SH3 goes gold is it just me

[Tankerace]

Afraid I couldn't tell you, I do all that on manual, so I don't get an arrow.

[TheHellPatrol]

ORIGINAL: wodin
When you lock onto a target you see either a little yellow/orange or green arrow pointing down or up. Where should I place the arrow before I fire?

I used the assisted for the tutorial and once you lock on i don't think it matters, what does matter is the angle on your target just as in full realism. 45-50 degree ahead(aft/fore?) is usually the magic # if the target is fleeing
I had a helluva time at first and i think it was intended as it "is" a tutorial eg: a couple easy kills and a couple tricky ones[;)]. Of course, practice...practice...practice...

[wodin]

I'm foring from way to far out 1000m plus!

I'm used to modern day flight sims and with it being assisted I thought it was lock fire and forget!

Once I get into the game and uprdrage my hardware so it will look fantastic (No anti alaising at the moment and particle effects down to 53) I shall try it on realistic.

[TheHellPatrol]

ORIGINAL: wodin

I'm foring from way to far out 1000m plus!

I shall try it on realistic.

I've hit C3 Cargo ships at 5000 plus, IF...i haven't been spotted and have the right angle(no pun) of approach[:D].
Realistic:should keep you busy for awhile
Funny, i've been hiding Easter eggs all day for the kids and somehow all i see when i look at them is torpedoes[X(]and when i'm giving clues eg: hot...cold etc.. i keep hearing this "ping" "ping" in my head LOL

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: wodin

Ive spent the last three goes trying to get more than two kills in the torpedo exam! First two ships go down a treat. The rest evry torpedo misses and that with assisted. Must be doing something wrong! When you lock onto a target you see either a little yellow/orange or green arrow pointing down or up. Where should I place the arrow before I fire?

I wish I knew, myself. I'm not sure whether the triangle matters from the top or bottom, but the colors matter. The green is when you have a straight on shot, but I'm not sure about the other colors. I think the yellow is next to the best. If you lock the target while having the sub in a constant hard turn, and see the colors change, assuming you've stayed clicked on the same tube all that time, you can then see the color changes and figure out for sure which is better.

[DeepSix]

All this braggin' about I sank this and I sank that.... Now it's my turn![:D]

First patrol -- U-45. Spent some political -- er, renown -- points on a lieutenant qualified as a gunner and a torpedoman to be my WP.

I am now heading home after about 15 days out, having expended all my torpedos, including the external reserves, as well as all of my AP and HE shells for the deck gun. To show for spending the Reich's war chest like that, I have sunk almost 75,000 tons of shipping. The first kill was a destroyer in some truly nastly weather. But the icing on the cake was the 11 out of 15 ships in a convoy (unescorted on a glassy sea by the light of the moon -- talk about hitting the jackpot) off the west coast of Ireland. 3 were "neutrals" so I let them go; on the 4th I just ran out of ammo. Never even fired at it; sank the last ship with the last stern torpedo.

Ok, enough bragging. To be fair, I have to say that I'm only playing on 37% realism. Limited fuel, dud torpedos, limited air, etc. And to really 'fess up, I have to also admit using the idiot triangle, too. But MAN was it fun! Now all I have to do is sail the 3000 odd kilometers back to Kiel.

[Hard Sarge]

know that is twice I have read about the/a neutrals sailing in a convoy

I really hope there is some complaint and the "bug" is fixed, if a ship is sailing in a convoy, with other ships that are at war, so are they

HARD_Sarge

[Tankerace]

Actually, sometimes neutrals did sail with convoys. Of course, I have only ran into one convoy (1939), and sadly enough one of the ships I torpedoed was an American. Thankfully, the 2 that hit it were my duds for the mission.

[Hard Sarge]

Sure they may, and like in real life, the US did, but if a neutral did sail with convoy at war, they had no recourse to complain about if there ship was sunk

the US and GE were killing each other before the war started (in fact, for the most part, we were never really a Neutral, we broke almost every rule in the book)

HARD_Sarge

[DamoclesX]

man, has anybody ran into anything other then merchents and destroyers/patrol craft?

Where are the bb's cruisers, carriers? I"ve goone looking but all I run into are TONS and TONS of destroyers!

[DeepSix]

No capital ships yet -- but I like it that way. The u-boat was a merchant killer anyway, so I haven't worried. I'm sure they'll turn up as the war progresses. Destroyers are a nuisance. If one crosses my path and I happen to be perfectly lined up, or can get perfectly lined up, I'll take him on. Otherwise, though, I get quiet and disappear.

BTW -- If hostiles are red, friendlies blue, and neutrals that greenish/yellow -- what are the grey ships? At first I thought it represented a weak contact, but even up close a lot of times they stay grey. Are they other u-boats?

[Charles2222]

BTW -- If hostiles are red, friendlies blue, and neutrals that greenish/yellow -- what are the grey ships?

Old man ships.

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: DeepSix

All this braggin' about I sank this and I sank that.... Now it's my turn![:D]

First patrol -- U-45. Spent some political -- er, renown -- points on a lieutenant qualified as a gunner and a torpedoman to be my WP.

I am now heading home after about 15 days out, having expended all my torpedos, including the external reserves, as well as all of my AP and HE shells for the deck gun. To show for spending the Reich's war chest like that, I have sunk almost 75,000 tons of shipping. The first kill was a destroyer in some truly nastly weather. But the icing on the cake was the 11 out of 15 ships in a convoy (unescorted on a glassy sea by the light of the moon -- talk about hitting the jackpot) off the west coast of Ireland. 3 were "neutrals" so I let them go; on the 4th I just ran out of ammo. Never even fired at it; sank the last ship with the last stern torpedo.

