Silent Hunter 4, it's almost here

[Onkel Neal]

The excitement of a new subsim!

I don't know about you fellows but I treasure the anticipation, the buzz, and the buildup when a new sub game is about to be released. The months and days leading up to the first install and patrol are great, I really cherish the experience. Of course, if there were 4~5 companies releasing a new subsim each year, it would be fairly routine, plus you could pick and choose the very best one. As it is, Ubisoft is just about the only show in town, and Silent Hunter has really turned into a franchise we can enjoy and be proud of. From the first news and screenshots through all the rumors and humor, the discovery and the discussion, it's like Christmas, a first date, and a scavenger hunt all rolled into one.

I remember when Sierra set up a forum (primitive compared to this one) for the release of Dynamix's Aces of the Deep. Talk about exciting, all everyone talked about was realistic wave effects and we were hoping for 256 colors. I spoke with the game rep, and he hinted Sierra would be releasing a nuke subsim soon, too, it would be called Fast Attack. It was a nice game but had severe crashing problems that basically sank it (until we got it patched, but that's another story). The first Silent Hunter snuck up on me, I didn't get any news about it until it was almost released. I remember thinking, "Wow, the interface is almost exactly like the one in Aces, I wonder if they copied it or had some of the Mike Jones team working on it....?"

I was more involved with Silent Hunter II. Just about everything that could go wrong did with that title. First, the initial dev team was released. Suddenly, one dev team had two games to complete. Then the company was sold, causing all kinds of disruptions. The numerous, even humorous release date pushbacks (oh! The jokes we had at their expense http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif )Troy Heere, the lead programmer for the companion sim Destroyer Command, worked literally 18 hours a day for months, doing the heavy lifting to recode SH2 and save the game (tip of the hat to you out there, Troy and Dave) . In the end, the game had flawed AI and no dynamic campaign, and the multiplayer was so wonky it really couldn't be called multiplayer (until we got it patched, but that's another story). Still, it had a decent 3D engine and there was some reward in playing it. The sales were so good, that Ubisoft decided to fund Silent Hunter 3.

Ah yes, Silent Hunter 3... all hail, Romania! What a great subsim. When I first saw it at E3 2004, I was mightily impressed. But no dynamic campaign in that first version. Well, Ubisoft decided to listen to you and the results speak for themselves. I've been fortunate to meet many of the SH3 and SH4 dev team, and a true submarine enthusiast couldn't ask for a better group of guys to work on their subsim. And essentially, that's what it amounts to. We have hired a dev team to build us a subsim. Sub games, especially full-blown simulations, are a small segment of the shrinking PC games market, there isn't much comparison shopping to be done in sub games. No matter how hard a dev team works or how talented they are, no game is perfect, but that's the great thing about the Silent Hunter community; no one tries to form a lynching party. We praise the good stuff and criticize the weak stuff, but we support the Ubisoft and the dev team. Not many games benefit from such a symbiotic working relationship as ours.

So here we are on the eve of another new subsim. New program, new maps, new contacts to make, new radio messages to read, new harbors to sneak into... wait till you order a dive and you hear the aaooghah! You'll know you're in the Pacific then, treading on the old hunting grounds of men like Dealey, Morton, Fluckey, Kossler, Ramage, and many more. Sailing right up to the front door of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Savor the excitement, friends. Here's to Silent Hunter 4. I look forward to sailing with you again in the cyberseas.

Good hunting!
Neal Stevens
Subsim

SUBSIM
Web's #1 Sub & Naval Game Resource since 1997
www.subsim.com (http://www.subsim.com/)

[ReallyDedPoet]

Thanks Neal, nice write-up. I am looking forward to the Pacific Theatre, pretty pumped for next week when I pick up SH4:yep:

To all fellow skippers' Good Hunting:up:

RDP

[TDK1044]

Many a true word stated there. We are fortunate indeed to have a Dev team that really cares about the game they are developing and who are not just taking the money and running.

Silent Hunter 4 is an exciting addition to the Silent Hunter series, and I for one hope that the sales of this game makes Ubisoft look seriously at further additions to the series.

There will be a bug here and there, and a patch and some excellent mods are inevitable, but I think SH4 is going to impress a lot of people right out of the box.

Less than a week now, Guys.

[Safe-Keeper]

Good show.

[rascal101]

Hi Neal,
Thanks for this and yes you sum up the forum and the excitement re SH4 very well.

However I must admit, while I am excited by the prospect of a new sub sim, and the new theatre of operations i.e. the Pacific. I have one more serious burning question.

