SH3 vs SH4?

[sharkbit]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

The only downside is if you forget to relieve them when the danger is over. You might suddenly find the boat shutting down because everyone stayed at their duty stations as ordered and all collapsed from exhaustion.

Nope, nope....not me. Never done that before. Not me.

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Could be. In the navy that was a term only used secondarily, as in "General quarters! General quarters! All hands man your battle stations!".

Well, the general quarters alarm in TMO and RFB is certainly authentic Stock game just has the bell, without the voice.

I think the little icon on the top says "Battle Stations", as does the keyboard shortcut. I suppose it's not entirely a problem per se, because as a status of the boat, saying that "the crew is at their battle stations" is not wrong or anything.

And yeah, I really like the crew management in SH4. The downside is that it's less "interactive" - I hardly ever even touch the crew except in port, but honestly it doesn't make sense for a captain to be "babysitting" his crew anyway. Some people say they miss the "interactiveness" from SH3, but I honestly don't see why - SH3 doesn't do a great job of reflecting how a real submarine's crew functions in routine operations (which is 99% of the time on any navy ship). SH5 goes too far in the other direction and basically tries to turn the crew into role-playing NPCs, removing the routine functions of most of the crew entirely. SH4 got it right, as far as crew realism goes.

[fireftr18]

CCIP, I agree. They seemed to hit the magic mark where you have to do something to get the best crew arrangement you can get without making it so complicated that it gets frustrating or tedious.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by sharkbit

Nope, nope....not me. Never done that before. Not me.

Aye that! When SH4 was released people started posting complaints almost immediately. There were two different complaints, and they were both legitimate and they were both funny.

Complaint 1) "I really hate it when I'm running silent, and all of a sudden this booming voice shouts 'Watch change, watch change!' How do I make it stop?"

Go to General Quarters.

Complaint 2) "My crew has all gone to sleep and I can't get any of the lazy slugs to do anything!"

Secure from General Quarters.

[Sandman_28054]

I like 'em both.

SH4 TMO 2.0 says it all.

However, SH3 with its" Exit Mission" option, well, what can I say.

[BigWalleye]

For me, the difference is simple: SH4 is all about the US Navy Submarine Service. SH3 is all about the German U-boat fleet. Consequently, I'm just not interested in SH3. YMMV

[igorlikespike]

Well, as saying goes, you never forget the first one, so it has to be SH3 - simply because when comparing vanilla SH3 with vanilla SH4, the former is absolutely superior - just check Subsim Reviews Page score. When I logged in to Subsim and found GWX Gold with MFM mod and SH3 Commander, that was IT! I seriously considered binnig SH4 althogether, but then found TMO and RSRD mods and decided to retain SH4.

[Arlo]

Originally Posted by BigWalleye

For me, the difference is simple: SH4 is all about the US Navy Submarine Service. SH3 is all about the German U-boat fleet. Consequently, I'm just not interested in SH3. YMMV

My mileage doesn't.

[jaxa]

I play both - SH3 with GWX and SH4 with OM. SH3/GWX with his superb dynamic campaign, hsie's modified exe, MFM and SH3Commander is really fantastic work with one thing outdated today - graphic. I try to polish it using MEP mod (the best graphic addon for SH3 imho), but graphic engine reached his limits. SH4/OM is quite good, especially for his eyecandy graphic much better than SH3, but it would be the best using all mods created for SH3/GWX, especially modified exe and SH3Commander. Problem is who could do it - search SH4 ATO forum and check number of visitors and modders comparing to SH3 workshop forum. The last guy who tried to create something new for SH4/OM was Traveller, but he lost his work and abandoned subsim community. Only Tomi try to do something using his talent for creating 3D works.
SH4/OM with SH3/GWX capabilities could beat SH5 with no problem, but for unknown reasons talented modders aren't interested in this.

[jscharpf]

I apologize if I am de-tracking this thread, but does SH5 play a role anywhere here?
The reason I ask is I now have all 3 games.
I love SH3 and all of it's mods. And there is now a widescreen mod.
So:
SH3 is great if I want to play the U-boad Atlantic campaign.
SH4 is for when I want to play as an American.

SH5 confuses me.. because I struggle .. trying to like it... the latest mods make it a beautiful game..you're limited to the VII and it just doesn't have the same feel as I had with SH3. I'm not sure how to explain it. but it feels like you're forced into a scripted career rather than being able to go out and hunt and come home and improve..etc..

Again, sorry for moving this slightly off topic, I know it was SH3 vs SH4 but I was wondering what everyone thought of SH3-SH4-SH5..


Jeff

[razark]

Originally Posted by jscharpf

I apologize if I am de-tracking this thread

I wouldn't worry too much about derailing a four year old thread.

[captcrane]

I agree with msumpsi on the being on the right side of humankind. I went from SHCE to Silent Hunter 4. Personally I could not see myself sinking allied ships

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by igorlikespike

Well, as saying goes, you never forget the first one, ...

In that case, SH1 FTW!!!

Originally Posted by razark

I wouldn't worry too much about derailing a four year old thread.