Introducing Silent Hunter 4 - Wolves of the Pacific
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I. What is this thread?
This thread is a compilation of everything we know about
Silent Hunter 4 (previously "IV") -
Wolves of the Pacific, which is a stand-alone game for the PC developed by Ubiosft Romania.
This thread is
not for posting suggestions for
Silent Hunter 4. Please keep those to the fixed Wish-List and Suggestions threads.
II. Sources of information for Silent Hunter 4
Silent Hunter 4 - official site
Developer Interview and replies to Community Questions
GameSpot Interview and second trailer
First Developer Diary
III. Aspects of Silent Hunter IV
These are the broad aspects of Silent Hunter 4.
Development, engine and publishing: The game is being made by Ubisoft Romania, the company behind the prequel,
Silent Hunter III. The game will be published by Ubisoft.
Silent Hunter 4 will use its predeccessor's game engine.
Theatre of operations and player's side: Silent Hunter 4 will take place in the Pacific Theatre in World War II. The player will embody a commander of the American Silent Service.
Progress and release date: Silent Hunter 4 is set for a Q1 2007 release.
Included Aspects: - Dynamic campaign starting at Pearl Harbour, with historical engagements and special missions such as life-guarding, pilot rescue, and commando-insertion. Objectives will change dynamically during patrols.
- A re-created Pacific world spread over 25 maps that can apparently be freely roamed.
- Advanced radio traffic and -interface: Listen to Moscow, Washington, Tokyo, and other major cities. Listen to music, receive orders, and receive news. "No one will feel alone on sea any more".
- Single-patrol and quick-combat game modes for single-player.
- 8-player MP with adversarial or co-operative game modes. Play as a sub or command a group of escort ships.
- Improved graphics over Silent Hunter III.
- Over 75 planes, ships, and submarines.
- Pilot the P-Class, T-Class, Gato, and Tambor-class subs, including historical variations.
- New editor tools.
- An improved and "more streamlined" interface.
- Crew management: Your men will increase in experience over time, and awards given by you will make them even more effective. The game will feature a system of watches, meaning you will spend less time "baby-sitting" your crew and more time hunting Japanese ships and planes.
- Many realism settings, leaving it up to the player to decide how difficult the experience will be. For example, torpedo malfunctions can be disabled at will.
Possible Aspects:
These
may be included into the game.
- Glowing trails after submarines and torpedoes at night.
- Tokyo Rose.
- Man-over-board.
- Escort out of port.
- Land units such as tanks and planes.
Absent Aspects:
These features will most likely not make it into the game, as stated by the developers:
- AI-controlled submarines, foreign or American.
- The ability to play as as a power other than the USA (except from indirect control of Japanese escort ships in multi-player).
- Compartments other than those in Silent Hunter 4 represented in 3D.
II. Common suggestions
These exceedingly-often-asked-for features are not necessarily bad suggestions, but Ubisoft knows of them already. You don't need to include them in your Suggestion List/Wish List posts (read: Please don't).- The ability to play more than one side.
- The ability to enter all compartments of your sub.
- Better graphics.
- A more dynamic campaign (orders to lay mines, rescue pilots, etc. in addition to patrolling area x for 24 hours).
- More radio traffic (Tokyo Rose, news announcements, new orders, other vessels' reports, and so on) and interaction with other vessels and Command by radio, signal flags, and signal lamps.
- AI-controlled subs, AI planes and ships using torpedoes.
- Rockets fired from AI ships and planes; cannons as well as machine guns on planes.
- Ground vehicles (APCs, tanks, and so on).
- A more detailed editor.
III. Ubisoft's contact with the community
Ubisoft reads these forums and there are occassional surveys done to help them determine what we want of them.
Photo courtesy of this site: http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online...wsky1/drum.htm