Das Thanasboot ooc/information/questions

[Chardok]

In the interest of keeping the thread pared down to story and PeZook's cool narratives, I thought it prudent to make a new thread for ooc and questions/related banter and nonsequiturs.

Trust me, I have played a full career in SH3 Grey Wolves all the way to the end. I sunk nearly the entire US production in tonnage.

and yet you cannot get your crew to squeeze 16kts submerged? For shame.

[Thanas]

I can....in my class XXI.

[Chardok]

I can....in my class XXI.

Yeah But you could only use it for like 5 minutes then the war ends.

[Thanas]

9 months, really.

Guess me sinking the entire British Navy pretty much alleviated pressure to get them out quicker.

[PeZook]

Huh. Weird - my crew list got reset for some reason. The game still has all the crewmen where they should be, but SHIII Commander generates a generic crew list with four officers.

Strange.

[Skywalker_T-65]

That is odd...did all the officers get reset? I would offer to help, but not having the game *shrugs*. Hopefully it didn't mess anything else up (I'd hate to have to retry this).

[PeZook]

No, the game itself is totally unaffected. It will make maintaining the crew list a bitch though.

EDIT: Hmm...not quite, the uploaded list is up to date, so I'll just edit that directly. Carry on!

[Skywalker_T-65]

Well...good and bad. Good that the game is still going strong, bad that the crew list is going to be a problem. Oh well, the show must go on!

Edit: Well that is good news. Glad to see it wasn't messed up.

[Scottish Ninja]

Okay. So, got SH3 on Steam. Did the tutorials, tried my hand at super-cheating, then went on my first real war patrol: starting at the very beginning, 1 September 1939, out in the North Sea in a Type IIA. Sank two Norwegian-flagged merchantmen (they were probably heading for Britain, so I guess they deserved it, and BdU said "good work" so...) then was running low on fuel so made for home. With some finagling of crew, battery, and course management, I managed to scrape together the range to get home to Wilhelmshaven, though coming under air attack pretty often. So I make it into port, start pulling into the slip with a bunch of sailors and wives (or whores, equally glad to see sailors returning home) waving and cheering... then I notice we haven't slowed down.

"OH GOD WHY DON'T YOU GUYS STOP I TOLD YOU TO STOP"

*ba-dunk* (it was like the lightest love-tap in the world too)

END OF CAREER: BOOT DESTROYED BY COLLISION Durr.

Thus ends the first voyage of the Poopboot (as I've dubbed the Type IIA. Poopboot, you will forever remain in our hearts... )

[PeZook]

Wait, am I reading it right? Unless the convoy has a target which is 10 000 tons or more, Der Kommandant will abandon ze attack run?

[Thanas]

Yes.

There are so many targets and I got to keep my average of 100k+ tons per patrol intact. After all, I am the great white seal.

It is simply not worth spending torps on liberty ships (which take 2-3 to sink).

[PeZook]

You are aware this will mean a court martial, right? Unless you fabricate a proper reason in the log...

[Thanas]

You are aware this will mean a court martial, right?

Pffft. When you routinely sink 100k+ enemy tons per patrol you get to do things your way. Some of the best U-boat captains routinely ignored orders after 1942 and nothing happened to them.

As for a reason - here it is: "the approach was badly handled due to sheer bad luck, there was little chance of an efficient engagement. Thus it was decided to redo the approach in hopes of better success."

I am not going to waste a third of the torps on that ship merely for the chance of sinking a single allied Dampfer.

[fnord]

Has this died in the ass?

[PeZook]

Has this died in the ass?

No, it hasn't. I just wasn't able to make an update over the weekend

[Skywalker_T-65]

Well I wouldn't complain about abandoning the run if the Liberty is the biggest ship there...then again my necks on the line if we miss...so I have an ulterior motive .

That being said, what exactly is in that convoy? Can't target anything other than the Liberty in my (most likely faulty) calcs if I don't know what there is to target. And if there isn't anything bigger than 10,000 tons then by all means listen to the Kommandant.

[Simon_Jester]

One thing- until they know we're here and start zig-zagging to screw with your torpedo targeting, all the ships in the convoy have the same speed, so that they can stay together. So we can use your calculated/estimated/guessed/whatever speed to target any ship in the convoy, assuming we can get range, bearing, and angle off bow for it.

[Thanas]

It is bad luck to shoot at anything that is more than 10 degrees (assuming the boat being in the middle of a 360°circle with the bow being 0°, counting clockwise) away because bad angles prevent detonation then.

[Skywalker_T-65]

Yeah, but speed was the only thing I wasn't worried about. I don't have any clue on the other ones, since the Liberty was the only thing I had to work off (and even then it was only because it was the biggest target I could see). At this point though it is more likely that we will just abandon the run though...

[PeZook]

It is bad luck to shoot at anything that is more than 10 degrees (assuming the boat being in the middle of a 360°circle with the bow being 0°, counting clockwise) away because bad angles prevent detonation then.

Nah, the late-war torpedoes will detonate fine unless the angle is 45 degrees or more. Or thereabouts.

Or if you use magnetic fuses, which in 1943 don't fail (as much ).

Anyways: I'll be moving it ahead this evening. I take it the plan is to abandon the run unless you can find a 10 000+ ton target, stalk the convoy and make another approach, right?

[Skywalker_T-65]

That's what I gathered. And to be honest...I won't complain. Makes it easier on me I suppose...better angle and all that. And if we are trying to set up for a good run it helps even more.

[PeZook]

Unless the escorts don't fuck up this time, that is

[Skywalker_T-65]

Well yes, there is that. Let's be thankful that our Ahab-rip off Polackistani (SP?) friend isn't one of said escorts.

[Thanas]

Anyways: I'll be moving it ahead this evening. I take it the plan is to abandon the run unless you can find a 10 000+ ton target, stalk the convoy and make another approach, right?

Yes.


In regards to "how to attack a target"

a) always set distance longer than it actually is
b) Magnetic fuses are worse than impact fuses. Impact is to be preferred IMO. Take care of the angle, though. You said it would be ok but that is not the experience I have been having.
c) In general, it is a very bad idea to fire at a freighter in a convoy with a distance of over 1000m when doing manual targeting.

[PeZook]

Well, you should've listened to the mathematics, Herr Kommandant