Welcome back!
 

I have specifically seen, inside the last month, at least two or three items that I have flagged in forum posts addressed by the devs. They deserve much praise.

I still find the game UI somewhat clunky to operate imo.

1. Having to hold ALT when trying to operate the sub in periscope mode is a huge bugbear of mine. Turns out it's a toggle switch now. Not sure how long it's been that way, but I'm glad I realised this.
2. Periscopes move on their own when not in focus, presumably because the officer is moving it, but it is frustrating when switching views to come back and it's moved. Turns out this was caused by a mod.
3. Rotation speed of the periscopes is slow. I get that you can zoom out and then hold shift, but it's just more steps to go through, and you can't do that with binoculars.
4. When the boat moves the periscope moves to maintain heading, rather than maintaining relative bearing with the uboat (there is mod that fixes this but it also breaks locking onto target which may or may not be a good thing depending on how you play).
5. No way to get regular continued updates from watchmen or hydrophone operators on the target's bearing.

Also the lack of attack disk, RAOBF, and correction charts is a pain if you're trying to do manual torpedo solutions or interceptions. There is a mod for the attack disk which is welcome even if not perfect (such as how it can't be opened from map screen and the compass doesn't self align) but I would LOVE an RAOBF!



I also really don't like how ships sink in 10seconds. I tried realistic ship sinking mod but that just seemed to make the ships point their bow out of the water toward the sky each time and never fully sink. Perhaps that will get fixed by the modder.



Oh and one more thing, that is kind of a shame, although not a deal breaker. The way the ship floats on the waves as well as dives and surfaces just doesn't look right to me. I'm no expert, and maybe I'm wrong, but I will say that I can watch the boat in SH3 ride the waves for long periods of time just because it looks so realistic (physics wise, not gfx) but I don't get the same joy when watching it in this game.



This whole post sounds negative af, but please be assured I do think there is a relatively good game here. Most of my complaints are likely because I'm used to a certain style of play in SH3. If I treat UBOAT as a slightly more casual sub sim with a greater focus on crew & crisis management then I think it really shines.

I've been following the development for a while and I'm very happy to see the release!
I bought the game and I'm going to start playing it as soon as I get back from vacation!

[QUOTE=jlc930;2918268]So, are people here also seeing this early announcement of the final release as good news? But it’s only good news if you think the game is already perfect... Because for sure, in two weeks after leaving the Beta stage, the devs will not start to work more on it. . . :haha:

I generally try to avoid absolutist statements such as the one I am about to write, but....................

The above may be the most divorced-from-the-truth observation I have ever seen in any forum.

U Boat is a masterpiece.

Hey,


I haven't played around much with UBOAT, but is the TDC manual only, or is there an option for the weapons officer to do it, like in SH3 and SH4. I've never really been interested in doing it manually and just let the game do it for me.


CW


:arrgh!:

Not only can you assign crew to the task, but you can level them up with skills to do it better/faster as they gain experience.

Not so…hardcore
 

Hi to all

So to summarize. Is SH5 modded with wolfs of steel megamod still above this…let’s say good try but a bit off ? Taking into account the prize in steam until mid agoust…not sure If wanna give it a try though. Still consider myself a bit hardcore sailor.

You can buy the game, read the game manual 200+ pages and see if the features are good enough for you.Then test the game 2 hours and if you dont like it refund it and get the money again.

This is so subjective, but for me? No subsim or mod is above this. UBOAT is my top sub sim yet, and I revere some of the others, plus mods. UBOAT is that, plus adds many things that SH left out.


The campaign is great, the map is dynamic and beautifully done. Friendly boats at sea ask for assistance, vector you in to targets with beacon signals, attack and sink ships, divide escorts' attention. Their density and behavior may need to be tweaked, but this checks off one of my biggest wish-list items form SH.


Upgrades and tech are nicely handled. Awards system is better than SH, which always sucked anyway. The crew are functional, and have routines, rather than like in SH where they stand in the right spots and point at things convincingly, but is really just smoke and mirrors. In UBOAT they operate machinery, serve as medics, cook, sleep and play cards. Provisioning your boat for patrol includes food, which affects morale, or discipline as it is called here.


I try to avoid calling one or the other 'better' as it will invariably come down to our own preferences and biases. But for me, UBOAT is the closest we have come yet to what I want in a submarine sim.

My opinion is that it's not as good as Silent Hunter if you're looking for something to simulate the hunt. The lack of tools (like an RAOBF) and lack of charts, as well as how the interface works (like having to move officers to a station before you can use it) makes manual hunting a bit tedious in this game imo. Plus there's way too few ship types, and they all sink roughly the same way in about 20 seconds or less.


However, if you turn on map contacts and play the game more like an RTS than a serious sub sim I think that's when it shines, and it's a lot of fun when played that way. Definitely worth the current price discount.

