Top few reasons you all love this game?

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Brag

Every patrol is a new adventure. Often it makes one look like a fool.

That's not the game, man. It's all the tea cosies.

[OSU]

I love this game because it is made of sheer awesomeness.

(And making a successful approach, attack, and withdraw from a convoy is just so epic words cannot describe it.)

[timmy41]

I think the greatest part of the game is simply how thrilling it can be. One invests hours of real time in order to make an attack. Math, Charts, Measuring, all must be done multiple times with small windows of opportunity. then you line up where you predict the enemy will be, and wait, and wait, and wait. you doubt yourself, maybe they changed course? maybe they saw me? if so, is there a RAF right above me? should I look? if i look, maybe theyll see the parascope. hydrophones report they hear the convoy, heading right to you, and you feel relieved. to this point your charting has been correct, and now you just double check to make sure the predetermined ships are still in the same spot, make minor corrections, and so on. by now maybe 30 minutes to an hour or more has passed of you waiting. enter info into the TDC, make sure each torp is set correctly, then check again. more waiting. you want to raise the parascope and look but the weather is moderate and by 1943 some of the DD crews have become very good at spotting. every time a DD breaks from the convoy to do its normal procedure of squiggling about, your heart drops, because for a single moment its heading directly towards you...but it returns to its place in the convoy. 10 minutes later your targets are in the scope, quick, is the gyroscope 0? was everything done correctly? will you have enough time to get away? a single mistake will send a torpedo harmlessly passing through the convoy, and several DDs will make every effort possible to kill you. the target enters the crosshairs. do you fire? do you trust your gut?

the amount of effort to 'win' in this game is IMMENSE compared to others. losing is incredibly stressful. just look at WWIIOL, people go bezerk when they lose, because some campaigns for on for months. can you imagine losing after investing months of gametime into something?
but...the satisfaction is that much greater. theres nothing as thrilling as having done your math, hitting several targets within seconds of one another, dodging the escorts, and getting home.

[flag4]

i love the history. i love to read the books about this subject. i love to watch the dvds too.
past reading has been

Wolf: U Boat Commanders in WW11 by Jordan Vause.

Silent Hunters: German U Boat Commanders of WW11 by Theodore P. Savas.

both these books run a similar course with related history on their subjects. the book by Vause is by him alone and the one by Savas is a collection of essays by different writers on commanders not so well known. the one by Eric Topp is very personal on the loss of his friend Engelbert Endrass.

Operation Drumbeat by Micheal Gannon. an absolute classic - i can not shout this loudly enough!! virtually everything you need to know about the operation and running of a u boat is in there.

i have his other one too Black May.........oh god, im dreading reading that one!

i have Clay Blairs first Volume coming soon, Hitlers U Boat War: The Hunters: 1939 - 1942. started reading it years ago but ran out of steam and foolishly took it to a charity shop ???????

there are so many good books on this subject, and, as i have said before in many threads it is the reading that gives me the immersion into the game.
the game itself is just beautiful! its a shame it can not be updated with new graphics because it is almost perfect as it is. it is the game i have played and enjoyed more than any other and continue to. recently my 10 year old son has taken up the challenge - possibly the youngest commander yet ?

i could continue waving the flag for SH3 because it has given me so much to enjoy and think about. but i will stop now and just take my hat of to the devs and the modders who have made this game the classic that it is and will remain so for a long time.

(have i been gushing!!?)

[PhantomLord]

Hours of relaxation while travelling. I can do my things like reading a book...
I nearly pissed my pants one day. It was 4am and i left the game 4 hours before in 1x mode. Listening to the interior sounds of my boat i was deep in my dreams... when someone´s shoutin FLUGZEUG GESICHTET!

Hours of excitement and thrill during a convoy attack. The continuously growing tension while planning my attack. There they are! Rohr eins! LOS!
Counting depth charges, hear that pesky ASDIC and the milling of their screws.

Plus the enjoyment of teamwork in multiplayer matches...

Oh man... i love this game!

[Foggy]

I probably love sitting behind the desk the most. It's a safe place to be, and I can look at the list of u-boat aces, look at my empty medals box, the picture of my pretty wife. I can also reminisce about valiant, hugely successful missions that I haven't been on, but just might someday if I dump the realism down. I like that the phone never rings, it's fairly quiet, and it doesn't stink of diesel, sweat and rotting food in the office...

[Draka]

Others have said it better - but the main reason I keep coming back to this simulation (NOT really a game!) is the modding community and the outrageous amount of upgrading they have done. The original "game" was pretty good - but the complete re-vamping since has blown all other simulations away - INCLUDING SH4 and SH5 - at least until this same community gets done with them!

In addition, as my computer assets have become better or worse over the years, I can add or subtract realism by way of mods to match my system. Currently I am running on my back-up to my back-up, and I can STILL play - altho not with the same degree of eye-candy or operational additions I became used to!

[Tessa]

Originally Posted by flag4

i have Clay Blairs first Volume coming soon, Hitlers U Boat War: The Hunters: 1939 - 1942. started reading it years ago but ran out of steam and foolishly took it to a charity shop ??????

The two Blair books are imo the best single book (though kindly split into two volumes to avoid it looking like a reference book) about the big picture in detail. To just pick it up and start reading it can be difficult as it does read a lot like a history textbook even if it is something of major interest. Reads a lot smoother and faster if you're playing a career (doesn't really matter what time period) at the same time.

If you find your game frustrating after reading about everything that went on during the actual events it really takes the edge of your game and how much worse it was for the actual sailors that went out and indirectly were casualties of politics and had to suffer for so long because of all the beurocratic nonsense.

[flag4]

...is there another thread running like this one - somewhere else?

[Jimbuna]

On the subject of books....I picked these two up just last week and was very impressed with them.

The Golden Horseshoe - the story of Otto Kretschmer by Terence Robertson

U-Boat War Patrol - the hidden photographic diary of U-564 by Lawrence Paterson

[Dowly]

I have to go with "Because it's not on my PC anymore".

[fastfed]

I just picked up "Iron Coffins" from Amazon.. It comes Tuesday.. I hope I like it

[flag4]

...continuing the book lovers club: Attack and Sink by Bernard Edwards.
a snorting good read about the battle for SC42 and the Markgraf Wolf Pack.