: 30,009 Downloads: 24 Uploads: 0	welcome aboard! Captain Hammered! __________________ "Only two things are infinite; The Universe and human squirrelyness?!!