What i LOVE the most about SH3

[Nemo66]

Hey mates,


you maybe saw my thread "What i HATE the most about SH3", and i don't want you to think that i don't like SH3. Nope Sir, I really love that crappy game, otherwise i would surely not play it for a decade, right? So here are the things i really love about SH3:



1. Atmosphere / immersion

Although i mentioned some things that break/diminuish immersion, i still have to say, fantastic levels of immersion can be reached playing this game if one really wants to merge with the game. Sometimes i just start the game and let the boat sail across the ocean while i do some household work (don't you laugh at this point or you get keelhauled!!!). It calms me down somehow and still gives me a feeling of freedom and wide open space, just hearing the seagulls scream and the whitewater wash up my bow while i am doing the dishes...;-)


2. Physics

I think the physics are one of the parts of SH3 that are really modelled great. I love the water, the diving physics (although diving seems to be a little slow, a feeling that becomes more and more apparent near the end of the war). Or if you dive down really fast the LI has no time to trim the boat properly, and you always have a tendency to sink even deeper at slow speeds. This is fully realistic and makes the gameplay a lot more exciting, especially when you are the prey and have to keep calm and silent, although it may lead to instant hull crash if you go to the toilet at the wrong moment.
Also the physics of the gun and the shells are done extremely well, f.e. if you finish off a ship with a few shots under the waterline. But the most i love the physics of the torpedos. Although hitting a target with a torpedo that also really explodes is much harder than it was in SH2 (see my answer to washishus thread), i think this brings much more realism and fun into the game. It's always astonishing when you see a torpedo slip off a ship when you fired it at a wrong angle or improper depth. Especially a hit in the bow or stern section can be pretty hard to do because of the rounded shapes of the ship there. Sometimes the eels really "jump" out of the water, as they sliped off so heavily.

3. The freedom to sail wherever you want /as long as you don't run out of fuel)

The open map/open world structure of the game is one of games greatest features i think. You never know what comes next, anything could happen the very next moment, even after you have played the game a thousand times. One time f.e. i was overran by a Destroyer in heavy fog at the beginning of the war (no RADAR back then). He had not seen me and i was totally surprised too when he came out of the fog and crashed right into me. It was a pure accident, for both of us. I sank immediatly, and still don't know what happend to him, or if he even realized that he sank me by chance. Things like that are immeasurably cool i think, and let the game never grow old. (Poor UBI, i never will be forced to get involved in SHonline 'till the rest of my life)

4. You always find some new little thing that is not written down in the handbook

From time to time i find out pretty little things about the game that are not in the handbook. For example i always played AA stations manned with enough AA mates to get the line fully green. I thougt this should be enough and i could not do any better. But i always was kind of angry, that the AA team did not fire anymore, when i was manning one of the AA guns. After almost 10 (!) years of playing i found out by chance that this was my own fault, because if you man only AA-experts they still fire together with you when you man one of the guns! Maybe you found this out after a week or so; but it is just an example for many little things that are kind of hidden in the game.
One time f.e. a destroyer ran over me while i still was trying to dive away from the surface. He ran over me and scratched all over my conning tower. I got the heaviest damages at the tower but my hull still was ok. I managed to dive deeper as i heard him sinking. My tower had torn up his keel from bow to stern, and he had killed himself trying to kill me. This happens maybe once in a thousand times, but it's another example how fine physics in this game are made, and what totally unexpected things can happen from time to time.
Another example is that the watchman on the bridge spotting a ship really shows the direction with his arm for a short time after reporting. It also took me years to realize this nice little feature, i always had thougt that he only waves his arm in always the same direction, but it's not true. For a small amount of time he directs his arms right to where the ship was spotted. Small things like these keep my interest high, and it really makes me wonder that it is still possible to find out new things after playing for such a long time. I honestly hope i have not found out the last hidden feature yet!

[CptGrayWolf]

Originally Posted by Nemo66

3. The freedom to sail wherever you want /as long as you don't run out of fuel)

The open map/open world structure of the game is one of games greatest features i think. You never know what comes next, anything could happen the very next moment, even after you have played the game a thousand times. One time f.e. i was overran by a Destroyer in heavy fog at the beginning of the war (no RADAR back then). He had not seen me and i was totally surprised too when he came out of the fog and crashed right into me. It was a pure accident, for both of us. I sank immediatly, and still don't know what happend to him, or if he even realized that he sank me by chance. Things like that are immeasurably cool i think, and let the game never grow old. (Poor UBI, i never will be forced to get involved in SHonline 'till the rest of my life)

Yes I like this alot too
and don't forget the dynamic campaign, we almost didn't get one with SH3.

