Shells of Fury... thoughts?

[jdkbph]

Link on the SubSim main page.

I think a WWI era U-boat sim would be quite interesting. Always wondered why no one ever took a shot at converting SHIII.

Anyway, I found more info here...

http://www.die-schalen-des-zorns.de/

...although it's in German, and I don't sprechen sie Deutsche. The screen shots posted here (the developer's site I think) don't look nearly as bad as those on the Strategy First web site.

JD

[azn_132]

Link on the SubSim main page.

I think a WWI era U-boat sim would be quite interesting. Always wondered why no one ever took a shot at converting SHIII.

Anyway, I found more info here...

http://www.die-schalen-des-zorns.de/

...although it's in German, and I don't sprechen sie Deutsche. The screen shots posted here (the developer's site I think) don't look nearly as bad as those on the Strategy First web site.

JD

Wrong forum.

[wireman]

The price scares me. For fifty bucks we got a turd in SH4. For twenty I think we'll get the whole pile.

[jdkbph]

Wrong forum?

Yes and no...

The question about why no attempts to convert SHIII...?

Just curious.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Wrong forum?

Yes and no...

The question about why no attempts to convert SHIII...?

Just curious.

This has been talked about awhile back, it may be somewhere in the threads.

This may be moved to other games.

RDP

[Hitman]

I have moved it here, and using the search function you can find some threads discussing the game some time ago. I have it, and it is not that bad (It also isn't good, and of course miles beyond SH3). It's just IMO that some people enjoy more looking for and critizising weak points instead of looking at the strong ones.:up:

[johnno74]

Hmm I watched one of the movies, and some of the underwater effects aren't bad - the seafloor is very rugged, instead of the flat expanse that is SH3.

The wave effects on the surface aren't bad either.

But there are some very odd things too... The fire/smoke from a burning ship streamed out nearly horizontally. hmm, didn't look like a force 12 gale out there :rotfl:

But one thing that I LOVE about SH3 is the UI - almost everything is performed either by clicking through the officers menus, or clicking directly on the officers, or the equipment. To me making the interface 3d like that makes the whole thing very immersive. One of my wish-list features for SH5 (if it is ever made) is for the ui to be 3d EVERYWHERE. No 2d screens. imagine selecting periscope view, and you see your viewpoint move to look through the periscope.... And if you could still see the command room around the edges of the eyepiece. Or you walk through the interior and look down at the chart table, and pick up the protractors and compas from there to plot your intercept course.

sh3 is actually pretty damn close to this - the nav map on the chart table in the command room actually is live, it shows the chart at the same zoom level as the main map.

Anyway, this seeing this Shells of Fury game makes me appreciate the immersion a 3d interior of the sub gives you in SH3 all the more. in SOF it seems you are the only one in the submarine - the 3d views don't show crewmembers on the bridge, to control the submarine you click on various gauges and dials on a set of fairly bland 2d screens.

I've been watching "Danger from the Deep", an open-source ww2 uboat sim, and its making slow progress but unfortunately its the same, a set of 2d control panels + a 3d external view.

[johnno74]

Oh, and WTF is up with my avatar?? Haven't seen that one!
:rotfl::rotfl:

[edit - never mind, its just changed back to something normal.]

[Chock]

I've got Shells of Fury - in its German release - i.e. Die Schalen Des Zorns, in fact you can see a few screenshots from it in my U-89 War Picture Library post from a while back. It's an okay game but don't get your hopes up too high as it's got some bad points as well as some good ones.

The main good points are:
It offers something different and you'll be doing a lot more fighting with the deck gun. It is easily 'moddable', in fact I've done a few mods for it myself. It is quite a challenge to work out firing solutions for the torpedoes (see also my calculation chart available from a link in this forum). It has a mission designer and some accurate campaigns. It has a nice (if somewhat short) colour manual.

The bad points are:
It was always a budget release with only (as far as I know) two on the development team, which means it has some rough edges. The sub models are not totally accurate (but not that bad). The graphics look somewhat dated (however the merchant ships and battleships look very realistic). The external camera was nerfed on the release version, so you can't see your sub underwater (which is a shame, as the underwater views on the torpedoes are extremely convincing). The surface water is not the greatest.

All of which means:
It's good fun, and I do play it a fair bit, but only because there isn't another WW1 subs sim. I'd definitely say it's worth buying (if only for the novelty of WW1), but don't expect it to rival the overall polish of the SH series, although I'm hoping more modders will join me in tweeking the thing now it's getting a wider release.

:D Chock