The Silent Hunter IV (Pacific Campaign) WISH-LIST

[wolfrem]

First of all, I haven't played SH3. (I read some of the horror stories with the copy protection and am not willing to go there.)

With that being said, I agree with most of the comments and suggestions listed in this topic. Here is my two cents worth.

1) In SH1 when you left port you started at your patrol sector. In SH2 you were forced to sail the entire journey to your patrol sector and back. Time Compression was worthless because it was usually reset to one instantly by a message or an event no matter how trivial it was. So to appease all gamers, I would like to see this as a settable option in the Options Menu.

2) Almost every post has mentioned Crew Management. For me personally, micro managing the crew would make SH4 tedious work and a boring game. Again this should be selectable in the Options Menu, manual or automatic, along with the other aforementioned improvements. In either mode, however, the crew gaining proficiency and rising from green to expert, thus gaining bonuses (such as faster torpedo loads, damage repair, etc..) would be great, and realistic.

3) If I recall correctly, in SH1 torpedo malfunctions were a selectable option. If turned on, in SH4, then DD depth charging should be set to shallow for the beginning of a campaign and related skirmish battles. This would provide game balance AND historical accuracy. (Unless you start with an old S class with a test depth of 200 ft.)

4) Given the option to play either side would be a very nice feature that the SH series has unfortunately lacked. And to save time in modelling ships and aircraft, there are already some very detailed models in the modding community (unless copyright issues are a problem).

Finally, modability by players is a MUST. The easier a game is to mod the longer the game maintains life. Dynamic Campaigns are fine but even they have limits.

[DeepSix]

At the risk of repeating something buried in the first seven pages here (or in one of the other threads - LOTS of suggestions/wishes to read, which is good! ):

I'd like to have fewer progress bars. In SH3 you work through

1. checking disc
2. Ubisoft splash screen
3. video
4. Silent Hunter III splash screen with progress bar
*MENU*
5. Yet another splash and progress bar
6. And finally, the one that really makes me grind my teeth: "Initializing dot dot dot"

All this "fixin' to get ready to start" - I realize that some form of what's represented by numbers 1, 2, and 3 above is going to be a given, but for the rest I wonder if it wouldn't be possible to reduce the wait time.

Yeah, I'm being picky.

One thing that would help reduce wait time would be - and I KNOW this has been asked for - to improve the save/load. If you could delete all your old saves without losing your career it would speed things up as it looks like there'd be less to read into memory.

I'm not a programmer so this request may be unrealistic, but hopefully it's not. If it is, I can live with the progress bars.

[seadevil]

I hope the deckgun wil be improved,its now not good working,sh1 had a good working one,the grapics wehre not nice but the gun wordked good you good see the distance where you are shooting on,in 2 and 3 its a gun but you can not manuali put it on 100mtrs its a gambling to set the hight on the right position.

2e the sh1 had a engine room with the possible manual take over of the batterie looding and the blow ballast was good to see the,
you good leading a batterie and let the boot run on one engine,thats maked it real to work wtih i hope the screen of the engine room of sh1 wil be integrated.
3

manualie on the elketrik driving is not possible ,in real thats no rpoblem , a believe some boots took the harbour on the elektrik engines,thas a smal thing but make the game more adventured,above water the elektrikengines .

greetings pieter

[U-Dog]

1. SH3 Commander features built in the game. With a Pacific flavor of course. (Better yet bring the fella who created that on board- sure he has more good ideas than i do.)

2. Make it a bit easier to include my own pic for Capt and officers.

Photos could help bring our Captains alive IMHO

3. British subs-- atleast - (I realize Japanese subs means implementing completely different shipping routes, escorts groups etc. S dont think we'll get that. )

4. The already mentioned triggers and special missions like photo recon etc. Like in Silent Hunter.

5. Game options that provide more challenge- for example- what if the Japanese had improved their ASW tactics or technology?
(With out this veteran SH3 players will likely find it boring evading Japanese ASW forces.)

6. um..could it run OK on my P4 1.7 so I dont have to choose between a new computer + SH4 and my wife.



:hmm:

Then again if it's a GREAT game i could wait 'til this old computer putters out and then play it...

7. MODDER FRIENDLY for whatever can't be added. Will keep the game out of the barain bin as many of these modders are VERY knowledgable and darn good.

8. Only one yamato etc. SH3 allows you to snk the RN over and over again, kinda kils the immersion factor.

[rls669]

One thing I don't want: one second of dev time spent on making a pseudo-FPS full 3d navigable interior if it means less time working on the core simulation and fixing bugs.

