What's the future for Silent Hunter ?

[Convoystalker]

More than likely the devs are considering re-releasing SH3 updated with SH4 graphics & maybe throwing in wolfpacks. We dont know but .......
Why not try something similar yet different capitalizing on the strengths of the franchise particularly the outstanding graphics of SH4 to deliver a fresh experience.



What about WW1. :hmm:
This would be fairly similar to previous SH games in many respects with historical realities balancing each other out.

No sonar ... but many ships were coal burners hence lots of smoke on the horizon.
You still have use of the hydrophone for plotting table & map refference.

Less torpedos on subs ... but there were several interesting sub classes armed with a combination of mines, torpedos & deck guns to compensate.

There's a good variety of classes available in 1914 then being steadily developed & improved till 1918.
Most UBoat classes had 4 - 6 - 10 - 12 & some 16 torpedos, most had a deck gun, some had mines so it's quite similar to WW2 but generally less torpedos.

UBoat
U 9 --- April 1910
U 17 --- July 1913
U 23 --- Sept 1913
U 32 --- Sept 1914
U 66 --- July 1915
U 104 --- April 1917

Coastal UBoat
UB 10 --- Dec 1915
UB 48 --- June 1916

Coastal Minelayers.
UC 16 --- June 1916

Ocean Minelayers.
U 72 --- Jan 1916
U 117 --- March 1918


Aircraft were slower & flimsier but subs only had light machine guns.

Considerations & advantages.
Damage control screen from SH3 seems superior to SH4 so devs might consider using an updated version of SH3 version.
SH4 crew management screen with it's rotating watches is better than SH3 but needs tweaking regarding the repair & gun crew sections.
There are many user mods indicating areas of concern. Slower clouds, reduced bow wave, smaller plants & rocks, green lamp on buttons, slower lifeboats, slower smoke, more variety of ships etc.

Advantages of WW1.
Huge variety of attractive & interesting ships naval & merchant. With SH4 graphics delivering 50-60 different models of merchantman this would be a grand experience.
Good variety of interesting aircraft suitable for a sea enviroment sepecially floatplanes, scouts & bombers.

Possible Features.
Mediterranean Campaign- Otranto Barrage - attacking the net drifters.

Dardanelles Campaign supporting Turkey by attacking allied invasion forces & bombarding land positions at night with deck gun.

Attacking the Gibraltar blockade.

Minelaying patrols.
This could even be small wolfpacks comprising 2 minelayers with a killer sub (player) to hang around after the field is laid waiting for convoys.

Prize rules.
During some phases of the war. There's are already a small boat party leaving sub animation done. So it would be stopping merchants by firing across bows then sending a boarding party. If the mechant carried war material the boarding party could signal with a flare, order merchant crew to the lifeboats then return to sub.

Q-Ships.
Armed naval vessels disguised as merchants .... interesting possibilities especially in times of prize rules being enforced.

Limited size wolfpacks with AI controlled UBoats.
This could be a maximum of 2 AI controlled subs & player. Orders via a series of local frequency radio commands ....
Follow me.
Deploy mines.
Hold fire.
Fire at will.
Go to position.
Remain in position.
Return to port.
Report status - torpedos, fuel, damage, gun ammo.

Deliver - pick up spies, deliver radios to spies, dynamic intelligence campaign.
One new feature which could be implemented is having a dynamic network of German spies - coastwatchers supplying sighting data in critical areas such as English coast ... however each month there could be an auto resolve dice throw for each spy on location where a throw of 1 determines which spies are caught resulting in their data ceasing. It's a 1 in 6 chance each month. This would then necessitate high command requiring the insertion of a replacement spy.
Fifi, waitress at the wharf cafe, Hans AKA Lt Henry Howard attache at the Admiralty, Fritz the postman at a coastal town, Marlene, Lord Jellylegs favourite dancer at the Pink Parrot nightclub ..... it makes mores sense than 20 patrols of the Celebes.

Special missions & dynamic mining campaign.
Whilst the player has an assigned boat he could be on occasions asked to lead a mining operations pack. Lets say high command has learned of a new convoy route from a spy (previously inserted to England by the player and asks the player to command a 3 boat minelaying & observation pack. The player would switch command to one of the larger minelayers (18 or 38 mines) , sow the field, wait a few days to observe then return to port where his regular boat has just finished refitting ..... more fun than photographing Tokyo bay.

The usual English Coastal, North Sea, English Channel, Grand Fleet - Scapa Flow anchorage attacks, Atlantic convoy attacks, Bay of Biscay operations, support of battle fleet operations, grand fleet ambush operations.

Would also be refreshing to see some animations ...
Medal ceremonies .... Kaiser pins one on you with the crew cheering.
One on one briefings with the base commander before & after patrols. These can be sorta generic with specifics delivered in SH4 style via written messages.
Personal meeting with agents & spies before insertion missions.


