Let's commence Operation Monsun! (Update Q-7)

ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE


Join me or die!!! Can you do any less?

option (2) because chuck norris pilots are dissapoint.

I hate to sound like a broken record here, but

How to Fail 101*: Shallow Waters + Terrible Weather = This Update

*Not counting getting sunk by an kamikaze bomber colliding against the submarine in a second attempt to do anything. Or nearly running out of fuel in the first attempt after pointless chases for the convoy and having to return to base at Ahead 1/3rd and get raped by another kamikaze.

I have a feeling this LP will look like the first updates of BUMFACE's Space Rangers 2 LP for a few updates.



This time I bothered to make a rough calculation of how much the convoy would cross if its 8 knots speed was real, using the time remaining for the submarine to intercept its route, supposing that it maintains the same direction all the way.



It is overall a crude calculation. After being exactly at the estimated y position of the convoy, and believing that they arrived first, they shut down the engines and got to the depths, surfacing a few times to replenish the oxygen of the submarine... and thus they waited.

DAY 1



DAY 2





DAY 3



They made a huge mistake, 3 days wasting time, nothing detected, and a lesson was taught: never trust in calculations that ignore course changes that are totally impossible to be predicted.

Hoping to intercept something along the way, the submarine goes for the most logical(and dangerous) destination where to expect a convoy: Reykjavik.



A day or so later, they spot a destroyer right behind and very close, but the weather is so horrible the destroyer can't spot the surfaced submarine. Time to put that rear torped tube into use, and things can get complicated if this vessel isn't destroyed, because the depths in this region are quite shallow (30 meters)



When it is more or less behind the sub, a torpedo is fired by feel alone while the destroyer turned around. However, it was very, very close.



What a relief. Rape would be certain had this not succeeded, and at the depths here, depth charges will really hurt. Also, this is the first ship of any relevance The Nameless Prick has managed to sink. At least now he won't end with just a Steam Trawler. And maybe, just maybe, this destroyer could be a part of that same large convoy detected before, if that is the case, then there is still hope of causing massive damage.







And thus it came to the bottom of the sea.



Later through, finally one more ship is spotted. The only really good thing about bad weather is the lack of aircrafts.



However, no visual contact. No damn idea of where the ship is heading, of its angle on bow, or of range. It may be tougher for destroyers to spot and target TNP's submarine, but it will be even tougher to attack anything at any range besides very close ones with this horrible weather.



Wait, another nearby tanker? Yes, now it is sure. Either TNP has guessed it right that the large convoy informed by radio report was heading for Iceland, or this one is another convoy that just arrived or is departing with lend-lease from the Kwans.



TNP orders for the crew to be prepared for anything, including sinking ships with the deck gun.



A third merchant ship with decent tonnage(not as good as the tankers) is spotted. If TNP manages to no lose them and to get close enough before the hunt begins, he could really score big here. However, while they chased for one of the tankers, they forgot to check around:



Better to sink this ship soon lest the escorts of this convoy arrive.







Deck gunning against the waterline begins. Because TNP is lacking in wisdow and patience, he also prepares two torpedoes for launch.



The variables here are perfect, supposing an anchored ship. However, if we veer the periscope slightly towards the direction the ship is heading and don't forget that the right side of the periscope should be on the middle of the ship under most circumstances...



I forgot that detail of lazy targeting by feel, and aimed at the bow instead.



Then, this is what I've got. That was close but it failed whether it was close or not. I hope those guided torpedoes of the late war aren't made of fail, because my aiming methods, specially in horrible weather when it is totally impossible to spot anything farther than 500 m, they really are FAIL, and at these incredibly short ranges, going for the much more reliable fast 10º targeting method is complicated.



It seems the mess drew attention already. Knowing very well how "deep" the sea goes, TNP chooses instead to face the destroyer and destroy it instead of running away, hoping the bad weather will play to his favor.



Then, while he chased the destroyer, it is confirmed that merchant was sunk thanks to the deck gun. At last, TNP managed to destroy something of relevance.





