hmatthias
03-21-07, 08:15 AM
So I finally got to play last night, after staring at the box for what seemed like eternity waiting for the kids and the wife to go to bed, and here are some first impressions, along with some questions.
1) Started with some of the sub school missions. I kept missing the stupid cruiser in the torpedo mission, because I could not figure out the new TDC. Are you supposed to click the white/red light on the position keeper before you input the data?
2) I really like the environment, and even running on "medium" settings, it was pretty emmersive. However, I had to turn off the event camera, because it was causing single frame rate drops for some reason. Odd, since I assume it is using the same graphic settings. Not a showstopper though. Stadiumeter(sp) did not cause any problems or CTD. Just incompetence on my part on getting it to work. Does the bottom ship have to rest on the line of the periscope, like in SH3? Maybe somebody with more knowledge could post a FAQ on setting up this stuff.
3)Found small bug on map. Was using the 3.15 minute rule to get speed. Marked target, clicked on the stopwatch, and lost the pencil tool. Had to click to another station and click back to the map to get it back. Not a "critical game breaking bug" :D, but annoying none the less.
3) Tried out a patrol, Asiatic Fleet in Porpoise class, 1941. WOW. I really liked the radio messages telling you about the war, and the campaign video at the beginning was cool as it explained strategic strategy. Was ordered to the Celebes sea. Seemed much more emmersive then "patrol grid AN43 for 24 hours" (always hated that, seemed 'gamey'). Headed out to sea, admiring the ships in Manilla harbor. Love the moving crew on the decks. Did a "General Quarters" drill when out of the harbor, along with a crash dive. Worked great. Boat surfaces fast, was this normal for US subs?
4) Heading into Celebes sea, TC dropped to 4X, and grinding noise. OOPS! I hit an island! Should have zoomed the map more when setting my course, I guess. Damage taken, but was being repaired at a realistic rate by my crew. Did a dive for sonar a couple hours after the grounding, could not maintain depth, and died. Not sure if that was a bug or from damage from grounding. I laughed it off as "learning curve" and tried another career.
5)Choose a porpoise class boat out of Pearl. Ordered to Honshu for patrol. First went to Midway to refuel. Don't like how you can just click "refit" when near Midway and you magically refuel without having to dock. One for the modders, I guess. I can pretend next time, no biggie. Made my way to Honshu, but never got there as it was getting late and I had to go to work the next day. Did notice the time compression at high levels worked great, and dropped me right back to 1X when a radio message came through. Seems to handle that well.
6)Tried single mission Midway. CDT when event camera showed a plane being shot down. I think my sytem can't handle the event camera. I'll leave it off for now.
7)Back to the torpedo school thing. Finally hit the cruiser with 2 torps. it listed and stopped, but did not sink. Couldn't hit it after that, my torps kept doing odd things, because I don't know how to use the TDC.
Overall, I am impressed. Yes, there are some bugs. The voices are too soft on my system, for one thing, and don't say much. Other bugs I mentioned above. None of them are show-stoppers though, and I can't wait to play again when life gives me the time. I actually felt a bit patriotic sailing out of Pearl for my first war patrol, which was odd, as a game never made me feel that way. Helped that there were several ships around, all waving the stars and stripes. My suggeston is, play it now, get used to some of the quirks (some bugs and some WAD), and wait for some mods that will make the game more emmersive. Should be a wild ride!!!
1) Started with some of the sub school missions. I kept missing the stupid cruiser in the torpedo mission, because I could not figure out the new TDC. Are you supposed to click the white/red light on the position keeper before you input the data?
2) I really like the environment, and even running on "medium" settings, it was pretty emmersive. However, I had to turn off the event camera, because it was causing single frame rate drops for some reason. Odd, since I assume it is using the same graphic settings. Not a showstopper though. Stadiumeter(sp) did not cause any problems or CTD. Just incompetence on my part on getting it to work. Does the bottom ship have to rest on the line of the periscope, like in SH3? Maybe somebody with more knowledge could post a FAQ on setting up this stuff.
3)Found small bug on map. Was using the 3.15 minute rule to get speed. Marked target, clicked on the stopwatch, and lost the pencil tool. Had to click to another station and click back to the map to get it back. Not a "critical game breaking bug" :D, but annoying none the less.
3) Tried out a patrol, Asiatic Fleet in Porpoise class, 1941. WOW. I really liked the radio messages telling you about the war, and the campaign video at the beginning was cool as it explained strategic strategy. Was ordered to the Celebes sea. Seemed much more emmersive then "patrol grid AN43 for 24 hours" (always hated that, seemed 'gamey'). Headed out to sea, admiring the ships in Manilla harbor. Love the moving crew on the decks. Did a "General Quarters" drill when out of the harbor, along with a crash dive. Worked great. Boat surfaces fast, was this normal for US subs?
4) Heading into Celebes sea, TC dropped to 4X, and grinding noise. OOPS! I hit an island! Should have zoomed the map more when setting my course, I guess. Damage taken, but was being repaired at a realistic rate by my crew. Did a dive for sonar a couple hours after the grounding, could not maintain depth, and died. Not sure if that was a bug or from damage from grounding. I laughed it off as "learning curve" and tried another career.
5)Choose a porpoise class boat out of Pearl. Ordered to Honshu for patrol. First went to Midway to refuel. Don't like how you can just click "refit" when near Midway and you magically refuel without having to dock. One for the modders, I guess. I can pretend next time, no biggie. Made my way to Honshu, but never got there as it was getting late and I had to go to work the next day. Did notice the time compression at high levels worked great, and dropped me right back to 1X when a radio message came through. Seems to handle that well.
6)Tried single mission Midway. CDT when event camera showed a plane being shot down. I think my sytem can't handle the event camera. I'll leave it off for now.
7)Back to the torpedo school thing. Finally hit the cruiser with 2 torps. it listed and stopped, but did not sink. Couldn't hit it after that, my torps kept doing odd things, because I don't know how to use the TDC.
Overall, I am impressed. Yes, there are some bugs. The voices are too soft on my system, for one thing, and don't say much. Other bugs I mentioned above. None of them are show-stoppers though, and I can't wait to play again when life gives me the time. I actually felt a bit patriotic sailing out of Pearl for my first war patrol, which was odd, as a game never made me feel that way. Helped that there were several ships around, all waving the stars and stripes. My suggeston is, play it now, get used to some of the quirks (some bugs and some WAD), and wait for some mods that will make the game more emmersive. Should be a wild ride!!!