Albrecht Von Hesse

For me, while part of the allure of SHIII (and RUb and GW) is being able to play commanding a sub, much more of the allure is the ability to simulate doing do in a very realistc fashion.

I guess, from what I've read so far, I'm into the 'total immersion' aspect. And part of that is the understanding that, in real life, there are no reset-buttons to fatal goofs and/or miscalculations.

Admittedly, in the beginning, while I was learning the commands, and gaining experience in 'this-does-that-and-most-likely-will-result-in-<blank>' I did a lot of 'save-and-recover's. But after the first week I switched to full realism, with the exception of torpedo data still being automatic (now and then I play manual data only, but I justify using auto as an actual U-boat would have three people involved in data collection and input while I'm just a feeble singleton player) and, once I felt I knew what was what, I started a career with the understanding and acceptance that dead would be dead.

Now I have, at times, made exceptions to that. One, for instance, was learning --the hard way-- that my home port was mined (ouch). I hadn't realized that RUb included that. Another was encountering an aircraft while on patrol, where my boat had one heavy and two light flak stations. My normal response to sighted aircraft is to become very interested in running a crash dive drill. But this time I wanted to see what it was like to actually engage an enemy aircraft.

It's painful.

Ouch.

There are times I leave port for a patrol that I'll 'stand on the bridge', gazing sternwards, watching the dock recede behind. I imagine what it was like, seeing that for real. Thinking, 'Will I ever see this again?' Wondering if that might be my last sight, ever, of home.

There was the time I spent two and a half real-time hours trying to evade four DD escorts. It seemed nothing I did worked. I finally kept creeping, meter by meter, lower and lower, until I finally hit a depth where my hull started cracking and getting damaged. I crept up one meter then kept trying to silent run my way free, all the time hearing virtual non-stop pings and the occassional high-speed screws overhead. Again I kept picturing what that must have been like for real. Dust heavy in the air from prior ash-canning. The air thick, clammy, humid. Unable to see the ships above; no idea where they were, if this next attack run had your name on it . . .

It just wouldn't be the same for me if I simply nonchalantly went, 'Oh well, I'll just reload the last save'.

Albrecht von Hesse