SUBSIM: Silent Hunter 5 preview

[oscar19681]

Originally Posted by Fire

Nice Preview.

I'd like to know if there is also the UZO avaliable for surface torpedo attacks?

I read in antoher preview that you can only target and fire the torpedos from the periscope view. Hope it isn't so.

If you seen all of neals video,s you can see you can use the uzo.

[Nufsed]

Thank you Neal, nice preview. It seems to me that regardless of the fuss surrounding this latest offering i.e. DRM etc, what we have here is a superb base from which to start. I, like yourself, am a wholehearted fan of SH3, and have all the available supermods on my machine (the most stable of which, I have to say is GWX, thanks guys). I would guess that most of the negativity is coming from those not so hardened enthusiasts. Because I for one will buy this game "regardless" of it's initial problems knowing full well that our dedicated band of brothers (i.e. the modders) will turn this game into somthing superb.

[Steeltrap]

Great preview, Onkel.

Anyone notice your first mission as kaleun in the "Total Germany" part of the campaign was to sink 50,000t on the East coast of Britain from 6th Sept '39- June 1940?

50,000t

Only 84 commanders achieved that or better in the entire war.

Yippee-shoot, here we come.....

(well, I won't as I won't buy it with DRM)

[oscar19681]

Originally Posted by Steeltrap

Great preview, Onkel.

Anyone notice your first mission as kaleun in the "Total Germany" part of the campaign was to sink 50,000t on the East coast of Britain from 6th Sept '39- June 1940?

50,000t

Only 84 commanders achieved that or better in the entire war.

Yippee-shoot, here we come.....

(well, I won't as I won't buy it with DRM)

I think this was a single mission. Oeps! no its not. WTF?

[EgoApocalypse]

Cool...cant wait

[Galanti]

One area where Silent Hunter V has taken a big step back is the interface. Gone are the small telegraph, compass, and depth dials. In their place are Win7 style controls that look out of place in a U-boat.

Neal, I could kiss you (closed mouth, of course). Thanks for articulating my main non-DRM gripe with the game. Looking over more of the screenshots you've posted, I'm just flabbergasted at the artistic and design choices they've made with this one. I just don't get it.

I don't buy the 'attraction to the casual gamer' argument for making the thing look like an IPhone app either; there are a number of WW2 console arcade games where the GUI is deliberately designed to convey that 1940's feeling. I was just playing Blazing Aces on the Wii of all things this weekend, and it did a better job at GUI immersion. Bah.

Yes, it can be modded (probably), but it will be a giant job, as it's everywhere, from mission orders to radio log to speed indicator. Some of you guys can piss and moan about SH4's interface all you like, but at least the radio message flimsies looked like radio message flimsies.

That said, there a number of other things to get excited about, if we can shut off the HUD with one key as with other installments, the interiors look great, and I can see myself losing hours wandering from bow to stern.

What's your sense of how replaceable the crew members are? I had though only the principal officers and the Soup Nazi were fully developed, but now we're seeing that lowly crew members have personalities. Does this mean no one on the boat can die? Or get transferred?

[ReallyDedPoet]

Thanks Neal Some nice stuff in there, also a few areas of concern.

I bought IV as soon as it came out. In the end it turned out to be a great sim, but only after multiple patches and some great modding.
With V I plan to take a sit back and wait approach.

[Andrew82]

Thnx Neal, for this nice preview!

[longam]

Thanks Neal, good preview.

[Frederf]

Thanks for the review Neal, quite like the cut of your jib on this one. It's a good balance between optimistic and critical with some grade A information.

Time compression includes a feature to let you ignore friendly vessel alerts

It's a nice feature to be sure... the only better version would be "ignore unidentified or friendly vessel" so there is a danger of sailing 2000m away from a British merchant before Fritz comes and shakes you out of your bunk! Turn it on in friendly waters so you don't get pestered unless the watch crew finds out it's enemy (less range than spotting him in the first place.) Then you turn this off once in enemy waters so you get notified of every contact no matter what.

One area where Silent Hunter V has taken a big step back is the interface. Gone are the small telegraph, compass, and depth dials. In their place are Win7 style controls that look out of place in a U-boat.

I have mixed feelings about this. The digital speed is wrong but the conversation UI doesn't look old-timey? I think the conversation UI can look how ever it wants as long as it is unobtrusive. Surely talking looks the same now as in WWII. It's a shame that the captain's log doesn't look old though (since the log was a real antique object and not abstract like an order or conversation). Doubly sad that you can't add personalized entries (it seems).

[oscar19681]

Originally Posted by Frederf

Thanks for the review Neal, quite like the cut of your jib on this one. It's a good balance between optimistic and critical with some grade A information.



It's a nice feature to be sure... the only better version would be "ignore unidentified or friendly vessel" so there is a danger of sailing 2000m away from a British merchant before Fritz comes and shakes you out of your bunk! Turn it on in friendly waters so you don't get pestered unless the watch crew finds out it's enemy (less range than spotting him in the first place.) Then you turn this off once in enemy waters so you get notified of every contact no matter what.



I have mixed feelings about this. The digital speed is wrong but the conversation UI doesn't look old-timey? I think the conversation UI can look how ever it wants as long as it is unobtrusive. Surely talking looks the same now as in WWII. It's a shame that the captain's log doesn't look old though (since the log was a real antique object and not abstract like an order or conversation). Doubly sad that you can't add personalized entries (it seems).

Yes about the personal entries. It was requested for sh-3 and 4 and very early on for sh-5. Still its not there. I mean how hard could it have been for the devs to add this. I mean sh-2 had it. The logbook itself makes me feel like i,m checking my mail on laptop in a u-boat in 1942!! I hop this will be modded soon enough.

[Sharkfin]

Thanks for the great preview Neal. Looking forward for Your review when the game ist on the store shelves in March.

[Alex]

Nice article, Neal, thank you very much.


Poor ole Kiel Canal...

[Bilge_Rat]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Here's the reason as I understand it games get a patch on the first day it goes on sale: the game's development team has a ship date they are trying to make. Rarely if ever is a game on schedule and they can tie a nice bow on it and ship bugfree by the deadline. In most cases, they are behind schedule and putting in long hours to get everything working decently, trying to work out the major showstopper bugs first. When the day comes, they will put together a build and send it to be mastered. This gives them two more weeks before the game hits the stores to work on the game and that work gets to greet the game as patch 1. So, they know there are things that need attention, it's a matter of resources. If the game publisher thinks allocating more resources (people to work on it) for a 2nd and 3rd patch will keep sales coming in, they may elect to do that, support the game with another patch.

That's the way I understand it, there are folks here who know more about that end of the game biz than me.

A sub game: For the game publisher, it's a business decision. For the gamer, it's a consumer decision. For people like me who love all sub games, it's a necessity.

That is correct. Once all the features are in and there are no major bugs remaining, the game goes from Beta to Gold status. This may be as much as a month before release date since the game will have to be put on DVDs, boxed and shipped out and uploaded on servers for downloads. Meanwhile, the developpers will keep working on the game trying to track down any remaining bugs or new ones which pop up. The patch which comes out on game day (more and more a common occurrence) therefore represents up to a month of additional work.

[coronas]

Thanks Neal! Interesting preview!