First, let me say that I am a huge SHIII/GWX fan, preferring the Atlantic for my sub-simming theater of operation. I am just now making the SH5 plunge myself after waiting the last 15 months since its release to give modders the chance to make the game decent. I have not actually played it yet, but look forward to trying out in the next few weeks. I was hoping that a mega-mod would have been released by now that would be similar to the GWX mod for SH3. Who knows, maybe one is being worked on that we don't know about.
Anyway, I really wanted to ease your mind as to which one you should purchase during STEAM's sale. It appears as if UBISoft's DRM idea has worked as far as stopping pirated copies of the game from circulating. The game is currently listed at Amazon.com at a regular price of $4.60 for the DVD version of the game. Who would go through the trouble of downloading a pirated copy of SH5 when you could simply buy the game (DVD) for $4.60 at Amazon. And, it only took 15 months since SH5 was released to reach this low price. And we thought UBI didn't know what they were doing with there DRM strategy!!! It actually does work!!! No pirated copy for me, me get $4.60 DVD instead!!!!!
It is actually sad to see. I really do like the Silent Hunter series but I am afraid that it is going to be yet another "Simulator Series" that dies. UBI won't see the error in their ways, and will instead blame the poor sales due to the series itself. With that said, I believe that SH5 will be it for a long time to come, so that mega mod will probably come out within the next two years.
If I were you, I would get the DVD version of SH5 from Amazon for $4.60 before it isn't even available anymore, and also get SHIII however you want to. I would then start playing the SHIII first to get my sub wet. Before you begin playing SH3, install the GWX mod and other popular mods that are compatible with GWX. This will give you the best possible Sub-Sim experience as far as game play is concerned. Yes, the graphics won't be as good, but they will be pretty darn good to say the least. Then, when you have exhausted all the possibilities in SH3/GWX, you can move over to SH5. Hopefully by that time there will be a GWX-similar mode available for SH5 that you can jump into. Basically, treat SH5 like a game that is in "late Alpha-early Beta" stage that won't be released for another 12 to 18 months. There isn't anything coming out after SH5 for a really long time if ever, so why rush to SH5 now.
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