Is Uboat worth picking up now?

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by SDFilm

I try to do basic things such as find a torpodo fire button,

There is a large red button on the torpedo control panel marked "FIRE", in an effort to declutter the screen you must first open the torpedo control panel by clicking the torpedo control panel icon at left of the screen. two clicks. piece of cake

Originally Posted by SDFilm

reading skipper's log messages etc and instead I'm forced to take a tour of the uboat by foot.

Incorrect - simply click the officer nearest the captains bunk (usually the radio or sonar officer) and enter first person view and walk 3 feet to the logbook. Any officer may access, enter and read entries. this is the real world equivilant of telling someone "Mark in the log we are moving to attack!" and they do it while you are fiddling elsewhere

Originally Posted by SDFilm

For example it gave me a warning that my compressed air level was too low; instead of giving me a quick order button from the engineering officer's planel I instead had to walk around the boat and operate the compressor by hand

There are quick order buttons for Search light on/off, gyrocompass on/off, ventillation on/of, electric compressor on/off, diesel compressor on/off, normal, red and blue lighting. Just press and hold tab, the icons appear, then you click one. done.

Originally Posted by SDFilm

but at least from the first impressions it feels more centered on boat management rather than intuitive combat.

Directly the first sentence from the game description on steam.

"UBOAT is a simulator of a submarine from WWII era, It is a survival sandbox with crew management mechanics."

so... yes. It is centered on boat management.

the game however is easily modded.

i find it is nearly identical to SHIII play style with just a couple of mods.

One of those mods is the TDC mod, which adds a beautiful and very intuitive SHIII-esque TDC that is 100% functional.

I think many players who try to incorporate the split hull view more into their boat management regimen will enjoy the game to a greater degree.

We are used to subsims where we are the only character on a ghost boat other than a few animatronic bots of sorts. We issue an order, and mindlessly and unseen, ghosts aboard the boat carry out the order.

In U-boat... yes, you or one of your sailors have to actually walk to the conning tower to look through the binoculars, you cant - as in prior subsims - just be laying in the bunk and press B and instantaniously you are teleported to binocular view. this is not our grandpappy's subsim.

Its come a long way since release. B128 i stable, i honestly cannot recall the last time i had a crash. More little options and tweaks and mods are being added very frequently.

I HIGHLY suggest spending a few minutes and watching the tutorials posted by Litely Salted. He has done a remarkable job of sorting out the nuance of the interface and the game in general