Silent Hunter V Dev Team Interview: Deeper, Kapitän, deeper. (1/19/10)

[MENTAT]

Well,

the goods:
+ That is an Atlantic battle oriented release,
+ You have to care more for your crew, more FRP elements,
+ There will be no anti-alliancing issues like SH4 this time
+ They promise a more "living" world around us with AI subs and Bdu
+ Better Damage control with animations

The bads:
- Everything comes to an end in 1943
- Only one type (VII) of sub is available
- You have to personnaly travel in the sub to use/command features (no more shortcuts)
- No direct wolfpack coordination

I wonder:
* If they will overload and bogg down my GPU with hefty graphics
* If they will f** my pc with a damn security prg.
* If ridiculously shooting aircraft down like flies is corrected with this version
* If they made use of wonderful add-ons and mods community developed for SH3
* If i will be able to control more in base options (upgrades, crew mwmbers, resting time.. etc)
* I hope this will be nothing like SH4 but more like SH3.

[rascal101]

Now that's spooky Mr Sailor Streve cos thats my all time Favourite SF book too, and nobodies ever heard of it

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

My all-time favorite is from Time Enough For Love: "The optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist is afraid he might be right."

@ jclasper: WELCOME ABOARD!

[Rip]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

That exact complaint (at least the "muscular" part) was made about SH3 as well. It will be interesting to see how the various crew members look as we actually play. I'm also curious to see how many actual different body types and faces will be in the game.

Well I hope we can import some faces somehow. I will make a crew of Sailor Steves

[Rip]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Yes! A preview copy for Neal. Who lives within driving distance of me. Yep, I'd sure like a preview copy for me.....err...I mean Neal !

Indeed. I might make a drive over to see that myself.

[elanaiba]

Originally Posted by JScones

Neal, Dan also said back in 2005 that the SH3 campaign was dynamic. Heck, my DVD case says it is too. But look at Dan's post #147 where he now states that it actually wasn't dynamic all along but really just random (of course, we certainly found that out quick enough anyway)?

So pls excuse me for remaining sceptical about similar claims for SH5...fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...

I get what you're saying, but for the sake of historical accuracy I'd say you won't find many - if any - interviews with me in 2005. On Sh3.

[Rip]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

After giving it some thought, I can definitely understand the decision to only include the Type VII. Having to model an entire interior and associated crew would, I imagine, be a pretty time consuming process. Having to do all that work for multiple sub types would, I assume, not fit into their timeline.

On some level I can understand the 1943 decision as well. Think about when the "rules of the game" changed, so to speak - right around 1943. Allied radar became a concern, hedgehogs, schnorkels, BOLD decoys, FaT and LuT torpedoes, etc. A lot of new technology was introduced in the latter part of the war. To accurately model all of that and its interaction and effect on the sub and your mission would be complex. I am assuming again, it would not fit into their timeline.

The sub and technology you start out with in 1939, for the most part, is basically not much different than what you've got in 1943. The major upgrades over that time span that I can think of off the top of my head would be improved AA armament, maybe one or two turm upgrades, very early versions of the FuMO and Metox, and not much else. Those things are probably not that hard to model in, leaving the developers time to focus on the boat and the first years of the war.

So I keep seeing it mentioned, but I guess it really is a question of quality over quantity. I'd rather have the first 2/3rds of the war done well, instead of the entire war done so-so.

As an aside, and since I mentioned it, I always was kind of irked at the reliability of the Metox in SH3. From what I've read, it was nowhere near as reliable as it is modelled...especially when the Allies introduced the Mk III radar which the Metox could not detect.

Yes, I love how in Iron Coffins one day they are picking up aircraft on it and diving to avoid routinely. Then all the sudden not getting detection on it. But the planes are showing up out of nowhere. It must have been a WTF time for them.

[Hartmann]

One of the forgotten motives of the big losses past 1943 was the enigma code, allies can pinpoint positions in the sea and send planes, hunterkiller groups , and modify the convoy routes with the decoded info.

with a code change and the early use of snorquel and XXI boats it could be very different

Having more activity and action in the spaces could really spice up the game. More interation with shipmates (and I assume all rates will be selectable for particular action) would be quite interesting. More reality like Das Boot from stem to stearn. Should prove highly interesting and add a lot to the game.

