Subsim Video: New Manual TDC Video in HD (2/13/10)

[slowworm]

Originally Posted by makman94

this TDC is just 'funny' . it shows the laziness of devs and nothing more

Agreed.

In the conning tower there is a TDC repeater that shows the setting. In real life you could take your eye from the periscope and confirm the settings on the repeater.

The repeater belongs in the periscope view since in game space taking you eye off the scope and wandering in 3d world to view the in game repeater (assuming it actually works as a repeater) is jarring. This is a human factors compromise.

The second issue is that all that clicking to drive the TDC just sucks.

Clicking the dials as placed in the OLC gui in SH3 addresses the input issue really well. Input is simple and correct entry feedback is immediate. Again, having a TDC on the periscope used to enter the numbers is a human factors compromise.

Of course, if the game actually had voice input and all I had to do was call out instructions without clicking anything first and had a read only TDC repeater in the periscope view that would work too. This would actually make it a sim seen from the captains perspective.

So far I have seen nothing that would pull me away from SH3/GWX/OLC, DRM issues aside.

Games live and die by there control mechanisms. The manual TDC issue has far more to do with control input/playability than realism in my book. The solution in SH5 is just poorly thought out.