Should I buy SH4?

[Sensekhmet]

I know those questions were (probably) answered before, but please bear with me.
Right now I'm playing SH3 with SH3 Commander and GWX3.0 and simply loving it. Thing is, I didn't much care for the vanilla SH3. Yeah, it was a decent game, but... there was certain dryness to it, something that just didn't keep me interested for very long, and I shelved it until mentioned mods came out: they really flesh out and liven the experience.
Anyway, my questions are:
-I heard there is no weapons officer in SH4, so you either have arcade 'point & shoot' stuff or you have to go fully manual (not an option for me, as I can't grasp even basic maths, besides it makes me physically sick... just a little issue left behind by educational sustem), is that true? In SH3 I use manual targeting but I employ weapons officer to do the calculations and I feel it's a nice mix of realism and playablity.
-are there SH3 Commander and GWX style mods available for SH4 (I know GWX4 is in the pipeline, but it will take some time before it's ready)? If not, is the vanilla game better in those regards than vanilla SH3?
-does SH4 have the same TC issues as SH3? (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=102635&highlight=time+compression mainly Letum's post)
-is the U-Boot add-on a necessity? I can find SH4 in local stores but the add-on can be hard to find.
As far as the theather and technicalities go, they are no problem: I loved SH2 and have a modern PC (I can run Fallout3 almost maxed with pretty much no slowdowns).
Thanks for your answers, guys.

[ichso]

Hi and welcome.

From an overall point of view I would advise you to buy the game. It is available at low price, even with addon, and the change of scenario (including using the U.S. yard system and stuff like this) together with the fine graphics give a whole new and exciting experience. I felt this even though I left behind a wonderful SH3+GWX3+SH3Com installation also (as I don't have time to play both). And I don't regret the buy.

Now to your specific questions:

- No weapons officer, but can use active sonar for range estimations as long as no warships are around. This makes it easier. You should be prepared to go fully manual on targeting or use the auto targeting option. But this would also just simulate your weapons officer doing the work, so I don't see the real difference there.

- There are very well received 'all around mods' available. Check out the stickies in the mods forum. Real Fleet Boat and Trigger Maru are the most heavy used ones there while the Pacific Enviroment or Real Enviroment turn onto some nice graphical changes and the 'Run Silent Run Deep' Campaign is a nice improvement over the stock version.
The only thing I'm missing is the OLC GUI for SH3 which built in a cool range/AoB finder into the game. I don't know if that concerns you as you said you avoid full manual targeting.

- This TC issue I once had with destroyers in a highly moon lit night. They saw and attacked me before TC could bring me back onto the brigde to give orders. There is however a built-in solution for this: the first time your crew spots some contact (e.g. warship) it will jump out of TC and provide you with a short dialog what the default option on such an event should be. So you can (don't have to) set that for example you want to dive to periscope depth every time your crew spots a warship on the surface. That might get rid of this issue but I didn't try it yet as I left this option always on 'go on with current orders'.

- Addon is not really necessary but the new career might be a nice change as well when you feel you've played enough fleet boats. It includes the 1.5 patch but I didn't check the change list of this patch yet. As far as I know, the super mods as well as other big ones are also available as a 1.4 (pre-patch / no-addon) version. Better check this again in the mods forum, but you can hardly go wrong either way I think.
Jut consider this: The addon adds no content to the fleet boat scenario, only the U-Boats in the far east as a campaign on its own (including IX/D2, XXI and XVIII boats). Buying the game and addon as a bundle might just save you some money over buying SH4 alone now and the addon later. Mod-wise you might just be on the safer side getting the addon but I've also seen good support for SH4 1.4 in the mods forum also.

Have fun playing :)

[Sailor Steve]

If you haven't bought it yet then when you're in the store see if they have SH4 Gold. It includes the add-on and the 1.5 patch.

Real Fleet Boat is a great supermod for SH4, and I'm sure Trigger Maru Overhauled is just as good, only different. Combined with the Run Silent, Run Deep Campaign, which gives much more accurate mission assignments and shipping scripts, you have a very nice experience. GWX4 should improve a lot of things on the u-boat side, but there is already a good addition to the Eastern u-boat campaign - Operation Monsun.

As for improvements to the game, SH4 gives a vastly better crew management system, with assigned watch-bills and the crew rotating themselves. If you call Battle Stations they all go to their posts to get the job done until you release them.

The map includes latitude and longitude coordinates, and the German map includes the Kriegsmarine grid system, right down to the 4-digit sub-grid squares.

Also, it's a lot less prone to crashing if you blink at it the wrong way - much more stable.

All-in-all you can't go wrong with SH4. You will have some complaints - everybody does, including me; but it's well worth the money.

