The Silent Hunter IV (Pacific Campaign) WISH-LIST

[DAB]

OK. I suspect that i'm not stepping on anyones toes if I create this thread. If it is...I'm sure Drebbel or one of the other moderators can deal with this.

So here we are, the Wishlist thread. The idea I have is that ideas are already bounding about in about 3 maybe four different threads...it might be an idea to try and get a single thread which has less disscussion in it then actually ideas.

Template



Insert Wish Here
explain why you wish to see this feature introduced into SHIV


If your wish contradicts a wish given above, explain why you disagree with that idea here

[DAB]

Inclusion as playable units, the Americans, Dutch and British
All of these countries had roles in the Pacific Campaign, the Dutch especially were a considerable factor in that war. Also the factions offer very different styles of warfare. British Submarines suffered in terms of range, so they tended to operate in the shallow and difficult waters north of Australlia. Dutch Submarines had major supply problems given that their country was occupied. Therefore dutch submariners had to be very careful in how they used their torpedos. Both factions would allow the game to move beyond a simple tonnage war.

The reasons for playing the Americans are obvious. I'm not convinced about the Japanese. Their campaign was largely ineffective and it would be a boaring war. Also, I think I might have a moral issue with launching Kytons.

Change in the Crew Management system from Silent Hunter III
The idea of managing my crew is actually something I quite like in principle. I work at sea, and have to do this in real life - so it adds a bit of depth to the game. However, i'm not a fan of the way it was implemented in Silent Hunter III. I'd prefer to see a feature that allows you to set watches and allocate crew members to those watches. The game could then automatically change the watch when the correct times arrive.

Slightly more scope for modding by the community
Given what this community has been able to do for SHIII - I'd like to see a bit more scope avalable for SHIV. My passion is actually for the First World War. If someone could create a mod that would allow me to import these sort of submarines into the game I'd be very happy. Such features exist on flight sims (Microsoft Combat Flight Sims are the best example) so I'd imagine they are commercially viable.

Of course that last one isn't really a deal breaker

[Drebbel]

Stepping on toes ??? What are we ? Pussysor sailors ??

[Sniper_1]

It was only a matter of time before this happened, so Dev's and Moderators take note!!! (joking )

Overall i was happy with SH3, it was a HUGE improvement over SH2. SH4 only needs in my opinion a few additional extra's to turn it into a real winner.

1. Other subs with AI, even though the US only used 'wolfpacks' in the last year or so fo the war, and even then the 'wolfpacks' were small, i'd like to be able to have other US subs attacking etc.

2. Improved resolution. By the time this baby is released, multi-core processors will be in mainstream PC's and graphic's cards will have advanced even further. Thats not to say that SH4 becomes a monster only able to run on the ultimate gaming machines, but that it 'moves with the times'.

3. Improved crew management. Rather than the method used in SH3, have a system of 'watch bills' which you assign crew members too. Also you can assign crew to their various combat/damage control stations aswell. By this i mean that CPO Kowolski stands bridge watch, and will man the diving planes of the boat when its submerged. Seaman 1st class O'Donahugh also stands bridge watch, but when the boat submerges he is assigned to a damage control party etc,etc,etc... You can still select individual crewmembers and 'drag and drop' them, just that this system removes much of the micro-management needed in SH3.

4. More compartments in the submarine. I'd like to be able to visit all the compartments in the sub, seeing what goes on. The crew in the compartments should be appropiate to what is going on i.e. at surface battle stations there will not be a load of sailors asleep in their bunks etc. This will tie in with the 'watch bill' sugestion made above, so if one of your officers is off duty, you will find him either in the officers mess or asleep in his bunk.

With these addditions i'd be happy with SH4. As a real treat, i'd like to see some sort of 'strategic' layer added to SH4, so that if you wanted you could play Admiral Lockwood and direct the overall submarine war (like what subwolves are attempting with SH3).

Sniper_1

[CaptJodan]

#2 and 4 on Snipers list are two of my top faves, as said in other threads. Overall, I think SH3 got a lot right. But I'd really like to go through different compartments.

