You are correct. AOD only has auto-targetting. SH1 had auto or manual.

However, the auto-targetting of AOD is not the fool proof long range solutions which you get in SH3 when you use auto-targetting or ask the weapon officer. Thus, missing quite frequently happened at long ranges. I am not sure if crew skill had an impact on this. There are three levels in AOD.

Although I can appreciate that there are those who prefer to completely manually calculate their solutions (doing everything off the map with plotting and math), I would be happy with falible auto-targetting similar to AOD. I like to play the role of the subs captain. I am responsible for the main decisions: when, where, and how to attack and how to disengage/evade following the attack. I don't feel the need to necessarily workout AOB or speed from screw turns or wake form. In real life, there was a whole tracking party/attack team which handled this. Although the captain did a lot of it when submerged with sightings, it was not a one man show. So, trying to do this all yourself while letting the game run in realtime is perhaps beyond realistic.

With that said, I think SH3's notepad approach to solution creation is a good game play/realism compromise. It forces the player to bring his boat in much closer if he hopes to sink anything. This increases challenge, since the window for successful disengagement becomes much smaller. (Generally, I begin disengaging as soon as my tubes are empty without waiting to see the results of the attack.)

I didn't get into sub sims until well after SH2 came out, and I bought it off of ebay for a couple bucks. I spent many a great hours with that one. I miss the voices of that crew. Very distinctive, indeed. I noticed with SHIII that engines stoped overheating. I can't tell you how many frustrating times I had to stop pursuing a convoy or a DD caught up witgh me because my engines overheated. lol.

While I do appreciate the great work UBI did with the 3D graphics in SH4, the environment isn't very interactive. I know the game got pushed out early, but it would be cool to manually work the bow or stern planes or other duties within the 3D interface.

I suppose that will be on the wishlist for SH5.

BTW, I highly recommend the Ultimate Sound mod, as it adds a lot of personality to your crew when you surface or dive. Fun!

I don't know where this notion comes from, but you don't have to calc squat for manual targetting. You just enter what you see. End of story. And this is what the captain did iRL, too. People tend to confuse plotting and targetting and talk about them like they're the same while they're not. To simulate a plotting party, ship positions should be auto entered on the map screen everytime you *manually* take a target position through the scope / TBT and then the plotting party would go on with plotting course and speed.

So, in fact SHIII's notepad approach as well as SHIV are no compromise, but the real deal from what the skipper in most cases did. Well, in theory you could improve on it by entering the data via voice comms. Turning away from the scope and start plotting on the map yourself on the other hand - which is not neccessary for targetting and shooting though - is not neccessarily realistic.

You say that, and I get this image of Lieutenant Clippy, your XO. "It looks like you're attacking a convoy. Would you like help?" :p

Seriously, good idea, but that kind of thing would require a real investment in AI, or it would be seriously annoying.

Very true!

LMAO :rotfl:

Why, yes! Report to Tube 1 for a "special mission."

The captain handled the sightings and periscope/TBT measurements, while the fire control party entered them, as far as I know from Silent Victory. That is, unless the CO adopts the Morton-O'Kane method of XO manning periscope, which didn't happen too often.

Does SH3/4 model the high periscope (using the scope to conduct wider searches when the sub is surfaced) like was done in SH1? AOD, on the other hand, made no distinctions between what you could see with the scope submerged or surfaced.

Thanks.

oboy...are we so old that we are the only one that remember silent hunter 1? :rotfl:

my son are soon in the same age when i started to play........i hope i still love subsim and stuff when i reach 50. 36 today and for 15 years ago they talked mutch about virturial realitie..bad spell i know. what did happen with that?...do i have to wait 15 years more to get my virutall googles and stand there on the bridge...and FEEL that i stand there...oboy... i have heard that the are some gooles out there to buy..but the games suck and the googles sucks and are expensive and more then 15 min and you damage your eyes. hope someday this will come.

LOL. SH1 was my first military sim, in many ways (I had Jane's ATF Gold, but it was in English and I didn't understand English at the time). It was back in China, when I was something like 7 years old, playing SH1 on something like a 486. i still remember the good old times when I turned realism down to 0%, sailed into Tokyo Bay and deck gunned every ship in the harbour, or all those times sneaking into those Japanese Empire harbours (with realism on high), torpedoing the escorts and gunning whatever left, then submerging, losing contact, and have the ships instantly reappear. Or those times when my ship was destroyed by Japanese destroyers. Or the ring of 12 DCs from those darned little patrol boats that got me every time (forgot what they were called, D-class or F-class or something, but they were small, maneauverable, difficult to hit and armed with twice as many DC rails as larger DDs. anyone remember what they were?). Or those death scenes where my submarine got crushed.

And yes, I miss the 2D controls and interface. Although the graphics in SH4 are far better.

In fact, I practically grew up with SH1. It was the game that introduced me to submarines and naval warfare in general.

Finally, a big thanks to the good people at Strategic Simulations Inc who made SH1. What happened to SSI anyway?

i have to agree this particular sim got underway a bit too soon for the shipyard to finish her:ping::rotfl:

not that its all bad its pretty good, but pc gamer agrees it coulda had some more time