Ok, enough bragging. To be fair, I have to say that I'm only playing on 37% realism. Limited fuel, dud torpedos, limited air, etc. And to really 'fess up, I have to also admit using the idiot triangle, too. But MAN was it fun! Now all I have to do is sail the 3000 odd kilometers back to Kiel.

I doubt I will ever carry a gunner as a trait. The reason is that I'm so good at it[:D]. OTOH I will constantly restart picking crews until I get one that has a flak gunner trait. I'm not too good with them. I might not mind using a gunner instead of my self on the deck gun but it's about dead last on my priority. I figure the second most valuable trait to a flak gunner is a sonar trait, so after the 1st mission that's the one I assign. If I can get 2 guys with sonar on at the same time then maybe it will greatly curtail me not running into kamikazes.

I wonder if there's some way you really went ape on the RN and sank over a hundred DD's, say you're in some invincible mode or something, would they ever run out? I mean is there a finite number and that you sinking them really hurts them any? My guess is that there's nothing in the game that you can really thwart such that you would be playing only for number of kills/tonnage or a score.

[Tankerace]

You do realize that after the 1st war patrol, you can assign the Gunner or Flak Gunner qualification, right? Of my 16 POs, I have 5 torpedomen, 2 watchmen, 2 machinists, 1 medic, 1 radioman, 1 Gunner, and 1 Flak Gunner. I am on my 9th Patrol, out of Brest.

[DeepSix]

ORIGINAL: Charles_22
I wonder if there's some way you really went ape on the RN and sank over a hundred DD's, say you're in some invincible mode or something, would they ever run out? I mean is there a finite number and that you sinking them really hurts them any? My guess is that there's nothing in the game that you can really thwart such that you would be playing only for number of kills/tonnage or a score.

I was sort of wondering about that, too. In the convoy I attacked there were three American ships. This is supposed to be 1939; I didn't think the U.S. was that active in convoys until later. For that matter, I thought the convoy itself was a later invention -- my guess is that, no, they won't run out.

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: Tankerace

You do realize that after the 1st war patrol, you can assign the Gunner or Flak Gunner qualification, right? Of my 16 POs, I have 5 torpedomen, 2 watchmen, 2 machinists, 1 medic, 1 radioman, 1 Gunner, and 1 Flak Gunner. I am on my 9th Patrol, out of Brest.

Oh yeah, that's what I was relating when I said that the 1st trait I assign in the sonar one, since I make sure and not start a campaign before I get an officer that already has the flak gunner trait.

[wodin]

After all the hype. The game sort off grabs me. Cant truely make up my mind yet. Sometimes I think yeah this is great other times I think god this is boring. I prob find it boring due to the fact Im usless at it.

I went on my first patrol without using my renown from the Academy. Resulting in an undermanned sub which was a real pain to keep running due to fatigue.
I also saw loads of contacts on the navigation screen but never found them. It was always night time and rough seas and fog. Then I was worried about fuel so I daren't go after any in the end. Finished up not even seeing a ship.

Went home in disgrace.

Overall the my first career mission was really rather boring.

Ive started in 39 in a type 2. Realism at 54%

[Tankerace]

Well, at least BdU isn't b****ing at you. I get these orders :"Convoy in Square AM19". I find it on the map, and get in front of the convoy. I damage 2 C2 Cargos, and sink a Tanker. I then detach myself (after evading a DD), reload my tubes, and get in front of the convoy again. I get perfect shots against 2 C2s.... and just as the torpedoes are about to hit, I see Old Glory flying on them. OOPS. So there is some negative renown, thanks to the stupid yankees. Stupid Churchills trying to make them enter the war MY fault. [:D]

[wodin]

I also have the problem of ships being spotted on the navigation map and then disappearing altogether without actually fading away.

[Charles2222]

ORIGINAL: wodin

I also have the problem of ships being spotted on the navigation map and then disappearing altogether without actually fading away.

It sounds like you're under the impression that the contacts move. They do not from what I've seen. It's only the closer ones that you've picked up through your phones that you will see move from time to tiime.

Otherwise your statement sounds contradictory, considering how something not fading away doesn't disappear altogether. The only reason what you said makes any sense to me because it appears you're talking about a faded contact being on the map, and yet when you get there you think the ship is actually gone. I always thought that I was getting a report as the situation was at the time of the report, and no other time, such that going to the spot where it was reported, and that's not saying you could always spot it even if it hadn't moved, should almost never result in finding it. Just take the speed and course when reported and anticipate that it's further along than it was from the report.

One way you can anticipate where the target will be over a given amount of time is trying the following (understand I've never done this in the game yet[:)]):

Let's assume the contact is reported as "slow" and we want to believe that means 7kts. First reset your sub to that same speed. When it reaches it take out your course instrument and put objective number one on that contact. How long does it take you to reach that spot with that speed? Let's say 4 hours. Next pick your 2nd objective but this time trace the 2nd objective out to that contact's path and stretch it out to 4 hours. That's where that contact will be should you remain at the speed of the contact when you get to where they were reported. Therefore, since you have a good idea where they will be in 4 hours, you double your speed, or more, and know in 4 hours they will be in that spot and you will be waiting.