Welcome aboard!
Neal
SUBSIM

Ah, but not a lot of people would. ;)

They've got to strike a balance to appeal to enough potential costumers to make it profitable, but that's been said often enough.



Welcome aboard sav112. :salute:

If SH5 lives up to the (our) hype, you're in for a treat. :)

Cheers for the welcome, been in here for a while. Just looking forward to a game that I can get immersed in that does not cheat us the gamer by being bugged to death and not looking stunning as games really should these days. too many Beta's out there on day one.

Always laugh at all the build up, Media release before some games and I don’t buy games on the whole. Has to be something special. Then in the first day the public can spot so many bugs it makes the developers look like prized clowns.

Looking forward to BF3, SHV and Carrier Command when it appears. These games deserve nothing but first class work done on them.

I think this is an interesting discussion. It's funny how improvements in sims and games have unexpected consequences. When I first played MicroProse's "Silent Service" on my Commodore 64 back in November 1985, I was floored by the realism. The game worked perfectly. All I remember wanting from it was high value targets like aircraft carriers and cruisers. But I was happy to run across a convoy of three oilers, a troop ship and a couple merchants protected by 3 escorts. I played this game for hours each day and for months on end.

Fast forward to today. The sub sims "look" incredibly photo realistic and there's lots of details and a plethora of targets (even in the case of the Atlantic, some high value targets). But the games are never perfect, full of bugs, and something has been lost that was there in the old days. I think what was lost is your imagination.

In the old days, we instinctively "filled in the blanks" with our imagination to make it seem real. But the more built in "realism" that's included, the less your imagination is called upon. If the added realism cannot replace your imagination apples for apples, then the enhancement has failed. It's great to find yourself in a raging storm at sea but if the boat is riding the waves like it's nailed to the sea floor...something is amiss.

I think this needs to be the benchmark of for what enhancements should be included in new sims.

I think a problem is always the complexity of a game's visuals. To compete, it has to look good, but making it look good takes up a large portion of development time. Eventually they run out of time and money, and games are released looking good but technically/mechanically handicapped, not the other way around. Seems it's clear where the focus is for devs (ie. the higher-ups). :(

Me and my best friend played the original Elite that was only lines and black and white on the BBC Model B. I always think it was because at the time we were kids, this ws not a game, we were in space fighting our way from planet to planet, we used to hotseat the game for hours. Played SS as well.

As for bugs sure there was bugs probably, but we did not have forums to bring it to our attention and they were Basic as we were not talking GB we were talking K.

I’m not a Console fan, don’t own one but spent a while playing with my mates seven year old playing COD4 and it blew me away the way it looked on his new Xbox 360. if we dragged the old BBC out and got elite up he’d crack up. Was it better to use our imagination probably but god are they looking great these days.

So they can start paying the moderators here.....

To the original question: why buy (or even make) another German sim?

My answer is the same as I gave when some folks complained that SH4 was going to be a US fleet boat sim: If they're just making what is basically a glorified add-on, changing the action to a new field, then it's kind of silly to make it in the same field as it was before. On the other hand, if they're making a huge upgrade, the logical place to start is at the beginning of the war, and that was the u-boats. If it sells, hopefully there will be a version involving the fleet boats again. And maybe other navies' subs. And maybe surface escorts.

But first things first. Begin at the beginning. I know I will.

Back when I played the original Silent Hunter, every time I picked up a downed airman I tried to imagine what life was like for him, suddenly stuck in an environment he never trained for. I would have imaginary conversations, explaining why the submariners did what they did and trying to give him an estimate of when we'd have him back in his own field.

Silly, but there it is.

@ sav112: WELCOME ABOARD!:sunny:

Welcome aboard sav112 http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...es/welcome.gif

Elite certainly brings back a lot of fond memories from days long past http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...s/thumbsup.gif

You're all light years ahead me. The only uboat game I played before SH3 was Submarine, a board game by Avalon Hill. Up until a few years ago, my only computer experience was picking up and delivering main frame systems. I was completely computer illiterate, and at least 20 years behind the times, until my friend built and gave me my first computer. He, and my kusine, were right. It's a whole new world out there.

My thanks go to them, and many of the people on this forum who have generiousely shared there knowledge and experience.

Mange tak! / Many thanks!

SINK EM ALL!! http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...ies/pirate.gif

Why buy SH5? One reaon; U-BOAT LAUNCHED V2 ROCKETS!!! :rock::rock:

now that would be pretty cool.

though it would likely be a suicide mission :nope:

I thought I would detail my experience a bit more, so please indulge me for a moment.

Silent Service 1985 by MicroProse (Commodore 64)
Silent Service 1987 by MicroProse (Amiga 500)
Silent Service II 1995 by MicroProse (Gateway PC)
Silent Hunter I 1997 by SSI (Gateway PC)
Silent Hunter 3 2003 by UbiSoft (Homebuilt PC)
Silent Hunter 4 2006 by UbiSoft (Homebuilt PC)

Note: I have never played or seen AOD. I do not like scripted games all that much and have always favored American fleet boats.

When SSI came out with Silent Hunter I thought I was in heaven and we were back in the saddle again. It played just like the original Silent Service but obviously with much improved graphics and features. Bugs seemed to be minimal.

I cut my teeth on the Pacific theater so naturally I am always wanting the latest and greatest there. I play the Atlantic because I have no choice but must admit I do enjoy attacking the task forces while they are still available in the time line. After that it gets boring sinking only merchants while dodging escorts and aircraft.

I do look forward to SH5 and hope it will generate enough momentum that a Pacific theater release will follow shortly thereafter.

Dude, you seriously need to add Aces Of The Deep to your list. It's still considered by many to be the best subsim around.
In fact, I wish the SH5 devs would play alot of AOD, then go watch Das Boot, then play more AOD, then work on SH5. :yep:

AOD certainly was not scripted. Maybe you are mixing it up with Silent Hunter 2 which was.

Regards.

For whatever reason, Uboats are probably one of the most, if not the most romanticized elements of WW2. The uboat story has been told and retold to such a degree, they've been stripped of most historical context, become completely neutral and sterile, laminated with western ideals and ideology, thought of morally as the shining knights of the sea, placed upon a pedestal and worshiped as Hero's, and lamented as the unfortunate martyrs in the tragedy that is war.

This sells far more then any other type of WW2 submarine. Ubi is a business, not a historical society, the bottom line is cash, and the good folks at ubi have to make a living too.

Now that sounds interesting!!!

I noticed after the moo-cows you got smart. :|\\