One more thing I don't want: attempting to be hardcore by not letting the player save and exit whenever desired. I don't care if I'm on the surface with a DD bearing down on me, I have other obligations and other uses for my computer. It's damn frustrating that I have to ALT-F4 and risk SH3's famous career-corrupting bugs because the game doesn't give me the option to exit if I'm engaged. On the same note, if I want to reload and play an old save that should be my decision, not the devs. Auto-deleting all later saves is just arrogant stupidity.

Also, no 4-engine bombers doing lob-toss attacks like modern high-performance attack planes with computerized targeting systems.

Now what I would like: better crew management, better fatigue modelling, morale, ability to set watches or have the XO manage the crew. Anything that makes the crew more individual and not just a collection of qualifications and XP would be nice.

Better damage modelling for all game objects. Sub damage affecting noise and drag. Better sonar/hydrophone performance modelling with thermal layers. None of this being detected because the DD is "elite" and you're a certain distance away under conditions you'd never be detected in IRL.

More interesting missions. A real dynamic campaign. Random != dynamic. Response to the player's actions = dynamic. I don't need to singlehandedly win the war, but if I sink a convoy carrying vital fuel and aircraft parts it would make sense to have enemy air activity hampered for a while. If I sink a bunch of escorts it would make sense to have less escorts available in the area until they can be replaced. Likewise, if I fail to sink the enemy they should be able to interdict my supplies and make fewer upgrades or reloads available. The standards for what constitutes a dynamic campaign seems to have dropped a long way since the days of Falcon and EF2000.

[BM357_Fuse]

S~ Gents!

New member here, I have SH3 and just learned about the plans for SH4! Lots of good idea's here after reading all these post For my part, I would love many of these to be incorporated into SH4, and be able to splash through water in 1st person mode walking and runing through a visually damaged sub, and interacting with the crew, again visably seen doing necessary damage control repairs

[majama]

I need mostly one option easy to do: in post multiplayer mission raport should be signature who edning as life and who is dead

[Phylacista]

1. radio traffic with impact: you get assigned to a new patrol grid, you will be ordered to attack a carrier group recently discovered by planes, orderered RTB when your status report indicates your boat is a pile of rubbish..

Thats what I think when I hear the words "dynamic campaign."

Be more agrressive


2. shift based crew management the way I described here: http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=51974

3. realistic WO i.e. he takes his time plotting target solution and it isnt accurate (depending on his experience, morale, tireness, talent and enviromental conditions)


4. things changing while on patrol: crew growing beards, staining clothes, broken things after DC attack (like the pic on the Nav table), food disappearing - and a better damage model of the boat. I like to see a hole in the hull if i was struck by a bomb.

Thats about it. The rest will be changeable with mods so it suits me like SH3. What brings me to:

5. Game must be moddable!

[DeepSix]

Originally Posted by Phylacista

1. radio traffic with impact: you get assigned to a new patrol grid, you will be ordered to attack a carrier group recently discovered by planes, orderered RTB when your status report indicates your boat is a pile of rubbish.
...

I also would like radio traffic that affects the outcome of the patrol/career/game. U.S. subs weren't assigned grids the way U-boats were; they were given stations but it wasn't a grid system like BdU's. Which just makes what you said even more worth asking for. A good dynamic model for the radio would be one of the single best things to have in SH4, IMO.

U.S. boats were very often shuffled around based on Ultra intelligence. It affected their deployments probably more than anything else. Codebreakers figured out IJN movements, which were then relayed to the boats through their base commanders (although course and speed projections were not always 100% accurate). To take your example of carriers - in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, U.S. subs sank two IJN carriers (Shokaku and Taiho) based on information gathered from Ultra.

In SH3, you often feel like BdU doesn't know or care where you are or what you're doing ("Be more aggressive") - in SH4 it would be nice if your success on patrol were more dependent on being able to send and receive.

Along the same line.... AFAIK Japanese RDF-ing wasn't done nearly as often, nor as effectively, as in the North Atlantic (though they did occasionally jam U.S. radio traffic), so I don't think breaking radio silence should always and instantaneously give you away.

And a somewhat related request: Devs, please make the SJ radar useable while submerged at periscope depth (which is historical). In other words, don't let the Type XXI radar bug creep into SH4.

[Threadfin]

It may have been mentioned, but I'd like to see an option for realistic career length, along with a 'Hall of Fame' for the top careers.

Career length random and predetermined (not player set), with most careers 4-6 patrols, with chance to be relieved after 2nd patrol for non-production. Rare chance for more than 6, up to 10, which is the record for most war patrols by a single U.S. commander (Lee S-12/Grayling/Croaker, and Dempsey S-37/Spearfish/Cod)

Two skippers had 9 patrols, three had 8, ten had 7, thirteen had 6. Taken from Blair's Silent Victory which lists the top 76 skippers so is an incomplete list, but it's unlikely any commanders with 6 or more patrols wouldn't be in this list.

