I've somewhat fallen by the wayside with AARs from my SH3 campaign, but dabbling with UBoat since the last such report has just confirmed how much I prefer SH3 to the new sim in its current state.
It's 31 March 1941 and we're outward bound from Brest to patrol area in grid AM78, west of Ireland. We're escorted out of port by a schwarm of seagulls, flying in neat pairs. Possibly they're hoping to apply for the Luftwaffe.
It's dark by the time we are crossing the Western Approaches, about half-way to our patrol area. The sea-lanes here are often busy and I'm not surprised when we make contact with a small steamer proceeding independently. I correctly judge that she isn't armed so make a surface attack with the deck gun.
I get a good view of her sad but inevitable demise through the UZO.
We've not long resumed course when we encounter much larger prey. Again there are no deck guns so we use our own on her, as the sea is still calm enough for the gun crew...
...who are soon pumping rounds into our victim.
There she goes...
...leaving us to get back on course.
But it's still daylight daylight when we divert again to tackle yet another single steamer.
The watch officer looks a bit dubious...
...but I'm resolved to attack with gunfire again.
And down she goes, too, with nary a round fired in return.
I decide to linger in the Western Approaches rather than fuss over my assigned patrol area, such is the level of traffic I'm still meeting here. This decision is vindicated when the watch officer reports another sighting - early in the morning of 4th April, three days after my hat trick..
Studying the target from the bridge through the UZO, I can see it's a small steamer - and is apparently dead in the water! She seems undamaged, so it's likely some form of serious engine trouble.
This should be a lot easier than the stern chase I was fearing that we'd be in for. U-100 cuts through the still surface of the water...
...while the steamer just sits there, hove to, with the sea-borne Angel of Death bearing down on her.
However, my target isn't quite the helpless victim I'd supposed. The first warning that she's got a deck gun astern comes when a shell splash falls ahead of us, forcing us quickly into the cellar. We resume the hunt from periscope depth.
With the electric motors straining, we pull nearly level with the steamer on her port side. I raise the attack periscope only at intervals, as I don't want to get it shelled.
I quickly turn into her, cut the speed and after a short further period of tracking, let fly from about 400 metres.
The crew can probably see the torpedo track and will be well aware of what's coming next.
Torpedo treffe!
The hapless steamer is soon slightly down by the bows, but refuses to leave the surface.
A second torpedo is rarely needed for this size of target but this time, that's what's needed to finish off this tough customer. I come to the surface just as she's finally slipping below it.
Then we sail off into the sunrise in search of further prey.
Less than two hours later and we're running down another coastal merchantman.
This one is steaming diagonally away from us so I alter course to cut the corner and race after him.
There's no sign of a deck gun this time so we bring our own into action. The sea is calm so I don't mind opening fire at long range.
The steamer starts zig-zagging for all she's worth.
Some rounds miss, but more are hitting her as the range winds down.
Looking down from the bridge, I can see that the gun crew are taking no chances, as they have their steel helmets on.
There can only be one end to this.
It's still early morning on the fifth day out of Brest and we have good tally to our account, which I trust will avoid any unpleasantness with BdU over diverting from our assigned patrol area. As the saying goes, "Ein Spatz in der Hand ist besser als eine Taube auf dem Dach."
A dive for a hydrophone check means I can post a pic of the control room featuring the FM New Interior mod. As well as moving the default control room viewpoint, it adds numerous boxes of food around the boat and hangs rows of sausages from the roof, as seem here. By linking the quantity to fuel state, the stored food visibly reduces as the patrol progresses. There is now also a seat for the helmsman adjacent to the hydroplane operators, and a helmsman occupying it while submerged.
The mod also adds a detailed engine room amongst other compartments (no stern torpedo room yet).
We spend the day cruising in a search pattern in the Western Approaches.
The hours pass by...
...and I'm beginning to wonder if the traffic has dried up...or been diverted away from us. Daylight ends without any further contacts...
...but as midnight approaches, there's a report of shipping to our south-east. By now, we're down to under 50% of our fuel reserves, so it doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere near our original patrol area, not at this stage. Knowing that, I'm happy to plot a dog-leg interception course, which is neither particularly clever nor fuel-efficient, but it works nearly every time.