Good to know. :Kaleun_Salute:

CW
:arrgh!:

It's tremendously unfair to compare release Uboat with the very few release-compatible mods available right now, with a game series which best version of (SH3) dates back to 20 years and has a tremendous assortment of excellent mods that bring it's quality up to an amazing level during the whole time it's been out.

You can't expect a dev team of a handful of guys to compete with a game developed by a gaming studio backed by one of the publishing giants of the game industry (scumbags as they are, Ubisoft is a powerhouse), and then upkept by a legion of excellent passionate modders during the course of two decades.

Just compare the base versions. Which of both, is, in your opinion, the much better u-boat subsim?. Uboat, or SH3, or SH5?... With no mods, just the base product.

For me the answer is clear. Wait some time for modders to do their thing. Just to put an instance: Give a team like the one that developed GWX for Silent Hunter the same time they took to develop their megamod, to work in an Uboat Megamod. What do you think that would look like?. The result would make Uboat laugh (loudly) about any Silent Hunter iteration. Because the base game modders have to work with is so much better to begin with. As simple as that.

So I would plead everyone to stop comparing any of the ultra-modded SH games with a just-released Uboat because that's just not fair. Compare their base versions, or just give time for the modders to do what they did with Silent Hunter. The base to work with in Uboat is so much better than it ever was with SH that it ain't even funny.

look long-term, chaps. And again remember, this wasn't developed with Ubisoft backing as a publisher (THANK GOD!, but also means a lot less resources available), but by a tiny indie developer. The fact we have something this good from a team that small should be enough to be jumping in happiness. Of course the game isn't perfect, of course there are a lot of things to improve. Of course the UI can feel better or worse, but the OVERALL product, come on, guys, is really really good as a starting point, and coming from the limited resources the developers had to work with.

You dont have the RAOBF (probably someone will do a mod) but you have more instruments simulated better than any SH game (the torpedo computer, echosounder...)

In uboat you can do everything you do in SH (and a lot more things) and the hunt is more realistic, you have help of other uboats, orders from bdu to track specific ships or convoys, you can be radio signaled to track enemy etc...

The sunking times are being changed by the developers (but there is already a mod that do it) and we will have more ships soon when the mods are updated (there is a mod with +70 ships and two more with +40 airplanes) and sure with more dlcs.

Uboat is second to none right now in the simulation aspect plus it has other casual options to play it and they are fun too.

I don't see how or why anyone will make such a mod. RAOFB was only present in very early uboats. Periscopes manufactured during WW2 didn't have it, so it would be anachronistic (and unrealistic) to have them on board a wartime U-boat.

To each their own, but things like charts and tools are only a matter of time. If you look at the bones in this one, for me, it surpasses what Silent Hunter is. The finer things are coming, if not already available as mods. With proper seasoning it will be far beyond what SH has achieved, but that's only my opinion, man :)


Playing a dead is dead career and we have reached August of 1941 (71% difficulty, started on VIIB U-48). Now command U-410 out of La Rochelle. It is the most fun I've had in a sub sim campaign, and that is some stiff competition. Despite what I'm writing, I love Silent Hunter like the rest of you. UBOAT though has become my top submarine sim.

Because people likes to do mods doesnt matter if they are unrealistic, and perhaps someone coming from SH3 thinks it is a good idea to replicate it

It's surprising how little chatter there is about this game here at subsim of all places. I hope it picks up.

You have on steam the game and the workshop so the forum on steam gather uboat players. Most of silent hunter players who gather here dont know about the uboat reality at 2024, they think it is still the game it was in 2019 a casual game sim lite. It can be if you want but also can be a hardcore simulation if you chose the right options and mods.But they dont know or dont want to know.

The steam forums though has been wild last days, a lot of new and returning people after the release posting a lot. The numbers of concurrent players has gone to 7k almost x7 the numbers we had before the realese at peak times.

It's perfectly fair to compare. What wouldn't be fair is to say that UBOAT will never be as good. Because like you, I imagine it's going to get modded over time to the point where it is clearly superior.


I even heard that the dev is working on sinking physics next, so that'll be another great addition.


But right now, I find modded SH3 a much smoother experience when hunting down targets without map contacts on and doing manual torp solutions. And considering I have the option to play it, then comparing is fine imo.



It's just my opinion, not a verifiably factual statement. And don't get me wrong, I'm having a lot of fun with UBOAT right now. I just personally find the flow of GWX SH3 easier in terms of play-ability when hunting in full manual mode. I've got all my charts, and tools. I can jump into any station without delay. Huge range of ships to sink. Decent sinking physics. Easier control of scopes, binoculars, and hydrophone. I can set my speed by knot. I can have continuous target reports from my watchman or hydrophone operator. I don't have to press ALT all the damn time. Less bugs too.



It's not always about what's most realistic. Rather it's the balance between realism and play-ability. But without a doubt UBOAT has more missions, varieties, and features.