Hitting destroyers is tricky when they know you are around. That isolated one sunk before probably didn't. TNP knew that the chances of the torpedo hitting were small, that diving would mean certain death. What is left to do?



The craziest thing an U-boat commander would ever dare: to face a destroyer in surface and fire against it with the deck gun while trying to get a proper bearing to try another torpedo against it.



And against all odds, the destroyer was seriously damaged by the deck gun and began to run away from the submarine instead of chasing it. However, by then, TNP lost track of the merchants he spotted before. The weather became even poorer, to improve things, and thus, all left to do was to go down and track ships through the hydrophone.





Another cargo ship is "spotted", although its tonnage makes using torpedoes against it not worth enough.



Thus, deck gun again. At least until it simply vanished from sight, as a testimony to how bad weather is.



The submarine scouted through the entire coast of Iceland, hoping for easy anchored targets to sink, none found, and after apparently losing the convoy for sure, there was nothing left to do than to return with the Patrol BDI wants.



But they did not really "lose" the convoy from sight...



And sometimes, horrible weather will be far worse for the submarine than for anyone else... ITZ COMING!



This is it. They knew their chances would be very small.



They are closing in!



Brace for impact!

The damage was considerable, but not horrible enough to threaten flooding the submarine. Some of the men with the best mechanical skills are called for damage control. But it is not over yet. Either they crush this corvette with a torpedo or they will be crushed!

Thus, using the stadimeter, TNP measures the very short range between them to be sure it's not close enough for the torpedoes to not arm once they pass beneath the keel of this corvette. Fortunately it is far enough, at about 390m. Thus, immediately the aft torpedo is launched, as the crew begins to pray.



HURRAY! We still may survive this! Take that you son of a...



Damn! TNP keeps an eye on the frigate, hoping to get in a good bearing to launch torpedoes against it. Then, while they focused on the frigate, another damn corvette came very near and:



Wait, there is still hope... the damage hasn't been that horrible....

"Torpedo missed, sir!"

"Torpedo Missed, sir!"

Oh shit, ITZ Over!





And 5 more depth charges later... they died.

The Nameless Prick was forgotten into obscurity.



---------------

But I will go through the questionable means of reloading a save game done a few moments after the sinking of that 5k ton merchant was confirmed. Yes, still in the middle of that horrible weather, only this time avoiding to encroach the harbor of Reykjavik to see whether there were any anchored ships or not, which I admit that was very:






So, this lesson of what you should not do is over... for now.

Raep, raep never changes. Rest in pieces TNP.

Nice conclusion to the LP, now go focus on that what-if sci-fi antarctica base shizzle i love that thread

Trying to get into SH4 again, so I was wondering if there was some sort of a manual, online or otherwise? This let's play taught me a lot of stuff, but a proper manual would be great.

Quilty said:

Trying to get into SH4 again, so I was wondering if there was some sort of a manual, online or otherwise? This let's play taught me a lot of stuff, but a proper manual would be great.

Click to expand...

There's a manual. I've never actually read it myself. As I understand it, it's pretty much shit.

http://cdn.steampowered.com/Manuals/152 ... 1278518453

But there's many user guides regarding the finer points of the game floating around. Is there something specific you need help with? I linked a tutorial for Fast 90 targeting in the first post. The principals can be used for any shot, you'd just need to get the angle on bow more precisely.

overtenemy said:

Quilty said:

Trying to get into SH4 again, so I was wondering if there was some sort of a manual, online or otherwise? This let's play taught me a lot of stuff, but a proper manual would be great.

Click to expand...

There's a manual. I've never actually read it myself. As I understand it, it's pretty much shit.

http://cdn.steampowered.com/Manuals/152 ... 1278518453

But there's many user guides regarding the finer points of the game floating around. Is there something specific you need help with? I linked a tutorial for Fast 90 targeting in the first post. The principals can be used for any shot, you'd just need to get the angle on bow more precisely.

Click to expand...

No, thanks, the things you linked to (and the manual too, though it is limited) taught me all I need to know to get started. Thanks for the help and the great LP!

overtenemy gave the codexers at large his permission to steal this thread if we feel so inclined, so you're about to follow the adventures of Andhaira, a lesser known U-boat commander who led a highly specialized Muslim unit of the Kriegsmarine.

