Adaru
05-12-06, 05:55 AM
Just thought I'd say hi, as a new forum user, and a mere dabbler in Silent Hunter III. I've been playing more or less since release but (shame) I've never really got that far into the game. There are one or two opinions I've formed and one or two questions that've sprung to mind, and I'm going to apologise in advance if any of them are "oh ye gods not again" triggers. If any of the points are covered in the manual, which I'm fairly sure I've read through, then I'll walk the plank willingly. And I don't mind admitting that where I'm judging this game, it's with comparison to "Perfect Submarine/Naval Simulator", which is a game that, to my knowledge, exists only in my head, where it's trapped for all time due to my abject lack of programming skills.
So call this an uninformed ramble and ignore it if you like. ;)
Well, the first thing that struck me was what a gorgeous game it is. I suppose in any diesel/electric sub sim where a lot of the action is going to be on the surface, graphics become a bit more important. But I must admit I've always been a little disappointed with the likes of Sub Command and the screenshots I've seen for Dangerous Waters, because to me the ocean still looks like a flat tabletop. I want to feel like I'm at sea. Or at least have my imagination helped along a bit. But with the 'modern' sub sims there're no decent waves, wakes, splashes or spray, underwater effects seem limited to light ripples on the hulls, and so on. Explosions in Sub Command and Dangerous Waters look, well, like flat blocky graphics laid across the ship model. SH3 seems to take a step towards a more realistic portrayal of the sea, the ships and the activity, and that can't be a bad thing. It actually compares to the jump from "688 Attack Sub" to "Aces of the Deep" - which was the first sim I saw that did actual waves. And I was always impressed with Ilan Papini's 'Virtual Sailor' series, that allow you to take submarines and submersibles to sea, and which do cool effects like dropping the light level right off as you go deeper (and all that needs adding are a few more bubbles. Bubble are important). Of course, they don't allow you to track a career as a wartime sub captain, but still.
The dynamic campaign is great. Set missions are so limiting, and the point of a sailing game should be the freedom of the seas. I've never quite seen what developers have against dynamic campaigns. The early Amiga and PC Microprose flight simulations like "F-19 Stealth Fighter" all randomly-generated missions and didn't suffer for it. Players would still buy the next game because they knew it'd offer more than just more missions, like better graphics, sound and physics.
The staff management system is a nice idea, but I think it needs some work. For example, most subs - most ships, in fact, and I'd imagine this was the case in WW2 - run a rotating shift system so that everyone gets some rest. In SH3, while you can rotate crew through the bunks, you have to move each crewmember individually. If there was (or is) a way to assign them to groups and order rest periods and suchlike in groups then I'd be happier.
I love the fact that you can start off in, and leave, port. May not seem a big deal to some, but if anyone's seen "Crimson Tide" (let's face it, you've ALL seen "Crimson Tide", right?) they'll have seen that bit at the beginning where the boat's getting ready to sail, and prior to diving... I love that. Or in Star Trek where the Enterprise is maneouvring out of space dock, and there's just something so... hell, I don't know what it is. Just something, all right? And being able to sail back in, either triumphantly or defiantly depending how it's gone (usually knackeredly, in my experience, if that's a word). It's great. The only that that BUGS me is not having buildings, jetties, harbour walls and suchlike marked on the map, meaning that the whole thing can become a bit of a gamble. A command set for the navigator, "depart" or "dock", would have been the SH3 equivalent of Elite's docking computer and would have made me happy indeed. Especially at...
NIGHT. Yes, night. Night, as we know, is a fact of life. It's one of the consequences of living on a round planet that goes round and round and round and... Yes, well. The trouble is that night's so damn dark. Even when the moon's up. All you can really see is wake. Because, aside from searchlights (which are very groovily done, by the way, especially when you're looking from your boat across a waters at them: the reflections - mmm-MMM...), NOTHING has any lights on it. There're light beacons on the harbours, granted, and lit-up building windows, although they don't give you much clue. There're no other harbour lights, your boat has no lights that you can use (as far as I know), you've got running lights that never switch on (yes, I know you don't want to be seen sometimes, but then you switch them off)...
Or have I missed a whole world of commands and been playing the game for months in total darkness without just cause? That would be a classic comedy moment to rank with Del Boy and that bloody bar (i.e., not funny in the slightest :D ).
Then there's the guilt. Stupid as it sounds, I feel sort of ashamed when I sail into Scapa Flow (I have family in Orkney) and torpedo ships in the bay. I get guilt as I watch the ships keel over and disappear. I know you readers can't do much about that. But it's funny that with "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Seadogs" I was complaining that they weren't set in the real world, whereas with this one I'd rather it was set somewhere else, some fictitious ocean with 'Red' and 'Blue' sides, where I didn't really have to care. :-?
