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Old 11-18-07, 02:28 PM   #17
raifg
Sailor man
 
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Location: Le Havre, Haute Normandie, France
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrbeast
Quote:
Originally Posted by raifg
Question of point of view
I understand that modeling the interior would be a full time job, but if you consider that the main goal of the game is to simulate the life in a sub, it is a useful work.
It depend on your interest:
- a navy battle => the develoment team would have to pay attention at the exterior skin of the boat and the behaviour of ships in all the sea conditions...
- a simulation of life (like Sim's for instance), where your are the chief of the crew and not the captain (I mean You are passive in the battle, You only execute the oders of your captain, quicly and with efficiency) paying attention at the interior is a necessity...

I think the second point of view have to be expanded because I find that the managament of the crew in SH4 is too simple and has a small interaction with the rest of the game
My point of view is the opposite.

Adding a more complex crew management system a la SH3 is a destraction from the game. SH4 is a naval combat simulation not just a maritime simulation like some the civilian ship simulators out there. IMO therefore, its about hunting down and destroying the enemy not fiddling about endlessly moving crew members from one compartement to the next because they feel tired etc.

I think SH4 got the balance just right. The more complex crew management is there if you want to mess about with it but if you don't you can leave the crew to do their thing and they don't stand an endless watch in the engine room until they pass out from fatigue. The rotating watch system has I think a very authentic feel to it.

The fact is that very complex resource management soon becomes a chore and starts to dominate rather than adding immersion. It can very easily become boring and is not really very realistic as you take the role of captain and in RL the skipper would have little to do with the day to day running of the crew and boat.

Thats another reason why a fully rendered hull interior is a little redundant. As the skipper you would probably alternate from your stateroom to the wardroom to the control room to the conning tower and bridge and back again (maybe the head once a day) , seeing little of the rest of the sub unless you were conducting an inspection or their was a problem somewhere in the boat. After an hour or so of play who's going to bother touring the sub on an inspection of the boat? I have a feeling that the novelty of a go anywhere interior would wear off pretty quickly.

I'm not saying that it wouldn't be cool and I think that one or two areas of the boat could be modelled such as the captains quarters for instance. As I posted earlier I'd swap a fully modelled interior of the sub for twice the number of ships currently included and improvements to the AI, campaign etc.

PS Who wants to play as the Chief and who wants to play as the Skipper? I know what rank I would rather play as!
OK
I understand your point of view. The SH series are based on naval combat. So I understand easily than you don't want to have a simulation of crew or a stuff like that.
Maybe this kind of simulation could start a new game for another public, but I guess It could be very interesting, with situations where you can train your crew or part of this one.
And If Ubi or another one wants me ideas or my contribution to test this kind of game I am 200% open

On the other hand, I like the game of naval combat too. I think that SH4 is one of the best game on the market. The only criticism I make, is the management of the crew. When you are playing a campaign, the interaction of your management and your performance is too small. Understand me, I have taken a long time to choose the appropriate guy for each position in the sub; I have waited their promotion and their medals and after all I am not able to find a difference between the crew I got at the beginning of my campaign and now (all my guys are egal or higher than Chief Petty Officer ). Second thing, why a guy staying quitely (in the rapair team) in the sub obtain as much experience as another one who has sunk 10 planes. It's not fair don't you think ?

So in conclusion, my wish for the next opus of SH = a real interaction of the crew on the global performance of the sub

PS: it doesn't matter to play as Chief if you enjoy your game
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