We start out in 1939 because I'm not adept enough at Operation Monsun to attempt any later scenarios. The rape gets pretty harsh later on, if what I've read is true, so a nice and easy beginning is what we need to get started. If you do get bored with this, go ahead and shout at me until I restart at a later date so you can watch me die not five minutes after leaving the harbor.
As I get more proficient at this I will certainly try attacking convoys, especially if I can find some with escorts, but for now I'll engage a lone merchant or two and build up my skills. I'll refrain from using the deck gun to take down targets, because to me the kills are more exciting when I use a torpedo. In addition to that, watching me fail to hit anything because I managed to screw my AoB in a way that only a knight of Allah can do may provide some much needed hilarity on the dreary open sea. I'll try to use a deck gun only if I'm out of torpedoes or need to take down an already damaged target.

Now let's stop the chatter and start the truth, and let the light of the true faith guide us to the heart of British scum!

(also if anyone wants to photoshop some Muslim imagery onto a U-boat, I'd be much obliged, thanks racofer)

CHAPTER 1: THE RISE OF ALLAH: THE RECKONING

Here you can see the letter Andhaira received. Truly a moment of great honor. Also, it's obviously downhill from here for the German army, but hey, they gave us the boat, so let's YEEEAHHHHHHH



We're in the office, with nothing much to do. I take a few new recruits to man the AA gun and the deck gun. They all have very shitty stats, so I expect us to die the moment we meet an enemy plane. We'll have to dive during the day and crawl around the English channel like dogs. Oh but soon enough we shall seize our chance and strike the scimitar in the black soul of British depravity and then rise from the waters LIKE GODS

Ok, so I calm down and load all steam torpedoes in the tubes (four front and two rear) and reserve tubes because fuck that slow-ass electric shit.
As far as upgrades go, nothing is available yet, but I do grab an AA gun with two barrels because why not, that's twice the amount of bullets that will hit nothing.







So for our first mission we're ordered west of Spain, which is pretty common when you play in 1939. We go through the English channel because we are men. Sure, we cling to the coast of France like, um, religious fervor to the heart of a true Muslim (shit i'm already running out of lame muslim similes).

Before we've even reached the patrol point, the watchmen spot a ship on bearing 266, which is to our left and slightly behind us. Judging by the way his smoke is blowing, it seems like he's moving towards the left side of the screen (a special naval term, of course), so we get ready for some maneuvering.



I inch a little closer and order the crew to ID it. As you can see it's a K-FK-K...F..ohwhatisthis, some kind of a merchant at least. I write down his length, draft and mast height. We'll need to punch this into the TDC, which is like the u-boat computer.

We'll also have to take it's AoB, which is something I'm not even going to try to explain. Overtenemy covered it pretty well on the very first page of this thread. I dive when I'm around 5000 meters away from him, which isn't too smart because on a clear, calm day like this visibility is pretty good. But hell, he doesn't seem to be weaving, so I guess we're good.



We leer at the ship through the telescope, nugding each other and saying things like "oh we'll give it to her real gut, ja hurr hurr", all the while trying to take its AoB. But I've positioned myself so incredibly well that this will be impossible until he presents his entire flank, by which time it may be too late to fire at the optimal moment. I'm playing on Realism, which means I don't have visual cues on the map nor can I use external camera (which I'll try to remember to turn on in the furute), and I'm pretty shit when it comes to intercepting just by using my trusty old ruler.



I finally manage to punch in the AoB just as she crosses the sweet point of gyro 000, so I panic like my burka got in my eye and fire all four torpedoes at her, some slow, some fast. 3 of them hit, one duds. She doesn't explode because most of the torps hit her in the bow, so I order the men to pepper her with the deck gun.



We rise like krakens clad in ugly sweaters and watch her burn.



And here's the well-deserved tonnage. Not a bad way to start a career.



We continue towards our patrol point but very soon spot another ship. It's very foggy, I can't see anything, and the sea is very rocky. Perfect. Also, the ship is somewhere behind and to the right of us.



