The Silent Hunter IV (Pacific Campaign) WISH-LIST

Originally Posted by Agrippa

I haven't posted in this thread yet, and because it's so long I haven't read the whole thing, so I apologize if I make a suggestion someone else has already made (I doubt very much that my ideas will be terribly original).

1. I'd like to see other ships in port. As far as I'm concerned, that's the only scenary improvement that needs to be made.

Well, except for the above mentioned tropical foliage. I agree about the ships, but they've made it easy enough for us to do that.

2. The option to "Exit Patrol" while at sea, like in SH3, but one that doesn't automatically teleport you back home. Sometimes, after a successful patrol, or one where I've used up all my torpedoes because my aim is off (or both), I don't want to sit around with the time compression maxed out waiting to go back home. But for reasons of realism, I don't want to be instantaneously transported back to base. So, if surfaced with no contacts around, you should be able to exit the mission, but the computer should trace a path back to you base at the optimum speed, and have you docked in port on the day and time it would have taken you to do it yourself. This is still a cheat, because it allows you to go home without being detected, but would save a lot of dull time at sea just waiting to get home.

Personally I think that would be a waste of resources, but on the whole it's not a bad idea. In Silent Service you used the mouse to drag your boat all around the Pacific while in a time compression so high you watched the map change from day to night every few seconds.

3. People have mentioned this before about SH3: There should at least be the a realism setting to have occasional breakdown of equipment while at sea. Along with this should be more crew injuries than there is in SH3--I can count on one hand the number of crewmen I've had wounded or killed in action (excluding times when I'm sunk, and everybody dies).

Agreed. Crew sickness has also been mentioned.

4. some more precision when moving the periscope. I don't know how many times I've gotten the wrong distance of a target because the periscope moves too much at the slightest mouse movement.

You use the MOUSE to move the periscope? I use the Arrow Keys. Holding down the Shift Key increases the rate of movement; using the Control Key slows it way down and gives all the precision I need.

5. This may sound odd, but I'd like to have a less-than-perfect weapons officer. I don't like having to either do all the torpedo work myself, or having the weapons officer do it perfectly. That officer (if not all the officers) should have a skill level that could increase with time, that effects his accuracy. Just having an officer who's accuracy could be off by as much as 5% could make a huge difference in making a torpedo attack--am I more accurate than my own weapons officer? Would my decision change if I thought my officer would become more accurate by letting him do it, even if it meant missing with this attack?

Not only does it NOT sound odd, but many people have mentioned it before. I agree; a less-than-perfect XO/Weapons Officer would be a wonderful addition.

6. I mentioned this in another thread, but more flexability with the realism options, and to know more about what each option means in game terms. For example, I find the "god map mode" or whatever it's called (where every ship in view of your sub is located accurately on the nave map) to be way too easy, but I also occasionally find "no god mode" too difficult. I'd like a middle option, say something where bearing lines are placed on the map instead of completely accutate postings, a middle option between god mode and no god mode. Just having three settings instead of two ("easy" "medium" and "realistic") would be nice. I like options, and the ability to tailor the realism more to what I want to play at that moment, as I often use different settings at different times, depending on my mood.

Have you tried the Assisted Plotting Mod? For me it does exactly what you describe. Again I agree; it would be nice to see something like that implemented in the game.

[Safe-Keeper]

OK, everyone who's played Silent Hunter III knows how hard it is to set accurate courses, etc. with the gauges. For a long time I wanted to be able to just click on the number below the gauge and type in the number I wanted. But then I had this idea: Ordering accurate headings, speeds and depths by holding a keyboard "hot-key" and then typing the value in. A simple, easy, time-effective way to do it.

For example:
H+150: Set heading to 150°.
S+3: Set speed to 3 knots.
D+90: Set depth to 90 metres (or feet, seeing it's a US-theatres game?).

And while I'm at it, some advanced options, such as:
C+110: Crash-dive to 110 metres.
E+300: Engage target with deck gun at 300 metres.
F+50: Engage aircraft with flak at 50 metres.
Shift+1-9: Set throttle of port propeller(s).
Control+1-9: Set throttle of starboard propeller(s).

In effect (examples):
● Holding "H" while typing "0" sets course to Due North (0°).
● To execute a sharp turn, hit "5", then "Shift+5" to set the engines to flank speed and the starboard engine to full stop.

What do you think (about the idea in general. The choice of buttons might be less than perfect:p)?

Another suggestion: Split the "Blow Ballast" order in two: "Blow Ballast" (which blows and nothing else), and "Emergency Surface", which blows ballast tanks, sets new depth to zero, and sets engines to Ahead Flank.

Or, of course, you could hold the "Blow Ballast" hot key and type in a number to blow ballast and try to go to that depth.

On cornishman's ideas:

Better ship sinking noises with hull compartments booming like AOTD.

Really. That'd be great.

Marine life

Yup, and not just the sounds either, but actual models (for dolphins, whales, etc.) and sprites (for fish, sea-stars and the likes). When I saw those dolphins in Grey wolves, I realized how much this'd add to the atmosphere. And maybe truly inexperienced sonar people could mistake certain marine life for actual contacts?

