If the dev's were ever to do another patch....
 

I hate to start another "1.4 thread" for a mystical patch that is, as far as im concerned; a fancyiful fairytale of wishful thinking. However i feel compelled to say, If the dev's were ever to do another patch, this is my objective opinion.

First, time is money, time is for a busy person, an expensive, and often unplentiful commedity, so i would hope the developers spend time on things that modders cannot fix, not the stuff that can be, or already has been fixed.

1.) Logbook.
The logbook in a career game is an important part of the game. Its what allows us to come back here, thump our chest, and say, "See what i did!". It doesnt keep accurate dates, and it displays the logical names of ships, not the displayable names in the game. In addition to those fixes, i also think it would be very cool if it would display then number of days at sea per patrol, a career total of days at sea, and it would be really cool if we could output the whole thing into a text file. (to copy and paste into the forums and brag and all that :D )

2.) Emblems.
True, US subs didnt really display emblems like german uboats did, but some type of emblem or insigna would be very cool. It adds character to the game, and a touch of individuality. Be it some oddball custom insignia, the subs number, or even little flags of the number of ships sunk, something is needed here.

3.) Submarine mechanics/hydrodynamics.
Something is amiss here. I cannot quite pin it down, but submarine physics are out of whack. Its almost as if the mechanics are reversed. From the start i noticed the propllers spin backwards (although this is fixed by anvart), and i could swear it feels like it takes longer to dive when going at flank speed, then if diving from a virtual standstill - it should be the exact opposite. Furthermore in order to speed up the dive time, ive been using a number for the MBT_Floodrate that, in comparision to sub mechanics from SH3, are astronomical. For example, a floodrate for a type7 uboat (fast diver) is about 12,000. A type9 used an MBT floodrate of around 7,000 or so. In SH4, im using an MBT_Flood rate of 35,000 for a Gato class submarine, just to get a 43 second dive time. This can't be right.

4.)More metric to imperial conversions:
I'd really like it if the watch officer would report range to nearest visual contact in yards instead of feet. Also, the elevation on the deck gun measured in yards instead of meters would also be nice.

5.) More polish on submarine interiors.
Albiet this one could be addressed by a modder at some point, but making more gauges function correctly, or mapping out areas to allow mouseclicking actions would go a long ways. For example, the TBT on the bridge has no way of mouse clicking interaction, nor the observation periscope. Additionally, RPM gauges are inaccurate.

While i'm sure there are more issues that people can conjure that will fill 12 pages of debate from the minute to the mundane; the above i believe are the top issues in terms of putting polish on the game that are the most practical should a developer ever address this game again.

those do sound like nice updates but insted of emblems how about battle flags?

This desperately needs some fixing. I know that German and US boats were two different things but with S-class and VIIB you should get similarish results. Instead, the difference between those two boats are like they're from different planet!

Installed Silent Hunter 3 sometime ago while I had to use X600 and noticed pretty quick that VIIB acts like it's sailing on the sea just like in RL but in Silent Hunter 4 the S-class boat doesn't give you the same feeling

Yeah, I'm not an expert when it comes to WW2 era US subs so how it is in SH4 might be right but I doubt it

S Boats were much more similar to Type IIs that Type VIIs.

JCC

Hrm... :hmm:

I couldent help but notice that nearly every thing Ducimus mentions (with the exception of sub physics) is asthetic in nature.

Not that there bad 'requests' they just dont really effect game play such as the issues with the contact/influence button, eagle eyed DD's, and 'perfect' sonar performance.

It is interesting in that each person views this game in a different way. Ducimus wants emblems, I want to be able to actually evade the DD's once in a while.

People would all want different things. My list would be stuff that is impossible to mod, and/or opening a few things up for modding so that WE can fix them instead.

Support new Types:
I'd want more ship Types. Not more SHIPS, but Types in the Names.cfg with full AI support.

Warships go to Type=15 now, so define 16-20 as "escorts" (like 0 through 4 are now)but unused (so they will use DD AI). 21-XX as just "warship" unless there are other AI capabilities, then make a few of each. I made a "Type=16" class of ships, for example, "super BBs." The idea was to put Yamato in there so I could make generic BB calls without seeing a zillion Yamatos. Works, but Type=16 won't "dock" the box is not available to check.

Ditto for merchants. Take a range above the last Type= currently used and make some various user defined areas. This would allow us to compartmentalize the merchants more with "generic" entries (assuming more are added at some point).

Change NxSHIP @ X% support:
Another thing I'd like to see from a mission designer standpoint. Change the way the game deals with random group units. For example: 2xTakao in a random group, with a 10% chance. Right now, it rolls the dice twice, and you can have 0, 1, or 2 Takaos. That functionality is possible with 1xTakao@10%, 1xTakao@10%. It is currently impossible to have 2xtakao @10%, but ZERO @90%. I want one, or 2, but NEVER one. Typical uses would be DesDivs of 3 or 4 DDs. I'd like to have 4xAsashio @20%, and have all 4 appear, or none, but not a range which can be done with 1X calls.

Zig-zags:
Real zig-zag support in the code. A waypoint property with angle and either time or distance per leg.

Give us a cfg toggle for "Instant Success"
Simple cfg addition to turn off the "Ship destroyed" message and log entry. Instead, entries would be added when you end the patrol. You would then know a ship was finished when it sank, not when the game tells you to stop using fish.

My 2 cents worth...
 

@ would be useful in some way. 1 and 3 are moddable.

Only in that they only had forward tubes. Size-and-displacement (and therefore physics) -wise they were much closer to the VIIs.

- all moddable. The magnetic pistol i beleive is removed by a date inscribed in the sim file, i just never bothered to mess with it, because as i understand historically, the magntic pistol was removed from service by a specfic date anyway. In other words, Not broken. AI visuals and sonar sensors are easy to tweak. Anyone capable of doing a search in the modding forums can find the info to tweak the sensors to their own liking.

Is the SWITCH moddable?

It is my understanding that while the magnetic influence is modeled on the torpedo, the switch to turn it on is broken and it is never on. Something like that. I modded the influence distance from 1.5m to 10m and it never worked, not once.

Somthing is wrong with it I think. Could be my lack of skill, of course :)



tater

Ive never had trouble using a magntiec pistol other then deep runners. Although i have to admit, i rarely use magnetic pistols anyway. Using one greatly increases the chance of a premature, knowing this, i rarely use them.

edit: I usually set a pistol at 2 or 3 feet deeper, thats less then 1 meter.

I thought some guys did a ton of testing and found that at that depth setting they detonated even if set to contact.

OK, found thread:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=118393

It's the switch, the magnetic does work, but the switch doesn't.

More here:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=118464

So I was wrong I guess. I tried to set the range of influence long in my mine mod---now I know how to addd stuff, I bet I can make tube-launched mines!

Another thing to try!

tater

If Devs make another patch... there are some things at first.

DDs first compartement is outside torpedo damage radius, this fact make the frontal impact cause not damage at all.

DDs midship compartements seems to be too wide or be out of the hull or some thing like that, cauisng the ship explodes and sinks when ram into the sub scope, and the conning tower and periscope hits the ships sides.

>>It's the switch, the magnetic does work, but the switch doesn't.

If that is the case, i'll betcha it's by design.