The sad truth how I arrived here
 

I was talking with some fellow beta testers who test strategy games and how/why they now mainly play strategy games.

Once upon a time, I was a very well known online air combat player, guide writer, and instructor. I didn't touch any game without wings and blazing speed. Now, one of my favorite genres is WWII sub/commerce raiding. But it is time to devulge the truth behind that.

I was just curious if there are any others out there who followed a similar path or am I the only broken down prop-head that arrived here?

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This explains my fascination with subs these days. They are the last virtual machines which I can still control well.

In my 20s and 30s, could you imagine me playing a game where the most tense action (depth charge evasion) takes place slower than a brisk walk! For me, I had to be closing into a merge at Mach 3 for it to be intense enough!

"5 degrees right rudder, make depth 237M, make turns for 2KTS, silence in the boat!"

Similar but not so extreme.

Played Combat flying, then FS then CFS then Flightgear.

Then found Destroyer Command and Silent Hunter II.

Jumped at SHIII, GWX, now GW2.

Speed certainly slower but much more interesting

Ive been into subsims from the begining, one of my favorite games on the C64 was Silent Service (http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/si...ce/screenshots) By looking at the pictures I realize how far we have come :)

Then it was Harpoon 2, Fleet Command, Silent Hunter 3, Silent Hunter 4 and then back to Silent Hunter 3 with GWX :)

The first game i ever saw/played was Silent Service on a C64, probably in the mid 80s. For some reason that sim just stuck with me over the years although i didn't get my first PC until my senior year in college in 94.. and a FAST 486dx2/33 with 8mb of ram and 1mb of video. What drew me in then was Falcon 3.0. I did play some of Silent Service for PC (and still have it in its box with one 3.5" disc) but moved into Falcon 4 thru the late 90s and into the new millennium.

I stumbled upon an article on GWX in 2006 and thought I just had to try SH3 out and was hooked.. Yet i still do fly Falcon 4 with Open Falcon 4.5 with an online squadron but enjoy dropping down from Mach 1.5 and slinking around in the dark depths and blowing ships out of the water.:arrgh!:

2 different flavors of Simulation, but both with a huge following and incredible mod/development teams and the dynamic campaign which is truly the best point of any sim.

To relieve the "stress" of driving falcons or uboats my online squadron has a spec-ops team where we shoot/swear at each other in COD4.

Check six.. errr Periscope Depth,
Tool. :D

I started dual track...both Sub Sim AND Flying Sim games.

Then got away from a lot of the sub sim games and concentrated on flying for quite some time - both flying and controlling online (see for example VATSIM).

Then, I had some things happen...flying simulations got way overpowering in what they needed for computers, and for me, slowing down was a better way of doing things...so I am back to the sub sims...

I suspect I will at some point in time get back into the flying part of things as well...but the rate the games are going, it is going to take a 100 Terrabyte hard drive just to load more than 1 game on the machine.

I've been playing sims for many years. Mosly ww1 and ww2 combat flight sims, but SH3 is just the latest in a long line of simulations for me. Though I'm a huge air combat fan... SH3 has captured my loyalty to a far greater extent than most other games... Mostly due to my fellow sub drivers here at subsim!

I started late, my first PC being bought approx. 1 year ago. Started off with FS 9, FSX, then CFS3, EECH 1.9, BOB II. All with a HOTAS and TrackIR 4. A couple of months ago I had a complete change of direction and bought SH3! I am now a
torp-head as well as a prop-head, and loving the slow, stalking hunter action.:arrgh!:

Ps.
I like my new guy on shore-leave, with a bottle in his hand!:()1:

Back in late '80s I had a lot of time and was able to play a lot, flight sims included. I was playing then on an Atari computer (same Motorola processor as the famous Commodore 64, but less known than the Commodore). Even as early as that, there was still a subsim, namely Silent Service 2, loaded from cassette recorder. Only to load the game I remember I had to wait 20 minutes - if everything went right.
But I had no particular passion for subsims; they were just a kind of games, like all others I was playing.
Later on, on the PC, in '95, I discovered the masterpiece called Aces of the Deep and this sorted things out. Since then, though I still play other kinds of games (other simulations, RPGs and turn-based strategy), subsims (AOD, CAOD, Wolfpack, Das Boot, the Silent Hunter series etc.) were my main gaming target.
And since end-'90s ('97, 98 IIRC) I'm reading subsim.com on an almost daily basis.

Played numerous flight sims like:

Red Baron I & II
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat
Jet Fighter
F15 Strike Eagle
Air Warrior I & II
Flight Simulator 4 & 95
Fighter Squadron
Pacific Fighters

It all stopped when I bought SH3.
:lol:

I was born a short time after the war ended, and grew up watching WW2 movies and building WW2 models. When computer sims came along I played the flight sims, but the war era was still my favorite, so I played the early ship and sub sims as well.

My favorite flight eras are WW1, WW2 and Korea, which is about as fast as I care to go. I like to describe WW1 air combat as "Death from above...at ninety miles per hour!":rotfl:

The only flight sim I played ever was Red Baron, probably v. I. But it was much too fast to match my taste, the target would be gone before I finish my tea...

Recently I was trying to advertise SH3 to my friend. I told him I played SH3 and he asked immediately: "Is it dynamic at all?" My answer was: "Well, it happens that you just sail for a few hours and nothng happens, but...". Never let me finish the sentence, as he almost lost his breath laughing loud. :88)

Classical Path:

Silent Hunter I
AOD
Silent Hunter II
Silent Hunter III
Silent Hunter IV
Silent Hunter V
Silent Hunter VI

...

Started with flight sims then stumbled onto SHII. Then SH3 the finally SH4.

Still fly but not as much as I used to.


Since selling my company in 2004 I breakup the 24hrs this way.

12hrs+ Simming (wife nearby)
6hrs Sleeping (wife right beside me)
6hrs Being a PITA to hear my wife tell it. :D


As much as I like Sub simming FS will always be on my computer. :rock:

OMG one of the best WW2 flying games i ever played was Aces over the Pacific, all time favorite, all u need is Dos and a simple joy stick hahaha I played that when i was like 8 or 9 years old, i was way better then my dad. It was awesome hahaha Anyone ever play that i know they have an Aces over Europe but i havent played that

Is that a MICROPOSE product.

I have 1942 The Pacific Air War But have never played it.