New to SH3-Questions | Forums

[dajini92]

Bought SH3 a while ago, and never really got serious about playing it until yesterday.

I did a few of the tutorials, then started my campaign. I chose the flotilla that starts out in Williamshaven... or something like than. I was told to go patrol AN81. I set up my course, and when I got there, I made some more waypoints inside the zone, looking for ships. My problem starts here. All the ships go faster than my sub. I can see a ship, and I'll try to catch up to it, but it practically always makes it away. I try ahead flank speed, surfaced, and still can't catch up to it. Which brings me to my next question... if a red "dot" appears on my map and is heading towards me, how do I set up an intercept course for it? Right now all I really do is bring my sub into the area where I think it will come through. So...

1) I need some tips on how to catch up to ships I spot, and how to set up intercept courses.

2) Right now all my patrols consist of is setting waypoints to the zone, and once I get there I just make a bunch of random waypoints in the zone, kind of patrolling it. I feel like this is too simple, and I'm leaving something out, such as the radar/sonar. I haven't even touched these stations yet. What should these be doing?

4) I let the computer do all the torpedo solutions for me since I just got the game... but... I've noticed that sometimes if I "lock" onto a target and fire the torpedos will be waaaaaaaay off. Why is this?

5) During my patrol, should I make regular breaks to go under water, turn everything off, and activate sonar/radio/whatever they're called?

If I think of any more questions I'll post them here... I really need to get more kills. So far I've only gotten one. It was night, and I was sneaking up on a merchant, but from a distance of 3km I think he saw me because he started to go away from me. At about 2500 meters, I was frustrated that he was getting away from me (still have the crappy sub) so I locked on to him and fired two torpedoes. The first one missed by a couple meters, and the 2nd one hit him right next to the proppelors, cleanly knocking them off. He was immobilized, so I moved into a closer posistion and finished him off with one torpedo... this was another strange thing. He was at about bearing 15 from where I was, so I locked onto him, and with my last torpedo I shot. Well, you would think that since I was stationary and so was he, it would have been a perfect center shot. Wrong. It hit near the tail... why? It still sunk him, but the innacuracy was strange. Maybe it had to due with the fact that it was storming and the seas were really rough.

Please help with my questions.

[The Avon Lady]

Here's a tip: get acquainted with The Community Manual.

[pmatthews83]

First of all, welcome aboard. Now to answer some of these questions.

1) From the sounds of it, you are running the game without any mods. Therefore, if you are starting in '39 with the 1st Flotilla, you are in a Type IIA uboat. These are the smallest of the uboats available in the game and not overly fast. Whether I detect the ship visually or via sonar, I use the same technique. First, I determine the speed, either using UZO or periscope, or your sonar man will give you a general idea (ie Merchant bearing 010, medium speed). Then I go to the nav map, zoom in, and time compress to get an idea of which way the ship is heading. Using this I plot a course to intercept.

2) This never changes. You are always sent to patrol a grid. I travel to my patrol grid, complete my patrol (sinking every enemy ship I encounter there, since that is my mission) then plot a course for more abundant hunting grounds. A good place if you are in a IIA would be east of Southend in the northern part of the english channel. Plenty of Merchantmen travelling there.

3) I let the computer calculate torpedo solutions as well because I like "managing" my boat as opposed to doing everything myself. When you have the target ship in your sights, there will be a little triangle. Ideally you want this to be green when you shoot. You will still hit periodically when it is yellow, but don't even try if it is red or orange. Also, I don't fire unless I am within 2000m. And then only if I have to (ie. Firing on a destroy on a clear day)

4) This is completely up to you. I run almost completely on the surface with a few exceptions. 1-I submerge while making a torpedo attack during the day. 2-I always run submerged while travelling through the English Channel during daylight hours (too many warships to run on the surface). Historically, Uboats performed periodic trim dives and would do sonar checks while pursuing their prey or when visibility is minimal, which happens all too often around England.

I hope this is helpful. Good hunting.

[vanjast]

From your (AKA) name it looks like you were born in 1992.
Boy! You have a lot of reading to do...
Don't play the game for the next few days, and browse the net, library for anything on UBoats, Subs, etc. and read the whole lot.
A lot of us here are 'Old Toppies' and have spent millenia with our noses in these books, etc. and provide some good advice.

Welcome, and enjoy the ride.

[Gunnersman]

Muahahaha!
Fresh mea...*ahem*...I mean...HI dajini92!

SH3 is a WW2 U-boat simulator. Its not an arcade game. Like vanjast said this "game" has a bit of a learning curve. But it can be made easier with certain settings.
Many people who buy SH3 usually have some technical understanding and knowledge of the history behind SH3.

That being said. If you want to get the most out of the game,(which is very rich and deep, no pun intended) you will want to read, alot.

Welcome aboard.

[dajini92]

I think I'm finally getting the hang on all this. One thing though: on the navigation map, blue means friendly, green means neutral, and red means enemy; correct? Because from a far distance, British ports were green but when I got closer they turned red... I'm not really sure how that happened.

