MarkQuinn
03-06-06, 08:36 PM
I've been going through a Silent Hunter III crisis lately.
Don't get me wrong, I love the game. I've been waiting for a game like this --- a nuatical semi-simulation with a dynamic, evolving campaign and immersive graphics and sounds --- for a long time. When I first got it, I completely redesigned my computer desk so that everywhere you looked there was something that had to do with submarines or the sea. I also kept my notebook, a pencil, reference material and such within arms reach. I took all my other games (some 40 of them) away from their tray beneath my desk and stashed them away in a distant cabinet. Silent Hunter III would be the only game I would ever need to play (aside from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, an RPG which may not appeal to most of the naval buffs on this forum, coming out in two weeks).
My goal was to do all my patrols in real time. A daunting task, to be sure. But I wouldn't be actively PLAYING during that time. I would be reading and studying. It would be more than a game: it would be an interactive classroom where I would learn about the war while occasionally testing my virtual mettle against allied destroyers and aircraft.
How many folks here have actually played one or more patrols in real time, without using the time compression even once? To me, it's much harder than I thought.
Here's the problem. I start my campaigns in 1939. I like the Type VII so of course I start with the 7th Flotilla. That means if I wanted to play in real time I would have 3-4 days heading north and then west around the peninsula (not sure of its name) with absolutely no chance of attacking or being attacked, safe in German waters.
Yes, I could start at a later date and sail from France, cutting down on the sailing time before I get into the action. And mind you, it's not ACTION that I crave per se, but the hunt. This is important: sailing through waters in real time where at any moment you may stumble upon prey is far more exciting than sailing through safe waters where you'll find nothing --- even if, in both conditions, you sail for hours without so much as a ship siting.
Bottom line, I've learned to start using that time compression button, and usually keep it at 1024.
So what! you say. We all use it!
Well, if you use it and have no qualms about it, then you can stop reading here and you have my apologies for taking you this far. If, however, you are like me and want to extract the whole experience --- or as much as possible given the medium on which we play --- INCLUDING the boredom, perhaps you can pass along some tips, methods, hints, systems or mindsets you use to have your cake and eat it too.
The problem with time compression, at least for me, is that once you use it in a campaign, you have the tendency to become overzealous with it. Here's what I mean. You've sailed from Kiel, around the peninsula then west north west toward the British Isles and Scapa Flow. You've done it all in 1024 compression (or whatever you use), slowing down only when forced to do so by a radio message or a friendly contact. Now you're somewhere off the coast of Scotland and you finally have an enemy merchant contact. Problem is, he's 40 km away and yes, it's gonna take you a while to reach him. So what do you do? Well, you've gone this far in time compression, so why not go the rest of the way? You speed up the game and slow down to do a hydropone check only if you pass the estimated contact area without spotting him. the game slows down for a while and now, for the first time, you only BEGIN to enjoy some of the tension, some of the HUNT of a real U-Boot commander and crew as you listen silently under the waves. When your sonar man calls out the contact, and especially if he's headed away from you, of course you surface for more speed and hit that time compression button a couple times, hoping your watch crew will see him. Only when he is in sight do you prepare for your first extended period in real time as you plot your attack run. It all seems so artifical to me, like a throw away campaign. After all, you haven't invested days or weeks in this campaign, so if you miss, or if the RAF should catch you, so what? You just start again.
Last night I did an entire patrol in 45 minutes. It wasn't fun. It was "going through the motions".
Now don't get me wrong. As far as problems in games go, THIS is by far not the worst problem you can have. Afterall, how can you complain that the world is TOO big or that sailing times are TOO close to reality? Like I said, I've been wanting something like that for a long time. But now that I have it, I'm not sure exactly what to do with it.
I work 40+ hours a week, which just leaves a couple hours a day for me to play SH3 (of course I have a life outside of this also which needs tending to). I refuse to let Sh3 run for a long time when I am not there or sleeping. Not because I'm afraid I'll be sunk (I would, afterall, do it in friendly waters only), but because I can't justify leaving my PC and all it's intricate parts powered up and heating up for hours upon hours all day --- especially (and this is the irony) when time compression will get me there just the same, but in a fraction of the time.
So, to those who think the way I do, but who have had SH3 much longer than I have (I've had it for about a month), how --- if at all --- have you overcome this dilemma? Perhaps you have set rules for yourself and with great discipline told yourself you would sail up to a certain point, a certain danger zone, THEN sail in real time no matter how long you go without a contact, etc. Or perhaps you've said you would sail with time compression up until your first enemy contact, THEN gone in to real time and stayed there until the end of your 24 patrol of the designated zone. Or perhaps you've grinned, beared it, played the whole damn thing in real time and can attest that once you really get it going (and find a nice pasttime for yourself), it's really not so agonizngly bad.
I know boredom was a problem on long patrols. But on long patrols, men had jobs to do to pass the time. They also had friendships and camaraderie and systems that needed attended to. All we have are a few two dimensional screens and the repetition of our officer's animations. It's a different kind of boredom, suited perhaps for a five hour gaming session, but certainly NOT suited for a 10 day patrol.
