RFB First Impressions and TMO Comparison.

[Soundman]

I have been a TMO user since its first inception called "Flavored to Taste" and in the last week decided to give RFB a tryout. I am now about two weeks into a patrol and and discovering differences. Some of them are enjoyable, others are not. I realize these are my opinions only, but thought a little banter comparing the two should make for an interesting discussion.

The first thing I noticed was the difference between the two environmental mods used. Both mods have a lot going for them, but I do believe the best of both worlds is going to be coming soon, due to Kriller and Clear teaming up to create a combination and blending of their work.

I also like the scopes, however the bearing indicator becomes much improved with the addition of Vanjasts scopes, in that it is expanded and much easier to read finer increments. He also uses a red firing wire and this helps increase visibility at night.

The sounds are also much different and again, I feel there are tradeoffs. The biggest difference to start with are the exterior and interior engine sounds. While on the bridge, I hear very little engine sound. Now I must admit I enjoyed hearing that diesel sound with TMO (and stock for that matter), but I did wonder about hearing diesel sounds outside of the boat when obviously, the engines are on the inside. In comparison, many of the sounds are different, yet subjective, as few of us have been inside a submarine. That being said, it's hard to say what sounds are better.

I found the gauges to be of my liking. They are well detailed and easy to see. While looking through the binoculars I noticed you could no longer look through the conning tower and of course that is realistic.

I did manage to come across a DD and put it under after reloading a save twice. I have read and threads that TMO's DD's are more deadly, but that could be debatable. Granted, fighting only one to this point may not prove to be a true test for comparison, I initially tried a down the throat shot, only to fail twice due to the destroyer turning quickly to evade the torpedoes. I have seen this evasive maneuver before in TMO, but it seemed the torpedoes were spotted sooner.

There is a major difference in fuel economy. My current patrol is in the East China Sea. I have been running on standard speed 99.8% of the time and only have a little more than half a tank left. I am beginning to wonder if I will be able to complete my objective and still have enough fuel to return home.

Most of the above statements I would consider to be positive for RFB. Now I would like to express some of the things that I have found to be frustrating and some not so realistic, in my opinion.

The stock navigation map shows much better detail as far as ocean depths go, whereas RFB shows only two different depths.

I also tried to start my career in june of 1942 to enable the capability of having radar on the boat, only to find out I didn't have enough renown. If I were a captain on a boat issued a command in that time period, would I need renown? I don't think so. Can you imagine finishing a patrol in real life with radar available only for command to tell you you don't have enough renown? Because I didn't have radar, I was using the hydrophones quite a bit and I also noticed after sinking two ships, the contacts still showed up on sonar. This was just an observation, it may not be a RFB thing.

On my last sinking of a Hog Island Freighter, it was night time and I could clearly see the boat from 3500 yards and beyond and had a difficult time keeping the scope locked onto the target. Even as close as 400 yards the scope would not stay locked. I found this to be extremely frustrating and very unrealistic. It would seem that in real life, any human being that can look through a scope and see a target could hold the scope on the target. So why is this implemented in the game this way. If you can visualize an object you should be able to lock onto it. It becomes even more frustrating when trying to use the stadmeter for range, when the target becomes unlocked before you have the chance to enable it. I realize this has always been a problem even with stock to a degree. The stadmeter should be available whether you can see a target or not.

Just one more complaint for now, and this one I know how to fix myself easily enough, but geez, could the opening video, at the games startup be any louder! It scared the hell out of me !

I'm sure many people would just say " go play TMO". My purpose is not to down RFB, actually I'm quite enjoying the change for now and thought a change of pace would be nice. I certainly mean no disrespect to any of the people who've worked hard to create this mod, or any mod for that matter. Anyone who has spent any time in this forum realizes the vast differences of opinion in the way people wish to play the game. I genuinely wish to debate the differences for better or worse between the two mods and hope something good could come of it. In closing, thanks to all of you who have dedicated your time and effort creating RFB. I highly respect you even if it does not turn out to be my cup of tea, but I will certainly be giving it more time to grow on me. Again, these are my first impressions.