sh4 vs sh5

[jason8888]

ok guys im new to the series and I hear a lot of complaints about sh5. why is sh4 so much better. Im thinking about buying it. Does it have better gameplay than sh5. from the videos ive seen of it the graphics are obviously older but is the gameplay that much better ?

[Hinrich Schwab]

There are tons of SH5 vs. x threads here. I will leave the details of those up to you and the search function.

In short, it is now a matter of preference. SH4 is the Pacific Theater and American fleet boats vs the Imperial Japanese Navy. SH5, like SH2 and SH3 is the Kriegsmarine vs the Royal Navy.

The first question you need to ask yourself is whether you want to be the Americans or the Germans. If you want to be the former, pick up SH4.

SH5 out of the box is an oversimplified beta that contains numerous bugs. If you want a good experience with SH5, you must be comfortable with JGSME and modding. SH4 has tons of mods, as well. However, it is "playable"* fresh out of the box.

Another issue with SH5 is that it is extremely demanding on a computer. If you do not have a rather powerful gaming rig, SH5 may not be the best choice.


*The grognards do not consider any SH game playable out of the box, but SH4 does not have the issues that SH5 suffers from.

[Sailor Steve]

The whole "Americans vs Germans" thing is just not true. SH4 Gold has a German campaign, and with Operation Monsun you get a full 1939-1945 campaign, plus all the different u-boat types, whereas SH5 only lets you play in a Type VII, and in a very limited and unrealistic campaign. That has sort of been extended but still has totally unrealistic goals and assignments. It does let you walk all through the u-boat, which is something no previous version did.

SH4 has better crew management than SH3 did, whereas SH5 has no crew at all, just the department heads. It does let you interact with them more closely than any previous version.

SH4 has many ships imported from SH3. SH5 has so far resisted attempts to import new ships except in a very limited fashion.

SH3 had Kriegsmarine grid squares. SH4 has latitude and longitude coordinates for the American side and both coordinates and KM grids for the German side, which get subdivided as you get closer in on the map until you get the full four-digit grids. SH5 doesn't even have KM squares.

SH5 does have the best graphics.

[Hinrich Schwab]

...whereas SH5 only lets you play in a Type VII, and in a very limited and unrealistic campaign. That has sort of been extended but still has totally unrealistic goals and assignments.

That's putting it mildly. I quit my career in the middle of the second "campaign" after I broke 700,000 tons. It was a turkey shoot. :shifty: In SH3, I was lucky to break 70,000 tons before being moved to St. Nazaire.

[Miggy4000]

I just ordered SH V from Amazon yesterday, so I cant comment on it yet, but I have to say that I am really enjoying SH III (with mods) at the moment. I have played a bit of SH IV and that is a good game, no doubt about it, but so far SH III gets my vote every time. I cant quite put my finger on why that is, and from what I have read in this thread, I dont think the arrival of SH V will change that view for me :DL

[saipan]

i like sh5 better, mod varitations, graphics, etc. up to the player i suppose.:|\\

[Sailor Steve]

I just ordered SH V from Amazon yesterday, so I cant comment on it yet, but I have to say that I am really enjoying SH III (with mods) at the moment. I have played a bit of SH IV and that is a good game, no doubt about it, but so far SH III gets my vote every time. I cant quite put my finger on why that is, and from what I have read in this thread, I dont think the arrival of SH V will change that view for me :DL
What SH3 has is seven years of constant modding. It got lots of good mods right from the start, and they've only gotten better. No other version has such fully detailed harbors. No other version has convoys escorted by blimps. SH4 has a better crew management system, and other improvements, but no one has added in all the cool stuff you find in SH3.

SH3 Commander is another plus, giving a career like no other game ever has. Every ship you sink gets a name, cargo and crew numbers, and your captain's life is fleshed out in a special way. There is a massive increase in the amount of crew names available. You have crew rotated in and out, or even killed in non-sub-related ways. No other version has anything that comes close. Of course it looks primitive by today's standards, but it has so many other cool things that we are willing to ignore the somewhat dated graphics. Until someone adds all that into SH4, SH3 still gets my vote as well.