I, like so many others will embark on SH4 mostly out of curiosity, and mainly because I am actually hoping and praying that the SH4 Dev team bite the bullet and update or upgrade SH3.

If you think this has been said many times before it’s because it has, there are many of us who are simply not all that engaged with the Pacific naval war. And I would emphasise that I mean absolutely no disrespect to the US navy personnel who served in the Pacific.

I simply feel that the North Atlantic campaign lends itself to a more challenging sim, especially with the vastly improved graphics and game play that SH4 promises to be.

Therefore I would ask for a definitive answer from the SH3 / SH4 dev team, are there plans to revise, revisit or redevelop SH3 the Atlantic theatre, in the light of the huge graphic and game play advances so clearly demonstrated in SH4.

I hope you or some one can answer this question

[DedEye]

Well said Neal.

There was a time a few years ago when I despaired and thought we would never see the likes of SH3. I'm so happy I'm wrong :D

Now we have 4 and it looks to be even better!

I'm very excited about the adversarial mode. I think we're going to see alot more online activity with 4 because of this :up:

Well, I think it's time to change my sig....

[TDK1044]

I think the answer to your question, Rascal 101, will be found in the retail sales of Silent Hunter 4. If this game out sells Silent Hunter 3, then I think a re-visit to the Atlantic campaign is probable.

[codmander]

zzzzzZZzzz -snore -yawn. -- what i need heart trouble? and here i sit tryin not to think about it:stare:

[OneTinSoldier]

Very nice post Neal. Assuming they did a fine job, I want to say kudos to the Dev Team too! :up:

Cheers

[Drebbel]

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8789/547854587ju8.gif

[Lt commander lare]

well said neal im pumped up too the excitement is building rapidly i guess i better spend the last few days i have with my woman before i shove off on my first patrol as commanding officer of the new fleet sub so i guess she will miss me but i need to give the rising sun a reality check like most of us here and that are so excited to do so we have the john wayne's the casey habits(ronald reagon from hellcats of the navy) and jp richardson (clark gable from run silent run deep) well all i can say to my fellow commanding officers good luck and good hunting and that goes especially to you neal and im promoting you to 3 star admiral

lt commander lare

[Barkhorn1x]

WORD UP!

[hyperion2206]

Very well said indeed, Neal! However I don't think I'm old enough to enjoy the months of waiting but that will change over time I guess.;)

[Barkhorn1x]

Hi Neal,
If you think this has been said many times before it’s because it has, there are many of us who are simply not all that engaged with the Pacific naval war. And I would emphasise that I mean absolutely no disrespect to the US navy personnel who served in the Pacific.

I may be in the minority here but I go the other way. I liked SHIII but the U-boat campaign does little for me. Perhaps because by the time the U-boats get all those kewl toys it's too late for them to be used effectivly. And I never really felt any attachment to a mass produced boat named U-xxx - or whatever. US subs have names - they have character. The Pacific offers more in terms of gameplay than go here/sink that. And the targets can often include capital ships - every submariners dream. Finally, we are seeing the franchise return to its roots - after branching out to the Atlantic twice in a row.


Therefore I would ask for a definitive answer from the SH3 / SH4 dev team, are there plans to revise, revisit or redevelop SH3 the Atlantic theatre, in the light of the huge graphic and game play advances so clearly demonstrated in SH4.

I hope you or some one can answer this question


Best give them time to get their after-party drunk on, have their vacation and give us a patch or two before they address that point.

[Ragtag]

I couldn't agree more. I was in dispair when Silent Hunter II was released and i was sure that was the last sub simulator we would see for a very, VERY long time. Well, Ubisoft smacked me good when they released the news of SH3, thank god :D

And now, 2 years after Sh3, we get a new toy to play with for (hopefully) another 2 years.:)

[Snakeeyes]

The only thing keeping me from going bats is SHIII and the Subsim Almanac. I'm almost finished with the read. :)

[dean_acheson]

Wow, SH2, that is when I joined this community, looking for news for the replacement for my beloved SH1 that got me through graduate school.

That was a wait, boy, I about gave up on that game. How many deadlines came and went on that one? It had really come to a point where I thought that SH1 would be it. Of course, I wasn't in the know like Neal was.

It scares me to hear about the Computer Sim market drying up. I am not a console guy, and don't like arcade games much.

I sure do hope that this game makes some good money for UBI. Hopefully with support the EAs, the UBIs, and the Microsofts will figure out there are a market for these.

