The sad truth how I arrived here

[MarkShot]

I was talking with some fellow beta testers who test strategy games and how/why they now mainly play strategy games.

Once upon a time, I was a very well known online air combat player, guide writer, and instructor. I didn't touch any game without wings and blazing speed. Now, one of my favorite genres is WWII sub/commerce raiding. But it is time to devulge the truth behind that.

I was just curious if there are any others out there who followed a similar path or am I the only broken down prop-head that arrived here?

---

This explains my fascination with subs these days. They are the last virtual machines which I can still control well.

In my 20s and 30s, could you imagine me playing a game where the most tense action (depth charge evasion) takes place slower than a brisk walk! For me, I had to be closing into a merge at Mach 3 for it to be intense enough!

"5 degrees right rudder, make depth 237M, make turns for 2KTS, silence in the boat!"

[johnm]

Similar but not so extreme.

Played Combat flying, then FS then CFS then Flightgear.

Then found Destroyer Command and Silent Hunter II.

Jumped at SHIII, GWX, now GW2.

Speed certainly slower but much more interesting

[redsolo]

Ive been into subsims from the begining, one of my favorite games on the C64 was Silent Service (http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/silent-service/screenshots) By looking at the pictures I realize how far we have come :)

Then it was Harpoon 2, Fleet Command, Silent Hunter 3, Silent Hunter 4 and then back to Silent Hunter 3 with GWX :)

[Tool]

The first game i ever saw/played was Silent Service on a C64, probably in the mid 80s. For some reason that sim just stuck with me over the years although i didn't get my first PC until my senior year in college in 94.. and a FAST 486dx2/33 with 8mb of ram and 1mb of video. What drew me in then was Falcon 3.0. I did play some of Silent Service for PC (and still have it in its box with one 3.5" disc) but moved into Falcon 4 thru the late 90s and into the new millennium.

I stumbled upon an article on GWX in 2006 and thought I just had to try SH3 out and was hooked.. Yet i still do fly Falcon 4 with Open Falcon 4.5 with an online squadron but enjoy dropping down from Mach 1.5 and slinking around in the dark depths and blowing ships out of the water.:arrgh!:

2 different flavors of Simulation, but both with a huge following and incredible mod/development teams and the dynamic campaign which is truly the best point of any sim.

To relieve the "stress" of driving falcons or uboats my online squadron has a spec-ops team where we shoot/swear at each other in COD4.

Check six.. errr Periscope Depth,
Tool. :D

[NealT]

I started dual track...both Sub Sim AND Flying Sim games.

Then got away from a lot of the sub sim games and concentrated on flying for quite some time - both flying and controlling online (see for example VATSIM).

Then, I had some things happen...flying simulations got way overpowering in what they needed for computers, and for me, slowing down was a better way of doing things...so I am back to the sub sims...

I suspect I will at some point in time get back into the flying part of things as well...but the rate the games are going, it is going to take a 100 Terrabyte hard drive just to load more than 1 game on the machine.

[GoldenRivet]

I've been playing sims for many years. Mosly ww1 and ww2 combat flight sims, but SH3 is just the latest in a long line of simulations for me. Though I'm a huge air combat fan... SH3 has captured my loyalty to a far greater extent than most other games... Mostly due to my fellow sub drivers here at subsim!

[Tango589]

I started late, my first PC being bought approx. 1 year ago. Started off with FS 9, FSX, then CFS3, EECH 1.9, BOB II. All with a HOTAS and TrackIR 4. A couple of months ago I had a complete change of direction and bought SH3! I am now a
torp-head as well as a prop-head, and loving the slow, stalking hunter action.:arrgh!:

Ps.
I like my new guy on shore-leave, with a bottle in his hand!:()1:

[dcb]

Back in late '80s I had a lot of time and was able to play a lot, flight sims included. I was playing then on an Atari computer (same Motorola processor as the famous Commodore 64, but less known than the Commodore). Even as early as that, there was still a subsim, namely Silent Service 2, loaded from cassette recorder. Only to load the game I remember I had to wait 20 minutes - if everything went right.
But I had no particular passion for subsims; they were just a kind of games, like all others I was playing.
Later on, on the PC, in '95, I discovered the masterpiece called Aces of the Deep and this sorted things out. Since then, though I still play other kinds of games (other simulations, RPGs and turn-based strategy), subsims (AOD, CAOD, Wolfpack, Das Boot, the Silent Hunter series etc.) were my main gaming target.
And since end-'90s ('97, 98 IIRC) I'm reading subsim.com on an almost daily basis.