The bridge watch stare into the darkness as we make our move.
Conditions are still at the mill pond end of the scale, so are fine for another attack with the deck gun.
However, the target is another small steamer who's closing at an angle. I can't see if she's armed, so rather than find out the risky way, I submerge...
...to complete the pursuit underwater.
There she is, lined up in the attack periscope! She's making seven knots so will soon be where I want her.
Time to start shooting!
At this range I can hardly mission, and the eel isn't a dud. The wake visible in the foreground is from my periscope.
By this time, I've established that the steamer isn't armed. I could have surfaced and used the deck gun after all. But I'm using up my fuel so I reckon that might as well use up my torpedoes, too. I surface nevertheless so that if necessary, I can finish her with gunfire, rather than using a second eel.
But that won't be required.
A good night's work! I've been reporting every sinking to BdU, so they know that I'm not where they sent me, but I'm getting only congratulations in response. I can live with that!
By this time, we've left a fair bit of mayhem in our wake. But we're not done yet, and are soon chasing after another reported merchantman.
We're still some hours hour away from the expected point of interception when a lookout reports an aircraft. What seems like the very next second, a bang and a waterspout close to port reveal that we've had a narrow escape from sudden destruction.
Alarm!
Our attacker is another one of those pesky Hurricanes. A Hudson would have been a more useful choice of early-war maritime patrol aircraft, but there it is. Anyway he missed us!
'Teifer, LI!' Yes I'm currently watching Das Boot again, having just got the original nearly 5-hour mini-series DVDs. I let the boat go down. I have seen these Hurris operate in pairs, so more bombs could come.
In the zentrale, the men are taking the attack in their stride and getting on with their work.
After an hour or so, I decide to come up to periscope depth to check the situation, before coming back onto the surface. The control room mate attends to the trim panel while the hydroplane operators do their thing, using the back-up manual handwheels not the buttons, as they always do in SH3.
U-100 responds like the well-handled precision machine that she is.
The sky periscope shows we're in the clear. However, the additional precaution of a sweep with the hydrophones reveals we are not entirely on our own. It's not going to be the freighter we're after, but it's somewhere just up ahead and will do nicely.
Up we come!
Conditions are still fine on the surface as we proceed at 'halbe fahrt voraus' - I'm not in a hurry to use up my dwindling fuel supply for the sake of intercepting a few minutes earlier.
Shouldn't be long now - provided there are no more interruptions from above!
We soon meet the next potential victim, the watch officer announcing the sighting.
At first, even with the binos, the upperworks and mastheads of the ship are just visible on the horizon, fine off the starboard bow.
After slowly closing for a while, I realise she's headed away from us and crossing from right to left at a shallow angle. I alter course to port to cut her off.
Realising this enemy is armed, I get as close as I dare then dive to periscope depth. She's doing about six knots so we'll be able to close with her, albeit slowly. My intended victim is another small steamer.
And there's the deck gun, in case you hadn't noticed.
Impatience gets the better of me and I try for a shot at a shallow angle, instead of coming up on her beam.
And it works!
The target is now on fire astern. Question is, will one eel be enough? At first, it seems not.
But then the steamer begins to list to port, until the sea starts to wash over her decks. Job done!
She's slipped below the surface by the time I'm back 'topside'.
Still no convoys, but I could hardly have done better if I'd met one!
It's late afternoon the next day before we pick upon another reported enemy.
Conditions have deteriorated in the meantime, but we succeed in picking up the contact, which is yet another small freighter travelling independently.
She seems unarmed but as we're on a closing course, I decide to drop into the cellar for a surprise submerged attack. In any event, the seas are too rough to use my deck gun.
The control room watch takes up their positions as we go to periscope depth. Einsteigen - clear the bridge!
There's the target! Definitely not armed. If I recall right, Tube 1 is shown as not yet reloaded as during the hunt, I neglected to ensure there were enough un-tired crewmen in the bow torpedo room - caught out by SH3's crew management, not my favourite feature! However, it's much less of a bind than in the recent UBOAT, where the requirement for crew micro-management is to my mind not merely a frustrating nuisance, it's bizzare - my current U-96 campaign ended suddenly after three crew members got hurt in heavy seas and next thing you know, we're sunk without apparent cause - tho with most of the crew reported rescued by other boats.