Thanks to our Romanian friends for the guts in doing this, and to Neal, for giving us a place to hang out.

[Ping Jockey]

Neal,
SUBSIM is the number one Sub site on the net. Thanks to all that serve there.:up: :up: :up:

[stuntcow]

From those Subsim's that have came before to those that are yet to come, here is too all that were, are or will be part of the Subsim family.... http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/clap.gif

Lets here it for the Romanians!!!!!! Thank You All

PS. Ping Jockey, Where is AZ. are you located? Close to Tucson?

[Mechman]

To silent hunter 4!

And to 5, with any luck.

[oche]

Here's to Silent Hunter IV, hoping to be the best of the best, the waiting is finally almost over...HAIL the Dev team!!

[Kingswat]

Shame EB up here won't get it until the 23rd.

[John B. Mayes]

Great post and thread!


I am another one of those who have been waiting for a Pacific campaign for quite some time. No disrepect intended on anyone, but every since first "cutting my teeth" on the orginal Silent Hunter....I've been dying to hit those seas again.

I'm patiently (ok...not so patiently) waiting for my own copy to arrive and I can't hold back my own enthusiasm. I'm not an often poster here, but I do try and read quite a bit from the wealth of knowledge and information.

Time to break out the bubbly, soon we will all set sail again!

[Driftwood]

Great post Neal! Here's to SHIV and our return to the Pacific Theatre! Good luck and good hunting to all of our virtual skippers out there!

4 days and counting! :yep:

[geosub1978]

One minute of silence for the grandfather of SH4: The unique Silent Service II:yep: . My expectations for SH4 are very high because of that game. Nevertheless SH4 is already a great success as SH3 and its wonderfull mods!:sunny: :up:

[The General]

Thanks everyone for spreading the love amongst the subsim fans of this world. I hope SH4 lives up to our collective high-expectations, especially since the bar was set so high by SH3 GWX et al, but from what I've seen so far I'm confident it's gonna blow us all away! By-the-way, are there gonna be icebergs in this one?

[livewire68]

Congrats Dev team. And to you to Neal!:up: I've been an unknown lurker of the deep around here since SHII, and you have done a great job with SUBSIM.com and to help keep the community going with sub facts, humor, pics, and mods!! Hats off to you!! :sunny:

[rik007]

Nice story Neal. I remember some upbeat in your 'tone of voice' when SH-2 & SH-3 were about te be released, but not too much of it now! Better that the community expectations are not too high so we have still room for the 'Vista-WOW!'. I'm looking forward to it!

[geetrue]

Thanks for sharing your soul Neal ... I love the real thing, but I'm too old to go anymore. I have lived and breathed diesel boats, boomers, Mare Island, Newport News, Groton, Conn, Adak Alaska to Rota Spain.

Sub sims just help it all come back alive for me ... I love them.

The Pacific Ocean in the middle of WWII must have been a beautiful, but terrifying experience. Silent Hunter 4's new feature that lets you hit replay and start over again from the point in time (right before you made a mistake) sure would have come in handy in WWII, uh?

Silent Hunter IV is likened to a woman that we all get to share ... :lol:

I'm going to have a real good time with mine ... :yep:

[flintlock]

Good post, Neal.

I especially enjoyed reading the historic recap as I didn't get involved with sub sims until SH3. Nonetheless, here's to raising a glass of champagne for a global toast to all the imminent SH4 maiden voyages.

Cheers!
:()1:

[Shipwreck]

:up: Great read bro. Thanks

SW

[SteamWake]

Would you please stop already ! I learned last week it was nearing release and have been on edge ever since ! :D

Congrats to the developers for getting the product on the shelves and from what Ive seen and read so far it looks really exciting.

I just wanted to take a moment and thank the developers and espically the modding community at large for their efforts on the previous version. Between the patches and mods they took a good title and made it a great one. I cant wait to see what they come up with for this version. :up:

Ive been pretty quiet on the boards in the last year or two but yall can look foward to a little more from me in the future (nobody cares :cool: ).

Waiting with great anticipation !

Thanks for the post Neal.

edit; to get Niels name right.

[flintlock]

Thanks for the post Niel. Just an FYI; Niel didn't post it, Neal did!

;)

[Ping Jockey]

"STUNTCOW" near Parker,Az

[Sixpack]

Great speech again, Neal. Spoken as a natural subsimmers' leader. Here's a virtual toast to you, to SH 4, and this fine subsim community.

