Negative Opinion on SHIV so far

Wijbrandus · 05-15-07, 06:08 PM

My purpose for posting this is for you to help me find ways of either fixing my issues or maybe helping me deal with them in the game. This is not intended as a rant or a whine, though I fully understand it will come across that way.

Ok, first my good impressions. One, it's nice to be on the side of the "good guys" for once. Also, I absolutely love the updated graphics. Very very sweet eye candy in all aspects of the game.

Now my issues with this game so far. Bear in mind I've been playing GWX since release until this past weekend when I bought SH4, so I admit I'm coming at this from a "higher place".

1) The manual. Well, why did they even bother. I'm getting better and more useful info referring to my SH3 manual. Should have saved the trees.

2) Torpedos. I've given up trying to place shots to cause flooding. The torpedo damage system is entirely arbitrary and random. There is no sense in it that I can decipher. I'm actually getting better luck using auto-lock to hit the target dead center than I am when I put a fish in both cargo bays. This is really becoming a game-breaker for me, as I can't reliably sink a ship to save my life. And don't give me the spiel about how some ships would never go down in history. The damage model is pretty well broken. I'm hoping someone has figured out the Byzantine logic behind it and can tell me how to get results out of my fish.

3) Descent rates. When I tell my sub to "crash dive", I expect it to actually get under the water in a reasonable amount of time. Last night, I had a bomber make TWO PASSES on me before I descended, and then I swear the only reason I got under the surface was due to flooding and damage. I spotted the bomber at long range too. Crash dive, diving of all sorts, seems broken - or at least interminably slow.

4) Random reassignment. I'm told I'm first in line for a new model of sub. I accept. Suddenly I'm reassigned to Pearl Harbor? I hate Pearl Harbor due to the Dateline bug. I specifically chose Asiatic Fleet to avoid it. Couldn't they have warned me?

5) Damage Control. This seems remarkably tedious and unintuitive from before. Now I have to find the damaged unit, place it in the damage control queue, and then activate the damage control team. What were they doing before? Playing cards in the stockroom while the depth charges are going off? Oh, and if a module is "destroyed", can't you freaking tell me that in a mouse-over or something? I spent half an hour of real time trying to figure out why my damage control team wasn't working on my deck gun. My only guess after all that is that it must have been blown off. I could see it, but it was marked as a red item. So I guess that's destroyed?

6) Ubisoft needs a FAQ or something. I've reviewed the Subsim one, and it's fine as far as it goes. Maybe someone is working on a wiki like we have for SH3.

I really really want to love this game, but I swear I'm so close to going back to SH3. Running the Channel in a Type IX in 1945 on the surface seems like more fun than making another patrol in the Celebes sea.

I've tried a few minor mods, and I'm currently using RFB 1.24. I've got some other issues with that, but it's minor stuff. My absolute biggest gripe is the torp damage model, followed by the descent rates.

05-15-07, 06:08 PM	#1
Wijbrandus Loader Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Littleton, Colorado Posts: 83 Downloads: 101 Uploads: 0	Negative Opinion on SHIV so far My purpose for posting this is for you to help me find ways of either fixing my issues or maybe helping me deal with them in the game. This is not intended as a rant or a whine, though I fully understand it will come across that way. Ok, first my good impressions. One, it's nice to be on the side of the "good guys" for once. Also, I absolutely love the updated graphics. Very very sweet eye candy in all aspects of the game. Now my issues with this game so far. Bear in mind I've been playing GWX since release until this past weekend when I bought SH4, so I admit I'm coming at this from a "higher place". 1) The manual. Well, why did they even bother. I'm getting better and more useful info referring to my SH3 manual. Should have saved the trees. 2) Torpedos. I've given up trying to place shots to cause flooding. The torpedo damage system is entirely arbitrary and random. There is no sense in it that I can decipher. I'm actually getting better luck using auto-lock to hit the target dead center than I am when I put a fish in both cargo bays. This is really becoming a game-breaker for me, as I can't reliably sink a ship to save my life. And don't give me the spiel about how some ships would never go down in history. The damage model is pretty well broken. I'm hoping someone has figured out the Byzantine logic behind it and can tell me how to get results out of my fish. 3) Descent rates. When I tell my sub to "crash dive", I expect it to actually get under the water in a reasonable amount of time. Last night, I had a bomber make TWO PASSES on me before I descended, and then I swear the only reason I got under the surface was due to flooding and damage. I spotted the bomber at long range too. Crash dive, diving of all sorts, seems broken - or at least interminably slow. 4) Random reassignment. I'm told I'm first in line for a new model of sub. I accept. Suddenly I'm reassigned to Pearl Harbor? I hate Pearl Harbor due to the Dateline bug. I specifically chose Asiatic Fleet to avoid it. Couldn't they have warned me? 5) Damage Control. This seems remarkably tedious and unintuitive from before. Now I have to find the damaged unit, place it in the damage control queue, and then activate the damage control team. What were they doing before? Playing cards in the stockroom while the depth charges are going off? Oh, and if a module is "destroyed", can't you freaking tell me that in a mouse-over or something? I spent half an hour of real time trying to figure out why my damage control team wasn't working on my deck gun. My only guess after all that is that it must have been blown off. I could see it, but it was marked as a red item. So I guess that's destroyed? 6) Ubisoft needs a FAQ or something. I've reviewed the Subsim one, and it's fine as far as it goes. Maybe someone is working on a wiki like we have for SH3. I really really want to love this game, but I swear I'm so close to going back to SH3. Running the Channel in a Type IX in 1945 on the surface seems like more fun than making another patrol in the Celebes sea. I've tried a few minor mods, and I'm currently using RFB 1.24. I've got some other issues with that, but it's minor stuff. My absolute biggest gripe is the torp damage model, followed by the descent rates.