[Canovaro]

Played numerous flight sims like:

Red Baron I & II
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat
Jet Fighter
F15 Strike Eagle
Air Warrior I & II
Flight Simulator 4 & 95
Fighter Squadron
Pacific Fighters

It all stopped when I bought SH3.
:lol:

[Sailor Steve]

I was born a short time after the war ended, and grew up watching WW2 movies and building WW2 models. When computer sims came along I played the flight sims, but the war era was still my favorite, so I played the early ship and sub sims as well.

My favorite flight eras are WW1, WW2 and Korea, which is about as fast as I care to go. I like to describe WW1 air combat as "Death from above...at ninety miles per hour!":rotfl:

[Abd_von_Mumit]

The only flight sim I played ever was Red Baron, probably v. I. But it was much too fast to match my taste, the target would be gone before I finish my tea...

Recently I was trying to advertise SH3 to my friend. I told him I played SH3 and he asked immediately: "Is it dynamic at all?" My answer was: "Well, it happens that you just sail for a few hours and nothng happens, but...". Never let me finish the sentence, as he almost lost his breath laughing loud. :88)

[rik007]

Classical Path:

Silent Hunter I
AOD
Silent Hunter II
Silent Hunter III
Silent Hunter IV
Silent Hunter V
Silent Hunter VI

...

[FIREWALL]

Started with flight sims then stumbled onto SHII. Then SH3 the finally SH4.

Still fly but not as much as I used to.


Since selling my company in 2004 I breakup the 24hrs this way.

12hrs+ Simming (wife nearby)
6hrs Sleeping (wife right beside me)
6hrs Being a PITA to hear my wife tell it. :D


As much as I like Sub simming FS will always be on my computer. :rock:

[emtmedic005]

OMG one of the best WW2 flying games i ever played was Aces over the Pacific, all time favorite, all u need is Dos and a simple joy stick hahaha I played that when i was like 8 or 9 years old, i was way better then my dad. It was awesome hahaha Anyone ever play that i know they have an Aces over Europe but i havent played that

[FIREWALL]

Is that a MICROPOSE product.

I have 1942 The Pacific Air War But have never played it.

[Spike88]

My interest in subs is from the fact I will be in the navy in 6th months, and started playing silent hunter II, just to see what its like.

[TomcatMVD]

I've jumped from FalconAF into SHIII... go figure!:roll:
I'm still devoted to Falcon as much as to SHIII though! I think some of us just love sims... maybe is the feeling that if at some point, IRL, you face a SIMILAR situation... you might be able to at least understand what's going on... I don't know... but there's something keeping me away from senseless bloody reasonless shooters... (though I may play'em once in a while)
So... that's me!

[java`s revenge]

Indeed, i was a fanatic il2fb + pacific fighters player.
(1.java_hornet)

Got problems with my eyes.

Since then i only do play sh3, 4 and red orchestra.

It will be my age i think.

[Turm]

I'm a long-time flight simmer, since I entered my teens. Had various games on the Amiga; anyone remember Reach for the Skies, Knights of the Sky, and Gunship 2000 (I think it was)? Outstanding games for their time.

Later the same thing on the PC, mostly IL-2:FB + all expansions, also a little MSFS, Falcon 4, and various others. The more depth the better. I've flown IL-2 online for years now, but it's so hard to get a rewarding experience these days. In our squad alone we don't have enough people to make it interesting enough (even though we regularly had 12 pilots online at once), and on public servers there are too many 'Quake'-style players who just rush to get kills no matter the cost. Attempts at organising inter-squad co-ops became too awkward with endless small problems that interrupted the flow. I spent more time watching the briefing screen than flying. So in the end I couldn't be bothered with it all.

I've been playing SH3 off and on since its release day, mostly the stock version because I hoped to finish my career (or be sunk) before finally installing GWX. But several months back my save files became a little messed up, so rather than trying to rescue it I installed GWX 1.03 (and soon after 2.0) and haven't looked back since. It's now a year since I last touched IL-2... I find it rather shocking actually! Time flies...

SH3 is just one of those enthralling single-player games, the likes of which you don't see very often now. So hard to get a good, and long-lasting experience out of any single-player game these days. Strategy games are the only ones that tend to offer it. Online simming depended on too many things coming together, which seldom happened and killed the fun of it in the end. IL-2 hardly has a good single-player mode either. I'll go back to flying once the new Battle of Britain: Storm of War is released, but SH3 will be one of my top 2 games for years to come - it's also the second most faithful thing to me after my wife :D

[Ula Jolly]

My interest in subs is from the fact I will be in the navy in 6th months, and started playing silent hunter II, just to see what its like.
My interest in the navy is from playing SH and Dangerous Waters :D

My first gae was probably Super Mario, but I followed the loose path of FS 3.0 -> FS 98 -> FS 2004, CFS 2 and 3, with a hearty bit of Operation Flashpoint in between (lotsa planes there :D) - and... all of a sudden, Dangerous Waters. Lead me here, eventually.