Do you want SH3 dressed up in SH4 graphics or .......

[Reaves]

It's more what UBI wants to do than the DEVS.

Good ideas, The great war would be a great scenario but many of the features pose a problem. People wanted wolf packs and ai subs in SH3 but we still don't have them in SH4 so probably not going to happen.

[Stary Wuj]

Originally Posted by Reaves

It's more what UBI wants to do than the DEVS.

Truth.

SH4 graphic engine (for me SH3 was pretty good and enough) can be used
for another sim, WWI is good idea, but, for example, SH4 add-on with
JAPANESE and ENGLISH subs can be nice too :-)..............................
But first, patch for SH4 of course :-)

Just dream, forget about it, the future of PC games is - stupid shooters
and Need for Speed 8,9,10,11,12,13,14.... :-)
mayby sometimes fast paced RTS for kids, just action, man, not
brain using.

Best Regards

....forgive me my english.

Stary Wuj (Old Uncle in my language :-)

[Keelbuster]

Originally Posted by Stary Wuj

Just dream, forget about it, the future of PC games is - stupid shooters
and Need for Speed 8,9,10,11,12,13,14.... :-)
mayby sometimes fast paced RTS for kids, just action, man, not
brain using.

Best Regards

..

I hate to admit that you are right. Game publishers/developers are paving the way to mass stupidity. They have the greedy intention to rape the gamer market for cash, and in doing so sell them the cheapest crap imagineable. In doing so, the average person slides down the sh&t slope into the realm of helpless console-driven retardation. In order to keep the gun pointing the right way, i have to try to envision a great revolution in our future, where evil game publishing empires crash and burn and indie publishers/developers emerge and begin creating games for their own sake, breaking the existing genre-stalemate, and once again expanding our minds. I'm not sure how to bring about this kind of revolution. Since they're fighting a war of consumption, the obvious strategy is to rip all the games from the mass-developers (if you find that you really need to play them), and buy all the games from the indies.

[AntEater]

I always thought the fact that there are the ship classes "missile submarine" and "helicopter" allready in the game is some kind of giveaway of what the dev team planned as possible sequels.
Actually a cold war SH5 would be nice, maybe set in the early 1960s with just the earliest SSNs.
I mean we do allready have homing torpedoes, sensor wise the system is pretty open.
Actually the only thing that would stop a early cold war mod to SH4 would be the lack of AI subs.

[Iron Budokan]

I don't know what UBI has planned, but I'm fairly certain some company will eventually come out with a new sub sim. All they have to do is look at the sales of SH3, see what UBI did right, take note of what they did wrong, and come up with some novel ideas of their own.

I can see WWI as an expansion pack...dunno about a full-fledged game, though I for one would buy it. But, remember, these games are packaged for the casual gamer first. Would the casual gamer care about WWI? :hmm:

[Bane]

Hmm. What about focusing on one particular boat like the VII or the Gato? Take the time and effort used to model the several different types and focus it on making one type of boat as detailed and realistic as possible.

[the_belgian]

I'd rather stick to SH4,(a patch 1.3 will come,no question about that,only a little patience)and hope a decent Destroyer Command for it comes out!

A decent DC,that would make my day!

[drupps]

Having never played DC, I'd like to see that come out. As far as SH V I'd love to see a Cold War subsim. I've read Blind Man's Bluff, the book on sub spying during the cold war and my imagination just runs wild with what a game could do during that time.

[TheSatyr]

I personally think SH4 will be the last SH game. As for DC2 we will probably see it when hell freezes over.

Even if another company did take over the SH series,I would expect them to dumb it way down and turn it into an arcade game to sell more copies...and have a console port of the game as well.

And considering the hysteria over whether or not there will be a 1.3 patch,with e-mail campaigns,phone campaigns,threats to sue,etc,I really see no incentive at all for Ubisoft to bother continuing the series.

[GT182]

Won't happen, especially with the SH4 fiasco, and Ubi won't sell it either. And believe me, this has put a nasty skidmark in their shorts. It wouldn't surprise me at all if you see Ubi go totally to console games..... more profit and less headaches for them.

[daft]

Can't say I'm very interested in a WWI setting, so no SH5 for if it goes there. I sincerely doubt there will ever be a fifth installment, but if there is, I bet it's cold war subs or a WWIII scenario.

[FIREWALL]

Originally Posted by Convoystalker

More than likely the devs are considering re-releasing SH3 updated with SH4 graphics & maybe throwing in wolfpacks. We dont know but .......
Why not try something similar yet different capitalizing on the strengths of the franchise particularly the outstanding graphics of SH4 to deliver a fresh experience.



What about WW1. :hmm:
This would be fairly similar to previous SH games in many respects with historical realities balancing each other out.

No sonar ... but many ships were coal burners hence lots of smoke on the horizon.
You still have use of the hydrophone for plotting table & map refference.