[Fishie]

Yes. Then download JGSME, RFB 1.5, the RSRD campaign for it, and a few of the awesome skins that are available (the early gato black schemes make your sub feel like a damn stealth platform! :rock: )

Then have at!

**Edit** WOO WOO! Lookie there! I made Mate! Maybe by the time I retire I'll be an officer!

[Akula4745]

In a word... absolutely! Whatever the differences between SH3 and SH4... its a bargain for $10!!

[Sensekhmet]

Thanks, guys.
I live in Poland, and haven't seen SH4 Gold yet. SH4 + add on costs around 40 USD.
As for the TC, I got so psyched I now run SH3 at max 128TC... DAMN it takes long to get anywhere! Or do anything! :nope:

[Lord Kelvin]

Well, there's an $8 Newegg deal, but I'm not sure if they ship to Poland or not, and you'd probably have to pay shipping costs waaaay out the butt.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=150401

[clayton]

Yes!

I recommend the TMO mod as well. Maybe not as realistic as RFB, but for me it gives a more fun, cinematic type of feel...


Good Luck

[Rockin Robbins]

Noooooooooo! Don't buy it. It's too much fun. You'll learn too much. It's not priced high enough. You'll surely neglect your family and your job. You think your time is at a premium now? You just wait. If you buy this game you can kiss it all goodbye!:88)

[owner20071963]

Welcome Aboard,
I'm sure you will enjoy it,
Especially on Multiplay,
Never Fear Multiplay,
Like Others,
Just Enjoy,
Happy Hunting.

[Sensekhmet]

Whoa, guys, don't throw acronyms at me, I'm not l33t enough to know what they all mean. :woot:
And PC gaming (mostly simracing) has already pretty much ruined my life, thank you very much :doh:

[ichso]

Noooooooooo! Don't buy it. It's too much fun. You'll learn too much. It's not priced high enough. You'll surely neglect your family and your job. You think your time is at a premium now? You just wait. If you buy this game you can kiss it all goodbye!:88)
Hehe.

Either that or you realize that you can't spend enough time to enjoy the game to it's fullest extent. (Happend to me once with SH3 and X3:BtF.)

[Cpt. Angry F...]

My copy of SH4 just came in. Installing it now.
Must say I'm rather curious.
SH3 GWX is very good but it will be nice not to work for Adolf and his Nazi scum in 4!

Any recommended mods?

[ichso]

SH3 GWX is very good but it will be nice not to work for Adolf and his Nazi scum in 4!
+1
I'm german, and it really haunted me from time to time while playing SH3. Felt kind of cynic ;)

Any recommended mods?
As some of us wrote in this thread:
-Real fleet boat mod _or_ Trigger Maru as comprehensive super mods.
-One of the bigger enviromental mods as pacific env. 4 or real env. 5.
-Run silent run deep campaign.

[PappyCain]

Hmmm. Time for me to take the plunge! (Plunge - get it! :har: )

So, lemme see. I shop for SH4 Gold. Correct? I am old so I need help .. nurse Veronica! Heeeelp.

:salute:

[magic452]

Go for the Gold. If you don't get it now you will later and all the new mods are for 1.5 Gold.
Nurse Veronica? I belive we may have the same nurse, tall statuesque burnett???? :yeah:

Magic

[Sensekhmet]

I need help .. nurse Veronica! Heeeelp.

:salute:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIlKiRPSNGA

[Arclight]

:rotfl::rotfl:

Brilliant as always. :up:

[Rockin Robbins]

+1
I'm german, and it really haunted me from time to time while playing SH3. Felt kind of cynic ;)


As some of us wrote in this thread:
-Real fleet boat mod _or_ Trigger Maru as comprehensive super mods.
-One of the bigger enviromental mods as pacific env. 4 or real env. 5.
-Run silent run deep campaign.
There's the AAHNS4 (Adolf and his Nazi Scum 4) mod. All crewmembers have silly mustaches and derby hats.:D Soundtrack changed to the soundtrack of "The Great Dictator." "Heil Adenoid" is prefaced on all NPC verbiageL: sample: "Heil Adenoid! Rudder....Rudder."

[Sea wolf 7]

I don't know, does Amazon.com ship internationally? If so, they're selling SH4 Gold for about 22.95. S&H is added. Not a bad price, but not sure of the shipping.

Hope this helps.

Sea Wolf

[Sensekhmet]

This issue wasn't cleared up: does SH4 has the same TC mechanic as SH3? In other words, does it have the same 'object outside of X km radius' skipping?

[Akula4745]

You might also check out the European Ebay... isn't there one for Europe?

There were multiple copies of SH4 cheap on Ebay over here...