N00bs! Read this!!!

[desertisland]

Hi fellow noobs, have you been secretly struggling with Dangerous Waters for weeks, even months, but couldn't even find an enemy ship, let alone sink one? You think: "maybe I am different", "I must be stupid", "I should subscribe another year's worth of Jane's Defence Weekly or reread Tom Clancy", "darn, just wasted another 40 bucks!"

Well, this is your lucky day! I can tell you for sure that none of the above is true and that I have the solution to ALL your troubles!

I happen to be a noob who isn't afraid to admit so. I had this game since the middle of 2005 and had secretly installed and uninstalled Dangerous Waters ever since, never able to get a hang of how everything works.

Well, lately I got Sub Command, an earlier game by Sonalyst, and just now I gave the training missions a try. Gone are my anxieties! I have discovered that I am, after all, not stupid! The training missions walk you through all the basic stations and operations. Under the guide of a tutorial with speech, I just TMAed and sunk my first ship (an oil tanker named after some German guy).

Forget about trying to understand the rules! They are only good for people who know what they are looking for! What you REALLY need is the training missions.

You see, Dangerous Waters was never meant for those who have never played Sub Command. Someone has forgotten to state on their flyers that "PRIOR EXPERIENCE WITH SUB COMMAND REQUIRED!" Maybe they thought noobs wouldn't bother to give Dangerous Waters a shot anyway.

All in all, get Sub Command, and get the mod SCXII, downloadable at www.subguru.com (http://www.subguru.com). You will discover that Sub Command isn't asthetically inferior, given DW's backwardness in that department. In fact, I prefer the older game's menu art, music, and overall presentation. It has cleaner graphics and is less buggy. Give it a try, don't give up on Dangerous Waters just yet!

Right now I am taking a dive into Sub Command. In no time I'll be back to exchange torpedoes with the venerable gentlemen here (who are too polite to point out the obvious to me, no doubt!).

[Fish]

And don't hesitate to ask.
There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers.
:up:

[Iron Budokan]

Yes, I was having difficulty learning how to play DW, too. Irritating since I have a degree in physics. I mean, I took differential calculus, multi-dimensional calculus and modern physics classes...all of which were easier than learning DW. Argh!

But then the sub command pack thingy came out and I plunged into Sub Command and 688. Both were a HUGE help when it came to playing DW, especially since a lot of the interface is the same, or similar. :up:

DW is fun, but the learning curve is way too steep for anyone who hasn't had prior experience with something easier to learn (notice I didn't say easy) like SC. My two yen, anyway.

[Avatar]

Keep at it, but most importantly, have fun.
I will say this: I've been playing subsims for a while now, since Silent Service, Up Periscope!, and Red Storm Rising(all for the C64), and the TMA for the FFG is still a challenge. Though I prefer to drive subs.

[desertisland]

You can get Sub Command dirt cheap now. It's my second day on it and I like everything about it, especially the music and menu interface. The intro movie and credit are way better than those in Dangerous Waters. If only someone can downgrade DW's menu and music back to SC...

[SUBMAN1]

You can get Sub Command dirt cheap now. It's my second day on it and I like everything about it, especially the music and menu interface. The intro movie and credit are way better than those in Dangerous Waters. If only someone can downgrade DW's menu and music back to SC...

Doing the music would probably be easy for yourself to do, if I had to guess. I have sub command - original CD's, but if you ask me to find my install code - ha! Forget it. Probably in a box somewhere buried, so I can't look myself. I gave up on SC after DW was released. DW is basically no different than SC, so why not switch back already?

-S

[LuftWolf]

I highly recommend finiteless stand alone sound mods (available at www.subguru.com (http://www.subguru.com) )!

[vkozak]

What is the difference between the four finiteless DW ambient sound mod files? Do you load all four?

[Driftwood]

What is the difference between the four finiteless DW ambient sound mod files? Do you load all four?

Get the combined sound mod pack from Subguru if you want some realistic sound effects. Follow the installation instructions (backup your original files) and off you go. I love them. TLAM's "new" death sounds are really cool too! :up:

[vkozak]

Yes, I intend to install the mods but my question relates to "which mod". There are four files offered on the subguru site which seem to differ by their file extensions. i.e. "full.rar, normal.rar, high.rar and ehigh.rar. Are all these files the same? I assume that I simply pick one to install? Thanks for any clarification.

[XanderF]

You can get Sub Command dirt cheap now. It's my second day on it and I like everything about it, especially the music and menu interface. The intro movie and credit are way better than those in Dangerous Waters. If only someone can downgrade DW's menu and music back to SC...

Odd that I never thought of that until you mentioned it, but...

...yeah, the intro movie for SC really is WAY better than DW.

Hmmm.

And I just picked up that 'Naval Combat Pack' (at EBGames, no less! Mostly for the DVD and updated 'Fleet Command'), so I have another copy of SC again.

Hmmmm.....I might just have to re-install that! I seem to recall the SCX models really were *quite* nice.... (the only real shame is that it lacks the dynamic mission generator DW features, which is a VERY nice feature in a game otherwise lacking non-scripted mission)

[unruhly]

I've been wanting to get a sim and decided to wait to see what SHIV would be like. I think it's not for me. At least not yet. Too many bugs to deal with, my machine may or may not play it well without another couple hundred dollars pumped into it, and I think I'd prefer a 688 platform since that is what I wanted in the first place.

I've seen you all talking about SC and DW so I thought I'd ask you what should I get first? I downloaded the DW demo and didn't have too much trouble with that sub mission, but the helo... forget it.

Do you think an old 688 salty dog should go for the Combat pack or DW?
Any info you want to pass my way is greatly appreciated.

[ASWnut101]

I'd say DW. With all of the amazing patches from Luftwolf and Sonalysists, it would be a good deal.

[XanderF]

I'll vote the other way - the DW is still $29.99 in most areas, and that's just one game that isn't THAT different from SC. If you don't know if you'll like it or not...bigger risk. The "Naval Combat Pack", OTOH, is only $19.99. "688i" isn't different enough from SC for me to call it a 'different' game, but "Fleet Command" definitely IS and no mistake! Almost like an RTS. Well, I mean, it IS, but....more like the tactical battles in "Rome: Total War". No unit building or any of that nonsense - it's just as hardcore realism as 688i/SC/DW, but at a different scale. Instead of a half dozen crewmen you act as a half dozen Captains and TAOs.

Anyway, the pack comes with "688i" (as mentioned, interesting only for historical sake), a new build of "Fleet Command" for WinXP systems, "Sub Command" (which, with the SCX II mod is really quite kickass, even graphically!), and a really-quite-good documentary DVD on the United States Silent Service (introduced by Jimmy Carter). It's very 'History channel'-esque, and worth picking up.

All that for $19.99 is...I mean, it's a STEAL. Seriously! You almost feel like you are ripping them off!

PS. Now, all that said - DW definitely IS a great game. The Helos I was never a fan of, but the P3C Orion is a *blast* to play. Flying all over an area, dropping sonobouys about and triangulating a target in mere minutes to drop a torpedo on them...it's very satisfying! I'm still a sub skipper by heart, but the Orion is a LOT of fun.

[desertisland]

Get Sub Command + SCX II. SC is available on eBay for 5 bucks plus shipping and SCX II is free! If you don't like SC, you won't like DW. If you like DW, SC is not a bad game to have. With SCX II you can play every sub in SC and it has better model than stock DW. DW modded has identical models but you are still limited to 4 subs. Again get SC. What can you lose with 5 bucks?