Throwing This Out There...

[Kaptlt.Endrass]

I had a bit of an idea (Yes, I DO get them from time to time. No one said they're good ones though) the other day.

I have not seen any games out there where you play as the destroyer captian in real time, hunting down the u-boats attacking your convoy. Atlantic Fleet was as close as I got.

I was thinking, maybe, MAYBE, if we could get a team together with a literal metric-arse load of time and computer knowledge, we could start putting something together. I know it would be amazingly time-consuming and that we all have a life (Well, maybe you guys), but I honestly think something like this would be interesting.

I have a few details, but I wanted to get a reading on what everyone thinks first.

[Torplexed]

It's a bit dated, (2002) but wasn't Destroyer Command also a game where you played a DD captain in real time?

[Aktungbby]

yup and I'm still playing it! Both European and Pacific theatres on my Windows 98 computer.

[Kaptlt.Endrass]

Ahhh. Thank you.

If you could, what is the play like? I'd like to know so I can compare it to my ideas.

I was thinking something along the lines of SHIII style. Does it have that?

[Aktungbby]

A little hokey in the graphic but ruthless AI and no mistakes allowed. Even a wounded Heinkel has crashed into me and sunk me. I particularly enjoy the gunnery against opposition vessels. I rate a solid b- and have not survived a career intact. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroyer_Command

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Kaptlt.Endrass

Ahhh. Thank you.

If you could, what is the play like? I'd like to know so I can compare it to my ideas.

I was thinking something along the lines of SHIII style. Does it have that?

I have destroyer Command as well. It wasn't bad for it's time. If I remember right, it could interface online with those playing Silent Hunter 2 to give it a more dynamic gameplay. It did give a fairly good representation of how destroyers and U-boats played cat and mouse.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

I have destroyer Command as well. It wasn't bad for it's time. If I remember right, it could interface online with those playing Silent Hunter 2 to give it a more dynamic gameplay. It did give a fairly good representation of how destroyers and U-boats played cat and mouse.

Yes it did. Neal even had a separate website set up for those games, divided into The Eagle League and The Wolfpack League. We had some great times in those days. My only complaint was that there were few players willing to be the destroyers, so I always had that job when I really wanted to switch back and forth.

There was a consistent problem with time lags. After a half-hour of play you would find yourself running behind or ahead of other players. When one member complained that this never happened with the original stock games, someone replied "That's because the modified version is more stable. Under the original stock games you never saw a time lag because as soon as it started the game would drop you and you'd crash out."

But still, it was a lot of fun.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Kaptlt.Endrass

If you could, what is the play like? I'd like to know so I can compare it to my ideas.

Have a look:

[Betonov]

Considering the indie crap you can find on Steam greenlights and early acceses, a dedicated team of visionaries, fans and skilled programmers can deliver a decently good game without the need of large publishers.


Subsim is a good information hub should such a project start, lack of a publisher means there's no time pressure and investors demanding blood and an unlimited amount of period and equipment knowledge.
I mean, look at all the moders here. Working on a game that was probably not meant to be modded. All we need to do is build a mod suporting platform and sell it afterwards.

But personaly I can't really help. Can't programme, can't draw graphics... I can garden though

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Yes it did. Neal even had a separate website set up for those games, divided into The Eagle League and The Wolfpack League. We had some great times in those days. My only complaint was that there were few players willing to be the destroyers, so I always had that job when I really wanted to switch back and forth.

There was a consistent problem with time lags. After a half-hour of play you would find yourself running behind or ahead of other players. When one member complained that this never happened with the original stock games, someone replied "That's because the modified version is more stable. Under the original stock games you never saw a time lag because as soon as it started the game would drop you and you'd crash out."

But still, it was a lot of fun.

Thanks for the input. I didn't have much time to work with it so I didn't know if the information was correct. I thought there might be issues with time lags with people having different speed connections. It sounds like it was a lot of fun. I'm sorry I missed all that.

How did you consider the gameplay just playing against the computer ?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

How did you consider the gameplay just playing against the computer ?

It had its downside. The biggest failing of SH2 was the lack of any kind of random campaign. It was FPS-style, where you did the assigned mission, and if you failed or died you did the same mission over. And over. Destroyer Command was the same, but it was better for the simple reason that, where submarines were assigned to go into enemy territory, find their ships and sink them, destroyers were part of the fleet, so they were assigned specific tasks such as escort duty, did them and then waited for the next assignment. The FPS style actually works for surface ships.

That said, it was still quite limited in the replay department, since you knew what was going to happen every time.

[Onkel Neal]

Yeah, like Steve said. It was a decent title, limited replay, and little less polished than what we would come to expect after SH3. Worth adding to the collection and playing, heck, like you said, there aren't many alternatives.

I get nostalgic when I see DC and SH2, those were the breakthrough games for me as a "journalist". I wrangled a phone interview with Rick Martinez, the Producer at the time. Exclusive! Wow, that was cool. And as time went on, I was sent beta copies of DC, but not SH2. Other members of SSI would confide in me details about Aeon missing their milestones for SH2 (Ultimation was making DC). Then SSI released Aeon, and assigned the game to Ultimation, with Troy Heere spending 18 hours a day writing code for SH2 to catch it up to DC. And then SSI was sold, and then sold again, and the games kept getting pushed back further and further I had started the Wolfpack League and it rocketed to 10,000 active, restless members in a year... And the player community was losing their minds over the delays, it was frustrating. And the devs invited me to Baton Rogue to help/watch the interactive videoing of the USS Kidd.

Man, I wish I could relive those days.

[Kaptlt.Endrass]

It looked nice, but from what I could find, it didn't appear to have convoy escort missions in there.

I was thinking something like SHIII, where you recieve orders to get a convoy from point A to point B, or you run hunter-killer patrols. The renown you recieve is a fraction of the amount of tonnage you get safely to port and also depending on your performance at sea.

Renown earned would be used as we do now: buy engine upgrades, weapons systems upgrades, radar equipment, etc, as they become available.

And, if it were at all possible, I'd want to petition Ubisoft for permission to buy a copy of the SHIII game engine, as a good majority of us are intimately familiar with it, and, were this to become a thing, it would provide players a familiar feel to the game.

[Eichhörnchen]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Worth adding to the collection and playing, heck, like you said, there aren't many alternatives.

I made sure I got this in my 'retro' collection but have never got past loading it up to check on performance. Must admit I'm going to have a bash at it later on today now I've read all this. Thanks for the useful clip, Dooley

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Eichhörnchen

"Mmmm... when are we going to get a Tree Simulator?"

A groundbreaking FPS from the perspective of an actual tree. The next level of plant-based gameplay:


A complete overhaul with an amazing new feel.
Features:
- DirectX 11 Support
- Next Generation Graphics and Models
- Amazing new GUI Menu
- Loads of Trees
- Real forest sounds
- Therapeutic Realism
- Oculus Rift Support

Here are some reviews:

Lord_Fubar:
"Playing this game made me so euphoric I entered a higher plane of existance, I am now one with the universe. 10/10"

Laclica:
"such tree much leaf wow 10/10"


There will be a rainforest add-on.
Some people have complained about a red triangle though, which spoils the effort to manure the forest manually.



Next step: Mountain simulator.