Althar93
03-21-10, 10:01 PM
Hey everyone :D !!
I am not a frequent poster on subsim, but I am a dedicated SH3 player, and frequent lurker, enjoying reading all your stories and patrol reports.
I was meant to buy Silent Hunter 4 ages ago, but apart from the improved graphics, the theater never really appealed to me, and I was always reluctant to take the step.
Anyway, after the DRM fiasco with Silent Hunter 5 preventing me from being able to play it, since my powerful rig is not connected to the internet, I have finally decided to give its predecessor a go.
I must say, I don't regret my purchase : I got the gold edition for a fair price, and it was worth it. I was actually quite surprised with the way it turned out, and I now understand why people say that SH3 and SH4 are two very different sims.
The graphics are just amazing, I was actually shocked, when I went back to SH3 for a quick convoy attack, and realized how dull it looked :har:. I also love the Japanese style when it comes to Battleships.
The new damage and sinking system just adds an awful amount of realism, and makes it far more enjoyable to sink ships.
The missions are quite an improvement over SH3, and it really feels like there is a war going on, and/or that you are contributing to the war effort. I also found the travelling to be a lot quicker and easier in this one, as well as being able to spot convoys more often.
I did find the interface a bit weird at first, and didn't like the fact that some features were missing, but I got used to it, and it is pretty convenient. I am still having problems grasping the repair management, or the TDC and its position keeper mechanism. It is a very convenient tool, but I just miss the ability to just create a new solution and shoot (just like the TDC in SH3).
It is probably because there are no sausages hanging around in the boat, or maybe because I've been eating ice cream all day long :woot:, but SH4 feels more like a holiday cruise than a war patrol. It is hard to explain, but with the graphical/hollywood design, and the actual theater, I don't really feel the adrenaline, as I did with SH3/GWX.
Don't get me wrong, I think it is different and enjoy it a lot, but it just seems a lot easier and casual to work around the fleet boats. I hardly felt in danger when trying to attack a convoy, even though 4 destroyers were surrounding me. Same thing goes with aircrafts. They're all over the place, but they hardly do anything, and just end up dropping there bombs way too far, and/or simply crashing in the water as they try to recover.
I find that the stock AI behaves quite strangely, it can be very precise and smart sometimes, as it can be unbelievably stupid and illogical.
I have just ended my first campaign, on 74% realism (all on, except for external view, and event cameras, so I could enjoy the graphics, and analyze the AI's behaviour), after being sunk on my 5th patrol, near a harbor in the Solomon sea. It was a pitch black night, and an unsuspecting destroyer casually patrolling managed to spot me somehow (even though I wasn't moving, not showing my periscope, nor presenting a large area he would have detected). In a matter of seconds, he fired a flare, and zeroed on me, with deadly accuracy, and about 1 minute later, I went straight to the bottom...
I guess I was unlucky for that one, but during a previous patrol, I have noticed some other strange behaviours. I was intercepting a convoy at a fair distance, and getting ready to release my torpedoes, when the escort simply started to steer the convoy towards me, without any change in speed, or anything showing they'd spotted me (I tried it several times, and the same thing happened ; on the other hand if I stayed far enough, they would just remain on their course).
They seemed to know exactly where I was somehow, before they had actually seen me, but when it came to depth charging me, they were completely off. For that particular convoy, I just got bored, and ended up blowing one of the escorts, and surfacing in the middle of the convoy just sinking everything I could find (the other destroyer did not know what to do, and ended up being incapacitated and sunk by my deck gun before he could say anything ).
I might not have noticed it because I ususally play with no external camera on, but is the AI that stupid and unpredictable in SH3/GWX aswell, or is it just the stock AI in SH4 ?
Following that question, I might add : what MOD would you recommend in that case for SH4 gold? I have read about TMO, and Real Fleet, but I found it hard to determine which one brings what. I am not looking for extreme difficulty and a whole armada of destroyers, but rather realism. I don't mind coming back empty handed, I would just like to be able to imagine what they had to endure back then. If you will, I am looking for the equivalent of GWX for SH4.
Finally, what tactics do you usually adopt with destroyers in SH4 (be it stock, or using a MOD ). I found it generally easy to evade them, except when using the time compression (which seems to make them detect you instantly, even though you might not be moving ). As I said earlier, even when triangulating me with their active sonar, they can hardly tilt my sub with their depth charges ; except when they manage to do a perfect hit and kill me instantly. How do you go about presenting the smallest profile, when the sub seems to be turning at an incredibly slow rate when running silent?
Anyway, thanks to anyone who will have the patience to go through my novel :salute:, and thanks in advance for your advice !!
