First time | Forums

[AltairsFinger]

Hi all, this is my first time playing any silent hunter game. Borrowed a laptop, a high spec one, from a friend and it had SH4 in it and several mods active on it as well one called Trigger Maru which I've been learning up on. My pal is a real sim freak, airplanes mainly, so I never having seen a game like this loaded up and started learning the ropes. Its fun, especially if you play a single mission or a war patrol, but the actual campaign mode, which I understand is the main game, is so boring!

Im on my second patrol of the war now, and I've sank a small tug boat, that's it. On the first patrol, I sank 4 things, two of those, I picked off from distance as they were moored stationary in a harbor. There really doesn't seem to be much going on in the main game mode. I started at the beginning when America first got into the war. I'm in favour of a bit of accuracy to history and all but, not so much that I've got nothing to do. I found a pull out chart in game, showing the major shipping routes, have been trying to follow some of them but with not much luck sadly.

[fireftr18]

Welcome to a great game and a good forum. Any questions, don't be afraid to ask, we're all glad to help.
Historically, there wasn't much going on in the beginning of the war. Game wise in career mode, start in Manilla. You are much closer to the action. And it does pick up as time goes.
Go to the stickies at the beginning of the forum and read throught the guides.
Time compression is your friend. I use it at the high settings when going to the patrol zone. When in the patrol zone, I stop, time compress to around 2000x, and wait.
Listen for the contact reports and chase them down when close enough. Remember to set up an intercept course rather than going directly to the spot.
Do the game without mods until acquiring and targeting, and evading become boring. Then add the mods and you will much appreciate them.

[donna577]

Welcome aboard AltairsFinger

[AltairsFinger]

Hey both, thanks for welcoming me. I guess it was quite a shock for me really. I started out at Pearl rather than there. I figured that was the most common origin point for the submarine deployment.

I have had a go at SH4 without the mods, but, its nowhere near as good as with them I found. I guess for me I play a game and I expect to have stuff to do immediately. But with SH4 in the campaign mode there is nothing immediate about it. I guess I just wonder where is best to go in March 1942 which is the date in game for me now, to find things to destroy. Is the Luzon straight a good spot to go?

[WernherVonTrapp]

Welcome aboard mate. The Pacific Ocean is a vast theater of operations. The ships that sail it, less than a pinpr!ck on the map. If you do not want to learn anything about history, I suppose one can rely on the routes charted on the map, but I fear one will get very frustrated doing that. A "Sim" (simulation) is just what the name implies. It simulates reality as best as it can, and for a war sim, that usually means historically. Depending on how long you play/participate, you're going to learn history the hard way (trial & error) through many frustrating losses/encounters, or you're going to want to rid the Pacific of the Imperial Japanese tyranny and do your homework in order to get even. Either way, I wish you luck and welcome you aboard.

[AltairsFinger]

Thanks for that. I was playing last night, found a single contact merchant ship. I went to attack position, had to make an attack submerged due to the daylight. I fired a total of 6 torpedoes.

The first 3 I fired came from the aft tubes, as from my single mishes and war patrols, I like to save the frontal tubes for convoys, but the three I fired from the stern tubes were all good shots, I checked on the TDC map, so the angle was ok. 3 times, Torpedo is a dud. So now, the ship knows Im there and is zig and zagging. So I open tube 10, 1 and 2. Fire away again, as luck would have it, I had three more good shots. Leading to, Torpedo impact, todpedo is a dud, and torpedo impact.

I was chuffed at my little 5000 ton prize, but even so, wow. 6 torpedoes producing only 2 explosions? Crazy man! But based on what I read, its accurate.

I just now have visions of a huge battle ship one day, and firing all 10 of my loaded tubes at it, for only 3 of them to actually go off! eeek!

[AltairsFinger]

I just finished patrol 2, ended up at the end with nearly 18,000 tons sunk, 10,000 of that coming from a tanker. I've definately got the hang of auto targeting. But...

Man those dud torpedoes are something else! Heh! I fired 9 torpedoes at that tanker. I know they were all good shots because the tanker was showing me her broadside, and I had my nose pointed strairght at her. I checked on the torpedo solution map thingy, and it was a straight run to the tanker. It was dark, so I attacked it on the surface in case it made a run for it, and I'd be able to catch it.

So realising I'd had a LOT of duds that patrol, I fired all 6 torpedoes at it. Only one of the 6 exploded on impact. I went to battle stations then, and reloaded my last 3 mark 14's into the tubes. Followed it at about 5000 yds on the surface to not lose it. Eventually it returned to its original course, no zig zagging. So I returned to a normal firing set up, fired all 3 reloads. Duds, all of them.

So now, Im left with a choice, do I engage it in a gun battle? I decided yes, I've already hit it with one shot, a few shells may do the trick. So my best gunners go to the deck gun and put several shells into it, eventually after trading gun fire, and thankfully, only minimal damage to the submarine, the tanker sinks. With 2, yes 2, shells to spare. So with that, Im heading back to Pearl. With every intention to return to the luzon straits again!

[fireftr18]

Good job. Those duds will get you.

[captgeo]

Here is a map of shipping routes used by japan.

[Ragincajin336]

Welcome aboard, Little known fact, the problem with early mk 14s was not the torpedo itself, but the mod 6 exploders. Most Submarine captains by mid 42 realized this and had their TMs disconnect them. The underlying problem was that the EMF sensor was so sensitive that it would either explode prematurely from wave action or ignore an actual field from a contact because it became over saturated. In Game solution: (keep in mind I do not use any mods) select contact versus contact influence, if the TM mod is working correctly and you have the depth settings on your shot right, you SHOULD have much more success with your shots.

Also, I like your idea of saving the fore tubes for convoys but for a more historical reason, (and this is referenced in Thunder Below by Eugene Fluckey) a few captainsin WWII would shoot their stern tubes first because the fewer torpedoes in thier stowage racks, the more bunks they would have for their sailors. Similar to today's subs, if we do not havea full loadout of torpedoes, we will actually install additional berting on the stowage racks to minimize on "hot racking"....

Somehow I feel a star circling behind me saying "The more you know"