I think Egan may have the vision here-
Quote:
|
I fear this is gonna end up going down the same route as the RUB deck-gun mod
|
After reading that debate, which got quite heated in parts, I think there were two distinct camps...this may be headed the same way:
1) The "realism" folks
2) The "casual" folks
I don't agree with the labelling, but it seems to be somewhat self-imposed by those reaching for the "ultimate" subsim, with everything as historic as possible. An admirable goal, and definitely one requiring a great deal of work.
Folks who like the "eye candy" or "fun factor", those who play with less than 100% realism (probably less than 50% truth be told) enjoy being able to load a game, shoot the gun, down some planes, and torpedo ships. They don't have the time, inclination, or skill to pursue the "maximum theoretical realism".
Personally, I don't see a problem with either camp- each group of people gets to play the way they want to, how they want to, with whom they want to- that's democracy in action :P As long as neither group is being demeaned for its preferences, everything is fine.
The main problem, as I see it, is that there is a large talent pool in the "realism" camp and a small talent pool in the "casual" group. Thus, folks are forced to join one side or the other. Jason's great mod is a prime example- he's made the convoys more realistic, put in more nations, but also souped up the escorts and reduced the single traffic. If you want a shot at a Norwegian tanker, or a 40-ship convoy, you have to accept that the escorts are gonna pound on you, and you won't see much single traffic.
Rubini's mod, on the other hand, looks great and adds a lot of "feel" to the game...some folks might venture to say it adds realism, since the ports are now busy. Those who play for utmost accuracy aren't too enthused with the mod from a historic point of view, and don't wish to incorporate it into their style of play.
It would be great if there was some middle ground, some way to allow the modders to pick and choose what stays and what goes. A way to take some of Rubini's traffic, and Jason's convoys, but keep the deck gun and the single merchants. In another thread I raised the possibility of altering the code in the cfg files to change the color of the altered/added parts. That way users could custom design the mod to their liking. The feedback I got was that wasn't feasible.
The only solution I can see in the interim, is for those who wish for a historically accurate but casual game
to come up with their own mod.
I'm going to attempt that for myself, blending the Improved Convoys AND Harbor Traffic with my own Torch Mod to see what that comes up with. I'll you guys know how that works.
Jason, Rubini, you guys rock! I've enjoyed helping you out and will be happy to assist you in the future if you need it. Egan, your Ops Mod looks killer and I can't wait to try it...but since I can't wait, I'm going to try my own addition, and hopefully it'll allow some of the "casual" players to move beyond the stock campaign without sacrificing their fun factor...me, I'm kinda in between both groups.