I am not a frequent poster on subsim, but I am a dedicated SH3 player, and frequent lurker, enjoying reading all your stories and patrol reports.
I was meant to buy Silent Hunter 4 ages ago, but apart from the improved graphics, the theater never really appealed to me, and I was always reluctant to take the step.
Anyway, after the DRM fiasco with Silent Hunter 5 preventing me from being able to play it, since my powerful rig is not connected to the internet, I have finally decided to give its predecessor a go.
I must say, I don't regret my purchase : I got the gold edition for a fair price, and it was worth it. I was actually quite surprised with the way it turned out, and I now understand why people say that SH3 and SH4 are two very different sims.
The graphics are just amazing, I was actually shocked, when I went back to SH3 for a quick convoy attack, and realized how dull it looked :har:. I also love the Japanese style when it comes to Battleships.
The new damage and sinking system just adds an awful amount of realism, and makes it far more enjoyable to sink ships.
The missions are quite an improvement over SH3, and it really feels like there is a war going on, and/or that you are contributing to the war effort. I also found the travelling to be a lot quicker and easier in this one, as well as being able to spot convoys more often.
I did find the interface a bit weird at first, and didn't like the fact that some features were missing, but I got used to it, and it is pretty convenient. I am still having problems grasping the repair management, or the TDC and its position keeper mechanism. It is a very convenient tool, but I just miss the ability to just create a new solution and shoot (just like the TDC in SH3).
It is probably because there are no sausages hanging around in the boat, or maybe because I've been eating ice cream all day long :woot:, but SH4 feels more like a holiday cruise than a war patrol. It is hard to explain, but with the graphical/hollywood design, and the actual theater, I don't really feel the adrenaline, as I did with SH3/GWX.
Don't get me wrong, I think it is different and enjoy it a lot, but it just seems a lot easier and casual to work around the fleet boats. I hardly felt in danger when trying to attack a convoy, even though 4 destroyers were surrounding me. Same thing goes with aircrafts. They're all over the place, but they hardly do anything, and just end up dropping there bombs way too far, and/or simply crashing in the water as they try to recover.
I find that the stock AI behaves quite strangely, it can be very precise and smart sometimes, as it can be unbelievably stupid and illogical.
I have just ended my first campaign, on 74% realism (all on, except for external view, and event cameras, so I could enjoy the graphics, and analyze the AI's behaviour), after being sunk on my 5th patrol, near a harbor in the Solomon sea. It was a pitch black night, and an unsuspecting destroyer casually patrolling managed to spot me somehow (even though I wasn't moving, not showing my periscope, nor presenting a large area he would have detected). In a matter of seconds, he fired a flare, and zeroed on me, with deadly accuracy, and about 1 minute later, I went straight to the bottom...
I guess I was unlucky for that one, but during a previous patrol, I have noticed some other strange behaviours. I was intercepting a convoy at a fair distance, and getting ready to release my torpedoes, when the escort simply started to steer the convoy towards me, without any change in speed, or anything showing they'd spotted me (I tried it several times, and the same thing happened ; on the other hand if I stayed far enough, they would just remain on their course).
They seemed to know exactly where I was somehow, before they had actually seen me, but when it came to depth charging me, they were completely off. For that particular convoy, I just got bored, and ended up blowing one of the escorts, and surfacing in the middle of the convoy just sinking everything I could find (the other destroyer did not know what to do, and ended up being incapacitated and sunk by my deck gun before he could say anything ).
I might not have noticed it because I ususally play with no external camera on, but is the AI that stupid and unpredictable in SH3/GWX aswell, or is it just the stock AI in SH4 ?
Following that question, I might add : what MOD would you recommend in that case for SH4 gold? I have read about TMO, and Real Fleet, but I found it hard to determine which one brings what. I am not looking for extreme difficulty and a whole armada of destroyers, but rather realism. I don't mind coming back empty handed, I would just like to be able to imagine what they had to endure back then. If you will, I am looking for the equivalent of GWX for SH4.
Finally, what tactics do you usually adopt with destroyers in SH4 (be it stock, or using a MOD ). I found it generally easy to evade them, except when using the time compression (which seems to make them detect you instantly, even though you might not be moving ). As I said earlier, even when triangulating me with their active sonar, they can hardly tilt my sub with their depth charges ; except when they manage to do a perfect hit and kill me instantly. How do you go about presenting the smallest profile, when the sub seems to be turning at an incredibly slow rate when running silent?
Anyway, thanks to anyone who will have the patience to go through my novel :salute:, and thanks in advance for your advice !!