Just my thoughts.
Jib01

[CNA0]

Thanks for the interview. It provides us a good idea about the game limits.
For me, if the game is just for the WWII UBoot campaign, is a nonsense to try to go farther than 1943 (unless you think that a U-Kaleun could prevent Allied Forces achievements as total atlantic air cover, sonar and radar improvements, and so on).
Also, if the devs understand that their main effort has to be centered in the inside compartments and crew performance developments, I also respect their decision of starting only with VII-type.
For me is a pretty good idea to perform the training phase as XO.
I keep wondering a lot of other things, (e.g):
-How devs perform interaction bwn Kaleun and crew? Could Kn take a rest, or as in previous games (scorning any realistic situation) is he the only one allowed to order GQ or dive?
-Crew AI; are skills improvement linked with the time spent in the posts, or simply with the time underway? Has any influence on this improvement the fact that Kn (acting as a lookout, a radar or sonarman, a gunner, etc) takes the handle in these posts?
-Navigation: will it be possible to forget GPS position? Its pretty hard for me to believe that any Navy (Rumanian perhaps?), adopting the knot as speed unit, uses the Km to measure navigation distances. So that, if spherical mapping is impossible for SH5, I’d like to find al least that one minute is equal to one mile (and not to two km).
-Torpedo attack: will be the crew able to perform some useful work (ships identification, bearing and range tracing on maps, fire solution, etc), or the options are automatic solution or Kn’s sole activity?
-Gun attack: when shoting, can any officer (from UZO, scope, or nude eyesight) give an estimated range to the gunnner, or keep they behaving as this fight is not their bussines?
-Land details: could land show some milestones (as ligthhouses or towers), and could this milestones be marked and kept on the navigation maps?
As you can imagine after all this comments, and respecting any wish (included a virtual jamboree the eve before getting underway), my wishes are related with my submarine two main objectives: to reach on time the assigned point in the operations theatre, and to sink ennemy ships.

I hope that SH6 will return to the Pacific Theatre, in a spherical Earth, and with a sextant to shot stars and get a fix.

PS. I’m not a game developper, but I can remember that there was a straigthforward procedure to convert a cylindrical coordinates system to a polar coordinates system.

Originally Posted by Easty

Bit disapointed with just the one uboat type and the 1943 end, not sure if I will buy it or not, have to wait and see if the modders can do something with it.

well lets not forget its the entire "class" of type VII u-boats and not just one boat. there are several versions of that type VII class so when compared to the US fleetboats of sh4 which also didnt have many major changes between them untill the gato/balao then i would say you still have several subs to choose from within that one class of sub.

the simular versions of the fleetboats and the numerous type VII uboats of sh5 are IMO very much in line with each other and while having different class u-boats would have been nice too, i dont think anyone will feel like they dont have a choice of boat to use with that boats own differences

[Rockin Robbins]

My take on the interview is that they're still observing radio silence and will confine themselves to teasing us. I'm still letting others take the arrows and I'll pick the battlefield for a cast-off game from one of the fallen. Nothing in the interview reassures me at all that Ubi is learning anything about the nature of a good simulation. Hope I turn out to be wrong!

[Deep Dive]

Thanks Neal,Dan and Alex for the interview

My thoughts about SH5

1 Dynamic campaign - deal breaker
At first i worried but after Neal's and Dan's explanations i believe it will be better than SH3

2 AI behavior/sensors - deal breaker
I have to wait until Neal or me tests it (whoever gets his copy first- probably Neal )

3 Targetting - deal breaker
Same as above

4 Surface night attacks in early years - close to deal breaker
Same as above

5 Wolfpacks (oops!) - highly desirable
I hope it is better than Stuka attacks . The info so far indicates it is not what most of us had hoped

6 Periscope
I really prefer any of the previous SH series than what i 've seen in videos/screenshots of SH5
Not a big concern though as i think it will be one of the first things modded

7 Full campaign 39-45 - desirable
I can understand why they chose the 43 ending though i 'm not celebrating about it

8 All major U-boat types - desirable
I accept the reasoning of having one type of u-boat if the type VII is well modeled

9 Graphics
I am more than satisfied with what i've seen so far

10 Sound
again i wait Neal's review

WILL I BUY IT?

OF COURSE I WILL

i want to support the sub sim genre and Ubi but if the overall quality is not to my liking i will only buy one copy
(I have bought 4 copies of SH3 as gifts to friends in the past)

[TH0R]

Very nice interview. Thanks.


I for one am very happy with this info. We never got a proper Type VII in SH3. Hell we won't play beyond '43 and will have only one type of a U-BOOT. But in return, a semi functioning wolfpack and more detailed scenario and campaign. Works with me and I will definitely buy the game, just as I did SH3.

Not to mention the modeled interior and AI raiders. Much more 'alive' environment, something that always put me away from last 3 SH titles...

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by danurve

Good post
I'm also looking forward to the months following March where your talent as well as others may be put to use. Although, you may be thinking, "not again.."

Haha
I'm hoping the game will be just fine right out of the box and will not IMO need any modding! That'd be my ideal scenario.

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by JScones

I still want to know if we'll be able to confidently save games mid-patrol. Now THAT would be a HUGE leap forward in the SH series.

At this stage I suspect the SH5 developers are also wondering whether we'll be able to confidently save, come March...