Earlier today, hydrophone found a ship about 60 KM SW of me. I set up an intercept, and I actually got it right! Not much later, we got visual contact of it, so I dived and moved into posistion. I fired two torpedoes, with the computer figuring out calculations, and something strange happened. I fired when I had the lock thing pushed down, and the arrow was green. Shortly after I fired, the arrows turned yellow... and the torpedoes almost missed. They both hit in the very rear of the ship, and I was afraid they were going to miss for a second. The ship still sunk though, but why did they hit so far back? This is a diagram of what the situation was like, blue line being me and red line being the merchant. Of course, we weren't this close, but you get the idea.




Oh yeah, this is also where I discovered just how important it is to use the hydrophone yourself every once in a while. I never would have been able to find this ship if I had just left my sonarman to do the hydrophone.

[Gunnersman]

Press "Q" to open your torpedo tubes before you fire your torpedoes. Then your torps wont hit so far back. I had that same problem when I first started.

The green arrow lets you know you are at the best angle in relation to the target to fire your torps. Your torpedoes will not have to turn as far to travel on the proper line to reach the impact point. You can get away with a yellow and orange arrow. Red arrows are not so good. A red arrow means your torp will have to turn more than 90 degrees to reach its target. Messes up the timing.

Yes, the hyrdrophone operator sucks in the unmoded version. Its a bug. There is a mod that fixes that. Do a search on the forum here. Or maybe someone else knows better.

[The Avon Lady]

Originally posted by Gunnersman:
Press "Q" to open your torpedo tubes before you fire your torpedoes. Then your torps wont hit so far back. I had that same problem when I first started.

Better yet, right click on your Weapons Officer to go to his station, use the mouse to look up a little. You should see the torp door toggle switches under the tube status lights.

Click just below each switch to open the doors. Unlike the "Q" command, this will keep them open until you fire a tube. With "Q", they will automatically close after a while.

[VikingGrandad]

Originally posted by Gunnersman:
The green arrow lets you know you are at the best angle in relation to the target to fire your torps. Your torpedoes will not have to turn as far to travel on the proper line to reach the impact point. You can get away with a yellow and orange arrow. Red arrows are not so good. A red arrow means your torp will have to turn more than 90 degrees to reach its target. Messes up the timing.

Yes, it is possible to hit a target when the arrow is yellow or orange (actually, I've never tried it on orange). However, you are very unlikely to hit it if your torpedo is set with an 'impact' trigger. Impact is only reliable if the torpedo hits the target at a perfect (or near-perfect) 90° angle (green triangle). Magnetic triggers are much more capable of detonating the torpedo at less perfect angles (i.e. when the triangle is yellow, or maybe organge)

If you're at the beginning of the war, you'd better read this:

From the Community Manual:
In general magnetic triggering will provide better results, especially for attacks where a close-to-90â? angle is not possible. Note though, that early in the war the magnetic pistols were notoriously unreliably and in fact for a period U-Boats were directed to use Impact triggering at all times. Later in the war reliability improved.

Even though I don't do manual targetting (yet), I do use the Torpedo Data Computer (TDC) screen to do the following tasks:
<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>Set up a salvo for big targets e.g. an ocean liner or aircraft carrier
<LI>Change the pistol type
<LI>Change the torpedo depth
<LI>Change the torpedo speed
<LI>Keep an eye on the torpedo gyro angle as the target approaches. After you've locked onto the target, this green line shows the path the torpedo will take when you launch it. Ideally this should be as straight as possible which is when you see the green triangle in the periscope or UZO view. The more 'bent' the line is, the more the torpedo has to turn to hit the target which is when you see the yellow, orange or red triangles. This means that the chance of the torp missing the target is higher and, even if it does hit, the chance of the torpedo not detonating is higher too because it is striking the ship's hull at an angle.[/list]
As for the hydrophone, yes it's a good idea to use it yourself sometimes. When you start to get more renown you will be able to recruit a good radio operator then, if you do well in your patrols, give him medals and promotions so that he becomes more reliable/useful on the hydrophone.

[Cpt.Thorne]

Originally posted by dajini92:
I think I'm finally getting the hang on all this. One thing though: on the navigation map, blue means friendly, green means neutral, and red means enemy; correct? Because from a far distance, British ports were green but when I got closer they turned red... I'm not really sure how that happened.

You started your first career September 1 1939 from Wilhemshaven. September 3 approximately 13.31 you have gotten a radio message (click M to see messages when your Radio operator tell you have gotten one)telling that Germany and Britain are at war and hostilities agains Brittish shipping must be commited. So before this moment you have had Brittish ports as neutral but after receiving that message they turn red. And stay that way untill the war ends. Same thing will happen to US ports Dec1941 after the Attack on Pearl harbour and allowing you to sink US shipping without getting a dent to your renown as with neutral shipping.

Like vanjast said recommend reading and exploring the net. For starters unless you have already found this uboat.net

Happy hunting and Welcome to the forum!