I close slowly...
...then let her have it.
My eel looks to be running straight and true, but my conning tower is occasionally broaching in the heavy swell.
Looks like a hit is certain...
...but nothing happens!
I'm so surprised that it's all I can do to avoid letting U-100 be run down my her intended victim.
After a bit of manoeuvring, I'm set up for another shot at the now-alerted freighter.
This time, we get a hit.
However, the ship refuses to go down! After some more manoeuvring around her, I give the boys in the stern torpedo room something to do.
This looks like a certain hit...
...and indeed it is!
Rent by explosions, the merchantman breaks her back...
...and slips beneath the waves.
By the time I'm back on the surface, there's nothing to be seen of her. I order and updated patrol report sent to BdU, then we're off on the hunt again.
The problem is that in these seas, I can neither use my deck gun nor transfer my last three reserve torpedoes from external stowage under the decks into the torpedo rooms. In all my time playing SH3, I never found out if I could reload tubes from the external stowage in preference to internal, while conditions were calm; if that is possible, I should have done it in the mission.
Effectively disarmed and getting short of fuel in any case, I set course back to the west for base. I have more than enough diesel left to proceed at normal cruising speed and next day finds us approaching the French coast, somewhere up ahead in the still-stormy seas.
Finally, we're in the lee of the nearest shore to the north, where conditions are overcast and foggy, but calm.
Soon, enough the harbour lights of Brest are telling us we're nearly home.
Here's our tally for the patrol.
I have medals and promotions to distribute to the crew...
...and I got the Diamonds to my Ritterkreuz!
Still no battle with a convoy, though - that will be the real test!
I suggest using H.sie's and Stiebler's addition to H.Sie's mod to reduce the frequency of bad weather in the game. They have a lot of other nice features and options, as well.
Happy hunting!
“With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.”
Up to this patrol, I was using only Rubini's widescreen mod and FM's New Interior Mod. For the eighth patrol, as the widescreen mod didn't render map and some other screens quite right, I've switched to ARB's 1980x1020...which requires that H.sie realism mod. I'm still getting used to the latter's many adjustable or optional features, like 'scope retraction at 7 knots and above and blur over about 6, to simulate vibration. The F5 map display is much better...
...and while there's still some spells of nasty weather out there in the Atlantic...
...there does seem to be less of it!
GWX Gold I've downloaded but I'll save that for another day, perhaps for a second install, as I'm absolutely loving what I've got!
Great to hear! If only there was a way to update old fossils like you and me like we can with old software!
I was previously using GWX 3.0 but am now using the NYGM mega mod. There are several other mega mods out there, but these are the two oldest. Both add lots of new elements to the game, particularly better historical accuracy and improved AI (escorts in particular) behavior.
I also recently switched from ARB's widescreen mod to DGUI's widescreen mod, which looks just as nice but takes up less memory.
I also highly recommend Thomsen's (not THAT Thomsen) sound mod to bring your sub more alive, although the crew chatter can get a bit repetitive at times.
As you know, there are literally hundreds of mods out there, so let me know if you have any questions.
“With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.”
I had to start with a fresh install after I used steam to relocate the sim out of the Program Files (x86) folder, recommended by some as desirable or necessary for mods to work (tho I had no problem with the few I've used thus far). Messed up the H.sie mod so bang went my career. I had already switched U-100 for a VII-C, U-557, and managed one fairly eventful patrol...
..but after re-installing, decided my first career would be with 10.U-Flotille, so I could try out a Type IX. Still on my first patrol in U-802. I swapped the tower with the early two-level flak platforms for the original one as it was more appropriate for my January 1942 start date.
...and was allocated a patrol area off Cape Town in South Africa! About a third of the boring journey south, it occurred to me to check my fuel and I realised I could not get back home! Even reducing from half to slow speed would not have been enough at that point. So I returned to the Atlantic approaches of Gibraltar to patrol there while I could, only to be attacked by a pesky Hurricane...
...whose aim was fortunately off, though the slower diving time of the bigger boat was noticeable.
