[horsa]

FIFTH STEP - Are these real deal breakers?

Are they so bad you will either not buy the game or put it back on the shelf and play SH3 instead ?

The wild card is some issues might be patched. Others look to be design features and are therefore here to stay.

These are some notes on each one. You decide if they are real deal breakers for you.

Lack of Crew Management looks like a design decision. I can't see how that as patchable. Deal breaker ?

The Auto TDC system is a design featureand has been changed to a point and shoot system that needs practice. For the casual player this has become more difficult than "lock on and hit target nearly every time". Good or bad ?
For Manual TDC folk it's irrelevant.
If you are an auto TDC guy is this a deal breaker for you ?

RPG approach is another design feature. Does a sub sim lend itself to RPG ? Wasn't this already in SH3 and SH4 when you issued orders to crew members? The SH5 system is different and doesn't work well. Isn't this scripted ? In which case it becomes moddable.
Maybe the author was refering to the whole game centred on the FPS Captain. Tiresome necessity or hard core realism ?
Is this different system a deal breaker for you ?

Damage effects/control looks broken. Patchable ? Moddable ?
Deal breaker ?

Poor AI is the bane of a lot of games. From what I hear some AI is good but then you have DDs that run off into the woods and ships that crash into docks and explode. This looks like a patchable issue. Some posters have reported that some ( if not all) AI is scripted and therefore moddable. We'll see.
Deal breaker?

No Wolfpacks. Design feature. UBI's reluctance to take notice of the views of Subsim members and their mods of the last 5 years is not the issue here however valid the arguments. Sorry.
Deal breaker ?

No BDU radio traffic . Design feature. Same as above.

Lack of crew animation. I remember discussing the value of attempts at human avatars with Hitman and others many years ago. One school of thought was if they didn't work well they should be left out. If you can ignore them then you're still in. If not it's a deal breaker

No torpedo AI of any kind. Design feature. Same as above.

Weather, AI damage, map markings not saved in Save games. Doesn't this make saves useless ?Patchable ?
Deal breaker ?


CONCLUSION

I have to admit even the shortened list is depressing - and I guess there are many other issues not mentioned yet.

Is it a deal breaker for me ?

I just set sail, enjoy the immersive FP 3D walkabout, ogle the unbelievable graphics and make the best of a modded and imperfect operating environment ( not unlike the problems of U-boat captains actually).

For the moment its very satisfying and I know the modders won't let me down.

How long it lasts probably depends on the patching.