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tater · 08-19-10, 08:44 AM

There are many reasons it is too easy, even in modded SH4—which is why I don't do it.

1. Lack of navigational hazards. No reefs, sandbars, tides, wrecks, etc, ad nauseum. Remember also that charts for the PTO were abysmal in WW2. Forget the IJN, nosing into a harbor could beach the boat (and the japs would have made the crew's life hell, THEN cut their heads off).

2. Mines, subnets, UDS (Underwater Detection System) . Two are in the stock game, one is only on my harddrive

. Again, it's placing all of them, which would be fine except that they need to be placed such that stupid AI ships won't blow themselves up. That is what puts the kabash on them, really. If you want ships in port to ever steam out, then the static defenses need to be crippled. UDS... was used quite a bit around Japan, but I'm unsure about elsewhere. Listening posts (remote hydrophones were placed, as well as remote MAD gear), and controlled mines. Guts are ready, need to place all of them...

3. AI spawning rules. Since convoys and other traffic spawn in harbors—particularly in the only "must have" mod in SH4, RSRDC, hanging near a harbor actually decreases the traffic you'll see—because the targets will not spawn with the player within render range (to avoid issues where you might have ships spawn on top of you with no proper warning).

4. Harbor traffic scripting. Face it, there are a lot of ports, and doing a really compulsive job on harbor traffic is a PITA, and unrewarding. Why unrewarding? Because RL skippers didn't go into harbors for the reasons above, and SH4 skippers stay away for reason #3, so making extra effort that no one will see... not so fun.

The bottom line is that if done realistically, no SH4 skipper should go far into any harbor if they are playing with any role-playing sense of realism. In that case, why bother with all the work, when the players could simply play realistically and not go there?

08-19-10, 08:44 AM	#5
tater Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: New Mexico, USA Posts: 9,023 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 2	There are many reasons it is too easy, even in modded SH4—which is why I don't do it. 1. Lack of navigational hazards. No reefs, sandbars, tides, wrecks, etc, ad nauseum. Remember also that charts for the PTO were abysmal in WW2. Forget the IJN, nosing into a harbor could beach the boat (and the japs would have made the crew's life hell, THEN cut their heads off). 2. Mines, subnets, UDS (Underwater Detection System) . Two are in the stock game, one is only on my harddrive . Again, it's placing all of them, which would be fine except that they need to be placed such that stupid AI ships won't blow themselves up. That is what puts the kabash on them, really. If you want ships in port to ever steam out, then the static defenses need to be crippled. UDS... was used quite a bit around Japan, but I'm unsure about elsewhere. Listening posts (remote hydrophones were placed, as well as remote MAD gear), and controlled mines. Guts are ready, need to place all of them... 3. AI spawning rules. Since convoys and other traffic spawn in harbors—particularly in the only "must have" mod in SH4, RSRDC, hanging near a harbor actually decreases the traffic you'll see—because the targets will not spawn with the player within render range (to avoid issues where you might have ships spawn on top of you with no proper warning). 4. Harbor traffic scripting. Face it, there are a lot of ports, and doing a really compulsive job on harbor traffic is a PITA, and unrewarding. Why unrewarding? Because RL skippers didn't go into harbors for the reasons above, and SH4 skippers stay away for reason #3, so making extra effort that no one will see... not so fun. The bottom line is that if done realistically, no SH4 skipper should go far into any harbor if they are playing with any role-playing sense of realism. In that case, why bother with all the work, when the players could simply play realistically and not go there?