It would be great to be able to command Dutch and British subs. I just think it might be an unrealistic goal. Keep in mind that you're talking not only exterior models, but interiors as well, and depending on the level of detail inside the interior, that could be more work than they're willing to put into it. (all the classes for American subs PLUS British, Dutch, and Japanese.)

I agree in principle to a reorganization of the crew management, I'm just not sure the devs will be able to deliver on a system that everyone would like. I tend to like micro-management to an extent, and thus like the option to put my men where I want them. But you're right also that it gets annoying to do every one by hand when there's an emergency situation in progress.

I would think if this is an expansion and not a stand alone game, that the engine might have constraints that they won't work around. (A great example of this is IL-2/FB/PF. Changes in air density and such are only modelled up to 10,000 meters, after which you can fly as high as you want if you can get up that high in the first place. Also, dive speeds aren't modelled correctly, and thus negates to some extent the tactics used by heavier planes against lighter, more manueverable ones) Hopefully that won't prove to be too big of a problem for the devs.

I WANT WOLFPACKS and MILKCOWS.....LOL!!! :rotfl:

[rabu]

A few things I would like to see, or see improved, in order of preference:

Better game save - save at sea, etc.

Milk Cows and simulation of the reop, refuel/reprovision at sea

Damage model for subs (crushing, etc.)
More under water detail (fish, rocks, coral, etc.)
Better looking sub nets and damage (they look like perforation board)
Ability to move through/explore the sub
More/better shore details (vegetation, buildings, etc.)
Improved map detail on close inspection

Better crew management
Wolf Packs (maybe with communication and control of them, if possible.)

[Drebbel]

Adding Wolfpacks will be the worst thing the dev-team can do. The day they announce that they will loose all respect and credibilty of the major part of the SubSimming communty. I sure hope they will no make that nistake !

Of course I have a zillion wishes myself. The most important ones are listed below.

GOOD beta testing
And get some wellknown respected and smart members from the subsimming community in the beta team. Because SHIII had, and still has, too many "easy to fix" imperfections

Don't make me feel alone
Although SHIII did try it, it did imho not succedd in getting rid of the feeling "I am alone". We need more radio traffic, traffic in ports, welcome messages, escort to/from base, friendly scout planes, music/news stations on radio etcetera.

Two level navigation
Havemore complicated navigation available for the hard core fans, but keep the simple SHIII navigation available as well. This could include, shooting star/sun, sextant, dead reckoning, more realistic maps, depth info on maps,....

Improve the TDC notepad thingy
Think the TDC notepad thingy in SHIII was a great improvement. First decent method for TDC ever in a subsim. Please try to make it more perfect. And please also make the "I always know the exact distance to the enemy ship" watch officer an option in the realism settings menu.

More variotion in missions
Why not include missions like: Photo recon, acting as nav beacon, landing or picking up shore parties, part of forming a picket line, evacuate/transport navy hot shots.

Enemy Artificial Intelligence
Good enemy AI. We all know the AI in SHIII is ok, but has many failures. Especially TeddyBear has researched thisvery good. One obvious example is how easy it is to enter an enemy port. But TeddyBear has found much more subtile, but not less important, omissions in the AI.

Foreign Sub Units
No really needed, but would sure be great: Why not include playable Britisch and Dutch submarine units in the sim. They played a big role in the war against Japan.

Also
Make sure you make clear to people not all ideas and wishes expressed by the dev-team will make it to the final sim. There too are many people who will accuse the dev-team for being *&^%&() if for some reason a feature that was mentioned by the team does not make it to the final release.

[scrapser]

I think everyone is assuming SH4 will have all the features of SH3; so, my first wish would be that SH4 should be an expansion and improvement of those features and hopefully be backward compatible (i.e, a "patch") for SH3.