Alas I will not be playing SH4 right away as I am not about to upgrade my PC just yet. My DT PC which is just fine for SH3 GWX and my (older) sims (until 2004) is to be the successor for my old yet still running strong office PC and my 2006 DELL laptop is not up to the task. Because I hate waste I will not replace anything that's still good hardwarewise. Therefor I will postpone my SH4 experience/participation until later in 2007 or even early 2008. Bummer :down: but dont pity me... bought me a nice new (second hand) sailing yacht, have been busy buying additional stuff for it, and planning to have some nice trips with it in between my independent work and family labour. With some subsimming on the side in the evening, while 2 great kids are vast asleep (4.5 y old boy already fascinated with SH3-my bad gave him some peaks but box says 7) life isnt that bad and familywise even very promising for team/multiplay; silent hunter 6 ?

[mookiemookie]

Thanks for hyping me up even more, Neal!

I just got my copy of Silent Victory in the mail today and am planning on burying my nose in it until Wednesday! Yee haw! Can't wait! :arrgh!: :rock:

[RickC Sniper]

Good post Neal. :up:


I remember the great anticipation prior to the release of SHII, mostly because of the possibility of good multiplay action. After being involved with the beta testing I had a lot of mixed feelings when it neared released. A sense of dread, a hope that patches might save it. I hoped it would not be the end of the genre, but it could have been.

Then we got SH3, a great sim. Beautiful graphics and good gameplay with replay value. We are getting a new WWII subsim this soon because of how well SH3 sold......I'm very sure of that point.

Subsim had a lot to do with that. What SH3 lacked, you guys here rolled up your sleeves and either fixed or added. It was a good game out of the box, and it became spectacular.

You guys Rock!

Thank you for SH4.

[Captain Strangelove]

A good thing is that - unlike with the previous titles - one better knows what to expect as the same developers had already done SHIII. So I am pretty confident that it will just turn out fine!

Here's to next week!

Kai

[Barkhorn1x]

Semi-related:

Can you imagine the confusion at the Silent Victory publishing house as recently - and for no apparent reason - copies of this obscure tome are being snapped up like hot cakes?!? :hmm:

[Immacolata]

This is actually the first subsim game Ive been anticipating. Submarine games have always been doing their best to surprise me. Pop, surfacing they go and I am "oh, whats this then?". Then Im hopelessly submerged in their universe for weeks.

First sub game I was "sunk" by was the Sid Meier one, wosname now... :damn: Well anyways, ended up playing that every night for at least 3 weeks. Which was A LONG TIME back in my younger days :) A few years later I ran across Sub Battle Simulator from Epyx. Was scooting around the med for weeks with that one too. Then by accident I played Red Storm Rising, and that game was unbelievably cool. Microprose if I recall correctly. Was exciting and challenging. I never again felt any love for modern submarine games.

Then we had that Sid Meier thingy 2. Silent. something. :damn: A game I also just spotted on the shelf in the game shop :-D

Aces of the Deep was thrown in my face by my editor for review. Had no idea it was coming. And down another 3-4 weeks of my evenings went on a stupid submarine game :)

Then, I must admit, I left computer submarining for almost 9 years untill SH3 surfaced and I was suck back under again.

So Im a kaleun by accident :arrgh!: This time, however, Im genuinely anticipating the new game. Good I have Europa Universalis III to keep me company during the long wait.

I am glad that Ubi revitalized this narrow genre. They have done it with a balancing act of "wootness" to lure in the hussars and some depth (haha!) to keep the long term fans enraptured. And they do it two times in a row!

And Neal, dont worry about the pc games market. It ain't dying. In fact I think its blooming a bit. 10 years ago all the CRAP games was released on the pc. Then the Playstation came and sucked up all those. These days you get more room for the gems such as Silent Hunter, the hardcore strategy games. There will ALWAYS be a market for those. Ubi knows it.

And I like them for not snuffing their noses at low sales numbers between their million selling Tom Clancy games. They want to beat EA? Good, start by doing what EA doesn't do. Do not ignore low volume games, since EA doesn't touch anything that doesn't shift 1 mio copies at least.

[Mylander]

Hear Hear! Can't wait for SH IV and thank gawd we're finally back to the Pacific - it's been a long time since SH I!

Congrats, and well done Ubisoft! Thanks for listening to us - hats off to all of you guys and gals - we appreciate what you do! :up:

Mylander

[FAdmiral]

My first computer game ever played was Silent Service on my Atari.
And now Silent Hunter 4 on the PC. It stands to reason that the graphics will
be slightly better....

