Should I have a look

[goldorak]

Originally Posted by severniae

Hi all,

I have a question about Dangerous Waters. I'm wanting to expand my naval sim horizons. I've heard that this game is good but wanted to ask, should I buy it? (thats if I can find it anywhere!) I know its fairly old (2005 if I'm not mistaken?) but was wondering several things;

Yes you should buy it.

1) What are the graphics like? I mean, I know it'd be impossible to compare to SH4/5, but how does it compare to, say, SH3? are the water effects OK and all that?

It doesn't even begin to compare. The graphics engine DW uses is based largely on that of SCS previous games, Sub Command and all way down to 688 Hunter Killer. We are talking late '90s era graphics. The water effects ARE NOT OK with DX10-11 graphics capable cards. You need DX 9 (something like ATI x1950pro radeon, or Nvidia 6800 graphics card) to see nice water during day and night. And the reason is new graphics cards lack the ability to dither 16 bit graphics (DW uses 16 bit graphics in 2005 !!!!).

2) How realistic is it? Is it an immersion simulator or more of an action game?

Very realistic.
Its an action game only if you design missions to be action packed and use very lax rules such as "fire as many torpedoes as you like on any target".

3) Hows the learning curve, am I going to need to read the manual 5 time and then go and get the degree to play, or will I be able to gently ease into it?

The manual is worthless in the sense that it only explains what the different buttons do. But it won't tell you how to play. How to understand naval tactics and ASW tactics. For that you will need other resources. Subguru is a first place to start it has a lot a great tutorials, and CADC website is another great resource.
Of course if you have a friend that already knows how to play, organizing a series of multiplayer missions is the best way to learn.
But if this is not available then you'll have to read and read and read.

4) I know its only cosmetic, but are there any interiors to the ships/subs that you play as?

Nope no interiors. Only 2d screens.
You have 3d-views when on the bridge (of the frigate), and on the sail of a surfaced sub.

5) What are your general opinions of the game? marks out of 10?

Many thanks in advance guys,

Sev.

The game not modded doesn't rank very high. There are too many bugs, to many problems and too many things missing. DW modded is the way to go.
You have 3 basic alternatives, use Lwami which is a mod that changes the database with more "realistic" values but does nothing to address the limited number of playable units or adding new features. Then there is Alfa Tau 3 which is based on Lwami and adds new playable units and new features.
And finally the new kid on the block is DWX also known as Reinforce Alert mod.
This you can consider as a total conversion mod of DW. It goes way way beyond what even Alfa Tau 3 had done.
It truly transforms DW into a great simulator and gives the frigate a first class status.