I have no idea how they managed to spot it, but there it is.



Without thinking I assume its bearing to us will be decreasing (the watch dudes are not helping because they stop seeing it after a while and the sonar can't pick it up), so I head off in a completely wrong direction, losing the ship in this damned fog.

I turn my ship, realizing my mistake, and head off to search for it. We basically bump into each other, and there's a mere 2000 meters between us. I order a dive, but it takes a while. In the meantime I try to guess its bearing, take its length, height and draft. While we dive, still closing with it, I try to grapple with the periscope which keeps lurching up and down, making it almost impossible to take range and AoB.

Again, in the very last moment I manage to punch it in the TDC, swing my periscope until the gyro is perfect and send all four of my fish towards it.

It explodes after the first hit. Two more hit her, and one's a dud. You can see the tonnage below.









The tonnage is okay. I can live with 5k for 4 torps since I'm still learning and all.

Soon the patrol is over and we're ordered back home. The trip back is uneventful, but we can already hear the virgins in heavan crying out for us. Below you can see the final tonnage and the name of our great captain on the list of aces. The list will get longer and we'll probably get overtaken by some heavy-hitters, but for now we are among heroes.






I know this was a little boring, so tell me if you'd like me to do something in particular or if iyou think t's okay that I continue doing patrols like these.

Also, tell me if you'd like me to cover the aiming and data-collection parts in more detail. Those were the most exciting parts in this patrol for me, and they really shouldn't be, unless you're like me and you're doing everything in the very last moment.

Well, why not go into detail for one update and then keep it simple for the rest? Also, I dunno what the others think, but I personally prefer the comments below the pictures than above.
Anyway, carry on good sir. The only kills to my name are several friendly ships, so I'm going to use this as a tutorial of sorts.

As for the scenario, why not stick with 1939 until you're more experienced/discover its too easy for you. At which point you must switch over to the hardest scenario, nothing in between.

Thanks for the feedback, anus_pounder. I'll put the comments below the pictures in the next post; I guess it makes more sense to me too, now that I think about it. I'll try to cover the basics of intercepting and targeting in OM during the next patrol, and I'll look into the details of aobf , that tool you use to find the aob.

And if you feel like it, go ahead and add your own LP to this thread once you get some practice. I'm sure overtenemy wouldn't mind seeing two incompetent captains fucking up his glorious thread.

CHAPTER 2: COPYPASTA FOR THE FÜHRER

As the title suggests, this will be more of the same. Let's sink some unarmed merchants that pose an incredible threat to Berlin itself!



There's nothing to do in the office so we head out to sea. I love the loading screens that come with OM.



We're ordered west of Spain yet again. And again we take the English channel. We had luck last time, only encountering one task force way out in the distance, so I've got my fingers crossed for this one too.

BUT FIRST! some family photos we took back in the harbor and on our way to Spain.



That's our emblem right there.



I love how the shapes of the waves are reflected on the hull underwater. It's a really pretty engine, and the one in SH5 doesn't surpass it by much imo.

Ok enough dicking around jesus



On our way to sunny Spain we spot a ship. The weather is a bitch yet again. We're rocking up down and in all directions, waves constantly washing over the bridge. Visibility is more or less okay though.



The crew IDs it and I like what I'm seeing. In vanilla SH4 I kept encountering these tiny ships that were worth barely 2k tons, so I'd usually just curse and let them go. But in OM I haven't seen that many merchants under 5k, so I'll certainly take this, even with the crappy weather.



Ok so he's on our right, and pretty soon we'll be travelling almost parallel to him. We'll have to overtake him until he's on our bearing 135. Then we'll change direction, moving to intercept in a T angle (90 degrees): he'll be the horizontal line and we'll be the veretical one, thus exposing his flank to our shots. At this time I only write down his length, mast height and draft (which is written on the manual in one of the shots above). Then, using the aobf (overtenemy covered this on page 1) I measure his distance to me and his length in millirads. You can find out more about this in the manual: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthr ... 90&page=28 (it may be at the bottom of the page)

You can also stop the boat and measure his speed now. Use overtenemy's guide from page 1.



