I liked SHIV so much that i changed back to SHIII. Playing SHIII at 100% gives me more than SHIV.

I have tried SHIII with mods and found it a bit boring. Although I realize one could go weeks without a target opportunity in real life. Also I disliked having to rest my crew as though i were a baby sitter rather than a sub skipper. I enjoy SH4 much more and the graphics are better IMO.

Its the same now, my XO should be running the sub, not me. There was one instance where I had forgotten to cancel battle stations and the sub refused to run; the entire crew were all asleep!!!

I loved SH3, with the exception of the crew management. That drove me crazy. I loved the progressive difficulty, though... knowing that the Germans lost the war, and how spectacularly bad the end of the war was for the Uboats. It presents more of a challenge, psychologically.

That being said, I haven't gotten to play a late war career yet in SH4. Inevitably, someone updates a mod, and I create a new early war career. :hmmm:

Its just as well the war ended when it did, as German U Boat development had the giant electric subs on the way. It could have given them the upper hand again as in 40 - 42.

Why nobody mentions that SH3 loved to forget your career, especially and most cruelly when you have a couple of weeks of gameplay invested in it is beyond me. I remember there was a long list of things to avoid in saving that would supposedly make this less frequent: no saving near land, with ANYTHING within any kind of sensor range, never under water, must be facing Mecca, wearing garlic necklace, etc. That chased me to SH4 and I've never looked back or lost a career since.

"Its just as well the war ended when it did, as German U Boat development had the giant electric subs on the way.
It could have given them the upper hand again as in 40 - 42."


even with the type 21 operational, they still had no chance to win, ww2 was just not limited to sea battles, the british, russian and american armies were all over europe,
roaming where ever they pleased, attacking, 360,000 germans surrendered in the ruhr encirclement, no chance after that.

they had thier tigers, panthers, and king tigers, against the junk shermans, still they had no chance.

and as far as the type two one, the american navy by the end of the war was not dependent on depth charges.

the type 21 would have been blown out of the water, by homing torpedoes, and sonobuey triangulation, and i doubt allied technology would have frozen from fear of the 21.


now japan would have been a different matter, japanese didnt surrender like the germans did. the allied armies would have been victorious, but devastated by an invasion of japan,
you have to read the accounts of iwo jima, Peleliu, when the japanese changed thier war tactics, tarawa, these small little islands, little specs on the ocean, my high school was almost as large as tarawa,
but the intensity of these fights was incredible, and the casualties enormous, thier may not have been an allied troop left to declare victory in japan.

japan by far was the tougher enemy, therefore i respect them more, germany didnt need to get nuked to end the war there, japan did.

and to be honest, if i had to fight in a war today, i would rather share a foxhole with a japanese soldier or marine, than a german.

aside from that, i enjoyed both sh3 and sh4.

Besides post war analysis of the Type XX1 showed some significant design flaws that would have prevented it being the Uber sub so many think.

Good point, RR.

I think what the Type XXI fanboys often forget is that the Allies were already winning simply by routing the vast majority of convoys out of the path of the U-Boats, uber or otherwise. Breaking the codes and reading the Kriegsmarine's mail was what ultimately won the Battle of the Atlantic.

Christ, this is getting ugly.

How was the jump? Imagine if you would a C-130 at 40000# feet. You are at the door of the fuselage and Sgt Slaughter is yelling at you to jump. Just as you leap you spy your parachute on the bench right were you left it:o This is how it felt with SH4 straight out of the box. Currently the corrective patch and 1.5 have afforded you a new parachute already attached to your back. The mods for both the fleet and u boats have made that parachute into a paraglider which is a hell-of-a-lot more fun than just a plain old parachute.

Anyway, there are mods for both u boats and fleets. All are great to use and enjoy. Do not be afraid to jump because the ride now is great and enjoyable. Plus it is something new to play and explore. RSRD/OM are very creative. TMO/RFB are very creative. All the smaller mods that are available make it just that much more enjoyable.

Let's put it this way. If you have SH4, you have a supermods choice of Trigger Maru Overhauled, Real Fleet Boat, Run Silent Run Deep (alone or in combination with the two previous), Fall of the Rising Sun, Game Fixes Only, CA 24-F and Operation Monsun.

With SH3 you have GWX, GWX, GWX and GWX.

All other things being equal, the best game experience will come from the healthiest modding scene. SH4 wins hands down in that department with a varied, cooperative and vigorous mod squad.

I'm really interested in details on those Type XXI design flaws. Never read that before. It isn't unexpected, but is a surprise to me.

it wasnt so much design flaws but rather poor workmanship due to rushed production

a very small number passed quality control so to speak most were left in dry dock for more work

constant allied bombing raids on yards and critical material shortages didnt help the type xxi much either:nope:

Yup that allied bombing played heck with the production schedules.:haha: