Just a slight correction to this, as I believe it was usually the XO or communications officer who decoded the encrypted message, not the captain. The captain was usually a pretty busy guy, so many of these types of tasks were delegated down to the other officers. Heck, even the writing of the patrol report was usually done primarily by the XO.

From what I've read these were the officers: (Clay Blair's Silent Victory)

1. The Captain
2. Executive Officer (also served as Navigator)
3. Engineer and Diving Officer
4. Communications and Commissary Officer
5. Torpedo and Gunnery Officer

I really enjoy the submarine bits
 

All the obsession with Yamato, battleships, aircraft, and major surface actions makes me a little wary of the devs interest in subs. I've seen more screens of the Battle off Samar and Taffy III than of subs in action. OK, enough ranting against BB's.

We are going to get 2 large and very detailed compartments in place of the several small cabins we had in SH3. Everyone, who's actually seen it, has been very reluctant to mention what stations are modeled in these 2 compartments (Conning Tower & Control Room). Ubi staff have refused to say, even when directly asked. Looking very closely at the screens so far, I guess that we will have about 5 stations instead of the 11 that we had in SH3. So, that is about half as many interior spaces.

I believe I've seen 5 distinct modeled spaces:

Main control room
Dive Planes Station in control room
Auxilary Helm in control room
Conning Tower
Radar Station in conning Tower

I have the impression that SH4 uses the free roam camera much more to move around and to reach controls and instruments, rather than clicking on crew (Nav, Weapons, Engineer/Dive Officer, Sonar man, Radio/Radar operator) to enter their specific interactive spaces.

Does anyone know what interior spaces are modeled and if the list of the 5 above is even close to being accurate?

In the original Silent Hunter the captain's cabin was pretty useful. It had a calendar pinned to a wall with information about the times of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset and the moon phases. This information is very important when planning a night attack.

I agree that the data was useful, but it didn't necessarily have to be located in the captain's cabin. I played SH1 last night via DosBox, and having to go to the cabin to check what time the sun set and the moon rose was, well, a bit silly. The information could have been placed on another screen, such as the chart screen. So for SH4, I would think that a more logical place would be having a calendar hanging in the control room or conning tower. That way, as soon as you get the contact information, you can call up the sun/moon data ASAP. I guess what I'm saying is, I would prefer efficiency over emersion when accessing this data.

I like having a capt's cabin.

I can put the game at 1x, set my guy in there, and read a book.

It was cool in SH1 checking your log and having a calander, but I've discussed this before.

Lets be fair, considering what GWX did for SH3 without the SDK, imagine what would be possible with it!

I like the idea of the Chess or something, would be a good way to wittle down the time during slow periods, especialy while your being death charged. :rotfl:

I think these are some great arguments for the case of adding a captains bunk. I have said before in one of the numerous wish-threads that there was reading material on board for doing things manually that'd help pass the time, instead of using the internet which lacks in realism. I like the games idea too, nothing like a game of Texas Hold Em aboard the USS Stingray :rock:

I signed up JUST so i could say this...

What a great idea! I "know" this is a simulation but the idea of a mini game (like decoding messages) is often forgotten in the serious world of simulation. I like this decoding idea. Mayb one day we will have the option of decoding the "for captain's eyes only messages".

Well, all I can say to that is:


WELCOME ABOARD!

Very good points. :yep: it could serve as an administrative station in the sub,
with a safe with radio codes and secret operations missions only opened when you received a doble coded radio , data about your crew men.. .
in this case it could be very useful.

But a empty cabin withouth any funcionality don´t improve gameplay

We might be losing the captains cabin, but in a sense, we are gaining the control room. In SH3 the room is basically worthless, but in SH4 our attacks will take place there, and with the sonar and radar operators there, it will be a busy place....

I think you mean "depth charged." Ummmm I hope you meant that. :doh:

Uh yea I meant that...

*remembers that time a a battleship charged at him while he was 75 feet under*

All i can say, is we'd better be able to manually use the hydrophones.

I could care less about staring at an empty bed, but i HAVE to be able to do my soundchecks myself.

On US SUbs the attack station was in the conning tower. Scopes, radar, sonar, and TDC were all there. The captain and his fire control team were all crowded in there.

I read somewhere that SH4 was going to have a lot of music and maybe even Tokyo Rose ... Now where would you listen to that at?

How about a wardroom or even a crew's mess ... :hmm:

hmm leavin these details out turning the sim into just eye candy ? and more of a game?? than a sim? 1x playin cpt quaters in sh3 is a spot for when im readin a book while playin and to be -into- the sh3 SIMULATOR little details? or huge mistakes?

Capt. Jack, excuse me for a stupid typo. That is what I meant. In SH3, it never made sense to use the conning tower, since there were no instruments there, outside of the attack scope, and all controls were in the control room. Now, in SH4, the conning tower, there will be plenty of action... which means, to me, in a way, we are gaining a room.