[DeepSix]

Been pondering this idea for several days. Joseph Fitz-Patrick made 17 patrols (according to Blair) but I'm not sure how many of those were as skipper (not all of them, I'm sure). Also, a few skippers who had been relieved got second chances, so I'd hate to see a career irretrievably over after only 2 patrols (although I agree it would be realistic). So maybe factor in a chance for reinstatement if relieved for failure to acheive results.

I think the idea of limiting the number of patrols for a career to a realistic amount is entirely a good one, but my two cents would be to incorporate it via a mod rather than have it built into the stock game without any player control over it. I think the average or first-time player would not like to have limits.

Several skippers (thinking of Moon Chapple, one of the ones given a second chance) went through the war from start to finish, so if the number of patrols must be limited, IMO it'd be good to have them spread out - so you don't, for instance, start December 7 and find your career ended before Midway (unless you're dead, of course ).

[Edit: Just thought of something else - Lockwood or Christie think it was Lockwood) nearly always "relieved" his skippers for a rest after they'd completed 5 patrols. Based on Blair's top 76, the average number of patrols completed was 5.2.]

[U-104]

Originally Posted by Harry Buttle

an excellent point, and well made.

I would just add, have a good look at the reviews of BC3000 and tell me that you want to see SHIV done that badly.

I have and like the game very much, thank you!!!

[Donner]

Originally Posted by DeepSix

Joseph Fitz-Patrick made 17 patrols (according to Blair) but I'm not sure how many of those were as skipper (not all of them, I'm sure).

Fitz-Patrick was in command (USS Paddle) for only 3 of his 17 patrols.

If we have accurate periscopes, radar, sonar, torpedo reliability, dive times, etc., why not have realistic "command relief?"
I'm all for it!

As is well known, Congressman Andrew Jackson May (D-KY), chairman of House Military Affairs Committee, visited the Pacific theater for operational briefings. At a press conference held after his return, May said the Japanese were setting their depth charges too shallow and our submarines were safe. Shortly afterwards, the Japanese began setting the charges deeper. Admiral Lockwood opined that May's statement probably caused the loss of ten submarines.

I would like to see an increase in Japanese depth charge accuracy (deeper settings) after June 1943 to reflect this.

[TangoShadow]

Hi,

* More compartments on the boat (even if you can only walk into them and look around - you can asses damage etc). Seeing the engines run/torpedoes being loaded would be neat, too.

* If you are at a station (e.g. Attack Periscope) - add the ability to right-click out of the view to the view as if you are sitting at the scope, then right-click out of the seat to the conning tower. You can go to the scope like this, but you can't get out again; you have to use the shortcut bar presently.

* Improved interior damage modelling (i.e. more of it)

* Other subs in the sea (both sides)

* More detailed interiors (but NOT to the deteriment of the smoothness of the sim - SH3 is great on my AMD Athlon XP 2600+ ! Don't go the way of many other games/sims with ever decreasing performance requiring faster computers!)

* Dud torpedoes ?

* Hulls that look like they've been to sea!


I really can't think of anythign else - SH3 is pretty darn good!

--TangoShadow

[George S]

For SHIV I'd like to see the following features to reflect the PTO accurately:

1) Dud torpedo % accurately depicted as war goes on
2) FOX messages assigned with your codename that change your mission while at sea
3) The operating theatre goes from the Aleutians to the Solomons
4) Many areas have innaccurate or outdated navigational charts, where depth, presence of reefs, etc are unknown
5) Possibility of mine fields
6) Some fishing boats used as lookouts and radio transmitters
7) Realistic equipment failure on the boat
8) FLASH intel reports while on patrol
9) Possibility of being attacked by friendly aircraft
10) Tokyo Rose on the radio
11) Recon, lifeguard, minelaying and supply missions accurately reflected
12) Hospital ships and Q ships represented

As far as SHIV portraying the Pacific war rather than the UBoat war, I'm sure I'm in the tiniest of minorities in saying that I have always thought the ATO less interesting compared to the PTO (in terms of playing a sub sim). I say that for one simple reason: except for a very brief period of time, the war in the Atlantic was never balanced. One side or the other always had a vast technical or numerical advantage. It's always either feast or famine. For the last year, as a sub commander, it's all you can do to stay alive day-to-day let alone attacking and sinking the enemy. I do not find that very interesting after a while.
On the other hand, in the PTO, even when Japan's naval power is broken, any individual encounter could go either way. And so it went throughout almost the entire war. Play balance nevers swings too far either way, regardless of time period.