i need a break

[msumpsi]

Hi all,

i was just wondreing, arent you guys tired of sinking ships? It has been a very fun game, developing the skills up to the way that you can play with no external camara, no map contacts updates, manual targeting, an full realism, but it get comes a point in which one starts to wonder why am i attracke to horror, which is what wars are, and one starts to feel the need for love,... happy chrismas.

[MinskMariner]

To address your first point, I had the same realization back in 2003 or so when SHII was still the latest and greatest. I took a 5+ year break from subsims and am getting back into them again (on and off) recently. I like learning about the details of commanding a submarine which SH and games like it encourage. It's also a way of keeping the memory of the WWII submariners alive and having fun while doing it. But once you learn "everything" in a game like SH4, the limitation becomes the AI.

I wish developers would make a great multiplayer model for subsims. SHO is encouraging in the sense that it may spur new ideas for multiplayer in subsims (if done right, of course). Ideally, I think they would work on the Destroyer Command / SHII model as that seems like the most promising multiplayer scenario. In my opinion, unless you're pitting your skills against an equally-matched (or better) human player, enjoyment of a game is going to plateau. That's why I prefer combat flight sims like Aces High and IL-2 slightly over subsims.

As to your second point, I do agree with you that there is a small amount of morbidity about "reenacting" warfare in a computer game. But war brings out the worst and the best in men. What attracts me to aviation and naval history (and simulations) is the courage, comradeship, and skill exhibited by airmen and submariners in the stories I have read and heard about. Ultimately, we're simulating the skill involved in skippering a boat and the sport of outwitting an opponent (albeit a computer one). I doubt many people here are seeking to recreate the "horror" of war while playing SH4 (although, I will admit, waiting out a terrible depth charge in my comfy chair is entertaining) :ping:

Just my two cents.

[IonicRipper]

I felt the same about a year ago. I just recently started playing SH4 again. Maybe that's just what you need.

[Cybermat47]

Yeah, I'm taking a break from SH5. After a while of sailing around the place and sinking helpless ships (Hit them where they're vulnerable, I say!), you want some immediate action. And there's also the fact that I stopped playing a week before Halo 4 came out so I could spend some time getting reacquainted :sunny:

And as for those of you who play subsims and only subsims, hats off to you!

[Armistead]

I played a lot for a few years, now it's off and on, probably played once in 3 months. Prefer now to play with game files...

[AVGWarhawk]

I most certainly take a break. I enjoy other games. As engrossing as SH can be there are other games that are as engrossing.

[Peter Cremer]

I have been playing sub sims ever since I started with Silent Service on an Atari 1040st (wow! 1 whole meg of memory!). Currently I play and switch between SH3-SH4-SH5. I will play a lot of hours a day for weeks then just stop for a few weeks. I don't do it until I am fed up with playing because that would probably be the end of it. I play other things. My score in Bejeweled 3 is past 6 1/2 million (somebody take that game away from me). I also play Stalker CP, Red Orchestra 2, Left for Dead, and other time wasters (Solitaire). The point is, if you burn yourself out on any type of sim or game you will start to hate the sight of it. Take a break from SH and just pretend that you have been given 30 days leave in the home country.:Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

[Railgun]

well

I had a break recently after hearing the following report after stalking a small convoy with troopships . Got into position and fired four fish, to hear :

Dannggg .........Torpedo is a dud, Sir
Dannngg.............Torpedo is a dud, Sir.
Dannngg ...............Torpedo is a dud, Sir.
Dannngg ....................Torpedo is a dud, Sir .

Really, It happened.: all due to his last minute turn away from me making the angle for contact torps a fail.

I decided to head to port after that for 6 months of Skyrim !

[She-Wolf]

ah! I am not alone then. Somehow I feel a bit 'unfaithful' playing other games, but I think you need to be in the right mood to play a certain type of game. I come back to Silent Hunter when something nasty has frightened the socks off me in Fallout or Stalker - I know nothing nasty is going to jump out at me in the middle of the Pacific; in fact I am the 'nasty' about to pop up in the middle of a convoy... I don't think quickly, which is why subsims suit me and Call of Duty and Arma II do not get much play-time, but sometimes I just want to do NICE things, and then I play Sims 3 so I can make some poor penniless sim happy ( I am a girl after all).....

[MarkCt]

I go back to Forgotten Hope when I want to battle against live players which keeps me in the WWII era.

[TorpX]

... but I think you need to be in the right mood to play a certain type of game.
This is very true.

Often, I would forgo playing SH4 because to do an approach and manually plot it takes some time and requires me to be fully alert and on the ball. Thank god for save games.

I made the mistake of starting a game of War In The Pacific awhile ago. I want to finish it, so I can get back to SH4. It is waaaay too long. With SH4, you can do a patrol, then take a break for a while without losing the continuity of the game. I don't consider WitP, to be so user friendly.

[fireftr18]

I have several games I like. When I start to get tired of one, I can go to another. No certain order or time frame, just what I feel like doing at the time. My wife and son like some of the games too and we sometimes play them together.

msumpsi, about your statement of why we like war games so much. A flight sim I had many years ago put it the best, in fact so well I was actually able to remember the point. It was a disclamer about why war was used for a video game. It went on to mention the horrors of war, the drain on resources, destruction of lives, property, environment, etc. It then went on to answer the question. It provides the ultimate shooting gallery. Think of a war sim as a shooting range. Then instead of a stationary target, the target is moving, not just in two dimensions, but three. Then you're moving in three dimensions also. Add to that you're target is shooting back at you. So you see, all we're doing is shooting water pistols at plastic targets that are shooting water pistols back at us. The visual and sound effects are nothing more than an entertaining means to tell us we hit the target.

[Webster]

you have turned it into a chore you have to work at so just like in loving you need some variety to keep it interesting so mix it up with some "just blowin stuff up" on auto targetting and single missions from time to time.

sure its challenging for manual targetting and plotting intercepts but if thats all you do then once you get good at it you lose interest because the challenge has been conquered.

this is why i play both manual and auto targetting as well as career and lots of fast action single missions so i dont spend hours playing and i dont lose interest or the excitement of the game

[msumpsi]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts an feelings about it. I do think it is a great game.