1. The campaign should have more structure instead of simply sending you off to some patrol grid at random until the war ends. The Pacific theater included more than just sinking merchant ships and in the beginning, the Japanese Imperial Navy was a formidable force projecting power all over the Pacific ocean. This would have to be modeled in the campaign instead of simple merchant convoys. There could be patrols that focus on strategic locations that model the actual events that took place in the Pacific theater. The patrols would be "scripted" into the campaign only in that they mirror the strategy that was actually implemented. The patrol itself would be open ended (not scripted).

2. Inclusion of friendly forces (and AI) in the campaign out at sea. You might be tasked to run a sweep in advance of a surface deployment or sent off to intercept a task force spotted by sea or air by ships unable to engage the force directly (or by intel from decoded Japanese transmissions). Secondary missions could be sent while on patrol such as the familiar harbor recon or rescue downed pilots missions enjoyed in the original SH.

3. Be able to move around on the deck of the sub when surfaced. Many are asking for more cabin freedom so I thought this might be interesting as well. It's not a big deal but if it's easy to do, why not?

4. Change the awards and promotions from renown based to a combination of tonnage and ship types sunk. I think sinking a capital ship would entail more risk to the submarine and therefore a higher reward would be given. Perhaps model some sort of efficiency factor as well (amount of ordinance unused upon return to base?).

scrapser

[irish1958]

A few suggestons.
1) Add an option to import SH3 into the game, so to have a choice of theaters of war. This might increase the sale of SH3 to take advaantage of this option.

2) Ability to command a destroyer against AI subs, on both sides.

3) Ability to play either side.

4) Addition of a feature like jscones' Commander, and use it to set crew watches before starting on patrols and have random illness, accidents, and deaths while on patrol so that replacement of various watch members is needed. Also have automatic watch rotation at all time compressions.

5) FIX THE DAMN SENSORS, BOTH RADAR AND SONAR

6) Rework the fatigue idea. Fatigue and combat fatigue really happen and need to be moddled into game. Perhaps some combination of Beery's combat fatigue and some morale factors should be added. Combat stress really occurs, but under debth charge attack a crew member can't just go take a nap. He must stay on duty, but will have reduced value.

I think this is a valuable thread. Someone should make sure the new development team has it.

irish1958

[HMCS]

My wishlist? Rudeltaktik, reworked fatigue and career options (as per SH3 Commander), better AI.

For SH 4- chuck the whole US subsim concept and release a subsim for Japanese subs. More challenging, and they had the best torpedoes. The Japanese had the most diverse sub fleet during the war - the fastest, and the easiest to sink. That, and they had to fight both the RN and the USN - two of the three most capable ASW forces in WW II (the other was the RCN).

Imagine trying to hold off the US invasion fleet - talk about a target-rich environment!

Compare that to US subs in the later stages of WW2 - reduced to torpedoing fishing boats....

[gdogghenrikson]

Make it work with SH3, (like SH2 and distroyer command)

[The Avon Lady]

Simple.

I want to be able to control both topside and sub vessels. All vessels playable. If you can do that, there should be no reason to limit it to the Pacific only and you could play as either an Allied or Axis commander, German or Japanese or American or British or Russian, anyone.

Creating new ship/sub mods via a reasonable SDK released to the public.

A more serious mission/campaign editor and much more complex scripting abilities. Coming from the OFP community, SH3 is totally lacking in this area.

And that's all.

[davidaspy]

More realistic inside the boat.

I want to see people moving around doing their job and much more realistic crew movements. I want to be able to go into every compartment and fiddle with the dials. I want realistic damage. If the command room is flooding i want to see water sloshing around my feet as my crew desperatly try to patch up the leak. That would be so cool.

[Type941]

I want to play as Japan and US, not just US (I assume they'll do US only to sell it well in the US, since the navy war in US is very much associated with PH and Pacific)...

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

I want more ship unit types.
The boat should have better physics, better damages. I'd like the water to be redone, so it's transparent a bit from the top in shallow water, etc...

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

SDK, please!!! Some light version if the curent one is used for other projects as well...

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

I DON'T want to see the same mistakes and glitches as in Sh3. To see how many there are in general, please take a look at the Subsim community mods section....

===================