[tautug]

I just got back from a weeklong cruise of Hawaiian Islands, including a visit to the Bowfin Sub and USS Arizona/Missouri memorial.

I hope the Dev Team reads my views, and perhaps we should start a forum for SH 4 design.

All I can say is after riding in the Crystal Tidy Bowl Blue Waters of the South Pacific and feeling the wind, seeing the Palm trees, and riding the waves, the Dev Team got a lot of things right in SH III, but to capture the US Sub war in the Pacific, they have a lot of work to do to make it feel real/right.

I have vistited the Bowfin, the Silversides and the Cobia this year. Coupling that with my Hawaii experience, the following needs to be included for SH4 to make any sense.

1.) US Subs were the lap of luxury compared to a Uboat. Very roomy, top notch gear, electronics, ameninties, bathrooms, galley/bunks, showers you name it. Polished Brass on the tips of torpedoes, all throughout the ship (especially control room). Big Chrome General Electric lettering, etc. throughout the boat. in other words, capturing the look and feel of the compartments with ability to maneuver through them and see crew in mess, in bunks, working in engine room etc. would add to the experience of "being there" in a US sub. Everything from ventilation fans, to the Christmas Tree to VCT tiles on the floors makes the sailor feel "at home" or almost like being on a cruise ship.

2.) Scenery is king. Watching Giligans Island, or McHales Navy, or Operation Petticote, or Midway, Tora Tora Tora, etc. gives a lush glamourous feel to serving in the Pacific fleet in the 40's. The dev team needs to capture this on shore, off shore, and have more in port things for you to do like movies, interactive planning of your Subs mission in progress with the rest of the war effort.

3.) Crew Interaction. Obviously the captain interacting with officers, not only during battle but during watch, meals, and tactical planning is essential. The crew management schematic is a good one but needs more realisim, like assigning watch assignments. Also, giving the crew some more personality even if only on paper ala, hidden and Dangerous or other WWII sims where you get some bio on the guy, a cool photo, etc. would be great. In between battles during campaign, sitting in mess hall to set plans for next few days or week of patrol would be cool. Walking the ship to see your men working would also be a big plus.

4.) Campaign. The battle of the Pacific unified the United States in a lot of ways. From stunning defeat at Pearl Harbor to ultimate victory, the campaing should only be "semi-dynamic". You should be assigned to real subs like the Bowfin, or the Silversides etc., and while dynamically campaigning, you should also have as part of the campaign, support missions to historic operations. i.e. build in some of the single missions into the campaign. Also, if your campaign takes place dynamically during a time when the battle of Midway is occurring, have HQ call your ship to support the battle, etc. Lots more authentic communique with other vessels and feeling like you are achieving something in the war effort is essential.

5.) Off Shore. I know this is not a game play aspect, but being in the Islands is an experience unto itself, and somehow linking the Beauty of Hawaii and Pearl Harbor, ships in ports, etc. is all essential to the "being there" experience of World War II sub warfare in the Pacific.

I would really love to see SH4 come to fruition, but not a simple conversion of SH3 into the Pacific with a new map and ships.

There is no naval simulation to date regarding the war in the Pacific that really captures the essence of the fighting/locale, and SH4 should be the product that tips the scales.

[U-Cass]

I personally do not want a pacific theatre. I just want the ultimate u-boat sim. And it's not far off :sunny:

[KptnLt Eric Karle]

[Bertgang]

Tautug's sugestion I like the most is about Crew Interaction; in fact, working watch assignments, possibly with a sort of WO's AI for simple tasks, is something I'd like until now.

Less intersted in semi-dynamic campaign, something often discussed, where I see more problems rather than advantages.

Out of that, he made an excellent tourism advertising.

[ReM]

Although the submarine war in the Pacific was a major reason for the ultimate Allied victory, the major theatre for any WII submarine game will always be the Atlantic.
Much more drama, and better documented...
I think a subsim in which you could choose sides would be the ultimate subsim.
- Choose to be a German ace and hunt convoys in the Atlantic
- Choose to be an American ace and help strangle Japan into starvation, maybe even try a fictional mission to sink the Yamato.
- Chose to be an English ace and play no major part in making history
-Choose to be an Italian ace and do your best not to find any contacts
- Choose to be a Russian ace and send citizen-laden refugee ships to the bottom of the Baltic
- Choose to be a Japanese ace and try to find the Indianapolis before it delivers the A-bomb....
etc........
That would be a game....

[Bertgang]

[dize]

sh4 pacific theatre definetly has something, but the simple problem with that is: i want sh3 finished first, and considering that there are many things that will probably be usefull for sh4 too, like a in depth sub ai, going for a sh4 right away, instead of a finishing sh3 expansion pack, would be foolish imho. i do see a problem atm, coz it took them well over a month to go from 1.3 to 1.4. if this is a standart patch, supposed to fix stuff here and tweak a bit there, i wonder how long will it take till they have true new features done, like additional merchant ships with names, or the dreaded sub/bdu ai.
fingers crossed...

[Sailor Steve]

Having grown up as an American in the immediate post-war era, of course I agree with tautug's well written plea for a Pacific game. Silent Hunter was exactly that, so arguing that the franchise should only involve the Atlantic is wrong.

I can sympathize with those who only want to play with U-boats, but I grow tired of arguments like "The Pacific is boring" or "The Atlantic battles are the only ones worth recreating". Just because you aren't interested in something doesn't mean everyone feels the same way, nor does your lack of interest equate with inferiority in the subject. There is plenty of room for both.

Also, I find it highly unlikely that a 'Silent Hunter IV' released only a year after SHIII is going to be a completely new and totally different concept. Most likely it will involve the same play and graphics, but in the different theater.

As always, I could be wrong...but I doubt it.

[I-25]

i just want a sim where you can play as the JAPs!!!!!!!!!

[CheckSix]

[Sailor Steve]

Nice site. I'm still trying to figure out the 105 warships, though.

[August]

[Bertgang]

[Crash Dive]

I hope its a Pacific sim including Dutch and British subs.
I can't wait to patrol the Formosa Strait again

[scrapser]

My very first software program was Silent Service by Microprose for the Commodore 64 back in 1985. I have Silent Hunter and have yearned for a Pacific Theater using current technologies for years.

I do hope they release one either as an expansion pack or separate title. I want to engage task forces as well as merchants and perhaps have some other missions like downed pilot rescues or spying like Silent Hunter has.

Because this is such a niche market, it's always frustrating to see only U-boat sims released knowing it will be a couple more years before another title version is developed.

scrapser