Silent Service vs Silent Hunter

[snwcrsh]

Hi. I have a tough decision. Besides playing SH3, I am sitting on the original Silent Hunter for DOS and Silent Service for Amiga (runs like a charme on WinUAE).

Which one is better? I never played SH1 (as compared to SS, I spent literally weeks locked in my basement).

Any fo you guys played both more or less extensive and give me some pointers whats better in one or the other?

[Mush Martin]

SH1 by a few hundred boat lengths.

[Ducimus]

Looking at screenshots from a review on SH1 here on subsim, i find myself feeling nostalgic:

[ChristopherT]

The last versions of SS I ran were SS1 for the Commodore 64 and SS2 for the IBM PC (CGA graphics, later SVGA.) I think you'd like Silent Hunter for the atmosphere, I think it's a excellent simulation, better than it's younger brothers.

Christopher

[snwcrsh]

I'd like to play Silent Hunter again, unfortunately it crashes at random times in my dosbox (DOS4GW Protection Fault)

As for Silent Service, I originally played it on the c64 but I really enjoyed the Amiga version later. Both are freely available and run perfectly in CCS and WinUAE.

[Captain Nemo]

Originally Posted by snwcrsh

I'd like to play Silent Hunter again, unfortunately it crashes at random times in my dosbox (DOS4GW Protection Fault)

As for Silent Service, I originally played it on the c64 but I really enjoyed the Amiga version later. Both are freely available and run perfectly in CCS and WinUAE.

I too played Silent Service on the C64 and Silent Service II on the Amiga. I enjoyed both very much. Never got the opportunity to play Silent Hunter much as I was an ardent Amiga fan at the time so I have voted for Silent Service.

Nemo

[Sailor Steve]

Silent Hunter is far better. In Silent Service you command only a Gato, and you drag it all around the Pacific from your base at Pearl Harbor. In Silent Hunter you can start at any historical base at any time during the war, and command any historical submarine, including S-boats and the big V-boats. Also, Silent Hunter included task forces with battleships (SS had no big ships, and SSII only added aircraft carriers).

SS was great when it was all there was, but SH wins by a mile.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Silent Hunter is far better. In Silent Service you command only a Gato, and you drag it all around the Pacific from your base at Pearl Harbor. In Silent Hunter you can start at any historical base at any time during the war, and command any historical submarine, including S-boats and the big V-boats. Also, Silent Hunter included task forces with battleships (SS had no big ships, and SSII only added aircraft carriers).

SS was great when it was all there was, but SH wins by a mile.

Direct hit!

[snwcrsh]

True in all respects. However, Silent Service was released 11 years earlier. That's an eternity for computer games at that time. (I might as well argue that SH3 is better than SH1!). Silent Service was extremely original at that time and the first submarine simulation in this kind that I know of. Actually Silent Hunter very much copies the Interface (Different stations on function keys).


I may be biased, but thus my vote goes to Silent Service, too

[Mush Martin]

Silent service was what I cut my teeth on but that doesnt change
the answer to the question of Quality only to the question of originality.
I would still play sh1 if I could find a copy and get it working on xp.

M

Originally Posted by Mush Martin

Silent service was what I cut my teeth on but that doesnt change
the answer to the question of Quality only to the question of originality.
I would still play sh1 if I could find a copy and get it working on xp.

M

For what it might be worth, I got my SH1 working fine in XP using DOSBox 0.70.

[Captain Nemo]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Silent Hunter is far better. In Silent Service you command only a Gato, and you drag it all around the Pacific from your base at Pearl Harbor. In Silent Hunter you can start at any historical base at any time during the war, and command any historical submarine, including S-boats and the big V-boats. Also, Silent Hunter included task forces with battleships (SS had no big ships, and SSII only added aircraft carriers).

SS was great when it was all there was, but SH wins by a mile.

Although I don't disagree with your final analysis (even though I was a Silent Service fan), in Silent Service II I think you will find you did have the option of different subs and bases to start from. SSII also added battleships as well as carriers to the mix. In fact I think there was a single mission called "Sink the Yamato".

Nemo

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Captain Nemo

Although I don't disagree with your final analysis (even though I was a Silent Service fan), in Silent Service II I think you will find you did have the option of different subs and bases to start from. SSII also added battleships as well as carriers to the mix. In fact I think there was a single mission called "Sink the Yamato".

Nemo

Really? I don't remember that at all. Someday I'll have to dig out my old Atari and see if my memory's really that far gone. What I do seem to remember is the absence of shoaling: In SS if it dropped you into a shallow area you could run for deeper waters, but in SS2 it stayed the same depth until the action was over. If the water was shallow you could be in big trouble. At least in my memory.

[ChristopherT]

In Silent Service 2, we had the choice of Old "S" Class, Barracuda Class, Narwhal Class, "P" class, New "S" Class, "T" Class, Gato Class, Improved Gato Class and Tench Class submarines. Deck guns were available as were Historical Mk 14's. As far as bases go, Pearl and Midway were initial choices, followed by Comsubsasiatic bases. Radar is available in 1942.

Targets Include:

Yamato BB, Fuso BB, Kaga CV, Myoko CA, Kuma CL, Akizuki DDAA, Fabuki DD, Matsu DE, Type C PC, Troop Transport, Oil Tanker, Converted Factory Ship, Large Freighter, Small Freighter.

Evasive tactics include Crew Experience (IJN Ships), Thermal Layers between 150 and 200', and sub facing.

Subs in SS2 can dive from 200 ft to 400 ft depending on the class.

Land and Reef areas are declared "impassible", probably does model Shoaling, but I would have to reinstall it and try it out.

Page 80 and 81 in the manual highlight the bases, there are 4 SubPac Bases, PH, Midway, Saipan and Manjuro, there are 12 Subpac patrol areas including...Cent Pac, West Pac, Mariana Islands, Truk and Marshalls, Palau Islands, N Japan, S Japan, 2 Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and Formosia Strait.

There are 7 Subsasiatic bases including, Manila, TJilatap, Fremantle, Darwin, Manus Harbor, Milos Woendi and late Manila. Patrol areas for these bases are Philiippines, South China Sea, Malaya, Celebes and Java Sea.

Occasionally you would get tasked to operate with Task Force 42 (Dugout Dougs command?) Bases for TF42 were Brisbane and Milne Bay, patrol areas were Solomon Islands and New Guinea.

Not bad for something that fits on 4 360k Floppy disks!

Daylight and dark nights were modeled, I don't recall if rain was. Some early sub simulators didn't factor in day/night
operations.


Christopher

[ChristopherT]

Okay, I reinstalled SS2 from my CD backup. I started a war career on 12-8-41 and choose Manila as my initial base with an Old "S" class submarine (S-46). Patrol area was the Phillipines. When you patrol during a career you're on a large strategic chart, when you make a contact you drop to the tactical map. The first battle was between 2 armed freighters and S-46 in 350 feet of water. It was a tie! I got one freighter and they almost nailed me. The second battle was at night, between 2 tankers and S-46. They lost, sank both tankers with a mix of torpedoes and deck gun fire. This time the water was 700 ft deep. When you loose contact with the enemy ships you're brought back to the strategic map. Whether you could start a battle in shallow water and run deep or vice versa, I don't know yet. Because of a loss of bases in rapid succession, I ended up getting towed to Pearl Harbor, out of gas!

Christopher