Silent Hunter 5 Announced?

[CaptainHaplo]

AI Ideas for SH5

Using a new engine allows for some real "dreams" to be brought closer. Its a given that the graphics will be improved, as that is a cornerstone to the game's marketing. So I won't dwell much on that.

However, gameplay improvements and features that could make SH5 the ultimate game are great topics.

Here are some I will suggest.

#1 - AI - make this as realistic as possible. Individual ship AI is decent for the most part, but give it convoy or group AI as well. This will be an absolute MUST if your going to do wolfpacks as has been broached. An "AI" commander that prioritizes contacts and diverts the appropriate resources - instead of every destroyer in the group leaving their charges - would make the game take a huge leap forward in realism.

#2 - Realistic Air AI. The way SH4 worked, you came into range of an airbase and you are ducking every 10 minutes. This "we know your there and will fly a straight line to you every time" really got old really fast. Let the AI get limited information and work from that within boundaries.

#3 - Same goes for Convoy AI - if you have an ultra target headed toward you and you decide that an hour or 3 before you expect contact to take out that pesky small freighter - its very possible (but not certain) that the important target will get wind of you and divert around your suspected location. This historically happened on occasion (both with or without diverts).

#4 - Make the game more moddable. While SH3/4 were very customizable in many ways. Yet a number of things could NOT be modded. AI for example was very limited in what we could do.

#5 - Again with the AI - but it appears there will be some ability to affect specific conflicts. If your going to do this - make a "theatre" or war AI that can create and assign tasks and resources based on loose historical events or plans. For example - an extremely successful U-boat campaign could weaken Britain further - keeping the RAF from winning the Battle of Britain. This would enable some form of Operation Sealion to go forward. - providing U-boat kapitans with missions to interdict and destroy elements of the British Fleet that would sortie in defense. While the ultimate outcome would not likely be able to be changed (though who knows what the devs can do) - such "if only" scenarios could be limited in scope - or coule be allowed to snowball into "history" changing events. Either way, it would add some additional variety without destroying the proud history of undersea warfare. But to impliment it would require a strategic AI of sorts. I am going to HOPE that SH5 does both Atlantic and Pacific theaters - and if so then there would need to be a strategic level AI for both.

On a side note - one thing that MUST never be allowed to occur again in SH5 was the zombie ship that would appear if you sank a ship. This created a serious performance drag as a mission progressed - especially a successful patrol!