Cold-War Era SH5

Mostinius · 08-13-07, 09:39 AM

Yep, definitely would love to see a Cold War-era sim with SH4 graphics. Yep yep yep yep yep. The real-looking environment makes SH4 the best sub sim available at the moment as far as I'm concerned. But, while I fully respect the people and the technology involved in the Second World War navies and wouldn't wish to seem dismissive of them, I just find modern naval technology more fascinating. And at the risk of being an unpopular noob, I honestly think some of you are being a little blinkered about it...

-ping-
-PING-
whooooooosh
BANG
bubblebubblebubble

Let's be honest, though: we can assume that the original poster didn't so much mean a 'simulation of the Cold War' as a simulation of Cold War subs, ships and technology. Iron Budokan put a lot of effort into saying it'd bore him, but that's really a matter of personal preference. Personally I loved DW - or would've done if the 1920s graphics hadn't made it as flat as, well, flat lager. But it strikes me that the very point of a sub sim is the tension: is there someone else out there in the shadowy dark? Are they friend or foe? Have they detected us? Can we risk getting closer? What's that noise? It's the challenge of managing a delicate situation. That's what made 688 Attack Sub/688i/Sub Command so fun. The only thing that limited those games was the strict set of predefined missions: something that SH4 doesn't suffer from. A whole dynamically-generated campaign a la Falcon 4 (but with boats), either set in an actual Cold War (where missions could indeed involve monitoring opponent's assets, ELINT-gathering, special forces deployment, exercises, and so on) or in a hypothetical Cold War-era Hot War, or an escalation from one to the other.

Perhaps maneouvring an SSBN into firing position doesn't sound all that thrilling when you look at it from the point of view of existing sims. But what if the new sim was more a command/management sim? Yes, you can flip to a particular station and take direct control a la SH4 or DW, but with a decent command model and a properly-thought-out time acceleration facility, and good graphics for bridge/periscope/external views (I know they say graphics don't make a game, but it's time for the truth: they are important), I don't think it'd be at all dull. After all (and yes, I know it's a different genre) gamers loved Thief: The Dark Project - the point of which was to sneak around in the shadows and avoid combat.

Give me a new sim. Let me drive a 688, or a Trafalgar, or an Alfa or an Akula. Or an Ohio. Or a Typhoon.

And while we're at it, can we have a decent CVN sim, too? I can't imagine why no-one's ever wanted to try simulating the Nimitz.

View Poll Results: Would you like to see SH5 set in the Cold-War era?
Yes, it's the next logical step for this wonderful series.	229	48.62%
Are you high? I can't bear to leave the WWII arena.	210	44.59%
I was hoping it'd be set in space!	32	6.79%
Voters: 471. You may not vote on this poll

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08-13-07, 09:39 AM	#7
Mostinius Watch Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Sheffield, UK Posts: 22 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Yep, definitely would love to see a Cold War-era sim with SH4 graphics. Yep yep yep yep yep. The real-looking environment makes SH4 the best sub sim available at the moment as far as I'm concerned. But, while I fully respect the people and the technology involved in the Second World War navies and wouldn't wish to seem dismissive of them, I just find modern naval technology more fascinating. And at the risk of being an unpopular noob, I honestly think some of you are being a little blinkered about it... -ping- -PING- whooooooosh BANG bubblebubblebubble Let's be honest, though: we can assume that the original poster didn't so much mean a 'simulation of the Cold War' as a simulation of Cold War subs, ships and technology. Iron Budokan put a lot of effort into saying it'd bore him, but that's really a matter of personal preference. Personally I loved DW - or would've done if the 1920s graphics hadn't made it as flat as, well, flat lager. But it strikes me that the very point of a sub sim is the tension: is there someone else out there in the shadowy dark? Are they friend or foe? Have they detected us? Can we risk getting closer? What's that noise? It's the challenge of managing a delicate situation. That's what made 688 Attack Sub/688i/Sub Command so fun. The only thing that limited those games was the strict set of predefined missions: something that SH4 doesn't suffer from. A whole dynamically-generated campaign a la Falcon 4 (but with boats), either set in an actual Cold War (where missions could indeed involve monitoring opponent's assets, ELINT-gathering, special forces deployment, exercises, and so on) or in a hypothetical Cold War-era Hot War, or an escalation from one to the other. Perhaps maneouvring an SSBN into firing position doesn't sound all that thrilling when you look at it from the point of view of existing sims. But what if the new sim was more a command/management sim? Yes, you can flip to a particular station and take direct control a la SH4 or DW, but with a decent command model and a properly-thought-out time acceleration facility, and good graphics for bridge/periscope/external views (I know they say graphics don't make a game, but it's time for the truth: they are important), I don't think it'd be at all dull. After all (and yes, I know it's a different genre) gamers loved Thief: The Dark Project - the point of which was to sneak around in the shadows and avoid combat. Give me a new sim. Let me drive a 688, or a Trafalgar, or an Alfa or an Akula. Or an Ohio. Or a Typhoon. And while we're at it, can we have a decent CVN sim, too? I can't imagine why no-one's ever wanted to try simulating the Nimitz.