[Lionman]

Having just finished reading the otherwise excellent review of the state of play regarding SH IV I confess to already being dissappointed as, reading between the lines, it sounds as if they are simply going to give us SH 3 + enhanced graphics and gameplay. Not that this isn't good, as I am a huge fan of the SH series and think SH3 is a benchmark for this type of simulator. BUT . . . . . the developers are seemingly ignoring the clamour from the whole community for more and better realism INSIDE the submarine and movement within the hull. This is a BIG DISSAPOINTMENT.

Why?

Because the whole ethos of submarine warfare revolves around being "trapped inside your sub in the midst of battle" so the whole game actually focusses on the sub's interior in combat and on long voyages. Think of Das Boot - we all became intimately familiar with that U Boat and the program makers knew that this was so crucial that they built a whole WW2 submarine and filmed live on board. This was absurdly difficult and expensive but it made the difference between another run-of-the-mill war series and a great all-time classic, possibly THE all time classic of the submarine genre.

So developers - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE heed the community's many many many requests for this aspect of the simulation to be enhanced. Restricted motion on board and those badly drawn and unconvincing AI avatars are just not good enough.

I am a Sub Sim enthusiast and a former professional underwater person (North Sea diver) and I tweaked my SH4 with a nice start up movie sequence inside real WW2 submarines from Das Boot, but I had to use the black and white version because when I used the colour version the transition into the SH3 sub's control room was just too unrealistic by comparison. You can't allocate grillions of polygons to complex warship graphics, then ruin the realism and immersion by leaving the human faces of the crew blocky, fixed, wooden and cartoon-like. We humans are more sensitive to the human face than any other image in our world, so the interior realism of the sub, motion within it and the convincing "look" of the AI crew are CRUCIAL to the realism of a submarine simulator.

Submarine warfare, just like living in saturation diving systems, which is very similar (and I did that for 17 years) is "up close and personal" and the realism of that interior world is totally crucial to SH 4. SH3 was a quantum leap forward from SH2 but SH4 must give us the ability to move around inside the subs, access more compartments and be with more realistic looking AI avatars. (Think of the faces of the avatars in Brothers in Arms for example.)

Otherwise SH4 will just be seen as a glorified add-on or "SH3 mark 2" and you will lose half your sales because the majority will see it as "more of the same" with a few cosmetic changes, however unfair that is. I have been a sales and marketing manager too since my offshore years and I seriously stress that you ignore this aspect of SH4 at your peril. The community (your market and buyers) made a BIG issue of how much they wanted the dynamic campaign in SH3 and you listened and did it. So don't ignore the fact that virtually every virtual submariner's wish-list has included the request for movement within the sub and more interior detail and realism.

We virtual submariner's want to "believe we are there" and "there" is INSIDE OUR SUBMARINE however marvellous the exterior world is. Personally I find the ocean world of SH 3 so realistic that I often take voyages in rainy weather just for the feeling of "sea time" in the NOrth Sea, my old professional work environment. My only real criticism is that in the real deep ocean the waves are MUCH BIGGER than they ever appear in SH3 and if we had bigger waves in SH4 the far closer visual horizon could surely be used to compensate for polygon demands? Seriously guys towering waves look even more dramatic from a lowe waterline craft like a sub and the awesome scary magesty of the ocean is really imposing from that perspective. Try crossing between two vessels offshore in an inflatable. Within 20 yards you are lost in a landscape of moving grey hills even in fairly mild weather and in a Force 5 plus it is really terrifying from that low perspective. The same applies ot small yachts in big seas offshore, something I have also expereinced first hand. The two "stars" of a submarine combat simulator are the ocean and the submarine itself. You could even use that as a marketing tag line because it is absolutely true.

In general the SH series is excellent and totally unparalleled in the history of simulations and we appreciate your work guys but remember that we scrutinise it perhaps more closely than any other online combat market of players.

The new multiplayer stress in SH4 sounds EXCELLENT as I for one play simulators mainly for social reasons and the single player game is far less important to me. I want human opponents and colleagues.

My personal dream is a multi-crewed submarine online which I could crew with my buddies, just as multi-crewed online aircraft have become possible in the combat flight sim world. There are few experiences more immersive or productive of cameraderie than sharing combat as a team online and I have made many great friends this way.