Making the most of the forced Internet connection [X-Pack ideas]
 

So since we'll be forced to be on the Internet all the time, has anyone heard of plans to implement features that takes advantage of this?

• A Demon's Soul-like system where you could have chance encounters between player u-boats (with the game synchronizing the local area's traffic and whatnot for them), who could then go off and hunt enemy ships together or whatnot.
• Join leaderboards and stats tracking that recorded your patrols.
• Radio traffic (messaging/chat) between players.
• A "shared intel" system where you can log onto a server with a friend and report contacts, which then spawns into the world for the other player (if that made sense). For example, let's say you attack a convoy, sinking three ships and damaging a couple others. You radio the position, speed and heading of the convoy to your buddy, and the game automatically transfers all the info about it (ship composition, damage, heading, etc.) to him and places it in-game for him so that he can go hunt it down. This would be a nice compromise, in my eyes, if we can't have multi-player patrols, as it'd give the feeling that you were in the ocean with other players.

Anyone else have ideas on how to utilize the DRM?

Yes im all for a MMO sub game, but i think that because of time compresion it would be very difficult to implement.

Don't think SHV has any of those things. Or ever would.

I don't expect the online thing to last long, as more and more people find out that will be more and more not buying things like ACII and settlers etc.

Think ACII will have the biggest sales impact myself.

what time compression? Play at 1x!

That's a serious problem though - speeding through the game at 2048x simply because watching the waves got boring half an hour ago might cause a time paradox with the player who is in the same area, going at 1x and evading a destroyer.


Even though it's a simulation, people mostly care for the actual action (even the hardcore) - actual convoy encounters (and searching for convoys as well, but transit and the like are just boring).

Best from my point of view, would be to have a "tactical phase", where you plan your course, and where the game interrupts only in case of an event.

Perhaps tracking a player's position (in the form of map coordinates) at any given time and dropping to 1x and alerting whenever a contact report is sent from another boat within "striking range" would be cool. That may seem like gibberish, so an example is in order:

player A is doing a patroll, automatically jumping through all the uneventful stuff, dropping to 1x time comp. in case of "events" such as a convoy, plane etc.

One such event, the player sends a contact report to BDU, while in the AN47 grid. At the time the report is sent (server time), another boat is in the same grid, so Player B's game is interrupted by the time compression dropping to 1x and orders from the BdU to intercept said convoy (assuming he is not playing at 1x already, and unable to recieve the message - i've heard splashes above put radio messages out of your head for a while). This would encourage players to act like a captain would, knowing it has some meaning to report contacts, other than a "good job" message from BdU. That another boat might be there to assist.

Now THAT - that's a service which would justify the connection required, as long as you could turn it off (and transmiting longitude and lattitude ONLY, should not strain your connection too much). As long, of course, as it an be disabled and the game played offline.

When MP patrols were discussed last time, the best solution we could come up with was to have the time compression be synched as well - that is, the lowest time compression wins.

Which in turn means that if I drop to 1x to engage a convoy, you drop to 1x as well.

Obviously this doesn't work well over extended patrols, but for smaller sorties it should do just fine.

Borrow the idea used in the new Napoleon: Total War. "Drop-in battles."

You play your campaign, and when you meet an enemy, the game uses the online connection to find another player who has this setting enabled, and they get to pause their campaign, and take over an escort, or a wolfpack member.

Much as the old wolfpack league used to do
All run with the same campaign files and roughly same patrol dates
If you found a convoy you would study make up and heading etc
Then an MP game would take place using that convoy and a few other uboats
All torpedos expended before encounter would not count in the MP

Though like the idea of it being done auto for you

That would be so awesome!

I think you guys are forgetting that this DRM was made to protect the better selling titles like AC2, SH5 is just hanging on to it. I very much doubt that they'd start to tailor the DRM to SH5's needs. :hmmm:

NTW has a setting where you participate, then when a campaign battle happens, an available player is prompted, they pause THIER game, and take over as one of your enemies.

Such a system is ideal. The "host" player would control time compression, obviously, but with built-in chat, he could ask if it was a good time. Perhaps TC might be limited to some sort of low value for MP.

It would be possible to have players enter as both friendly units, and ideally as escorts as well. Imagine fighting stupid AI, when even 1 escort is a cagey human...

Sorry for the side tracked post but you guys started it. ;) As for NTW, you're not implying it has a similar requirement that you need to be online all the time, right? It uses Steam, which you can still play offine, and therefore you're talking about multiplayer? Thanks for the answers and sorry for the derailment/hijack.

Not at all. I was saying that IF you are going to have a requirement to be online all the time, then it would be more palatable if there was a real added value in such a requirement. Having other units commanded by humans would absolutely be such an added value.

Given the current OSP, I'm 100% out of SH (and any other Ubi title) barring some positive reason for 100% connectivity. I can be sold on online DRM, but I need it to have some positive value for me to offset the negatives (the current situation is 100% negative, the save games nonsense can be done without being online all the time).

Ditto what Tater said, plus the DRM must have a shred, maybe even just a crass pretention of respect for the game company's customers. This is cram it down our throat, "play it our way chumps, or forget computer games" insult. Ubi has seriously overplayed their hand and has taken a knife to a gunfight. No SH5 for me, probably ever. My privacy and my property rights are not for sale. Oops, I forgot. We get to pay THEM to be abused.

While the "sharing of gameplay" has some positives - the idea is not truly applicable to the way SH5 was designed. Remember - its a semi-dynamic campaign. In that revolves the direction of enemy forcese, etc. The game your playing isn't going to have the same order of battle and dispersal of forces as someone else will - so the game cannot notify you of a convoy or TF - because it may not actually BE there in YOUR game - though it is in someone elses.

I'm right with Tater and RR. As it stands in its current implemenation, OSP offers me nothing, and provides plenty of reason for me not to buy SH5 or any other Ubisoft product.

If Ubi provided something in return for the limitations imposed by OSP, then I might be willing to reconsider.

Allowing human controlled escorts would be a good start.