[Subnuts]

So we've all been mourning the loss of the last two years of the war and every other boat except the VII. I sympathize with that. But it got me thinking: what did those "golden oldie" subsims I, and many of you, played for hundreds of hours "back in the days," have that the new crop doesn't?

As it turns out, a lot.

Please note that I'm referring to the OOB versions of SH3 and SH4, without mods. I'm just going to ignore SH2 altogether (I'm sure most of us have forgotten it...but not entirely forgiven it.)

Feel free to add to this list. I'm sure it's nowhere near complete.

In both sims:

• Tenacious escorts that don't give up after 45 minutes.

• Realistic damage repair times - fixing a diesel could take hours or even days, not minutes.
• Interviews, submarine photo tours, and historical background info included on the CD.
• ASDIC that behaved as it did in real life.
• Submarine types that felt radically different from one another (the Fleet Boats in SH1 all had their unique qualities; in SH4, they're all kind of samey.)
• Large, readable depth, speed, and course gauges.
• Cut-scenes and newspaper headlines after your patrol if you've been killed, captured, promoted, or awarded a medal.
• Working time compression.
• Propeller sounds that seemed realistically loud - a destroyer passing overhead doesn't sound like a flea buzz, folks.
• A sonar guy who isn't deaf.
• Ability to bottom sub without continuously incurring damage.
• Possibility of chlorine gas release due to flooding reaching the batteries.
• More accurate compressed air usage.
• Comprehensive quick mission generator.
• 50 or more historic single missions included straight out of the box.
• Abandon ship option.
• Manuals that focused on gameplay, rather than extraneous fluff.
• Ability to play without an internet connection.
• Possibility of fog in calm seas.
• Bottoming the boat makes you harder to detect early-war.
• Damage control screen that actually explains how the damage effects your ability to operate.
• Enemy patrol planes that operate independently rather than in entire squadrons.

In Aces:

• Wolfpacks (duh!)
• Radio traffic from BDU and other boats.
• Air-dropped homing torpedoes from Allied aircraft, and Foxer torpedo decoys.
• Updates on the progress of the war (i.e., the bar).
• Convoys that could be detected on hydrophones from up to 50 miles away.
• "Smoke on the horizon, Captain!"
• Possibility of getting your boat stuck in the mud.
• Shaft damage effecting underwater stealthiness.
• Silent running rendering pumps useless.
• Leaking when diving below 180 meters.
• Ability to empty bilges using compressed air.
• Randomized tonnage for merchants instead of a fixed displacement - a "small merchant" could vary anywhere between 1,000 and 2,500 tons.

In SH1:

• Ships that maneuvered realistically to evade steam torpedoes, not accelerating to 20 knots in 5 seconds and double-backing into the torpedo they were trying to avoid.
• AI submarines with torpedoes.
• Easily readable radar display with SD and SJ radars that worked as advertised and were reasonably historically accurate.
• An idiot-proof interface with nice 2D panels, rather than clicking through menus in SH3 or deciphering religious symbols in SH4.
• A single TDC panel, without an "attack map" behind it.
• The ability to jettison debris.
• Ability to start a career any month between December 1941 and August 1945
• A versatile periscope interface that could show maneuvering gauges or TDC elements.
• An ID manual with different warship types sorted by their type (BB, CA, DD, etc.), along with information on their armament.
• A calendar with sunrise, sunset, moon rise, moon set, and moon phase information.
• A working bathythermograph and randomized thermoclines.
• Ability to turn red lights on and off.
• Credit for ships damaged in single missions.
• Ability to use "high scope" technique.
• Detailed mission editor included with Commander's Edition.
• Ability to abandon ship while stuck on the bottom in shallow water (see USS Tang)
• Possibility of damage to electric motors due to flooding.
• Calendar with lunar phases, moon and sun rise and set times, and the weather.