Do you embrace failure?

[ParaB]

Yesterday I played a multiplayer game of SH4 and chatted with a couple of guys about the general gameplay. What surprised me a bit was that obviously everybody except me regularly completes 100k tonnage patrols, sinking battleships and carriers left and right. When I told them that I often suffered from dud torpedoes or a bad manual aiming I got the reply "well, always save before firing your tops, then you can reload if you miss".

Errrr... this got me wondering a bit.

For me my failures are an essential part of the SH4 atmosphere. If I save/load for every attack until I get the perfect result, what's the motivation to play the game at all? Every patrol will yield the same success.

OTOH only when you miss a battleship or suffer from duds will you appreciate the feeling of triumph next time you actually hit a big target. And only if you complete a patrol with a meagre success you will come to appreciate a really good patrol.

[Sank_Quick]

The only time i save/reload is before entering an enemy port or attacking a convoy, and thats only just incase of a CTD. I enjoy the missing of ships, because it gives me something to gauge my future patrols by, so i can actually notice if i do progressively better.

[Torcher]

I usually use the reload of a saved game when a bugged aspect of the game gets me or at the patrol level only i.e. to replay a screwed up patrol. I don't micromanage all the little f ups during a patrol.

I'll definately be replaying last nights patrol. Returning from a successful outing only to be gang raped by enema planes 2 days out of Midway during an RTB.

[DaMaGe007]

I have played Sh3 and Sh4 since it came out, I have NEVER saved mid patrol, not even once.
I dont play dead is dead, but if a patrol is no good its no good.

[Sailor Steve]

I always save before an attack in SH3, but that's because I have no real sound card and the game occassionaly crashes when a ship sinks. I'll probably keep the habit in SH4 (when I can finally play it) but somehow it feels like cheating to me to fix results just because I don't like them.

[clayton]

I save in case of a CTD and to be honest, due to the numerous aircraft presence. Though diving during the day works out ok, though I wonder how realistic that was?

[ryuzu]

Originally Posted by ParaB

Yesterday I played a multiplayer game of SH4 and chatted with a couple of guys about the general gameplay. What surprised me a bit was that obviously everybody except me regularly completes 100k tonnage patrols, sinking battleships and carriers left and right. When I told them that I often suffered from dud torpedoes or a bad manual aiming I got the reply "well, always save before firing your tops, then you can reload if you miss".

Errrr... this got me wondering a bit.

For me my failures are an essential part of the SH4 atmosphere. If I save/load for every attack until I get the perfect result, what's the motivation to play the game at all? Every patrol will yield the same success.

OTOH only when you miss a battleship or suffer from duds will you appreciate the feeling of triumph next time you actually hit a big target. And only if you complete a patrol with a meagre success you will come to appreciate a really good patrol.

That is gameplaying... personally I prefer simulation - simulation doesn't need saves to get a high score.

However, with the game in it's current state, it is a bit too easy to get high tonnage patrols by basically sailing into a harbour, shooting up the place and sailing out. You can do it undetected and, as far as I can tell, even when things start exploding the AI doesn't seem to bother with seriously looking for you, and certainly the fighting vessels in the harbour don't suddenly wake up. You only need a battleship or two, or a couple of carriers to get into the 50K range straight off.

r.

[sea enemy]

I had a patrol where I took Grampus out to the Marshall islands in late '41. Never got one contact, never saw a single enemy maru. On the way back to Midway for fuel, I got the fox that wake had fallen, so I decided on a detour, to see if there was any of the invasion force to attack...Well, it looked like the mobile fleet was nearby, and I accidently got severely damaged by what I believe was a B5N. Limped home worse for wear...

Patrol was a total eye-rolling failure...But, I had more fun on it than any other patrol yet!

I do however save at certain points out of fear of a CTD-I swear I've almost accidently hit the 'a' key about ten times...But never a save in contact..

[bobo]

Personally I don't really make a mental note of the tonnage I sink/sank on a patrol. I may look at the end result and decide I need to turn up the difficulty but I certainly couldn't tell ya if I've ever got over or near to 100k, I just don't keep track. Like many here I play the simulation with an occasional external camera for taking in the eye candy only and not for a tactical gain.

Saving in case a torp misses? Never even crossed my mind. I do save regularly though due to the unstable nature of SH4. CTD is the only reason I've ever re-loaded a saved game while playing a patrol.

[Doolan]

Tempting as saving might be, it's like playing poker without money: it just doesn't work.

It's not that you're "free to screw up" so to speak. The impact is much deeper, as being ready to load / save indiscriminately changes your tactics *a lot*. There are many things you wouldn't dare to do if you didn't have the save / load option. Playing without it forces you to actually think, plan ahead and try to minimize mistakes. In other words, it makes you play in a completely different (and in my opinion more engaging) way.

I abused save / load at first when I was learning the sim, but I always feel guilty when I do it more than once without a justified cause, so I try to stay away from it as much as possible.

The current (relatively buggy) state of the game makes it difficult to avoid it completely, but I simply can't wait for patch 1.2: I want to sink stuff right here and right now

[Psyon]

i save after topping off at midway and save right when i get on station..
just incase any game problems happens.

never reload after a bad attack run

[nfitzsimmons]

I always save regularly with almost every game I play to guard against the various crashes that we all see, but I don't reload a saved game just because I got beat up.

Of course I only got SH4 last Friday, and keep getting my butt sunk while I learn the controls. Experience is a powerful teacher, after all.

[WFGood]

I also save before attacking a task force or convoy just in case there is a CTD or something else untoward occurs. I do not normally pay attention to the tonnage that I sink, but it is unrealistic at the moment.
On my first patrol I sank 3 carriers, 2 cruisers, etc. On the next I managed another carrier, and on my latest patrol I sank the Yamato among other major combatants. In a realistic scenario I would have been awarded the CMH and out on a war bond drive for the rest of the war. I love the game, but it does seem that the AI is woefully uninterested in us. I have been shot at by numerous planes, but I have steamed full speed, surfaced through enemy task forces without so much as a passing shot. I have been fired at once, and after I turned, they no longer paid any attention freeing me to attack again.

[gnirtS]

Im still totally useless at identifying ships. Result is i wasted 4 torpedos sinking a medium gun boat for about 900 tons. This continued throughout the patrol. Eventually came back with 0 torpedos remaining and 11000 tons only sunk. Mostly small stuff and 1destroyer.

I save before and after major contacts though but thats purely as i dont trust the game in its present guise not to crash out on me.

[Iron Budokan]

If I miss my attack on a ship I don't save and replay to give myself another chance. And I always play DiD, too.