JIM

[Hackett]

All that I can say is, :up:
and;

:()1: to everyone.

[flyingdane]

My first computer game ever played was Silent Service on my Atari.
And now Silent Hunter 4 on the PC. It stands to reason that the graphics will
be slightly better....

JIM

Hahaha yep. :rotfl:

[Crosseye76]

My first computer game was "B-1 Nuclear Bomber" on a TRS-80. Loaded from a Cassette tape, as disk drives had not quite come out yet. :up:

[LobsterBoy]

In my first post I'd like to say my experience goes back to Silent Service II. I played that sim so much I could almost see it in code like "The Matrix". It had it's own idiosynchrasies (like the time I sank Yamato with my four inch deck gun). I prefer unmitigated realism in my sims, though, so I'll play sh4 without any external cameras (including event cam). The pacific theater is by far my favorite, so my anticipation cannot be overstated. I must be patient, though. I get married in just over a month. We honeymoon in Hawaii, and I will finally get to see Pearl Harbor!! In a related note, we are getting scuba certifications for the trip, but after my first pool session on wednesday, the neoprene wetsuit has given me an allergic reaction (hence my username). If anyone has suggestions or solutions let me know!!!

[AS]

Hi all,

I also started with Silent Service on my C-64 when I was about 12 or so years old. Since my English was somewhat non-existent I never really knew the meaning of all the stuff. So I guessed around and found that "Dud Torpedoes" sounds really cool, so I took them. I think I never actually sank anything but myself then, but it didn´t matter, because I only "played" playing like children do. I just loved the atmosphere and pretended to be in real sub when I was sitting in my darkened room.


When SH1 came out I was playing Aces of the Deep. I remember reading every magazine article on SH1 (I had no internet then) and I hesitated buying it, because I was a young student without any money... when I finally bought it I was impressed by the graphics and yet everything felt a bit too perfect, too polished, too sterile, so I went back to AoD.

I still remember reading and writing about SH2 (!) on this fine forum, how we were argueing, debating, hoping and schemeing as if SH2 would be the revelation we had always craved for... and then there were the problems and delays - the rest is history.

I didn´t play SH2 for long... probably no-one did, or did they?

SH3 took me to the Atlantic again, thanks to GWX it never grew old, although I must admit that after two years some of the thrill is simply gone...

and just in the nick of time comes SH4... so I´ll pack my things ready to pin up my pin ups in a different sub...

Ahoi to all the sailors out there!

Cheers, AS

[longam]

Great Post Neal,

After years of waiting and trying different simulators for the PC I can honestly say that SHIII was the first step that was needed for the sub simulation (or any) community. I think that the home PC has finally reached the capacity to allow this.

The First Person Shooters have dragged down the PC gamming market to the console, and I find this disheartening, and I can only hope that titles like this will bring back the market strong.

[flyingdane]

Man this is crazy!.. Waiting is hard. :oops:

[-Pv-]

I was 5 or 6 when the Silent Service movie came out and I've been a Pacific War and sub fanatic ever since. During the dreadfull wait for SHIV I've kept the SHIII campaign I was on going despite not having any weather effects for over a year of real time play now and with 4 days away, it's all I can do to sit in one place for 5 minutes thinking all this frustration is about to get wiped.

The devs did a yowman's job keeping us in touch all through development. I've not seen any other promotion for a game work so hard to help the community feel a part of what is to come. In addition, I think we learned more about what to expect from the game than any other title I can think of. From everything I've seen and read and what the devs told us they want to accomplish, this is the exact game I would have created if I had done it myself. With weather dead for me in SHIII and so many nice things to look foward to in 4, it's not likely I'll ever play 3 again.

For those who just don't have any interest in the Pacific war, there will be nothing to please them about this release, but if the history of this SH franchise holds true, I've seen a lot of attention given to balance and challenge in these games, and if true to real history, many of the best American sub commanders went down under the crush of mine sweepers and tin cans. Having played several Pacific sub games, when you sink your teeth into trying to intercept a carrier fleet roaring along at 25 knots, any idea the sim will not have any challenges will be dispelled as the escorts spot your wake and the targets turn away. Although the US fleet boats are a little bigger, faster, tougher, and deeper, they are also easier to spot and noisy. It will be tough getting close to an aware convoy. Most of the convoys are dodging around narrow passeges between islands in shallow water. It's tough to be stealthy in a big US sub and VERY hard to get away from a determined escort.

