SHIV... Wolf packs

[quietguy52]

I'm about 3/4 through a full campaign in SH4 (vanilla) and have not encountered any reference(s) to wolf packs.

Are they part of the game?

[dcb]

Originally Posted by quietguy52

Are they part of the game?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: the game engine was never meant to model wolfpacks, as it has no submarine AI. Some attempts were made to 'emulate' wolfpacks by reskinning surface ships as subs, but only in SH3 and nothing of the kind was made in SH4, AFAIK. Anyway, without a proper sub behavior, even if they are modelled this way, they will only act as surface ships, no matter how they look: unable to dive, to shoot torpedoes etc.
IMO, the lack of submarine AI is THE major drawback of the whole series so far that cannot be addressed by modders, because of game engine limitations.

[quietguy52]

Thanks dcb...

It would certainly add a lot to the game and the realism factor.

Lacking this, I would guess some of this could be sim'd via online play.

[Wicked Popsicle]

Yes, this something I would really love to see in the next SIlent Hunter

[Laffertytig]

ah the holy grail that is wolfpacks eh. i remember when the uboats addon came out that it was said wolfpacks could be modded in due to the features that the addon provided but nothing came off it.

i wonder if the gwx guys will be able to get functional wolfpacks in their next release, we can but hope!

[quietguy52]

While playing Aces of the Deep back in the early to mid 90s, I remember "working with" wolf packs during missions, was kinda cool coordinating my actions with what they were doing during convoy attacks.

Hopefully SH5 will have wolf pack scenarios modeled within...

[Hitman]

Fortunately in the Pacific Thether they were nowhere as important as in the Atlantic, hence youc ould play a whole career without participating in a wolfpack and still be doing a realistic one (Like O'Kane in the USS Tang for example, he acted with other submarines but never in coordinates attacks, just in patrol search operations and only very loosely).

For a german U-Boat game, however, the lack of wolfpacks ia a TRAGEDY Yes you can still play early war with a Type II, a type VII in the Mediterranean, or long range patrols with Type IXs, operating alone. But facing a well escorted convoy in the North Atlantic alone and without the help of a wolfpack is pure madness, and utterly devoid of what happened in real life.

[rubenandthejets]

Originally Posted by quietguy52

While playing Aces of the Deep back in the early to mid 90s, I remember "working with" wolf packs during missions, was kinda cool coordinating my actions with what they were doing during convoy attacks.

Hopefully SH5 will have wolf pack scenarios modeled within...

I must be old but I remember "Wolfpack" managed to emulate wolfpacks in CGA graphics in the 1980s!