SH3 vs SH5

[Kip Chiakopf]

Any thoughts on comparing the two games, especially with all the mods (Commander, GWX) available for SH3?

I love SH3, but an tempted to try SH5, but I've heard some bad things about it.

[jaxa]

Many threads here about this comparison. In my opinion SH5 is better than SH3/GWX only in one aspect - graphics. Rest is for SH3/GWX. You should try, but IMHO buying SH5 is wasting of money.

[Victor Schutze]

Many threads here about this comparison. In my opinion SH5 is better than SH3/GWX only in one aspect - graphics. Rest is for SH3/GWX. You should try, but IMHO buying SH5 is wasting of money.

Agree. :yep:

Another lethal mistake from SH5 was the DRM. A killer.

To make SH5 a success story would have been easy:

1- Take the SH3 campaign concept

2- Improve the graphics if you want :roll: (it sounds like EA, I hate this concept).

3- Improve the AI! (This is a must. I love it! :know: )

4- Don't forget NOT to make a silly DRM to "protect" your intellectual property. :nope: (I am fundamentally against copyright laws which hamper progress)

I play SH3 + GWX3 + numerous mods and I am happy! :D

[Sepp von Ch.]

In my opinion SH5 is better than SH3/GWX only in one aspect - graphics. Rest is for SH3/GWX.

1+ I agree .

[Sailor Steve]

Many threads here about this comparison.
Master of understatement. Hundreds of threads on this in the last two years.

Asking this in the SH3 forum will get answers from people who prefer SH3. If you ask it in the SH5 forum you'll get answers from people who prefer SH5. Both will be biased.

SH5 has a lot to offer, especially with the mods that have been made so far, but it is nothing like SH3 or SH4 or SH1 or AOD. It is more oriented toward role-playing the captain, and in answering the demand for items in that vein it necessarily gave up some of the things SH3 has become famous for, like the free campaign (forced on them by we who loved it in AOD), the multiple boats (limited in SH5 by the time required to make complete interiors for each u-boat type) and the huge amount of mods (people forget how empty SH3 was seven years ago).

SH5 still has the potential to supercede them all, but not today, and maybe not ever. It still remains to be seen. Check out the SH5 forums rather than ask here, where that game is mostly disliked. You'll see what it is and why many like it.

[Jimbuna]

Try them both (especially at yodays low prices) and see what suits you best.

You may well like both for a variety of reasons and play each one.

[TDK1044]

I chose Silent Hunter III over Silent Hunter 5. With GXW3 and SH3 Commander, Silent Hunter III feels like a lovingly restored classic car. It may not have the bells and whistles associated with a newer model, but it's solid, classy and very enjoyable.

I have watched a friend play Silent Hunter5, but I myself have not played it. My sense of Silent Hunter 5 is that it was an unfinished, buggy mess when it was released, and it initially required an internet connection to play it. The DRM component has since been removed, and the modders have done an awesome job enhancing the game, but looking at my friend play it, it feels like a game that doesn't quite know what it's coming to the party as.

As Jimbuna says, they are both cheap to buy, so try them both. I'll be staying with Silent HunterIII. :)

[PappyCain]

Good points all. For me it is not a matter of coin. More a matter of developing expertise if you will. I have 3 years into SH3 Commander patrols and twice thru the entire war as different commanders and I still have a dilly of a time with convoy attacks as a lone wolf. I pick off the singles and doubles and even aircraft NP. But trying to get near a convoy, even lying in wait always seems to get the escorts rattled and the convoy then goes into defensive manuevers. Fun, but hard. I also treat my vessel and crew well. We are in it at all times to survive to fight another day!


:salute:

[PappyCain]

BTW, I have developed a tactic to evade the most determined escorts on depth charging runs. 100% effective. I drop down to about 140M and then right rudder about 7 degrees, that keeps me away from the line of cans reigning down. The escorts line up for a straight dump run and I am many meters away .. I run silent of course to but that is enough speed to work and not use up battery storage ...

I usually take out 2 escorts but have yet to have free reign on the convoy! Not ever! Sure would be nice if their attention was drawn away but at least one other wolf! :haha:

[maillemaker]

I love SH3. It has provided me with hundreds of hours of entertainment.

The only real graphical improvement I wish for is better interaction of the submarine with the water.

I have installed the water drain hole mod and it is a huge improvement in making the sub feel "real" in the water.

But since the visual theater of the game is focused so highly on the u-boat, the graphics of the u-boat should be top-notch.

I'd love to see water really slosh over the deck and around the features of the boat. I'd love to see it slosh around and over the conning tower.

Inside the boat, I'd like to see real "damage" like smoke, electrical arcing, and dynamic flooding, and people working to fix real broken things.

As the game stands now I almost never go into the sub interior - there is nothing to see.

Steve

[flag4]

...SH3+GWX is more consolidated than SH5.
i have SH5+mods and it looks terrific -like the SH Series should: SHINE:sunny:
as SS has said SH3 has had and still gets years of work dedicated to it.

SH3+GWX is for me, the most stable of the two.

a simplified analogy would be: you buy a brand new car (SH5) and it looks fabulous, but then you have to take it straight to the garage to get it seriously overhauled, and even then...
...its gonna need years of dedicated work to get up to the classic car status of SH3+GWX.

i have spent many hours reading and watching 'how to' tutorials by the excellent modding team at SH5. it should not be necassary with a new product. can you imagine Dyson releasing a new vacuum cleaner in such a state as SH5. the recall and complaints would scream from every media around the world.

so is it right that we buy a product so unfinished and demanding. the inquisitive newbie but techno-challenged enthusiast, like myself, must feel great frustration and dissapointment at discovering how incomplete and flawed SH5 is as it stands alone out of the box.

it is a great looking sim and with work from the modders it is gaining stability/playability...slowly. this is my opinion and experience only.

given time it will come, and develope in to the next generation SH Series.
the best thing to do then, if you have the system to handle it is to give it a try. but i feel it needs to be set free from some of the confines placed upon it and this will take patience and TLC from the modders and players and maybe some support from UBI.

edit; just seen classic car analogy already used by TDK. oops, sorry:oops:

[Hinrich Schwab]

I agree with Sailor Steve about the bias and the number of times this comparison is made. Before I get into my own speech, I will state outright that I still prefer III. That being said, 5 has grown on me, thanks exclusively to the mod community. The DRM chased me away as I cannot stand intrusive programming that borders on malware. Once it was disabled with offline mode, I jumped.

The biggest difference between the two is that SHIII can be played outside the box. SH5 pretty much demands mods (Watching the stock AI casually fly a Hurricane past your boat without engaging is almost comical) While stock III does still have its fair share of issues (Crash Dive bug, submerged saving bug) the only thing that demands attention is the overzealous fatigue model for the crew. SH5 virtually requires TheDarkWraith's UI mod to restore the same functions present in III.

On the surface, SHIII is geared for the hardcore subsim player while SH5 is more casual in its approach and focuses more on player immersion (crew interaction). Everyone has said that 5 has the potential to surpass III and I agree with this. However, it is the mod community that will make this happen. Quite frankly, I do not see it happening for at least a year or so.