I won't be able to stay long here having wasted so much fuel on my abortive trip to the south; which is presumably where a mod that simulates U-tankers or supply ships would have helped.
I think I'll give that NYGM mod a try, if it can be enabled with Steam SH3, ideally using a second install, if I can get my original Starforce Ubi DVD installed or copy the Steam installation.
You have some very nice looking subs and pics, so I think your video settings are right on.
Losing careers and reinstalling are part of the "charm" of SH3, I'm afraid, there doesn't seem to be much of a way around that, although there are a few things you can to minimize that, as I'm sure you are aware.
As far as reinstalling, I have the Ubisoft version, not the Steam version, so I may not know all there is to know about that. I originally bought the game back in 2006 or so, but I hadn't played it for almost ten years until your AAR, so I thank you for that.
I am using the NYGM mod right now. I think it has the best balance of historical accuracy, graphics, and decent AI behavior, but it can be confusing to install (readme's that haven't been updated, multiple options (some with multiple versions -- I use the latest)), etc.
Lastly, NYGM does include milk cows, as do most other mega-mods, I believe.
Last edited by BuckeyeBob; 02/28/2104:18 PM.
“With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.”
You have some very nice looking subs and pics, so I think your video settings are right on.
Losing careers and reinstalling are part of the "charm" of SH3, I'm afraid, there doesn't seem to be much of a way around that, although there are a few things you can to minimize that, as I'm sure you are aware.
As far as reinstalling, I have the Ubisoft version, not the Steam version, so I may not know all there is to know about that. I originally bought the game back in 2006 or so, but I hadn't played it for almost ten years until your AAR, so I thank you for that.
I am using the NYGM mod right now. I think it has the best balance of historical accuracy, graphics, and decent AI behavior, but it can be confusing to install (readme's that haven't been updated, multiple options (some with multiple versions -- I use the latest)), etc.
Lastly, NYGM does include milk cows, as do most other mega-mods, I believe.
Thanks for the reply over on subsim about the displaced radar panel on late Type VIICs when using the Fifi mod for LSH - can't reply there ATM as I get diverted to a message appealing for subscriptions when I hit 'reply'.
I tried Steilber's fix to HSie (which I already had) but that just pushes the curved radar panel several yards out to the front left of the tower, instead of out to the left side - it's still hanging in space. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, or this mod isn't compatible with Fifi's improved subs, designed as they are for LSH.
Probably I should just jump into NYGM but I do like Fifi's improved subs with the deck gun tampon cord wound around the barrel, UZO not permanently fixed to its pedestal, water pouring from casing vents etc. Used without the base mod, it seems fine for anything but the 1944 and 45 VICs although it does seem to retain the cable cutter by default. So I may try LSH, even tho I don't care for needing separate installs for careers and single missions.
Think I may have the misplaced GEMA panel fixed, after checking posts on subsim.com discussing which file controlled its placement. I replaced the Sensors.dat file that came with fifi's enhancement with the stock, smaller Sensors.dat. Which may have cost me something else but maybe if I can find and swap just the entry for the radar panel. Haven't checked if the GEMA is also ok on other subs and in campaign a opposed to single missions. Anyway looks good for now.
Before, with radar panel displaced to front (Stiebler's fix just seemed to move it here from off to one side)...
After, 1944 Type VIIc, with 3.7 cm on the aft platform...
...and 1945 Type VIIC with flakvierling on the aft platform (actually I think the flakvierling came first and was replaced with the loner-ranged 3.7, not the other way around)...
Strange you getting bombarded by subscription spam over at subsim. I haven't had to deal with that, for whatever reason, even though I haven't spent a dime on the website or for downloads. Can't you just cancel the message? If so, I'm sure Fifi can help you out with the radar panel, as I am sure it is a conflict between Stiebler's mod and his own. I haven't seem Stiebler on subsim for several months now, I hope the 'rona didn't get him.
At any rate, looks like you have a new GWX Gold career going now, so the problem is likely moot, regardless. As for myself, after my current NYG career, I may decide to give the LSH mod, with Fifi's enhancements, a spin. Years ago, I used GWX 2.0, but I haven't tried either 3.0 or the gold version.
Good hunting!
“With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.”