My Complaints about SH4

[Skyhawk]

yup, and sometimes things just quiet up on their own because people grow tired of doing this:

[maerean_m]

Originally Posted by SilentOtto

It really bothers me having all distances to ships expressed in feet. I had never seen that before, as far as I know feet are only used for height or depth but not for horizontal distances, yards would fit there I suppose.

Can you, please, be more specific? Where (what station) does the game display "horizontal" distances in feet? (because it shouldn't)

[tater]

Yeah, I haven't seen feet at all.

tater

[SilentOtto]

Originally Posted by maerean_m

Can you, please, be more specific? Where (what station) does the game display "horizontal" distances in feet? (because it shouldn't)

Yes I was not too exact here, late at night and youknowwhat.

Where I get distances in feet, is when I ask WO or crew for a distance estimate to another vessel. How can it be the WO gives feet distance indications??
But yes then TBT and peri ranges are in yards.

[elanaiba]

Originally Posted by tater

Asking an easy to answer question sure quiets things up, don't it

tater

Tater, you know better than this :P Let us sleep during the night, at least when we're not pushing for release day.

I had a quick look in the code (mind you, I'm just a bystander with code, being a designer, and this design predates my arrival in sh3).

fall speed = drop rate in meters per second I assume. CORRECT

Detonate_depth = the default depth at which the DC will detonate. This is normally overwritten by the AI to the player's perceived depth (err, exact depth).

Depth_precision= the detonate depth value is altered by a random value between + depth precision and - depth precision.

There are some other factors involved, but basically there you have it.

[tater]

Heheh. Was just giving you a hard time

Thanks for the answer.

That's what I was afraid of. The precision is off the aim point.

Is there any way to force the DC to go off at the detonation depth instead of allowing it to be overwritten?

I was hoping that by making some new DCs and racks I could have early war versions that only detonated at either 30m or 60m (the ash can had 2 settings).

I had tried a detonation depth of 45m, with the precision set to 15m hoping that all the DCs would explode between 30 and 60m, for example. Then when the type 95 got a 90m setting, I'd change it to detonate at 60m +-30 so they'd all explode between 30 and 90m.

Next experiment will alter the AI setting and see at what point it gets overwritten.

The problem with the way it works is that of you set the precision to get a wide range, the ASW assets will blow their own sterns off if you are shallow in your sub. In effect, it makes the precision control somewhat useless, and the detonation depth seems to always be overwritten by the AI.

So I can make new DCs, but they all have to be super accurate in depth, and none can have a max depth.

Too bad you guys aren't in the States, I'd send your office a few pizzas.

<S>

tater

[tater]

"Competent" AI seems to still hit where they aim (+- precision), not the sim file detonation depth value. I can't really set warships much below that or they won't even be able to hit you on the surface.

That detonation depth value would be more useful if it was a max depth and any DC that gets to that value blows up, aimed deeper or not.

Then we could set early war DCs for 60m, later type 95s for 90m, and let the Type 2 DCs (used in 1943+) go really deep.

While that would make play much easier in deep water, there is rather a lot of the SH4 world where 90m+ would be a luxury.

tater

[aanker]

Originally Posted by a bystander with code

This is normally overwritten by the AI

Ah-ha! This probably explains my lack of success on another - completely different - 'realism' problem I have been working on for several weeks. Guess I can give give up now... lol

Art
CO USS Pequod

[XLjedi]

Originally Posted by SnowCajun

I honestly think having a battle flag designer for your sub to display all your sinkings and damaged ships, as well as planes, would be a blast.

If by "Battle Flag" builder you mean...

Something that would update your boat skin image (as posted in an example above) and maybe give you the option to printout a flag-ish image or maybe a graphic suitable for a forum signature, or something like that.

Have you given any thought to maybe creating an application to do that yourself? (...or maybe just photo-shopping it?)

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by aaronblood

If by "Battle Flag" builder you mean...

Something that would update your boat skin image (as posted in an example above) and maybe give you the option to printout a flag-ish image or maybe a graphic suitable for a forum signature, or something like that.

Have you given any thought to maybe creating an application to do that yourself? (...or maybe just photo-shopping it?)

Already done: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...t=battle+flags

From that thread.




RDP

[XLjedi]

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

Already done: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...t=battle+flags
RDP

Well, see, there ya go.
Stuff all looks pretty good too!

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by aaronblood

Well, see, there ya go.
Stuff all looks pretty good too!

Yeah, sqk7744 has done a nice job with this one


RDP

[elanaiba]

Originally Posted by tater

"Competent" AI seems to still hit where they aim (+- precision), not the sim file detonation depth value. I can't really set warships much below that or they won't even be able to hit you on the surface.

That detonation depth value would be more useful if it was a max depth and any DC that gets to that value blows up, aimed deeper or not.

Then we could set early war DCs for 60m, later type 95s for 90m, and let the Type 2 DCs (used in 1943+) go really deep.

While that would make play much easier in deep water, there is rather a lot of the SH4 world where 90m+ would be a luxury.

tater

As I said, there are other factors involved. For example, allied escorts won't drop DCs deeper than 100m till the start of 42 (U-570 was captured in August 41 and starting from September it was used in British service as HMS Graph).

[Weigh-Man]

Originally Posted by SnowCajun

Uh ... that would be kinda like ... INSANE ... to think that, now wouldn't it?

I believe we play these games because of what those real people who were actually there endured during this time in history, having not been born back then it's our only way of reliving some of what they saw and did during the war in these boats. They showed us what true heroism actually was all about and we get to experience a little of what it was like by playing this game, and please pay attention to the fact that I called it a "GAME"!

I'm sorry but your response in this manner really caught me off guard suggesting that anyone might seriously be thinking they're really getting real medals, I would have never believed anyone would have thought that. This is a game, it's so far from real life that it's not even funny. We play a patrol in an hour or two.. maybe more, sitting here in our airconditioned homes with fresh air and no threats of bombs, depth charges, or mines. They were out often over a month or more sometimes running more hours than we want to realize having their airconditioning, if they were lucky enough to have one, shut down .. and having been underwater so long they couldn't even light a match due to lack of oxygen. I'm sure their jobs were somewhat like police officers often describe theirs to be, "tons of hours of filled with boredom interupted now and then only by moments of sheer terror!" They didn't have a "save game" feature to restart when they screwed up like we do.

When we play this game we expect the sim submarines to be historically accurate, at least as far as the programmers can make them with their abilities, but I've never felt like I was actually out in the real world sinking tons of shipping and killing real people, so why would anyone suggest I'd feel like I was really winning real medals? Geeez man, that's so absurd! I can't even believe that anyone would really and truly think such a thing ... omg .. tell me you don't seriously believe that people think that?

SnowCajun

Nice attitude, do you know who you are talking too?

[TDK1044]

I think Silent Hunter 4 (1.3) is a really great sim which when modded to taste offers an immersive game play experience on many levels. It can never be all things to all people. These Devs have done an awesome job in my view in offering a quality game which is very modable. I think we should thank them for the many long days they put in and not nit pick about medals.