What bugs me about Aces of the Deep...

[Andreas86]

Originally Posted by John Pancoast

If you read actual logs/accounts, being surprised by planes/unable to dive in time was the norm even with radar detection devices.

True, I just wished it happened in a context of better control, and not the time compression clickfest AOD is. Of course most newer sims suffer from this as well. In my opinion submarine life makes a poor real time game when in transit mode, and having to speed it up so drastically feels just wasted. That is why I mention those older games, which I feel got the balance between real time action and strategic transit right.

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by Andreas86

True, I just wished it happened in a context of better control, and not the time compression clickfest AOD is. Of course most newer sims suffer from this as well. In my opinion submarine life makes a poor real time game when in transit mode, and having to speed it up so drastically feels just wasted. That is why I mention those older games, which I feel got the balance between real time action and strategic transit right.

Good point.

[ChristopherTarana]

I've never had any issues with AOD! I use 1024 X Time while patrolling and the only time it changes is during a contact! The wave effects in AOD are Excellent! Attacks by Air Craft are handled Historically too! There is everything from Wildcats to B-17's attacking your sub. I have AOD and CAOD installed.




Christopher Tarana

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by ChristopherTarana

I've never had any issues with AOD! I use 1024 X Time while patrolling and the only time it changes is during a contact! The wave effects in AOD are Excellent! Attacks by Air Craft are handled Historically too! There is everything from Wildcats to B-17's attacking your sub. I have AOD and CAOD installed.




Christopher Tarana

Agree on all counts.

[Andreas86]

Originally Posted by ChristopherTarana

I've never had any issues with AOD! I use 1024 X Time while patrolling and the only time it changes is during a contact! The wave effects in AOD are Excellent! Attacks by Air Craft are handled Historically too! There is everything from Wildcats to B-17's attacking your sub. I have AOD and CAOD installed.

Yes, they did good with the aircraft attacks and their research. But the problem I am trying to get at is that the game more or less forces you to play in time compression in the campaign, unless you are glued for a month to the screen. If you don't encounter anything on a patrol it will be just one big time compression. Some like it this way, ok. For me, it is the constant management of surfacing to charge batteries, diving, giving orders to man AA guns every single time (god forbid the Wachoffiziere should do this). And then get sunk by something because I did not press the normal time button quickly. Which brings me to another point. For all of AODs strong points and great atmosphere, I feel utterly alone on the boat. The popup window guys could just as well be on Skype. I wish Dynamix had drawn in a couple of sailors and officers in the command room, perhaps with a few animation frames. Fast Attack is one of the few sims to do this, even though it is crude.

Come on, the wave effects on the uboat in AOD are more in line with a rubber duck in a bathtub. The boat is glued to a surface that is oscillating way too fast.




Command: AOD was actually the first version I had back in 1998. Had to buy it as soon as I saw the box. Ran it on Windows 95 with voice recognition even. Even the 12 year old me found it to be a buggy mess, lots of crashes, sound issues, etc.

They came very close to make the perfect sub sim though. I don't mean to sound too harsh. Would be great if someone could finally crack open this game and find ways to mod it. It has happened with old Microprose titles that are normally hard to reverse engineer, maybe in the future?

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by Andreas86

Yes, they did good with the aircraft attacks and their research. But the problem I am trying to get at is that the game more or less forces you to play in time compression in the campaign, unless you are glued for a month to the screen. If you don't encounter anything on a patrol it will be just one big time compression. Some like it this way, ok. For me, it is the constant management of surfacing to charge batteries, diving, giving orders to man AA guns every single time (god forbid the Wachoffiziere should do this). And then get sunk by something because I did not press the normal time button quickly. Which brings me to another point. For all of AODs strong points and great atmosphere, I feel utterly alone on the boat. The popup window guys could just as well be on Skype. I wish Dynamix had drawn in a couple of sailors and officers in the command room, perhaps with a few animation frames. Fast Attack is one of the few sims to do this, even though it is crude.

Come on, the wave effects on the uboat in AOD are more in line with a rubber duck in a bathtub. The boat is glued to a surface that is oscillating way too fast.




Command: AOD was actually the first version I had back in 1998. Had to buy it as soon as I saw the box. Ran it on Windows 95 with voice recognition even. Even the 12 year old me found it to be a buggy mess, lots of crashes, sound issues, etc.

They came very close to make the perfect sub sim though. I don't mean to sound too harsh. Would be great if someone could finally crack open this game and find ways to mod it. It has happened with old Microprose titles that are normally hard to reverse engineer, maybe in the future?

As I mentioned earlier, I drop time compression automatically when there is a threat including aircraft. Your game doesn't appear to be doing that ? If not, no idea why not.
Regarding the waves, if you're running in dosbox you can reduce the cycles. But it *is* a 1994 game. Sh3 has the same problem.
Regarding character animations, I'll take the 2d AOD ones over the Frankenstein looking Zombies of SH3 with their silly repetitive motions any day.

[Redwing6891]

Originally Posted by Andreas86

Come on, the wave effects on the uboat in AOD are more in line with a rubber duck in a bathtub. The boat is glued to a surface that is oscillating way too fast.

Could the wave action have something to do with DOS box settings? Like what CPU you pick or how many cycles you allow? I don't remember the 'rubber ducky in a bathtub effect' when playing it in the 90s on a 486.

I am no DOS box expert but there are other old games out there that are severely influenced by this. Strike Commander (F-16 simulator) is unplayable with normal DOS box setting as the AI is way too fast and can outmaneuver any missiles. Only by clocking down in the cycles you get a chance of actually hitting anything.

Could the wave effect be something similar? Obviously less critical as the game is still very much payable but it would be nice to get a fix.

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by Redwing6891

Could the wave action have something to do with DOS box settings? Like what CPU you pick or how many cycles you allow? I don't remember the 'rubber ducky in a bathtub effect' when playing it in the 90s on a 486.

I am no DOS box expert but there are other old games out there that are severely influenced by this. Strike Commander (F-16 simulator) is unplayable with normal DOS box setting as the AI is way too fast and can outmaneuver any missiles. Only by clocking down in the cycles you get a chance of actually hitting anything.

Could the wave effect be something similar? Obviously less critical as the game is still very much payable but it would be nice to get a fix.

Everyone, it was exactly this way out of the box fwiw. At the time it was considered amazing. Wave action had never really been done before. It never has and still doesn't bother me, but ymmv.
Not nearly as much as the SH3 mods that have the same action out of the bino view in the name of "realism".

[Andreas86]

I have tried going so far as using dos debuggers to find out what exactly controls the speed of the wave cycle, but I have not found any references yet to it. It is beyond my knowledge anyway. I might get some help for it soon. Yes, you can turn down the DOS cycles and it slows, but then the rest of the game becomes molasses too. John is right, and it was like this in Command AOD too, which was my first encounter with AOD. I remember being negative to it even then. In any case, I only play with "Calm Ocean On".