Mod Request--or info on one already available

[nodlew]

Has anyone made a mod that gets neutral ships into the game? I really miss the suspense-generating effect of having to ID a target before I can safely attack it. At night in bad weather, having to get right on top of a ship before I can see what flag it is flying. Looking in the Museum, it appears that Neutral countries don't have any merchants or warships at all.

Which begs the question--I see there are no unit addons at all for this game in the download section. The game has been out long enough, I fear that must mean that it can't be done. Say it ain't so.

But still, couldn't someone add existing ships to the non-combatant countries and do some kind of scripting fix so that they will be detected by my crew? I remember there was such a mod for SH4 which fixed a similar problem by making there be No Neutral countries. Ships of all nations not friendly were made hostile. That would be better than this.

If I'm not in home waters, I hardly bother about flags. I just kill the ship 'cause I know it's British.

[nodlew]

Not one reply in three days? Is this a taboo subject or am I the only one who likes having a more realistic dimension in the game relative to Neutral countries?

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

Seems there are no neutral ships. I guess it may be hard to import them from, say Sh3, besides there won't be much in the way of those ships later in the war (at least around Europe).

[nodlew]

Ok, forget neutral--how about allied and hostile ships of all nations? Where are the Spanish Ships? The Argentinian ships? I've only played in the early stages of the war, so maybe things change later on. But once away from friendly waters, all I encounter are British warships and British merchants. I expect to see American ships once they enter the fray--but American escorted convoys should be shipping goods to England long before that (essentially from the beginning, right? Arsenal of Democracy?)

I have seen, after playing this game for many months now, Polish, British, German, and (very rarely) Canadian ships. Maybe one other Scandinavian country. The dearth of variety here is a huge hit to the realism and re-playability of the game.

I don't get it. Does Ubisoft pay any attention to who is playing their game and the kind of gaming experience they are likely to enjoy? If so, why strip the game of its variety and dumb it down to the point their proven market is guaranteed to be disappointed?

Not looking to flame Ubi here. That has been done extensively elsewhere. Thanks to mods, the game is playable--enjoyable, challenging, nice to look at.

But overall, given the state of the game's release bugwise, and the style of gameplay the devs designed it for (not having extensively researched the issue) one wonders if SH5 is the last-gasp of the Silent Hunter Franchise leaving the market niche vacant for some other company, perhaps a smaller one looking to make a name for itself by producing a true Submarine Simulator.

Wouldn't that be something.

Russian game developers seem to do really well with realism and detail. Maybe Ivan can make manage to make a functioning stadimeter.

I think I need a break from Silent Hunter. I'm gonna go shoot things in another galaxy for a while.

[reaper7]

I hope to achive something along those lines in my WIP Ship reskin mod.
Not sure whats required as haven't done anything like this before.
Not sure if its just a case of adding ships to the roster, or do shipping lanes need to be created as well in the campaign.
What really needs to be found is a method to allow random skins to give some varity to the models. ;)

[nodlew]

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond--I've been downloading and messing with Freespace2 SCP. Like I said, taking a vacation in another galaxy.

I'm very glad to hear that someone is working on expanding the variety of the game. I wish you smooth-sailing in your efforts. It seems to me that with the UI's and the other mods to improve the subs themselves, that is the next logical step to try to make this game great.

Without more variety and realism in terms of the World of the game, for all its graphical improvements, SH5 can never be the game that SH3 GWX is.

[Ragtag]

Well, it is kind off pointless unless one plays the game ethically. There are no punishment for sinking a neutral ship and if you do, you will get the tonnage to your sink list. I don't see the point with neutral ships as long as there is no punishment. I think there was a punishment for doing so in one of the earlier games in form of renown being deducted. Not sure though :)

[nodlew]

Well, the point would be that you would not know automatically that the ship reported by your hydrophone operator or watch officer would be an enemy, hostile ship--which would introduce a note of realistic uncertainty. Even without punishment, that would be a huge improvement. Sure, some people could choose to sink neutral ships. Who cares what other people do? I would take pains to identify the ship and only sink ships hostile to Germany at that historical point. I would have a chance to use the pull-down flag reference chart for a change.

What the **uck is up with my avatar?