The SHIV Mission Editor Wish-List

[Safe-Keeper]

Shaping the SHIV Mission Editor

This unofficial thread is to give the developers ideas on how to make the mission editor for Silent Hunter IV. It also has a poll that'll let you vote for or against a more advanced editor.

Post your ideas for the Silent Hunter IV mission editor here, and comment on the ideas of your forum-mates.

Happy posting!

I, for one, would like more features for the Silent Hunter IV editor, even if it makes the editor slightly less user-friendly.

Yesterday I made a fictional "midnight patrol" scenario set in Sognefjorden, Norway (that very long fjord that starts in -I think- AF 87). The Germans had set up a naval supply base in the fjord, and you, with your Type II-D boat, were to patrol the fjord, reporting and intercepting enemies threatening the supply base. Early in the mission, a flight of British fighter-bombers fly into the fjord, low and fast, and discover and attack the supply base (and you, should you be on the surface). With the base compromised, you need to intercept the British task force that's entering the fjord before it can attack the poorly defended base. If you can sink the destroyer or light cruiser, the task force won't have sufficient fire-power to take on the base. If you fail, the defending vessels will get massacred and the merchants in the base will get sunk. A fun, simple little naval ambuscade mission.

Just two problems:

1. There's no way to have you fail the mission if the supply base is wiped out. You can wait for the task force to massacre the base before you attack, and you still win, even if the base you were supposed to defend has been wiped out.
2. The task force consists of a cruiser, a destroyer, and two frigates. If the destroyer and cruiser are destroyed and the task force thus does not have enough fire-power to attack the base, it still makes a suicidal attack and gets wiped out. There's no way to change the orders of ships or planes come certain events.

If there was a trigger that fired when an object was lost (as in, sunk by you or by someone else), it'd improve the mission immensely. It'd also do wonders if the task force didn't press the attack even when it knew it couldn't win. As it is, there are only triggers that fire when you sink a ship, reach a zone, or go to this area. I'd like triggers to go off when this or that object reaches a zone, scores a kill, takes so and so much damage, etc.

I'd like more triggers and effects for the editor, as well as the ability to set initial fuel level, ammunition, damage, crew, flooding, etc. of objects, and to customize their actions (give them specific tasks such as "attack this" or ram that) and primary and secondary targets ("attack first the HMS London, then any merchant ships, and then go to and escort CommerceRaider#67").

S-K