As far as PC gaming dying, I've been listening to that talk for 5 years or more. I rank it in there with global warming.
Bring it on.
-Pv-

[flyingdane]

Dude i love the pacific Common, deep down we all do. :hmm:

[peewee]

I too started with Silent Service II, on my trusty Amiga 500 if I remember correctly. I also remember thinking the graphics were pretty cool in that you could actually tell those colour blocks were supposed to be Japanese battleships and carriers. It was quite a while before I found out about the Silent Hunter series and I still have I & II in my games box in the basement (also destroyer command which I think I played about twice). Since playing SHIII I've been hoping for a Pacific campaign game and now its just a week or so away......YIPPPEEEEEEE BTW, I have been saving a Best Buy gift card since christmas for this one game......and as of today they don't even have it listed as a 'forthcoming release'..............ah well, I guess they'll get it eventually.

[flyingdane]

I too started with Silent Service II, on my trusty Amiga 500 if I remember correctly. I also remember thinking the graphics were pretty cool in that you could actually tell those colour blocks were supposed to be Japanese battleships and carriers. It was quite a while before I found out about the Silent Hunter series and I still have I & II in my games box in the basement (also destroyer command which I think I played about twice). Since playing SHIII I've been hoping for a Pacific campaign game and now its just a week or so away......YIPPPEEEEEEE BTW, I have been saving a Best Buy gift card since christmas for this one game......and as of today they don't even have it listed as a 'forthcoming release'..............ah well, I guess they'll get it eventually.

We are with you Bro.. :up:

[Onkel Neal]

In my first post I'd like to say my experience goes back to Silent Service II. I played that sim so much I could almost see it in code like "The Matrix". It had it's own idiosynchrasies (like the time I sank Yamato with my four inch deck gun). I prefer unmitigated realism in my sims, though, so I'll play sh4 without any external cameras (including event cam). The pacific theater is by far my favorite, so my anticipation cannot be overstated. I must be patient, though. I get married in just over a month. We honeymoon in Hawaii, and I will finally get to see Pearl Harbor!! In a related note, we are getting scuba certifications for the trip, but after my first pool session on wednesday, the neoprene wetsuit has given me an allergic reaction (hence my username). If anyone has suggestions or solutions let me know!!!

Welcome aboard! :up:

[Ark]

In my first post I'd like to say my experience goes back to Silent Service II. I played that sim so much I could almost see it in code like "The Matrix". It had it's own idiosynchrasies (like the time I sank Yamato with my four inch deck gun). I prefer unmitigated realism in my sims, though, so I'll play sh4 without any external cameras (including event cam). The pacific theater is by far my favorite, so my anticipation cannot be overstated. I must be patient, though. I get married in just over a month. We honeymoon in Hawaii, and I will finally get to see Pearl Harbor!! In a related note, we are getting scuba certifications for the trip, but after my first pool session on wednesday, the neoprene wetsuit has given me an allergic reaction (hence my username). If anyone has suggestions or solutions let me know!!!

Welcome to the fourms, LB. :arrgh!:

[DaMaGe007]

Lobsterboy, try washing out the wetsuit well using fresh water, there may have been fine dust in there from manufacturing which gives you the reaction. If you still have problems you may have to get another wet suit using a different material. There are latex ones made for warmer water and you may not have a reaction to that material.

If the water is warm enough you can go without a wetsuit altogether, but remember to adjust your weightbelt or your going to the bottom :)

[cappy70]

Amiga 500/600/1200,,yes those were the days...:D 100% multitasking.

Silent Hunter was the first game that made me "stuck/stick" at the Amiga.

[DaMaGe007]

Dont forget the A2000 and A4000, ahh the good old days :)

The A2000 ad A4000 were proper desktop machines with separate keyboards, for the serious amiga users.

Edit: oh and the original amiga....the A1000 (separate keyboard)
If you open an A1000 the inside of the top cover had embossed signatures of all the people who designed it !

/trivia mode off

[McBeck]

Well written Neal, as could be expected from you.

I too remember the excitement when SH2 was on its way, I think I followed that development 2 years...that was a loooong wait.

SH3 was speedy and a wellinformed developemt and SH4....geeeessss...done in under 1 year!!!

First game was Silent Service II, which I got from a friend. That got both me and my dad hooked :)

It too anticipate and subsim release and I really take my time starting it up the first time. I suck in all information and impressions and take my time enjoying it.

