Idea: Captain Fatigue

Elmer Kosterman · 05-04-08, 12:53 PM

In the world of Silent Hunter III, the player assumes the role of the captain, who is ever-present, aware, and can do just about anything better than any member of the crew (omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, like the God). My idea is that it would be interesting to take the captain's need for sleep into account in future simulations. Here's how it could work:

The captain needs about 7-8 hours of sleep every twenty-four hours.

He can go without sleep for significant streches, and can make it up later, but he cannot "store" sleep.

To go to sleep, the player brings the captain to his bunk, and selects 'Sleep.' The screen then goes blank or indicates the game's status by displying z's or sheep.

There are a number of ways the captain can be woken:

---after a specified length of time

---upon the receipt of certain reports (sound contact, ship spotted, urgent message from BdU, etc.)

---alarm situations

---at the leisure of the player

This sleep feature would add some suspense to the game, as the Captain sleeps not knowing if he will wake to his IWO standing over him with a message or by the LI screaming "ALARM!" It would also be a challenge for the player to reacquaint him- or herself with the status of the boat after waking up (especially in an emergency), perhaps through a quick breifing from whoever had the conn as to the present, position, heading and depth. Of course this feature would be time compression-compatible.

Should the Captain not get enough sleep, the player would be confronted with a set of hardships, including:

---a shakey cursor
---unstable scopes
---slower movement between stations
---garbled hearing of the hydrophone

In such situations, the player would be advised to rely on the crew to perform sensitive operations such as firing the deck-gun, plotting positions, or computing firing solutions.

If the captain goes too long without sleep, the game will render him unconsious for a time, during which the player will not be able to wake him.

What do you guys think?

05-04-08, 12:53 PM	#1
Elmer Kosterman A-ganger Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: München Posts: 71 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	Idea: Captain Fatigue In the world of Silent Hunter III, the player assumes the role of the captain, who is ever-present, aware, and can do just about anything better than any member of the crew (omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, like the God). My idea is that it would be interesting to take the captain's need for sleep into account in future simulations. Here's how it could work: The captain needs about 7-8 hours of sleep every twenty-four hours. He can go without sleep for significant streches, and can make it up later, but he cannot "store" sleep. To go to sleep, the player brings the captain to his bunk, and selects 'Sleep.' The screen then goes blank or indicates the game's status by displying z's or sheep. There are a number of ways the captain can be woken: ---after a specified length of time ---upon the receipt of certain reports (sound contact, ship spotted, urgent message from BdU, etc.) ---alarm situations ---at the leisure of the player This sleep feature would add some suspense to the game, as the Captain sleeps not knowing if he will wake to his IWO standing over him with a message or by the LI screaming "ALARM!" It would also be a challenge for the player to reacquaint him- or herself with the status of the boat after waking up (especially in an emergency), perhaps through a quick breifing from whoever had the conn as to the present, position, heading and depth. Of course this feature would be time compression-compatible. Should the Captain not get enough sleep, the player would be confronted with a set of hardships, including: ---a shakey cursor ---unstable scopes ---slower movement between stations ---garbled hearing of the hydrophone In such situations, the player would be advised to rely on the crew to perform sensitive operations such as firing the deck-gun, plotting positions, or computing firing solutions. If the captain goes too long without sleep, the game will render him unconsious for a time, during which the player will not be able to wake him. What do you guys think?