Ah, well. Last thing, and then I'll shut up. Really. Reporting contacts: Am I supposed to do this after every sinking, after every sighting, or is it optional? I presume I'll give a full report after the patrol anyway - do I gain anything from reporting as I go? There are a couple more questions I wanted to ask but I've forgotten what they were, and besides, I've used up far too much space already.
Sorry.
So call this an uninformed ramble and ignore it if you like. ;)
Well, the first thing that struck me was what a gorgeous game it is. I suppose in any diesel/electric sub sim where a lot of the action is going to be on the surface, graphics become a bit more important. But I must admit I've always been a little disappointed with the likes of Sub Command and the screenshots I've seen for Dangerous Waters, because to me the ocean still looks like a flat tabletop. I want to feel like I'm at sea. Or at least have my imagination helped along a bit. But with the 'modern' sub sims there're no decent waves, wakes, splashes or spray, underwater effects seem limited to light ripples on the hulls, and so on. Explosions in Sub Command and Dangerous Waters look, well, like flat blocky graphics laid across the ship model. SH3 seems to take a step towards a more realistic portrayal of the sea, the ships and the activity, and that can't be a bad thing. It actually compares to the jump from "688 Attack Sub" to "Aces of the Deep" - which was the first sim I saw that did actual waves. And I was always impressed with Ilan Papini's 'Virtual Sailor' series, that allow you to take submarines and submersibles to sea, and which do cool effects like dropping the light level right off as you go deeper (and all that needs adding are a few more bubbles. Bubble are important). Of course, they don't allow you to track a career as a wartime sub captain, but still.
The dynamic campaign is great. Set missions are so limiting, and the point of a sailing game should be the freedom of the seas. I've never quite seen what developers have against dynamic campaigns. The early Amiga and PC Microprose flight simulations like "F-19 Stealth Fighter" all randomly-generated missions and didn't suffer for it. Players would still buy the next game because they knew it'd offer more than just more missions, like better graphics, sound and physics.
The staff management system is a nice idea, but I think it needs some work. For example, most subs - most ships, in fact, and I'd imagine this was the case in WW2 - run a rotating shift system so that everyone gets some rest. In SH3, while you can rotate crew through the bunks, you have to move each crewmember individually. If there was (or is) a way to assign them to groups and order rest periods and suchlike in groups then I'd be happier.
I love the fact that you can start off in, and leave, port. May not seem a big deal to some, but if anyone's seen "Crimson Tide" (let's face it, you've ALL seen "Crimson Tide", right?) they'll have seen that bit at the beginning where the boat's getting ready to sail, and prior to diving... I love that. Or in Star Trek where the Enterprise is maneouvring out of space dock, and there's just something so... hell, I don't know what it is. Just something, all right? And being able to sail back in, either triumphantly or defiantly depending how it's gone (usually knackeredly, in my experience, if that's a word). It's great. The only that that BUGS me is not having buildings, jetties, harbour walls and suchlike marked on the map, meaning that the whole thing can become a bit of a gamble. A command set for the navigator, "depart" or "dock", would have been the SH3 equivalent of Elite's docking computer and would have made me happy indeed. Especially at...
NIGHT. Yes, night. Night, as we know, is a fact of life. It's one of the consequences of living on a round planet that goes round and round and round and... Yes, well. The trouble is that night's so damn dark. Even when the moon's up. All you can really see is wake. Because, aside from searchlights (which are very groovily done, by the way, especially when you're looking from your boat across a waters at them: the reflections - mmm-MMM...), NOTHING has any lights on it. There're light beacons on the harbours, granted, and lit-up building windows, although they don't give you much clue. There're no other harbour lights, your boat has no lights that you can use (as far as I know), you've got running lights that never switch on (yes, I know you don't want to be seen sometimes, but then you switch them off)...
Or have I missed a whole world of commands and been playing the game for months in total darkness without just cause? That would be a classic comedy moment to rank with Del Boy and that bloody bar (i.e., not funny in the slightest :D ).
Then there's the guilt. Stupid as it sounds, I feel sort of ashamed when I sail into Scapa Flow (I have family in Orkney) and torpedo ships in the bay. I get guilt as I watch the ships keel over and disappear. I know you readers can't do much about that. But it's funny that with "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Seadogs" I was complaining that they weren't set in the real world, whereas with this one I'd rather it was set somewhere else, some fictitious ocean with 'Red' and 'Blue' sides, where I didn't really have to care. :-?
Ah, well. Last thing, and then I'll shut up. Really. Reporting contacts: Am I supposed to do this after every sinking, after every sighting, or is it optional? I presume I'll give a full report after the patrol anyway - do I gain anything from reporting as I go? There are a couple more questions I wanted to ask but I've forgotten what they were, and besides, I've used up far too much space already.
Sorry.