[Heibges]

My Dad was an infantryman in the Pacific in WWII, and one of my uncles was shot down in a bomber in Europe in WWII. Two of my other uncles were submariners just after WWII.

So basically I was always fascinated by WWII.

My first subsim, and just about my first video game was Silent Service 2 on my IBM PCjr. I drove my roommate in colleg crazy with the sound the engines made at hight time compression.

I was a tanker in the 1988 to 1996, and WWII submarine tactics are a lot like the defensive tactics we trained to use against the Soviets.

[Paajtor]

http://www.61shap.com/pilots/Paajtor/PF/R5-1a.gif

I come from Il2/ForgottenBattles....still a proud member of the 61ShAP (Russian ground-attack squadron, flying Il2's as in history).

I got SH3 when it was released, just like many other pilots from my squad...been in and out ever since.:up:

Joystick is collecting dust for now :(

[deepboat]

I initially started with other sim games: Aces over Europe, Pacific etc., FS9,FS2000 ,CFS, IL2, Jane's Fighter Anthology. I also have FPS games like COD, 1,2; MOHAA (ALL), H & D 1,2. I still have and still run on my older P3-500, AOD, SH2. Now I only play SH3. I sort of wish you could invent a game that would incorporate the strategy game of Sh3 and a FPS like MOHAA. For example, in the Norway campaign of MOH, you have to blow up a u-boat in the pen ( sacrilige!). Would't it be better that when you finally enter the boat you sail away on a mission?:yep:

[difool2]

I was talking with some fellow beta testers who test strategy games and how/why they now mainly play strategy games.

Once upon a time, I was a very well known online air combat player, guide writer, and instructor. I didn't touch any game without wings and blazing speed. Now, one of my favorite genres is WWII sub/commerce raiding. But it is time to devulge the truth behind that.

I was just curious if there are any others out there who followed a similar path or am I the only broken down prop-head that arrived here?

Oh yeah. I was one of the original Air Warriors, wayyy back in the late 80's. I played off and on since then, until '97 or so when I finally got a bit bored with it all (and the carebear arenas where the kiddies can have their endless furballs). Always liked subsimming tho, ever since the original Silent Hunter.

[KeptinCranky]

I on the contrary was not a sim-head at all, yes I had played some flightsims but mostly turn-based strategy.

I did have a lot of interest for wwII but was at first mostly interested in landbased stuff from playing wargames like Squad Leader with my dad

then the PC came along and it was panzer general II and others then Combat Missions...that still totally rocks btw

then a friend installed his sh3 on my PC so he could play it, his pc being beyond sad performance-wise. He IS a complete sim-head going for full realism and such, so i ended up XO-ing and assisting with target calculations and such...

he visited this site for some mods

then a year later I found the SH3 DVD in a secondhand store for E 2,- and bought it, then, knowing that mods were essential, I visited this site for mods...signed up and found GWX, downloaded and installed it, sank HMS Hood on my first patrol...and got hooked :rock:

[gimpy117]

yes, i wanna be a pilot, still play flight sim and such
i guess if it's in a fluid, I like it!

[Reece]

Before SH3 was SH2, & before that the biggest ever was EAW (European Air Wars), later I tried but just couldn't get into TK's other games, Strike Fighters etc, even tried IL2, BOB2 and others. If EAW2 came out it would be a close tie with SH3 probably!:yep:

[captain Guitar]

I have a similar history to KeptinCranky. My background is turn-based wargames, starting in the glory days of Avalon Hill and SPI in the 70s. Squad Leader was a biggie for me, and too many other games to count. My dad was in the Navy in WWII, and the WWII era has always been my passion (yes, passion is the right word, strange as it may sound.)

So my main focus has always been computer turn-based games like Uncommon Valor and Battles in Normandy, along with the Combat Mission series (what an amazing set of games). SH3 was a bit of an odd turn for me game-wise, but I did my master's thesis on the problems with the US Mark XIV torpedo, so I was interested in sub warfare. And now I'm completely hooked on SH3/GWX. Takes up most of my computer gaming time these days! I have IL2-1946, and that's fun for a break, but it hasn't hooked me the way that SH3 has.

I've been holding off on SH4 because of hardware constraints (anyone know if it'll run at all decently with only 1 Gb of RAM?)