How did you get into U-boats (everyone please post)

[ShipperS7]

I was browsing through Best Buy and I saw Silent Hunter III and I was like, "WOOT THIS GAME LOOKS LIKE IT KICKS ASS" so I bought it. Not quite as sentimental as some of the other ones! :rotfl:

[toryu]

I got into Subsims only when I bought SH3. I'd always had a thing for the sea though. I suppose I was waiting for gaming technology to advance to a point where I'd have a game I'd be satisfied with. I always HATED the idea of playing a naval game and you're the only man onboard. That seemed incredibly unrealistic to me and always put me off. I briefly considered SH2, but said no for this reason.

I grew up by the sea, learned to sail when I was a kid. My Dad has always been interested in WW2, especially the planes and ships. He used to make wooden ship models when he had more time. But he always had lots of cool books on the shelves, and kids being kids, we would delve into them a lot. So I picked up most of his interests. He has a book of blueprints for the HMS Hood, which would enable you to make a model of it over 6ft in length, if you were insane enough. He has books solely on Royal Navy rigging. And he has a set of 2 books in a blue binder, called Allied and Axis Submarines. I thought then, and still do think, that the Type VIIC is one of the most striking and attractive designs for any vessel afloat in history.

So I always liked naval stuff. Buying SH3 was a done deal for me, when I read the blurb online for it. Apart from being about subs, I think it's a pretty good naval simulator. What I would like to see is a sim, maybe using the same engine, but set in the Napoleonic Wars, where you command a Frigate in the same way you command your U-boat. Crew & resource management, attacking enemy shipping, but instead of sinking the enemy ships, you try to capture them and stick a prize crew on board and send them back to your home port. And your renown is calculated like prize money. The more prize money you accumulate for the ship, the better the crew perform.

[SteamWake]

Janes I think it was... SSI

Then Silent Huter, Silent Hunter II, Harpoon too.

[Gunfighter34]

I was an Army guy, myself, and while there's no chance in hell I would've ever served in the Navy, I've always been fascinated by naval history. My main interest was always age of sail, and I have the old board game "Wooden Ships & Iron Men" and used to play a modified version of it tabletop with miniatures a long time ago when I was in a wargaming club at Ft. Hood. We also did a similar WWII game, and in a box somewhere I've still got a tiny micro-armor French battlegroup with Richelieu, Strasbourg, a couple of light cruisers, and several destroyers.

When I was a kid I got to visit the USS Drum at the USS Alabama memorial in Mobile, and I also got to go on a tour of an operational Sturgeon-class SSN here in Charleston once, and I found them both to be fascinating, though suffocatingly closed-in.

I think the thing I like most about submarines from a game perspective is that they're small enough to be believably controlled by one guy acting as the captain using an interface (as in SH3), but important enough naval units that they can have a substantial impact on the war. SH3 has become one of my favorite games, particularly as the modding community for it has blossomed, and I hope Ubi continues to expand the product line and the modding community stays interested!

1. Playing computer games since 1985 + -

2. No race games, nor sims, specially all kind of war games (from warcraft to JANE´S USAF).

3. Fanatic war movies and documentaries fan.

4. Dont like simply the arcade/action type. Any game where your brain has to be smarter then your hands

1+2+3+4 = SH3

I had to try it, it sure (for me) its among the best 5 games ever (regardless what year it came out, one of my best is Wizardry 1 that came out in 1983)

[Duncan Idaho]

4 words: "Run Silent, Run Deep".

[Abraham]

Originally Posted by Duncan Idaho

4 words: "Run Silent, Run Deep".

The book I hope...
(a naval classic)

[Carcassonne]

I've always been fascinated by the WWII generation. I admire all those who served on either side to be honest. Although I whole heartedly never agreed with Hitler and his Nazi party. I was impressed by those who served their country nonetheless. My heritage is rooted in Germany the family's name back in the Fatherland was Heindrich (a number of generations back)...of course when the ancestors landed on Ellis Island the only similarity to the family name today is an "H" an "e" and and "n".

I suppose you could say, my family tree pulled me into the fascination with the iron tombs.

edit: one spark that helped out in my journey was the classic board game Axis and Allies. I won my first game versus my cousin by dominating the Atlantic!

[gdogghenrikson]

one of my friends

[donw]

Somewhere along the line of my early days of buying computer games, I ran across Janes 688I Hunter Killer. A short time later I ran into an online fleet called Seawolves that used 688 as their "platform" of online play.
As I had recently retired from the Military, I fit right in to their strict standards of protocol, and professional level of playmenship. rose thru the ranks to RDML...got pretty damned good at killing other subs, ( all online play) ...and the rest is history....
Bought and played every subsim thats hit the streets since, and feel SH3 is one of the best since then. (Still like 688 over them all)

[HundertzehnGustav]

Loved the SH3 Graphics, and 5 Years of learning Spitfires, Mustangs, Zerstoerers Dorniers Junkers and Yakovlevs- i needed a change and expand my horizon.

[Redbear]

I've been interested in WWII as sort of a hobby ever since I was a kid. I started WWII gaming with Avalon Hill board games like PanzerBlitz. I also studied German a bit in school, so I was able to understand WWII Germany a little better. While looking at a forum for, I can't remember whether it was IL2FB or CFS3, I noticed a post stating SH3 was being produced. I waited, watched and learned what I could about U-Boats (I even bought SH2 to 'train' on), and now I'm a proud Kaleun of a type VIIC boat!

[stratege]

I used to serve in french navy onboard snle L'Indomptable.

I was bored by technology, so i decidedto give a try to ww2 submarine ...



Indomptable:

115 men aboard, lenght 127,8 meter, 11700kW, 4 tubes accepting f15 f17 eels and sm-39 exocet, 16 missiles m4.

[Lost At Sea]

Lived in Taiwan for 14 years and saw a couple of times, believe it or not, an ex WW2 US Navy diesel sub sailing out to sea in 1992. It was at that time based in Kaoshiung, southern part of the island. That got me slightly hooked to subs and SH / SH2 did the rest. I still prefer WW2 flying machines tho...

Anyway, for those interested, I seem to remember that a Taiwanese friend who served in the ROC Navy during his military service told me that 2 or 3 of these were still operational in early 2000. Same class as the USS Pampanito anchored in SF.

Amazing what good care and love can do. I certainly hope they won't have to face any modern sub killer in the Taiwan Strait

[kholemann]

Avalon Hill Submarine, 1977