SH5, on the other hand, still needs to have the Type II and Type IX u-boats before I could even begin to consider it as more than a pretty diversion. It also still has less than ten different merchant types, as opposed to the more than one hundred available with SH3.

[Miggy4000]

Absolutely spot on Sailor Steve :up:. The mods are more advanced in SH III, for me at least, SH III has the "Das Boot" vibe going on more than any of the others. As for graphics, heck, I still play Silent Service II on my Amiga! So SH III's graphics are fine and do their job well enough. :salute:

[Trevally.]

I would not listen to much to the reviews about SH5 from people who don't or can't play it fully modded:03:

[Sailor Steve]

As for graphics, heck, I still play Silent Service II on my Amiga!
And I still play Aces Of The Deep using DosBox. :D

I would not listen to much to the reviews about SH5 from people who don't or can't play it fully modded:03:
Very true. It's a great game and a lot of people love it.
But what I said still stands. Where's my Type II?

[Trevally.]

Very true. It's a great game and a lot of people love it.

:yeah:

But what I said still stands. Where's my Type II?

:Kaleun_Binocular:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1893539&postcount=29

Looks like you may need to get a new PC soon :D

[Sailor Steve]

:yeah:



:Kaleun_Binocular:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1893539&postcount=29

Looks like you may need to get a new PC soon :D
Will it import into SH5? So far nothing else has. You can start gloating after it's installed and playable. That may not be for months, or even years, if ever. Until then it's a great mod for SH4.

[Webster]

ok guys im new to the series and I hear a lot of complaints about sh5. why is sh4 so much better. Im thinking about buying it. Does it have better gameplay than sh5. from the videos ive seen of it the graphics are obviously older but is the gameplay that much better ?

the same was said when sh4 was released that sh3 was so much better

in truth i think its just a matter of perspective of what you are used to and the older game has better mods and most of the "issues" with it have been worked out or there are well known work arounds to them.

each game has its own plus and minus points so its only your opinion that matters


that said, sh3 and sh5 you are playing the axis side and sh4 you are playing the american side and there are mods to give you the german AND japanese sides as well so i think you should definately buy sh4 gold edition because it comes with the UBM ad-on included for the german side which is used by a mod to create the japanese side as well.

also buy it on disk NOT download version too many people have issues with the download versions if you ever need to reinstall the game

[Trevally.]

Will it import into SH5? So far nothing else has.

:hmmm: I'm sure there have been a few things imported into SH5


You can start gloating after it's installed and playable. That may not be for months, or even years, if ever. Until then it's a great mod for SH4.

:shifty: Gloating:huh:

[Sailor Steve]

:shifty: Gloating:huh:
Sorry, partly teasing.

[Trevally.]

Sorry, partly teasing.

Me too
http://www.forumsextreme.com/images2/sFun_surrender.gif

:D

[TheDarkWraith]

Will it import into SH5? So far nothing else has. You can start gloating after it's installed and playable. That may not be for months, or even years, if ever. Until then it's a great mod for SH4.

You have the ability to now with the GR2 Editor/Viewer. Someone just has to undertake the project and do it.

I see some problems with adding new playable subs to the game though. For one, the game appears to be hard-coded into which subs the player can choose from. That needs to be the first obstacle to overcome before anyone tries to add playable anything to the game.

[Sailor Steve]

I understand. I not only believe that all things may be possible with SH5, but I'm hoping so. When I make comparisons it's between what I can play today. If SH4 had been modded the way SH3 has I wouldn't be playing the older game at all. If SH5 gets to that point everything else will go on the shelf. It will have to have a crew management that's a cross between SH3's and SH4's, a full range of merchant types and all the graphics goodies of all the major SH3 supermods before I make that switch though.