Theres no greater feeling, than the feeling of anticipation!
The day before a great subsim release
The hours before any great date (where you know youll get lucky ;) )
The short from when you wake up on you birthday, till you make it to the birthday breakfast.

[AJ!]

Cant wait :up:

Its probably gona be a few years before a new sub sim game of SH standards is released so lets hope SH4 is a good one :p

[WilhelmSchulz.]

Im getting so antsy Im getting bord with SHIII. :D

[Berserker2]

Hi Neal,
It's been awhile. Thanks for the writeup while awaiting release of SH4. I guess at 68 I'm old enough to enjoy the anticipation, as you are. Been spending my time with Company of Heroes and Titan Quest, but after 13 years spent in the Navy, I want to go back to sea....even if it isn't flying a Skyhawk!

I'm really looking forward to returning to the Pacific. Besides actually having participated in the Southeast Asian Wargames of the 1960's, I got hooked on Microprose's Silent Service and I helped with a little of the technical stuff and a lot of the testing of the original Silent Hunter. As you say, SH2 was a disaster, but yeah, they seemed to get most things right in SH3, especially with the patches. But I REALLY miss the Pacific. The Atlantic just never did for me what the big pond out West has done and I'm looking forward to installing SH4 and heading out on patrol.

My one drawback is I now live in rural Kentucky where broadband is still a set of big drums. There's no cable and no DSL in my immediate area so I'm left with DirecWay satellite broadband which, at the best of times has a ping roundtrip of around 950ms so on-line multiplayer is pretty much out of the question. That's why a good dynamic single player game is important to me.

Again, thanks for the anticipatory writeup and I look forward to many posts sharing sea stories of our war patrols.

Bill Waldheim

[horsa]

Is it really two years since SH3 ? It still feels like the new kid on the block.

- Unlike SH2 which seemed to be around for decades.

[Iron Budokan]

There's going to be a Silent Hunter 4?

[Sailor Steve]

No. Go back to sleep.

[Kresge]

Ah, 10 years of Subsim.com and I've only been around for 8 or 9; must have been the second of third announcement of SHII :rotfl: I find it amazing how many of the "old guys" are still around from those days; a true testament to the longevity of subsims and SubSim.com! Cheers to all the old timers and the newbies that come along every day to this hobby. Did I say hobby? I meant obsession!

One of my first sub simming memories was discovering that if you held down the firing button on the joystick in Silent Service it would make your transit across the Pacific go by much quicker! I never thought I was going to get to that patrol zone from Midway!:D

[robbierob2005]

Hi guys

Remember this?

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/3069/silenthunter1ae7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


I found this old game in my basement. All though I had some waterdamage there last year, the cdrom is still intact!

[flintlock]

All though I had some waterdamage there last year, the cdrom is still intact!
A sub sim survived the flood. How poetic. :smug:

[robbierob2005]

:rotfl:

[vodkavera]

Hi guys

Remember this?

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/3069/silenthunter1ae7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


I found this old game in my basement. All though I had some waterdamage there last year, the cdrom is still intact!

Oh...my.....GOD!
How I loved that game!!
And now I can smell the pacific all the way from Sweden....
Mmmmmmmm.....
Come to me you yellow b-s, and I´ll give you some sushi to chew at!! :)

/VV

[NefariousKoel]

Hi guys

Remember this?

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/3069/silenthunter1ae7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


I found this old game in my basement. All though I had some waterdamage there last year, the cdrom is still intact!

Yep!

I still have a Silent Hunter CD. I actually played it about a year and a half ago on DOSbox. I missed the Pac theater so much.

[smoothvirus]

I started out playing Spectrum Holobyte's GATO back on my IBM compatable in the 1980's. I also had a buddy with a C128 that we played Silent Service on. After that I played Sub Battle Simulator, IIRC I was a beta tester on that one.

By the time Aces of the Deep came out I was out of my parents house with my own apartment. I wanted to get it pretty badly but I couldn't afford it!

So I didn't get back into the sub genre until SH III. And now I have SH IV on pre-order, along with a DVD of Run Silent, Run Deep.

Bungo Pete will be mine. Oh yes, I'm coming for him and I'm sending him straight to the bottom. :p

[robbierob2005]

I also had a buddy with a C128 that we played Silent Service on.

Yes!! That good old Silent Service! That was my first subsim. I bought it for my C128. The game was on a floppy and tape and costed fl20,-
I still have it!! Another subsim that survived the flood:lol:

[OneTinSoldier]

I started out playing Spectrum Holobyte's GATO back on my IBM compatable in the 1980's. I also had a buddy with a C128 that we played Silent Service on. After that I played Sub Battle Simulator, IIRC I was a beta tester on that one.