This is what I meant by positioning ourselves in the T angle. Now he's heading for us, and will pas directly in front of us. It's the perfect time to take his aob. Keep in mind that you can guess the aob pretty easily, without using the aobf and just by looking at it. It doesn't matter if it's off even by ten degrees.

I'll copy a short guide that I always use when approaching targets like these. It's taken from the thread I linked to above:

So.. let's say you've spotted a ship (single, no escorts):

1. estimate AOB (no calculations, eyes only).
2. intercept at 90 degrees, based on that estimated AOB
3. decide if the target is moving slow enough to allow you to intercept it. If not, move parallel with it at flank speed until you overtake it by at least 45 degrees(when it's at your 225 or 135 bearing). Then do a T intercept.
4. as it moves closer, submerge (even warships will only spot you if they're bigger than 2 milirads or 2d mark on the scope).
5. at around 5000 meters you should be able to see it properly to do a reading (height + length). Write them down if you have bad memory and immediately UNLOCK the scope and don't move it anymore.
6. do the calculations but don't take note of the range, only the AOB.
7. enter the AOB, turn the TDC Autoupdate back ON and only now move the periscope to get 90 degree intercept course.
8. As you begin moving to that course reset your scope to 000 and reinput 90 degree AOB. From now on, any time you move the scope by mistake in manual mode, you can just repeat this step, set scope to 000 and reinput 90 AOB.
9. As soon as your target reaches 50 degrees AOB (at your 320 or 40 bearing) full reverse to bring your speed to 0 knots and stay there. If the target is very close you can just stay there, if not, you'll catch up later.
10. Start the chronometer and set your torpedoes in the meantime, you usually have about 20 seconds. As soon as the stern passes the center line stop the chrono and order a flank speed to catch up.
11. On the move, do a speed calculation and enter it in the TDC.
12. Immediately move the scope until the Gyro reads 000 (0 on the big one, 0 on the tens one). I'll call this the LOS bearing. If the target hasn't passed that point, you don't need to calculate the range. If your target is bigger than 4 milirads (4'th mark) you're close enough on any torpedo.
13.Shoot the torpedoes as soon the target reaches LOS bearing.
14.If the target did pass it already (it was too fast for you). Immediately do a quick range check and enter it in the TDC. Then move the scope over the target again and shoot.



Some dramatic posturing before submerging. Note that he's very close in this shot, which could have easily scared him away, but since I'd done some mistakes in guessing his speed I had to emerge in order to rush towards him. I was afraid he might be too far away otherwise, since I like to take my shots under 1000 meters away from the target.



So, before this shot was taken, when the target was on my 60 bearing, I had punched in his aob. I don't remember what it was, maybe 30-35? At the same time, with the big blue bulb still turned off, I set its speed (7 I think, he was really legging it) and turned on the bulb. Then I swung my periscope to 0 bearing, turned off the bulb, set his port bearing to 90 and turned the bulb on again. I also put in the distance right before firing. Then all I had to do was watch the gyro (the two dials in the bottom right) and when both were at zero I aimed my periscope at the juiciest parts of the ship and fired.

Actually, it's advised that you open the hatches before firing, by selecting each tube and pressing Q. However, in weather like this the hatches won't stay open so you sometimes have to send your torpedoes before gyro hits zero, since we're taking into account the time the torpedo needs to leave the tube and speed up.









My god those were some shitty screenshots. I blame the insane waves. We get three hits and one miss, because I forgot the last torpedo was set to slow. I'm still firing all four because the interception part can be a little tedious for me so I can't afford to miss and have to do it all over again.

I don't know if nationalities play a role in this game, but I got enemy unit destroyed, so I guess it was hostile.



The hull look undamaged, weirdly enough, but it starts sinking anyway.





Gotta love those smoke effects. Someone should really photoshop racofer riding that magnificent plume of smoke.



We soon get a mission complete and no further orders. I set sail for home, making sure to scour the waters for any lone merchants. Thus the weird looking waypoints.



