After day 2 of SHIV

[Pevs86]

Originally Posted by Pevs86

Just my thoughts, got it this morning:


For:


- Lots of variation - sub choices, mission objectives, enemy shipping, enemy aircraft
- Time Compression - hurrah! runs smooth as butter even at 6000times or whatever
- Performance wise I'm impressed, I got a pretty dated rig now (6800GT, 3ghz, 2gig RAM) and it runs nicely, well enough so I can fraps it Granted it's not on zomgwtfUber setting but it's still veeery pretty.
- It's very pretty :P
- Almost completely bug free and extremely stable for me (running 1.1) so I'm REALLY happy about that, having read some stories on here!
- Friendly warships. I love that the USN was never beaten, unlike the KM, it makes you feel like you're part of the team, as apposed to being in the last of a dieing breed.
- Fog is now incredibly well done, I hate it, but it's REALLY believable fog, so it's allowed to stay on the Pro list, because noone likes fog
- AA guns that I can actually hit planes with

Against:

- I miss being told what I'm firing at, this is my biggest gripe of all - no little window with Ship type, speed and bearing in it... and I'm an Auto Target guy, so have to go to my map, work out where the ship I want is, go to periscope, count across the number of ships, and lock... and pray.
- No information about Torps, no Max Range. Coupled with the above, I dunno what range my Torps have, nor the range my target is... so...?
- Torpedos. I've read here that some people aren't getting any duds? Lucky you! I've had asmany as 12/14 torpedo's detonate prematurely in 1 patrol* Granted these aren't duds par-se but still.
- No watch officer on hand with ranges for deckgun.
- No "Max range at given speed" which is a real pisser concidering the distances involved.
- No markings on the depth guage to tell me how deep my sub can go.
- The interface, everything about it is time consuming and clumsy.
- I dislike the Periscope view, I think it's too confined... I know it's being picky but with all the pullout menus pulled out there's hardly any room to see.

But I like the game, I don't LOVE it, I didn't LOVE SHIII when it first came out. Infact iirc I uninstalled it almost immediatly as I wasn't in the mood.

Just a final thought on AI:

I've yet to get attacked by a DD. I intercepted a Task Force bound for the Phillipenes and sunk a heavy Cruiser, twice, but they didn't come after me.
What they DID do, was form an impenetrable wall around the troop transports, changing course, changing speed, even stopping occassionally. The DDs lit up the Torpedos with their lights so that the others were aware and could avoid them. Eventually 2 came after me, made no real attempt to sink me, but I didn't see any DC racks so I assumed they had none? At the end of the day, they saved their troops, they just didn't sink me.

* These torps were set 50% Contact, 50% Contact / Influence (I assume Magnetic?) and I'm wondering if the AI shoot at Torps in the water to detonate them - anyone aware of this? Or was it just the most unlucky patrol in my personal history.


I'm not just making a mini-vent, I'd love ANY assistance anyone can give me regarding anything I've mentioned that could be down my lack of skill, or me just missing something in general.

EDIT - I HATE the watch popping up at TC 512+ forgot that one but again, petty and personal.

That's how I felt yesterday. But now, I feel like an idiot for feeling like that.

Having actually READ the manual last night after playing, the Torp info issue is resolved. Having spent time with the interface, the Range and Speed and Ship ID issue is resolved. Some things are still missing, the lack of Watch Officer support, the Navigator information, but I'm learning to use the map to work out ranges and just guessing the range of my sub - which gets easier as time goes on.

I'm happy, it was just a culture shock with all the changes, now I'm over that - I'm enjoying the game for what it is, and it is a damned good Submarine Simulation. Sure there's alot that needs to get added, and there are some tiny bugs left - here I think I got lucky, having only CTD'd once when pressing "A" by accident

But the first time you run into that Task Force, see them Carriers... see the US counter attack... I'm really enjoying it. Don't write it off too soon is what I'm trying to say