By the time Aces of the Deep came out I was out of my parents house with my own apartment. I wanted to get it pretty badly but I couldn't afford it!

So I didn't get back into the sub genre until SH III. And now I have SH IV on pre-order, along with a DVD of Run Silent, Run Deep.

Bungo Pete will be mine. Oh yes, I'm coming for him and I'm sending him straight to the bottom. :p

Hello smoothvirus and welcome to the forum. I also look forward to meeting up with Bungo Pete, while watching my 'Run Silent, Run Deep' DVD! I'm going to get him and his Akikaze to come at me bow on and give him shots from tubes 3 and 4 with decks awash at 26 feet. His funeral will be at the bottom of the Bungo Straits! :rock:

Cheers

[Iron Budokan]

No. Go back to sleep.



ZZZzzzzzz.....

[fredbass]

Well I'm getting pretty pumped with all the new info starting to spring up around here. (thanks especially to Neal, of course) :)

Though I must admit that I'm trying not to get over-excited, since it will probably need a few patches. But then again, since the SH4 dev team started their process with the SH3 engine, then maybe there's hope that the amount of problems will be fewer than the past, especially if they've read the wealth of comments here at Subsim as well as taking notice of the vast amount of mods that have come out since the release of SH3. :yep: :know: And from what I've been seeing, my expectations are getting higher every day.

P.S. My background with Subsims is very limited since SH3 was my first, therefore I can't comment to prior history, but I'm sure it's all gotten better over time, so cheers to all of you good people at Subsim. Hope we all enjoy the ride. :)

[-Pv-]

I also played Gato on the Atari ST. Buggiest game ever created and I prob lost 10 pounds playing it night and day.

Silent Service was perfect logic. As primative graphics could be produced, but a solid game true to history. I got pretty good after a while of timing my long transits to hit historical convoy and military concentrations. I've longed so much to get those days back. There's a trail of slobber all over my carpet now. I still remember peering through the scope at jungle coast lines and palm trees waiting to round the bend hoping to see the target before he saw me.

Does anyone remember what part of Japan Bungo Suido and Bungo Pete action took place?
-Pv-

[AirborneTD]

The Bungo Suido is located in southern Japan I believe between the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku.

[TheSandman]

Another newbie, and like most, I started with Silent Service II, which was one of the first real PC games that I had access to. I still remember the ONE time I got a shot at a carrier in the career mode and passed it down to take out the battleship it steaming with :D. I still remember my dad watching in shock as I returned to periscope depth after the escorts had moved on leaving the BB for dead, which I gladly obliged.:arrgh!:The ironic thing was that it was literally about three or four days into the career mode, and I already had bagged a BB.

A little later we got Silent Hunter I and with it went a year of my life. We still have a copy of the original printing as well as the CE somewhere around the house.

As for SHIV, excitement doesn't even touch what Im going through waiting for it, since I had played SH1 I had become quite the PC Gamer, with quite a good selection of titles. I can't help but feel like Im coming full circle in much the same way Silent Hunter has in its return to the Pacific.

[NefariousKoel]

Welcome to the boards Sandman!

It's always good to see someone who got their feet wet on PC games with a sim. It's becoming fewer and far between lately.

I toast to your taste. http://www.madcowssteakhouse.com/images/smiles/occasion14.gif

[todd293]

That was probably one of the best posts that i have read Neal so true and accurate.:up: :up:

[rman214]

I sure can't stand the wait!. I hope Amazon doesn't run out and they have to be backordered. I am looking forward to driving American iron (or steel) instead of the german stuff. I hope some good missions will be included and downloadable ones developed by the computer wiz kids out there....my thanks in advance. :D Read the book "Submarine!" by Capt. Ed Beach and there is some good mission fodder in there!...too bad I don't know much about creating new missions but there is lots of info on Mush Morton and others exploits in there. I picked it up on E-bay cheap. :ping: :ping: :ping:

[Berserker2]

Hi guys

Remember this?

<SNIP Silent Hunter Menu picture>


I found this old game in my basement. All though I had some waterdamage there last year, the cdrom is still intact!

I built a computer out of older pre-windows stuff (pure DOS 6.22) and another partition of Win98SE and it runs Silent Hunter like a champ. In the DOS partition I still play Red Storm Rising, one of my very favorites.

Bill

Pi R Square....No, pi R Round, Cornbread R Square! :D