some you win, some you lose

[TDK1044]

Question to the DEVS:

"Are the developers of SH4 going to incorporate any new interiors(both engine rooms, sleeping quarters, Torpedo room, Ect...) If so how many?"
A: The release version of SH4 won't feature any of those rooms, as they would require too much development time. We feel the job of the captain would rarely take him to those spaces and that time is better spent improving other features.

[flintlock]

We feel the job of the captain would rarely take him to those spaces

When repeatedly asked about the possibility of additional compartments being modeled, this has been the devs official stance as far back as when SH3 was still under development. Personally, I would love to see additional compartments modeled. The 3D artists are very talented and the prospect of wandering through an entire sub modeled by them is very appealing. That said, I know it's not going to happen. I understand the rationale behind it and appreciate the constraints the dev team is under.

[ReallyDedPoet]

To bad they wouldn't have taken the time to do this. Can't have everything right.

[GSpector]

Just wondering, if the Developers took a break after the release, then got together to release a "compartment and feature upgrade" CD along with any needed patches, how many here would buy the CD?

I would but only if the initial Sim was as good as it seems to be so far.

Of course, the patches alone should be free for download.

[sunvalleyslim]

Originally Posted by GSpector

Just wondering, if the Developers took a break after the release, then got together to release a "compartment and feature upgrade" CD along with any needed patches, how many here would buy the CD?

I would but only if the initial Sim was as good as it seems to be so far.

Of course, the patches alone should be free for download.

That would be a great addition, and if done well, I would spring for it.

[hyperion2206]

Originally Posted by GSpector

Just wondering, if the Developers took a break after the release, then got together to release a "compartment and feature upgrade" CD along with any needed patches, how many here would buy the CD?

I would but only if the initial Sim was as good as it seems to be so far.

Of course, the patches alone should be free for download.

Would depend on the price. I wouldn't spend more than 15 bucks just to get eye-candy.

[flintlock]

Originally Posted by GSpector

how many here would buy the CD?

I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately that has as much chance happening as SH4 being released tomorrow morning.

[Boris]

Some of these dev questions are pissing me off. alot of stuff is things we already knew... questions wasted!

What should have been asked is...:

I know the compartments wont be included , but can't you make it really easy to mod them in?

And before you say "ask them yourself"... i already have. The forum is cluttered with noob questions though.

[Payoff]

Does this include the Captains bunk? Or is that considered one of the existing stations that he would visit? Kinda foggy.

[fullmetaledges]

Originally Posted by TDK1044

Question to the DEVS:

We feel the job of the captain would rarely take him to those spaces

If I were in a sub I hope I would never have such a half assed captain and if I was the captain I would like to get eyes on my sub and my crew if nothing less than morale purposes. Not saying I was hoping for this to be included I would rather it gets in my hands sooner but thats just kind of a lame excuse.

[BH]

Lets see if Ive got this right. Gone: Radio both engine rooms, sleeping quarters, Torpedo room.

What about sonar room, or captains bed?

[flintlock]

Lets see if Ive got this right. Gone: Radio both engine rooms, sleeping quarters, Torpedo room.

Technically only the radio room has been removed, as the engine room, sleeping quarters and torpedo room were never modeled in the first place.

What about sonar room, or captains bed?

I suspect these may still around.

[Subnuts]

Originally Posted by BH

What about sonar room, or captains bed?

In the Gamespot video they showed a sonar station in the conning tower with a crewman operating it.

[Skywolf]

I really wanted more interior compartments...not less. I don't blame the Devs. I blame UBISOFT for rushing the schedule.

I would be MORE THAN WILLING to pay monies $$$ for an expansion that INCLUDED interiors!!!

I'll have to wait and see if I will buy the game now. The lack of interiors, especially less than SH3 had, has turned me off a bit. Well, disappointed me at least.

If I knew they, UBI, were going to allow an expansion with interiors and more ships, such as the Japanese sub to happen then I'd be more trigger happy to buy SH4.

I guess I'll wait and see. :hmm:

[Captain Krunch]

Originally Posted by Skywolf

I'll have to wait and see if I will buy the game now. The lack of interiors, especially less than SH3 had, has turned me off a bit. Well, disappointed me at least.

Oh, come on, now, this is just plain silly. Because there are no 3D interiors of submarine rooms that will have little or no impact on gameplay, you're going to wait and see if you'll buy the game? Egads!

Look, I've love to have a virtual sub interior in this game, just like you (I'm printing out almost 2000 pages of WWII submarine manuals to read, for God's sake), but let's think about this:

• You're not going to have the fore or aft torpedo rooms; there's no gameplay there, just a bunch of grunt-work moving torpedos around.
• You're not going to have the manuevering room or engine rooms; again, no gameplay in these locations (Unless you want to repair a virtual diesel engine)(I don't).
• There's no gameplay in the crew quarters & mess, or officer's quarters & wardroom (Sure, you could make the case that the captain's quarters should give you access to a calendar or ship's log, similar to Silent Hunter 1, but these features could be easily located somewhere else).

So that leaves us with the radio room, control room, conning tower, and bridge. The bridge, conning tower, and control room are essential; this is where all the action happens. That leaves the radio room. Well, maybe you could make the case that it should be included, since radio traffic was so important. But on the other hand, in real life, the radio messages were probably taken to the captain on a clipboard - which jives with what Neal reported in his preview.

So all in all, while some small features could be added if these rooms were included, we're not really missing much, and as far as I can tell, we're not missing anything when it comes to the ultimate gameplay of unrestricted warfare against the Japanese - unless you want to role-play a game of acey-deucy in the middle of a depth charge attack.

It's clear that the developers are choosing to place resources in other places - such as making multiple control rooms for each class of boat, as seen here:



I guess we could have the alterative: all sub rooms modeled, but only a single set of generic models that is used for all sub classes. I don't think that would be as good. The current approach by Ubi, while not perfect, is probably the best they can do within a limited budget and schedule, and we should try to give them the benefit of the doubt.