Less torpedos on subs ... but there were several interesting sub classes armed with a combination of mines, torpedos & deck guns to compensate.

There's a good variety of classes available in 1914 then being steadily developed & improved till 1918.
Most UBoat classes had 4 - 6 - 10 - 12 & some 16 torpedos, most had a deck gun, some had mines so it's quite similar to WW2 but generally less torpedos.

UBoat
U 9 --- April 1910
U 17 --- July 1913
U 23 --- Sept 1913
U 32 --- Sept 1914
U 66 --- July 1915
U 104 --- April 1917

Coastal UBoat
UB 10 --- Dec 1915
UB 48 --- June 1916

Coastal Minelayers.
UC 16 --- June 1916

Ocean Minelayers.
U 72 --- Jan 1916
U 117 --- March 1918


Aircraft were slower & flimsier but subs only had light machine guns.

Considerations & advantages.
Damage control screen from SH3 seems superior to SH4 so devs might consider using an updated version of SH3 version.
SH4 crew management screen with it's rotating watches is better than SH3 but needs tweaking regarding the repair & gun crew sections.
There are many user mods indicating areas of concern. Slower clouds, reduced bow wave, smaller plants & rocks, green lamp on buttons, slower lifeboats, slower smoke, more variety of ships etc.

Advantages of WW1.
Huge variety of attractive & interesting ships naval & merchant. With SH4 graphics delivering 50-60 different models of merchantman this would be a grand experience.
Good variety of interesting aircraft suitable for a sea enviroment sepecially floatplanes, scouts & bombers.

Possible Features.
Mediterranean Campaign- Otranto Barrage - attacking the net drifters.

Dardanelles Campaign supporting Turkey by attacking allied invasion forces & bombarding land positions at night with deck gun.

Attacking the Gibraltar blockade.

Minelaying patrols.
This could even be small wolfpacks comprising 2 minelayers with a killer sub (player) to hang around after the field is laid waiting for convoys.

Prize rules.
During some phases of the war. There's are already a small boat party leaving sub animation done. So it would be stopping merchants by firing across bows then sending a boarding party. If the mechant carried war material the boarding party could signal with a flare, order merchant crew to the lifeboats then return to sub.

Q-Ships.
Armed naval vessels disguised as merchants .... interesting possibilities especially in times of prize rules being enforced.

Limited size wolfpacks with AI controlled UBoats.
This could be a maximum of 2 AI controlled subs & player. Orders via a series of local frequency radio commands ....
Follow me.
Deploy mines.
Hold fire.
Fire at will.
Go to position.
Remain in position.
Return to port.
Report status - torpedos, fuel, damage, gun ammo.

Deliver - pick up spies, deliver radios to spies, dynamic intelligence campaign.
One new feature which could be implemented is having a dynamic network of German spies - coastwatchers supplying sighting data in critical areas such as English coast ... however each month there could be an auto resolve dice throw for each spy on location where a throw of 1 determines which spies are caught resulting in their data ceasing. It's a 1 in 6 chance each month. This would then necessitate high command requiring the insertion of a replacement spy.
Fifi, waitress at the wharf cafe, Hans AKA Lt Henry Howard attache at the Admiralty, Fritz the postman at a coastal town, Marlene, Lord Jellylegs favourite dancer at the Pink Parrot nightclub ..... it makes mores sense than 20 patrols of the Celebes.

Special missions & dynamic mining campaign.
Whilst the player has an assigned boat he could be on occasions asked to lead a mining operations pack. Lets say high command has learned of a new convoy route from a spy (previously inserted to England by the player and asks the player to command a 3 boat minelaying & observation pack. The player would switch command to one of the larger minelayers (18 or 38 mines) , sow the field, wait a few days to observe then return to port where his regular boat has just finished refitting ..... more fun than photographing Tokyo bay.

The usual English Coastal, North Sea, English Channel, Grand Fleet - Scapa Flow anchorage attacks, Atlantic convoy attacks, Bay of Biscay operations, support of battle fleet operations, grand fleet ambush operations.

Would also be refreshing to see some animations ...
Medal ceremonies .... Kaiser pins one on you with the crew cheering.
One on one briefings with the base commander before & after patrols. These can be sorta generic with specifics delivered in SH4 style via written messages.
Personal meeting with agents & spies before insertion missions.


Do you want SH3 dressed up in SH4 graphics or .......

What kinda drugs are you on? Try reading some of the other threads then, come back and answer your thread yourself.

[JU_88]

@ Firewall, why do need to flame the guy and get all sarcastic on him? he just for made some harmless suggestions, theres no need

[FIREWALL]

Originally Posted by JU_88

@ Firewall, why do need to flame the guy and get all sarcastic on him? he just for made some harmless suggestions, theres no need

Get used to it. these kind of threads only fuel the fire to destroy the Silent Hunter series.

Maybe a little tough love is in order.