Anyone clicked on the "Uplay" thingy, top of the page?
It's awesome, I somehow "earned 10 U", whatever that is.
I was even allowed to pick an avatar, out of 3 available choices!:yeah::roll:

Well I mean the crew thing is just 1 new aspect of the game that we know of. Of course the most important part is the gameplay, and I seriously doubt they would dump everything that made SH great.

Im sure you'll be out on patrols, hunting for target, you'll still have to plot intercept and all that, that's the sim aspect of SH5. I cant see how they would get rid of all that.

Some positive stuff dug from the descriptions:

Chief description: His main duty is supervising diving operation of the uboat, the daily trim and the maintenance of mechanical systems.[...]
He is also is the man who must set the explosives to scuttle the boat and prevent capture by the enemy.

Ok, maybe it's just RPG background story bull****, but maybe it actually will be important in game.

Navigator description:
Job description: His main job is everything related to navigation and also he is in charge of provisioning of supplies. The navigator responsibility is to be always aware of ship position; he will also plan all the routes taken.
Passive abilities:
• Great Circle Navigation - An experienced navigator knows how to find the shortest way between two points, especially if you trust him.

Same as above, maybe just storytelling bull****, but maybe some new good features. We know that the world is still a damn cylinder, but maybe this time we will have an alternate navigation system that mimics/abstracts real-life navigation, instead of just boring GPS waypoints.

A pessimist can be nicely surprised because he is unhappy most of the time. But most of the time the pessimist will take good news and see only the bad in it. An optimist can't be dissapointed, because when something bad does happen, he is able to see the good in it, or can move on.

Link is dead?

Works for me still. It's big though, might take a minute to download, unless you're on dialup, then probably like 5 minutes.

Cant agree more!

Yeah the pic is 2Mb big, 5000*2500.

I've decided NOT to buy it the second they announced DRM (just mentioning it without trying to turn this one into another DRM-bashing thread)

I really admire your optimism and I really, REALLY, wish that you are right and I am wrong. I have been looking forward to SHV since the minute I found out that they were making it.
To explain my (pessimistic) standpoint: (this is copy/paste of my words from another thread) We have been kept in darkness about major SHV "improvements" an being spoon-fed bullcrap eyecandy images and videos. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT AN EYECANDY! That's why I still play SH3. What I do care about is playability and (more importantly) re-playability. Without it any game amounts just to it: eyecandy.

In addition: Introducing the element of crew background/history is not a bad idea but only if you create hundreds of characters with their bios (and seriously they would have to be better than "Steck sie rein") so the game does not repeat itself every time you play it. Considering how much (little) time the devs had to develop this game (resulting in one sub and limited campaign) the bios are probably very low on their priority list. I'd be perfectly ok with game based on SH3 with some improvements but based on the info released that is just NOT the case. At least in my book.

i see some new modding possibilities here (where i can imagine to become a modder myself): we can mod the speech files (or text parts) of the crew to give them new characters. i see a mod called :"the mean XO" or an anouncement "new Ensign available - a tough guy" or "new jokes for the XO mod" etc.

second: "He is also is the man who must set the explosives to scuttle the boat and prevent capture by the enemy." - does that mean we will have the possibility to scuttle the boat? i hope the devs heard us and made in this feature?.

third: "Passive abilities of the radio guy:
• Direction Finder Radio - A veteran radio guy knows how to tune the radio in order to increase its range.
• Direction Finder Radar - A veteran radio guy knows how to tune the radar in order to increase its detection range and response time.

Active abilities:
• Safe communications - The radio guy will be extra careful while sending radio messages, lowering the chance to being DF-end, avoiding being spotted by any enemy aircraft.
• Fake message - The radio guy will send a fake SSS message and track any enemy who will respond back, being able to ambush them later. This trick is not always a success.
• Radio orders – will access: play radio music, play gramophone music, send contact report, request orders and status report."

this sound very promising to me: the radio guy will be able to detect other ships using their radar? and he can send fake messages? i am not sure this is realistic...

seems some updates are still to come. but as to know, i just wait for the mod tools and their abilities. the stock game will disappoint most of us...i think.

:-?

but this was the same in the former versions...

They had about 1.5 years didnt they? That's not too bad for a sequel.

About the 1 sub, I remember reading in Neal's interview with them, the 1 sub was a consious decision they made because they wanted to model every aspect of the interior, since you have full control over the camera for the first time.

So they cut it down to 1, work very hard on that, and maybe we'll see more later, who knows.

I just mention the visuals since thats a standard issue improvement with every sequel, but if you read their interviews their MAIN focus wasnt the visuals or the crew, it was the events of the war, and you playing a more direct role in how things play out.

Well that sounds to me like you patrol this or that grid, shoot a torpedo at this ship or not, and things around you change, which in turn adds replay, because the next time you play through and get to that point again, maybe you try a different approach.

I just cant relate to trashing a game that isnt even out yet. I dont get that.

If you really hate eyecandy so much , you should at least be playing AOD.

Noone hates eyecandy but if it is at the expense of the gameplay and other simulation related aspects of the game , how could i not hate it for taking time of the devs that could have gone improving vareous aspects that need to be taken care of.

Very true.

You make some very good points here. Also, let me point out that I am not "trashing the game". Expressing one's opinion (which in my case happens to be negative, granted, based on limited amount of information) is not exactly "trashing". If I wanted to trash something I would not pick on the game itself but about the way it is being marketed. And THAT would deserve some serious bashing...