SH4 1.5 List of things that annoy you

[Pilot_76]

Just for curiosity from all here. Can you point out what prevents you from playing an unmodded SH4??

[vdr1981]

Originally Posted by Pilot_76

Just for curiosity from all here. Can you point out what prevents you from playing an unmodded SH4??

Maybe because any unmodded SH game pretty much sucks?
The higher the number it has, the more game sucks...

OK, maybe they don't suck exactly, but in it's vanilla state, SH games certainly can not offer what every true sub-simmer wish for...
At least this is my opinion...

[Torpedo Death]

One thing I hate is that you can't, at least to my knowledge, adjust all of your torpedo settings at once. And the fact that torpedo settings don't save, so you need to reset them after a reload.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Torpedo Death

One thing I hate is that you can't, at least to my knowledge, adjust all of your torpedo settings at once. And the fact that torpedo settings don't save, so you need to reset them after a reload.

So what you want is an arcade game instead of a simulation of the real thing and how it worked? Those things you mention are totally authentic. Personally I want simulation of warts and all. There was no technically possible way to set all torpedo settings at once in a WWII diesel electric submarine.

I can understand your problem with your settings not being saved between gaming sessions. But that's a minor beef.

How about the perfect positions of map contacts? How about the harbors full of sitting ducks and inappropriate scenery? How about the cranky stadimeter with too much granularity so fine settings are impossible with huge differences of distance for a one pixel error? How about the 100% reliability of all sub components? How about the mystery metal upper works of the submarine that can tear the bottom out or any escort? How about the invulnerable bow of a destroyer that can absorb several torpedoes and the escort continues to charge? How about not having a dedicated maneuvering board/plotting board, but having navigation and tactical plotting combined inappropriately? How about the lack of bearing difference plotting, lack of bearing difference plotting, proper stadimeter plots, is/was banjo, direct numerical input into the TDC, lack of radar data going to the TDC, inability to work solutions on two targets at once, can't enter target length into the TDC to work proper spread angles for percentage spreads, and that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.

None of these problems can be fixed by any mod. In spite of that Silent Hunter 4 is the best diesel-electric submarine simulation on the planet. I'm glad we have it and don't waste my time being annoyed at any of the above problems or your observations on the torpedoes. I'm having too much fun with what we have.

I don't even find unmodded SH4 "unplayable." In fact, I recommend that all new players play it unmodded for awhile to get their feet wet. How in the world can you know if you like the changes a mod made unless you know what it changed? The only way you know what loud music is, is by listening to quiet music. The only way you know what white is, is by seeing black. Without contrast you see nothing.

[limkol]

Hate the fact that the crew all look like superheroes

[Captain Jeff]

I'd like to change navigation. Navigating on the map is similar to having a GPS on your sub. You always know exactly where you're at.

I'd also like better charts of the ocean floor. The map might give exact coordinates for latitude and longitude but the only info on the ocean floor is the spots where it is less than 50 feet deep.

I know. It seems contradictory. But I really would like better charts and a navigation system that did not feel like I was using a GPS.

Oh. And everything Rockin Robin said!!! (Including when he said SH is still a blast to play even though it isn't perfect.)

[razark]

I remember a number of features from the original Silent Hunter and Aces of the Deep that seem lacking in SH4.

In SH, if the boat started taking water, you could get chlorine gas when the batteries flooded. You could abandon the boat before being sunk. Shooting debris out of the torpedo tube to try and fool destroyers. The air search radar would only give distance, and not direction to the contact. AotD had the lookout call out "Smoke on the horizon!" and you could get stuck in the mud at the bottom.

[Pilot_76]

RR, unknown to me here is that the TDC could track more than one target. How many targets at the same time? Also how was the setting for each torpedo handled? Did the crew have to set on each tube or was it on a console?

[Pilot_76]

One thing that I was very disappointed was the map. LAt and Longs do not follow real world sizes (as stated in SH3 Greywolves mod manual) so navigating using Google Earth or real World sail charts will be a mess. Great Circle Nav is not an option.

[razark]

Originally Posted by Pilot_76

One thing that I was very disappointed was the map. ... Great Circle Nav is not an option.

And sadly, that's another one that AotD got right.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Pilot_76

RR, unknown to me here is that the TDC could track more than one target. How many targets at the same time? Also how was the setting for each torpedo handled? Did the crew have to set on each tube or was it on a console?

On the real subs there were enough trackers on board to have one target tracked in the TDC and the other tracked by is-was. Numbers could be directly dialed (cranked actually} into the TDC so when you shot the first target it was very fast to enter the numbers from the second tracking team.

[Pilot_76]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

On the real subs there were enough trackers on board to have one target tracked in the TDC and the other tracked by is-was. Numbers could be directly dialed (cranked actually} into the TDC so when you shot the first target it was very fast to enter the numbers from the second tracking team.

Tracking Party! Thanks RR. I thought TDC had a memory function...

[Rockin Robbins]

And for torpedo settings, there was a direct connection between TDC and torpedoes to input gyro angle, speed, depth, etc. But that was always verified and backed up by the torpedo room crew, who could manually set each torpedo if necessary.

At all times each torpedo had to be set separately. This was all mechanical stuff. No RAM, no SD cards, no floppy drives even! Even the TDC was a mechanical analog computer, using screws manipulating physical adjustable size triangles for trigonometry calculations. It was a work of primitive genius beyond our imaginations.

To input numbers you turned input cranks for the different parameters. There were auto inputs for sonar, radar and periscope. The real TDC was more versatile by far than our game TDC, which could use a shot of steroids but will never get one until another game company comes around.

[Pilot_76]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

And for torpedo settings, there was a direct connection between TDC and torpedoes to input gyro angle, speed, depth, etc. But that was always verified and backed up by the torpedo room crew, who could manually set each torpedo if necessary.

At all times each torpedo had to be set separately. This was all mechanical stuff. No RAM, no SD cards, no floppy drives even! Even the TDC was a mechanical analog computer, using screws manipulating physical adjustable size triangles for trigonometry calculations. It was a work of primitive genius beyond our imaginations.

To input numbers you turned input cranks for the different parameters. There were auto inputs for sonar, radar and periscope. The real TDC was more versatile by far than our game TDC, which could use a shot of steroids but will never get one until another game company comes around.

Was it like in the game? I mean the TDC settings for tube 1 were set. Then a selection button or knob would be set for Tube 2 then all settings would revert to default and would have to be selected again...or just as RR stated, the crew would set that in the torpedo itself?

[Rockin Robbins]

Primary system was to do the adjustments just as we do in the game, through the TDC, reusing the setting cranks as you selected one torpedo after another. The torpedo crew checked the settings.

If the settings were not input into the torpedoes accurately by the TDC, the crew set the torpedoes directly to correct. But whether you set from TDC or the crew did it, each torpedo was set individually and had no memory.

Naturally they wanted the TDC to work because the position finder continually adjusted gyro settings until the moment of firing. The crew really couldn't update continuously like that.

And earlier there was a beef about no decent maps of the ocean bottom. Well, the WWII boats had NO maps of the ocean bottom, just the normal maratime charts if they were lucky. Often they went with a map from National Geographic that might be 20 years old. Yes, it was that bad. We live in paradise in the game and love to complain about it.

It wasn't until after the war in the 1950s that Archerfish did the very first ocean bottom surveys to begin to form the incredible data we have available to us today.