I can almost imagine what happened:
marketing guy a: What games are popular these days? and why?
marketing guy b: Crysis is pretty popular, mainly because of the graphics.
marketing guy a: Good graphics, what else?
marketing guy b: Well Mass Effect sold well, the RPG elements proved to be popular towards nerds with no life.
marketing guy a: Ok, so we add RPG elements, what else?
marketing guy b: Battlestations pacific was well accepted by gamers, it replaced realism with action and explosions
marketing guy a: Good, so we will tell the developers of Silent Hunter 5 to make the graphics better, add RPG elements and action and explosions to what they already have



2 months later:

developers: OMG this game takes up 10 dvds, and another 500 GBs to install.
marketing people: remove everything, just keep the awesome graphics, RPG elements, action and explosions. :haha:

AOTD - Grid map still got it. Its laminated. Reading the first post its unreal how much has dissapeared no wonder im always tweaking and hunting around for this or that mod combo these days...

Bizzare...

SH1 was my introduction to mods. Hawk's Silent Hunter Utilities:

SHReal: Corrects some flaws in the S-boats, mainly gets rid of the aft torpedo tube that only four of them had, none in combat.

PZ Pick: Lets you choose your patrol zone.

NewMaru: Semi-randomizes merchant tonnages.

NewGuage: Changes the guages to look more realistic.

NewBoat: Lets you choose the boat you want to run, including Narwhal and Argonaut.

ID Book: A new recognition manual.

Edit Rank: Lets you choose your rank (SH1 didn't have promotions).

Crew Experience: Lets you edit crew experience levels.

Eight mods, and not one of them was to fix bugs in the game. It only had one: If the destroyers had abandoned the search and were miles away, and you went to any time compression at all, they would come back and find you. That's it. Nothing else. Countless hours of fun and not one major complaint.

Dang, Steve, you hit all the bases with that list.

Don't know if anyone already mentioned how the convoy survivors scattered to the four winds after the initial sub attack in SH1.

Sorry if I duplicated.

Ahhh, the days before Ubisoft...

:D

I don't remember either, but it never hurts to repeat something good.

Which reminds me of another but I forgot, and really annoyed me:

I was chasing a merchant, shooting at him with my deck gun. All of a sudden my sub started turning. I ordered it back to course, but it kept turning. I looked at the map and found I was at the edge of my patrol zone. Since the game teleported you there you couldn't leave it except by ending the patrol, at which time you teleported back home again.

It only ever happened once, but the next time someone complains about having to drive all the way across the Pacific in SH4, I want them to remember 'the one that got away' because I couldn't go out of bounds.
:rotfl2:

I've been there at least once.

All hail the great Eyecandy God. We have sacrificed all to you and yea, we shall sacrifice more. For the next submarine simulation shall not have water.

Whilst the original Aces of the Deep team are scattered to the four winds, the original "Silent Hunter" team are actually still working together perhaps we could ask them to fulfill your dream?

But, but...I never mentioned this in my OP, but SH5 is pretty!
http://www.subsim.com/2010_03/images_0310/review2.jpg

(I'm sorry if this screenshot isn't big enough.)

Yeah, and in a couple of years a kid will post "dude SH5 looks like soooo dated! It doesn't even use DX12..."

It also isn't an annoying slow-to-load .png! :O:

Perfect subsim game:

- simulation of submarine (SH series)
- simulation of destroyer (EnigmaRT, DC)
- simulation of other heavy warship (DC)
- control each weapon separately (SH, EnigmaRT, DC, BS series)
- control few units together (DC, BS series)
- additional control of planes/merchants (BS series)

- easy interface (SH3, DC)
- easy gun control (BS series)
- mission editor (SH seires)
- modability (SH series)
- amazing multiplayer battles as SUBvsDD or NAVYvsNAVY (DC, BS series)

And the winner is: SH2/DC
FAIL: poor graphic
FAIL: poor stability
FAIL: stupid AI
FAIL: no merchant/planes control
SPECIAL BONUS: possible playing as Yamato, Bismarck, Iowa, KGV

II place: SH4 ADV mode
FAIL: only one player for all naval units
FAIL: not stable UBI servers
FAIL: only 4 players per game
FAIL: no torpedo warfare against enemy submarines
FAIL: no epic battles between enemy fleets
SPECIAL BONUS: combat human vs human in classic SH game

III-place: BATTLESTATIONS series
FAIL: no simulation game
FAIL: no mission editor
FAIL: too many planes (naval game?)
FAIL: very hard game as submarine against humans
FAIL: human must control group of units, no selected ships with AI support
SPECIAL BONUS: direct control of planes and merchants (merchants only in modded missions)

Somebody (in 'the biz' or with influence) should seriously contact these guys and propose it.

Having a quick look at their site, it seems they were the ones responsible for SH2 as well, so past performance is no guarantee of future success.