Better gramophone capabilities, one that doesn't crash to desktop would be nice.

Excellent put!

A realistic navigation mode, shooting stars and sun and stuff. I've wanted this in a naval sim forever and a day.

And a dynamic lighting-aurora borealis, in various strenghts and shape. Picture your boat near Alaska under the green curtains of the Northern Light...

No instant ship sunk message, at least wait for it to have sunk a reasonable way or hit bottom.

Make it realistic and I'm happy.

A good large detailed NAUTICAL printed map of the era would be nice, even if it was for a special edition version. Still have mine from AOTD.

Improving the look of the charts wouldn't hurt the least bit.

A printed ship recognition manual and one of those slide rule wheely things. I know I'm pushing my luck here, but again in a special edition version for the hardcore guys. And no, I don't want a blummin t-shirt.

More documentation would be nice, as would a Commander's edition. A printed recognition manual might be pushing your luck, though. I think it's better to ask for a table with the stats of all the ships or something?

[Fer32]

Im reading a book about subs in WW2 and the crew mostly comunicate by microphone between compartiments but in SH3 we have just voices that always talk very near. I would like to hear a "microphone type" of voices. Dont be mad if is a dumb idea. Im new here

[Sub Libertate Quietem]

I want to be able to go into the engine room and see and hear those monster diesels thumping.

Rescuing downed pilots was a common task for submarines. Lets do some of that.

[SubMonkey]

1.) Make it backwards compatible with SH3
2.) Model ALL interior compartments including the German Subs if backwards compatible with SH3.
3.) Ability to switch back between periscope and conning tower.
4.) Added crew member manning Torpedo Computer in Conning tower (Historical)
5.) Increase visual range in game. (too short in SH3...)
6.) Add wolf-packs.
7.) Keep up the great work!
8.) get GOOD beta-testers
9.) Don't leave bugs in the game like you did with Sh3.
10.) Fix Starforge.

[thasaint]

More than 1 country to play as.
Give us the option to command other country's subs, don't even have to do both sides of the war IMO, just the u.s. and a few other allied countries would be nice. as an american, i often enjoy playing as the uk more than the u.s., just because i've played 10357031850183508 games where i'm american, the change of scenery is nice.

More realistic weather.
I think that one's pretty self explanatory.

More emphasis on merchant ships.
Give us more targets to shoot at. IMO i'd rather have a large amount of varying merchant targets than an abundance of warships.

Realistic viewing distance.
self explanatory.

This one may be stretching it, but FULL 3d sub interiors in which i can move around in.
I would like to be able to move from my quarters to the periscope and back without shortcuts. In SH3 you can't just leave the periscope view into the conning tower, need to use the control room shortcut. It would be nice to be able to see the engine room, crew's quarters, and torpedo rooms as well.

i think that's about it for my wishlist hehe, a lil much?

[Zachstar]

Ya im hoping for LIFE in SH4.

I mean you have to deal with complex issues commanding a sub. Currently the guys just do simple animations and some talk. What id be nice to have is crew walking around when the shifts change. and have the ability to talk to the crew and get ideas and whatnot.

Like walking around you can see the crew playing cards or some reading books and stuff.

You hear them talking about girls, the war, their families, etc.

Having full 3d of interiors is a must. Its junk that you were limted to so few rooms.

The sub and mood need to change over time. You should have to deal with stuff breaking down and rationing of food.

When a crewmember dies there needs to be serious moral and life onboard implications.

They have plenty of time to implement MANY MANY features so lets get them all down for them to go over.

Id say the first thing to do is see how the mods fixed errors, fix them. ask the mod creators to be on the beta test team and move on. This will be a great first step.

[glenno]

I would like to see the watch officer go to the bridge automatically when surfacing . LOL

[Sulikate]

Originally Posted by glenno

I can remember somewhere where ubi said in a future silent hunter there would be dynamic weather .
Lots more ships .
Better looking graphics.
Did i mention more ships .
Hundreds more new ports.
Did i mention more ships.
SDK pack for adding more ships.
Did i mention more ships.

totally agreed.

[gunnersman]

Hi all.
Great news.

Originally Posted by Drebbel

Don't make me feel alone
Although SHIII did try it, it did imho not succedd in getting rid of the feeling "I am alone". We need more radio traffic, traffic in ports, welcome messages, escort to/from base, friendly scout planes, music/news stations on radio etcetera.

I whole heartedly agree. To me, this would improve the sub sim a great deal!

I would be happy if they took SH3, improved the AI, and allowed other submarines to attack.

I wouldnt mind playing different nationalities either. To me that would make the sim much more replayable.

[Dar]

This coming from a newbie who just got SH3 last week and is enjoying it immensely.

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News/Current Events Updates

I'd like to see more updates on what's happening in the larger conflict. I've only been playing a short time, but I'd like to see newspaper-like briefs displayed stating that Warsaw has fallen, Denmark and Norway have been invaded, the first air-raid on Berlin took place, etc. etc. These would be especially great during load times.

