Expansions,expansions,expansions!!!

[tonibamestre]

Hello,this is what I would like after the upcoming SH4.
-IJN(Imperial Jap Navy) expansion,implementing in detail the main big Carriers,Battleships,Cruisers and Destroyers,all them fully controllable and operative.
-USN expansion,covering the same but on the US side,with full capability to operate all the air wing onboard the carriers.The same with Jap side of course.
-With all this stuff working together,a good 24h online server to be able to organize broad missions during days.

What you guys and developers think about?

[CCIP]

I think the game "Pacific Storm" is closer to this kind fo thing

I don't think the SH engine is particularly well-suited to simulating surface combat. I may be wrong, but it'd have to more or less be a new game. It would take a LOT of effort to implement the factors that are simplified in SHIII - gunnery and ballistics models, shell damage, performance, physics, and so on. Surface ships in SHIII (and probably SHIV) are really simplified in modelling for the most part.

In general, 'surface ship simulator' is kind of a difficult idea - because surface ships normally work in groups. The role of captain on a warship is a bit different, too; and the more systems and weapons a ship has, the less direct control a captain has over them. You certainly aren't the guy with the red button on a battleship, it's not quite the same as a sub. A multi-unit strategy/tactics command type of wargame is far more suited to modelling surface combat.

What I'd rather see in possible expansions is strictly submarine developments - especially things like the neglected British, Dutch, Italian and other underwater navies.

[TDK1044]

This is a WW2 sub simulator. You're describing a totally different kind of game.

[Torplexed]

I think Ubisoft's Pacific Fighters kinda covers the air war in the Pacific although it lacked a lot of planes. When you think about it, it's rather dull being a carrier or battleship skipper. The average carrier or battleship didn't see nearly as much action as submarines did during the war. There were only about five or six carrier versus carrier battles during the whole Pacific War. The only time American and Japanese battleships faced off was once at Guadalacanal in 1942 and again in a mis-match in 1944 at the Suriago Strait.

[Corsair]

Originally Posted by tonibamestre

Hello,this is what I would like after the upcoming SH4.
-IJN(Imperial Jap Navy) expansion,implementing in detail the main big Carriers,Battleships,Cruisers and Destroyers,all them fully controllable and operative.
-USN expansion,covering the same but on the US side,with full capability to operate all the air wing onboard the carriers.The same with Jap side of course.
-With all this stuff working together,a good 24h online server to be able to organize broad missions during days.

What you guys and developers think about?

There is a game soon coming out called "Battlestations Midway" it seems from the trailers to match what you're looking for (all kinds of vessels, planes, subs...). Pacific Storm has a lot of work on the supply and production aspects.
Silent Hunter series are a submarine simulation, which is something very different.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by tonibamestre

Hello,this is what I would like after the upcoming SH4.
-IJN(Imperial Jap Navy) expansion,implementing in detail the main big Carriers,Battleships,Cruisers and Destroyers,all them fully controllable and operative.
-USN expansion,covering the same but on the US side,with full capability to operate all the air wing onboard the carriers.The same with Jap side of course.
-With all this stuff working together,a good 24h online server to be able to organize broad missions during days.

What you guys and developers think about?

I for one would LOVE a game like this
Ahh we can only dream
Was looking forward to BSM.. however the latest screenies and updates are slowly letting me down.
I dont like the 3rd person view on the AC, and it's starting to look way to arcadish. I just hope the screenies are for the 360 and not the PC version.

[Corsair]

Agreed with you, Pants, starts looking like the usual arcade game with better graphics.
Am waiting for the new re-edition of Carriers at War by Matrix, as I loved the original one, the gameplay was very interesting.

[AG124]

Although I am looking forward to SHIV as it is, a game where one could command both surface vessels and subs on this kind of engine would indeed be great. But I have absolutely no realistic expectation of this happening, so I am happy to stick with commanding submarines. As has been said in this thread before, the Silent Hunter series was and is a SubSim and will likely remain that way. And I think Destroyer Command now looks to have been an anomaly - at least, we don't appear to be getting a new version on the SHIII engine. Not that I even played the first one, but a new version would probably be the only way you would get some of what you wanted, and even then, not very much of it (i.e. probably just commandable surface vessels, with no capability to launch carrier strikes or command an entire fleet or anything else like that).

[Agrippa]

At the moment, I feel that the only expansion SH4 will definitely need is one that will allow a Japanese campaign. In the same expansion it should also be possible to include a British/Dutch campaign, and the inclusion of S-boats for the U.S.

After getting the game I'm sure we'll all have ideas, some that can be done in mods, some that can't. I just got the original SH working on an old laptop, and I've noticed a couple of things that I thought might be nice in the new game. For one, I like the damage control screen from SH better than that from SH3 (didn't play sh2). Of course, the current screen also needs room for crew management, damage control teams, etc, but in the original I liked how there were more compartments you could click on to check status, and also the panel of lights (green, yellow, red) for ship systems.

Also, it might be nice to have an option to have your boat and location assignment given to you by your superiors. In SH3 I do like being able to choose my boat and all the trimmings, because it allows you to choose how the game will play, but an option for realism to be told what I'll command from where wouldn't hurt.

This game engine could be used to simulate surface ships, but that would have to be an entirely different game, rather than an expansion of Silent Hunter.

[1mPHUNit0]