yup it's the ease with which you can tinker under the bonnet that makes SH2 particulary addictive...rather like running a vintage car...i'll just pull up at the side of the road and see if i can't get that carb running just a little bit cleaner...lol
but i guess with SH3/4 the thing that knackers me is the weather.and the time excell giveaway when you are near a convoy.. ..that warp hole out of which the clouds appear directly over head just screams "naff" at me...in fact the over-all general aspects of the gameplay are what i enjoy the most..the travelling to and from patrol spots..the radio contacts giving me clues to where to go next...trying to work out where to patrol and where not to patrol...watching the weather change..(and being able to check the weather reports for extra information and of course finding the weather reports to be accurate!) yup the radio message said there would be a fog bank at such and such a LAT LONG and when i get there blammo...yup it bloomin well is foggy!...
in fact the actual combat part really doesn't do much more for me than add a little tension to the atmosphere... nothing more..the real joy is for me finding the convoys and all the dynamic events ,reports, weather observations and navigation that lead up to it that are the gameplay hooks...
all SH3/4 really seemed to be interested in is tonnage..which is fine and obviuosly in keeping completely with the simulations purpose...but as we know...the combat only takes place after many hours of "other stuff"-
they forgot to put the "other stuff" into SH3/4 and what they did put in was done in such a prefunctory manner as to make it far less enjoyable than it might have been...dunno ..just not user friendly for the less tonnage focused player ...because it's HOW you got that tonnage that's the story.. not the amount shown on the score board at the end of the mission.. anyhuw that's my bent on things...
as we know huge numbers of uboat kaptains never sank anything at all!!! it's their story i'm interested in ,in terms of gameplay history and realism also..
here's a good example of tinkering about that's very much easier and automatic with SH2
one limitation with SH2 is the types of shipping and the paint jobs which are fairly bland to say the least..
but having got a few repaints (Covets repaint utils are available? plus jrf texman? i have them..)
ope a merchant UDF file with notepad and
#if between(19390101,date,19400401)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint1
#endif
#if between(19400402,date,19400615)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint2
#endif
#if between(19400616,date,19420401)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint3
#endif
#if between(19420402,date,19421201)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint4
#endif
#if between(19421202,date,19430101)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint5
#endif
#if between(19430102,date,19430501)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint6
#endif
#if between(19430502,date,19430801)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint7
#endif
#if between(19430802,date,19430901)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint8
#endif
#if between(19430902,date,19440401)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint9
#endif
#if between(19440402,date,19440501)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint10
#endif
#if between(19440502,date,19450101)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint11
#endif
#if between(19450102,date,19450501)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint12
#endif
#if between(19450502,date,19460101)
Model = MSCCargo2_paint13
#endif
heck have a new repaint for every month right thru the war...no limits at all there..
and make another version of the same UDF with the dates reversed so the paints appear in a different order date wise ..add the new UDF name to the missions and there we are convoys with a never ending parade of different skins for the merchant..do it too all the ships and wham major revamp...
all done with notepad (and the repaint tool in this case)
i agree with you Horsa
there is seemingly no end in sight to the sort of stuff you can implement into SH2 usually with nothing more complicated than notepad and a LOT of patience...and SH2 does this stuff so well..great!
long live "THE OTHER STUFF!!!"