Although it's not so realistic to get such updates at sea--well, wait a minute--the crews could turn to radio stations when surfaced, right? In any case, it'd be nice to get those updates at sea as well--just to be aware of what's going on in the larger conflict.

These messages should merely be noted--not intrusive enough to interrupt time compression or require player acknowledgement.

----------------------------------------
Concentrate on ONE Playable Side

I've read a few requests here for people to be able to play as Japan or American or Dutch or British or Australian or etc, etc. Please just concentrate on playing as the Allies vs Japan, if not just the Americans vs Japan!

I think it's not realistic to expect the developers to develop good AI based on the varying equipment and doctrines of multiple nations within the timeframe of a commercial release of a game like this. Please just concentrate on the AI for the Japanese side--I want quality, not quantity!

----------------------------------------

That's my short list for now based on my short playing time so far with SH3. I'm sure I'll have more as I play more!

[Rosencrantz]

This time I hope Devs wouldn't be so much worried about graphics, but other things. We use to think how "good looking game" is the most important feature for a "casual player". I think that's not true. More depth the game has, more "casuals" will end up to be real enthusiastics. And this means more markets in the future. :hmm:


Few of my wishes are:

- No need to use ID book with TDC notepad. Mast height "scale" working like AOB "scale" in SHIII would be useful and great.
- Key commands for rudder: 5, 10,15,20,30, Full right/left rudder. Should work like engine commands.
- REALISTIC crew placements in control room and command tower!
- Possibilities to handle the engines separately and to drive the boat with e-motors on the surface.
- More sounds, thats more important than better graphics!
- PROPERLY GIVEN PATROL ORDERS, IF POSSIBLE! Or at least orders better than given in SHIII.
- Rescue / Intelligence tasks like original SH got.
- FIRST RANK TO BE LEUTNANT SNR, NOT JR. Leutnant Jr didn't get the command!
- Read what Dar and Joe S wrote!

[glenno]

1/ better graphics
2/ in the same style as SH3
3/ realstic
4/ SDK ship and sub pack so the mod community can add there own ships and subs .(apart from 100s of ships & subs included)
5/ The ability to add buildings , ports , landscape objects ourselves.
6/ The world to be way more detailed .
7/ Everyone has broadband so why carnt BDU be online . I dont know how this would work . Im just trying to think ouside the box .
Regards FRITZ DITTMER LEUTNANT Z. S

[Sniper_1]

I've posted earlier about my specific wishlist (more compartments on sub to enter, more realistic crew managemt and improved graphics etc).

I have a sneaky suspicion that SH4 is going to be SH3.5, in that it will be just an updated and re-modeled SH3 engine. I doubt if Ubi would go to the trouble of designing another subsim from scratch when it allready has a very good subsim to play with.

On that note i'd like to add a few more wishes after reading the thread:

1. More realistic orders, given in a correct USN style for the time, and using correct terminology and phrases. Not just go to point A and cruise around for a bit.

2. Added to this realistic intel breifings/intel documents on what to expect in the way of Jap convoys and Naval forces in you op area.

3. Photo Recon missions, beach recon missions and lifegaurd/pilot rescue missions.

4. Better Radio traffic. A modder called irishred developed a full set of accurate radio messages from Bdu to the U-boats at sea and this massively added to the immersion of SH3. A similar set of accurate radio logs should be developed for SH4. And note to DEVS: This is a perfect project to get the modders involved in BEFORE the game is released. A radio log file with a list of real life messages could be complied without the modders knowing anything about the actual development of SH4.

In fact there are several tasks which the mod community could get involved in before the game is actually released, from researching various historical facts etc. to actually designing 3d models and Skinning the resultant models. The modders involved would of course be under NDA's (Non Disclosure Agreements) and some of them might even work for free (a copy of SH4 a week or so before the rest of us would be payment enough i feel for many modders+the feeling of actually being involved in such a project). The talent of the modders on this forum is amazing, one only has to look at the SH2 to Pacific Aces conversion to see that the Devs would be throwing away a golden opportunity if they did not enlist some of the massive talent on this forum.

Sniper_1.

[Sniper_1]

More thoughts/ideas have come to mind:

-An 'officers mess' for between patrols where you can catch up on gossip and news about the progress of the war etc.

-A series of 'qualifiying' courses at the start for just you as a PCO (Prospective Commanding Officer). The sub and crew you use for this is not the one you will command. Have seperate crew training excercises to improve crew skills prior to deploying.

-If you accept a new build boat, you have to return to the states to commission her. That means that you arrive at a shipyard and pick up the boat from there, with a cut-scene comissioning ceremony (maybe you even see her being launched and worked on/fitted out in the yard). You then have the option of going through the training missions again (to train your crew, as they would be historically a mix of about 1/3 experienced crew and 2/3rd new crew).

-If you change your command have a proper 'change of command ceremony' as per USN traditions.

Thats all i can think off for now.

Sniper_1.