[UKönig]

I noticed recently that I was allowed to promote the junior seamen to the petty officer 'caste'. I always thought the seamen went from junior to senior to chief and that was it for them. One day I was handing out promotions and I noticed that one of my chief seamen was highlit in blue, thus suggesting he could advance in rank. So I did. It let me promote him from chief seaman to junior warrant officer, and qualify him in a trade, both in the same go. Nice. Then it told me there wasn't enough junior crewmen available, so I had to recruit some new ones to pick up the slack. Fair enough.
I wonder how long this has been flying under my nose with me unaware...?

[Sailor Steve]

The thing I like the very most is the modability. So many things have been added in the decade since SH3 was launched that it's barely recognizable as the same game. SH4 retains this feature, and it's too bad there aren't as many people into the Pacific War. UBI claimed SH5 was even more modable, but for the past five years everybody's efforts have been put into fixing the myriad problems, and no one has been able to make half the cool changes that SH3 boasts.

Even counting the ten-year-old graphics, SH3 still manages to remain the best of the SH series.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by CptGrayWolf

Yes I like this alot too
and don't forget the dynamic campaign, we almost didn't get one with SH3.

Dynamic campaign? I've sunk the Hood and other capital ships more than once within a single campaign. It's a scripted, on rails, campaign. It is a huge campaign though, thanks to the work of UBI and others (GWX team and the other modders). The fact I can transfer to the Far east is amazing, if I can get there.

[Sailor Steve]

I disagree. While it isn't truly dynamic it is random. SH2's campaign was truly scripted, like a first-person shooter. You had to fulfill the mission requirements and then you could move on to the next mission. Fail, or die, and you repeated the same mission. No variety. No replayability. SH3 is worlds better than that, repeated sinkings or no.

[CptGrayWolf]

Originally Posted by Gargamel

Dynamic campaign? I've sunk the Hood and other capital ships more than once within a single campaign. It's a scripted, on rails, campaign. It is a huge campaign though, thanks to the work of UBI and others (GWX team and the other modders). The fact I can transfer to the Far east is amazing, if I can get there.

Hmm... well if it were a "scripted, on rails, campaign" we would be meeting the exact same ships at the exact same location and time.
But I think I get your meaning, a true dynamic campaign sim is when your actions change events... to be honest I've never finished a career so I can't really comment on that yet
I guess the fact that I never know what I'm going to run into out there, is enough for me to call it dynamic. Actually I'm not really the one calling it that, it's all over the box;

" New dynamic campaign. Your military career will be influenced by successful command decisions in an unscripted and in-depth WWII campaign. "

" Follow a non-linear and unscripted campaign. "

But maybe that's just Ubi embellishing it a little (they would never lie would they?? )

[Nemo66]

QUOTE: " I've sunk the Hood and other capital ships more than once within a single campaign. " (sorry did not figutre out how to do a proper quote yet)


THE HOOD is in the game ??? Never saw her in 10 years...maybe because the Bismarck sank her ?

Maybe you mean NELSON ???? I could understand this, but don't forget she had the RODNEY as her sister ship, built exactly the same..

Anyway, i love the FEELING OF FREEDOM AND WIDE, OPEN SPACES, AND THE FACT THAT THE GAME IS NEVER 100% CALCULABLE , no matter how the campaign technical exactly is called

[CptGrayWolf]

Originally Posted by Nemo66

Anyway, i love the FEELING OF FREEDOM AND WIDE, OPEN SPACES, AND THE FACT THAT THE GAME IS NEVER 100% CALCULABLE , no matter how the campaign technical exactly is called

Let's call it 'semi-dynamic' and everybody is happy

[rowi58]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

...
UBI claimed SH5 was even more modable, but for the past five years everybody's efforts have been put into fixing the myriad problems, and no one has been able to make half the cool changes that SH3 boasts.

Even counting the ten-year-old graphics, SH3 still manages to remain the best of the SH series.

Absolutly. I agree. And so many "modders" kept SH3 still alive - very strange for a 10 year old computer game.

Greetings
rowi58

Almost 15 soon.

[Kapt Z]

Still, old as she is, the one game I cannot bring myself to part with.

Played last night and even after all these years I saw something new.

[Meur5ault]

I've just loaded it up via Steam after a long break. I loved it back in the day, and I've found it's lost nothing since! How many old games can you say that about?

I'm a tactical noob, but to evade a destroyer or corvette hunt is so satisfying. Top, top game.

[Pisces]

Funny how the negative counterpart of this thread caught more responses.

[Randomizer]

Originally Posted by Pisces

Funny how the negative counterpart of this thread caught more responses.

Probably inevitable since this is the Internet where rage always trumps praise.

-C