Any thoughts?
MQ
Don't get me wrong, I love the game. I've been waiting for a game like this --- a nuatical semi-simulation with a dynamic, evolving campaign and immersive graphics and sounds --- for a long time. When I first got it, I completely redesigned my computer desk so that everywhere you looked there was something that had to do with submarines or the sea. I also kept my notebook, a pencil, reference material and such within arms reach. I took all my other games (some 40 of them) away from their tray beneath my desk and stashed them away in a distant cabinet. Silent Hunter III would be the only game I would ever need to play (aside from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, an RPG which may not appeal to most of the naval buffs on this forum, coming out in two weeks).
My goal was to do all my patrols in real time. A daunting task, to be sure. But I wouldn't be actively PLAYING during that time. I would be reading and studying. It would be more than a game: it would be an interactive classroom where I would learn about the war while occasionally testing my virtual mettle against allied destroyers and aircraft.
How many folks here have actually played one or more patrols in real time, without using the time compression even once? To me, it's much harder than I thought.
Here's the problem. I start my campaigns in 1939. I like the Type VII so of course I start with the 7th Flotilla. That means if I wanted to play in real time I would have 3-4 days heading north and then west around the peninsula (not sure of its name) with absolutely no chance of attacking or being attacked, safe in German waters.
Yes, I could start at a later date and sail from France, cutting down on the sailing time before I get into the action. And mind you, it's not ACTION that I crave per se, but the hunt. This is important: sailing through waters in real time where at any moment you may stumble upon prey is far more exciting than sailing through safe waters where you'll find nothing --- even if, in both conditions, you sail for hours without so much as a ship siting.
Bottom line, I've learned to start using that time compression button, and usually keep it at 1024.
So what! you say. We all use it!
Well, if you use it and have no qualms about it, then you can stop reading here and you have my apologies for taking you this far. If, however, you are like me and want to extract the whole experience --- or as much as possible given the medium on which we play --- INCLUDING the boredom, perhaps you can pass along some tips, methods, hints, systems or mindsets you use to have your cake and eat it too.
The problem with time compression, at least for me, is that once you use it in a campaign, you have the tendency to become overzealous with it. Here's what I mean. You've sailed from Kiel, around the peninsula then west north west toward the British Isles and Scapa Flow. You've done it all in 1024 compression (or whatever you use), slowing down only when forced to do so by a radio message or a friendly contact. Now you're somewhere off the coast of Scotland and you finally have an enemy merchant contact. Problem is, he's 40 km away and yes, it's gonna take you a while to reach him. So what do you do? Well, you've gone this far in time compression, so why not go the rest of the way? You speed up the game and slow down to do a hydropone check only if you pass the estimated contact area without spotting him. the game slows down for a while and now, for the first time, you only BEGIN to enjoy some of the tension, some of the HUNT of a real U-Boot commander and crew as you listen silently under the waves. When your sonar man calls out the contact, and especially if he's headed away from you, of course you surface for more speed and hit that time compression button a couple times, hoping your watch crew will see him. Only when he is in sight do you prepare for your first extended period in real time as you plot your attack run. It all seems so artifical to me, like a throw away campaign. After all, you haven't invested days or weeks in this campaign, so if you miss, or if the RAF should catch you, so what? You just start again.
Last night I did an entire patrol in 45 minutes. It wasn't fun. It was "going through the motions".
Now don't get me wrong. As far as problems in games go, THIS is by far not the worst problem you can have. Afterall, how can you complain that the world is TOO big or that sailing times are TOO close to reality? Like I said, I've been wanting something like that for a long time. But now that I have it, I'm not sure exactly what to do with it.
I work 40+ hours a week, which just leaves a couple hours a day for me to play SH3 (of course I have a life outside of this also which needs tending to). I refuse to let Sh3 run for a long time when I am not there or sleeping. Not because I'm afraid I'll be sunk (I would, afterall, do it in friendly waters only), but because I can't justify leaving my PC and all it's intricate parts powered up and heating up for hours upon hours all day --- especially (and this is the irony) when time compression will get me there just the same, but in a fraction of the time.
So, to those who think the way I do, but who have had SH3 much longer than I have (I've had it for about a month), how --- if at all --- have you overcome this dilemma? Perhaps you have set rules for yourself and with great discipline told yourself you would sail up to a certain point, a certain danger zone, THEN sail in real time no matter how long you go without a contact, etc. Or perhaps you've said you would sail with time compression up until your first enemy contact, THEN gone in to real time and stayed there until the end of your 24 patrol of the designated zone. Or perhaps you've grinned, beared it, played the whole damn thing in real time and can attest that once you really get it going (and find a nice pasttime for yourself), it's really not so agonizngly bad.
I know boredom was a problem on long patrols. But on long patrols, men had jobs to do to pass the time. They also had friendships and camaraderie and systems that needed attended to. All we have are a few two dimensional screens and the repetition of our officer's animations. It's a different kind of boredom, suited perhaps for a five hour gaming session, but certainly NOT suited for a 10 day patrol.
Any thoughts?
MQ