We soon spot a ship and start moving closer to get a better look.



Similar to the last one, but this one's smaller (length is only 107) so our shots will have to be more precise.



The waves are a little rocky, but overall the weather is much better than last time.



THE SEAS SHALL BOIL IN OUR WAKE

I order flank speed to catch up with it and overtake it. The procedure is the same as last time, only this time I actually manage to head off in the wrong direction. Recognizing my mistake I correct the course and overtake it for real.



While we're approaching the target, I enjoy my watch officer's mutant ear. The Muslim unit accepts everyone I guess. Multikult infects us already?



We get into position, trying to keep our heads above the raging waves.



Here I am making some last minute range checks.









This is what your decadence has brought you, ENGLISH DOGS









VICTORY

We continue on our way, dipping under the surface only once as a stray aircraft flies near us.

AND THEN



Smoke on the horizon! Is that a convoy?



Just some shitty coastal vessels.

The rest of the voyage home passes without incident. Actually we do catch sight of a ship way out somewhere in the dark at 3:00 in the morning. I can't see shit, and the sonar doesn't pick it up. By the time I approach the spot where he was he's long gone. We raise our hands to heavan and howl in blackest anger. We shall meet again, mysterious vessel, and you shall not escape Allah's justice then.



It's a meager tonnage, but I'm fine with it. Maybe we'll have more luck next time. In fact we'll have to, if we wish to rise higher on this list:

At first, I was afraid for Andhaira. But with the people at 7-11 holding less than 6000 Tons, I'm certain Andy has a permanent position in the Top 5.

Goddamn, real aiming looks complicated, major to you , overtenemy and err...the other hijacker for playing with it on.

anus_pounder said:

Goddamn, real aiming looks complicated, major

Click to expand...

TDC is not that complicated, its "easier" that true manual aim.

Its easier when you get close and those are slow ... now taking down a warship takes skill because those are usually going faster you are and you have a small window to be able to position yourself into a attack and your first salvo will better hit because if you miss, they put the pedal to the metal and have you eating their wake .

Also some of those steps are not that required, being at a 90º angle only matters if you have set torpedoes to impact as the trigger could fail due to the angle, magnetic dont have that issue since they are set to go off when they are close to a magnetic disturbance but they do have another issues, higher chance of premature detonations and failure to detonate.

Also if you want to break the keel (for one shoot kills) you have to go with magnetic as you are exploding it under the ship, impact will naturally not going to work.

btw, hows that submarine of yours? Shit, incline of subs, meh? Its 1939, so I'm guessing its nothing special.

It's actually pretty shit right now. I've just hit 1940 but there are no available upgrades. I don't even have a radar, so I have to rely on my watch officer's eyes to spot aircraft. Don't even get me started on the equipment that's supposed to help me against destroyers. Hell, I don't think I even have a decoy launcher. However, the sub itself is pretty good when it comes to fuel consumption. I used to play as USA a lot, and it often felt like their subs burned fuel very fast.

Gotta be careful about that radar even when you get it. It's good at first but you eventually it becomes a hazard. There was a whole sensor/sensor detection war between the Brits and Krauts, and more than likely radar will just eventually give you away and do more harm than good. Don't let that particular American habit of using radar to locate everything become a standard as a U-boat commander. As for decoys and the like, they're not hugely important yet anyway because you can easily dive well under the effective depths of ASDIC and their primitive early war depth charges. Even though the tech on your sub may not be what it becomes eventually, the relative balance between you and the Limeys is as good as it's going to get. It's all downhill from here. As it should be.

Also, Quilty, respond to PM!!

Yeah, I remember reading something about the enemy being able to detect you using the signal from your radar... Shit, you got me all paranoid now.

I responded to PM, sorry about that. The "you have message" notification is not very obvious in this forum layout so I always miss it.

is this one of those fun "WW2 but no Swastika use" games?

Luzur said:

is this one of those fun "WW2 but no Swastika use" games?

Click to expand...

Yes, German laws.

There are mods for that anyway ...

Sink those filthy merchants for zee reich!