[CB..]

i think it's allways worth re-iterating the desire for fully implemented wolfpacks--it may well be that as pointed out- that the devs allreadys know folks in general want these things but this hasn't prevented them from releasing games without any genuine attempt to implement good AI wolfpacks in the past---in fact there hasn't been working wolfpacks since AOTD really which tells a tale--

i reckon really well implemented wolfpacks are one of the features for single play that would attract new players and keep them interested for longer---ie those not normally interested in subsims generaly--

as they are exciting unpredictable and a genuinely relevant and vibrant gameplay element--

given a full and heavily worked implementation wolfpacks and or solitary AI subs would add enourmously to the appeal of the game--

in SH3 we have a system of contacts reports--
if for example in SH4 we only recieved contact reports if an actual AI submarine had in fact located a convoy and transmitted the report this would greatly add to the atmosphere---
especailly if this submarine was named as ie- U-123 for example--
and it was possible to look up who was commanding that submarine and which flottilla he was based in--(or this info was displayed on the map or given in the message)

each flottilla has a realistic number of submarines to send out and contact reports are only recieved if one or more of those subs makes contact--

if one of those subs is attacked and sunk then you will stand less chance of recieving contact reports (there being one less sub roaming the ocean)

you will allso recieve notice that U-123 has not returned from it's patrol and is listed missing-- and so on--

new subs and commanders becoming available in a realistic manner over time--

this approach even without actual wolfpack attacks would add an element of genuine roleplay and a tactical dynamic which would give a sense of a war being fought and lost at sea---

add in the ability of thes AI subs to actually attack and sink shipping and react to contact reports them selves----heading to wards reported convoys in the same way you as the player will do--would make for immersive and exciting gameplay---knowing the names and commanders of those AI subs and knowing that you as the player are reliant upon them for all your contact reports --(and they on you) creates the sort of scenario that may attract new players without disatisying older ones--

being able to view the patrol results of those AI commanders (at least those in your flottilla anyway) creates a sense of involvement and loyalty for your flotilla and AI comrades--

for the realism options the number of AI subs per flottilla (and there fore chances of getting a steady flow of contact reports etc) could on a slider allowing far more AI subs than realistic for fun players and realistic numbers or less for hard core players--

the problem often with subsims and non enthusiast players is not enougth happens to hold their interest--use-ing AI subs and wolfpacks with abit of thought could be used to "fill in the gaps" in the gameplay and enhance greatly the sense of "realism" and difficulty at the same time---

it would be nice for RPG fans allso to have a brief moment of sadness if U-123 for example--gets sunk--especailly if he provided the contact reports on the convoy you have just attacked and even got one or two ships himself---you could allso find your self tasked with searching for survivors if you are close by--enabling you to rescue a "friend" or fellow flottilla member---or tow or attempt to tow a crippled sub back to base --

lots more than this could be done ----there's more to wolfpacks and AI subs than just an ego prop for the player or a realism option--

(i know this is Pacific wish list but the same principles apply to AI subs generaly)

generaly speaking again good AI routines are the backbone of sims really----even a half baked generic first person shooter can be transformed to legendary heights by the time spent on coding the AI behaviour--an excellent game with poor AI is allways going to suffer---beacuse it quickly becomes apparent that the AI IS THE GAME--should be bl**ding obviuos really--i know the old argument regarding the fear of making the AI too good --but Chess programs have solved this issue an age ago---simply instruct the AI to make mistakes--as they do with chess computers---or give them dodgy sensors---make the AI as human as possible---(that's what it's suppossed to be simulating after all) and in a subsim the tussle between you and the DD's is at least 60% of the gameplay--if that becomes predictable it becomes tedious--the more life the AI has both friendly and enemy the more fun the game will be--
bring those Ai sub/DD commanders to life give them character and relvance to the game and player---make them breath some soul into events--make the player care about them--etc---

it is only a game at the end of the day but if you don't care about it then what's the sense--




and dang it allso bowt time subsims got flightsim quality weather and sky scapes--

[Cipher]

I would like to see;

1. Crew populating enemy ships, abandoning ship when its sinking, swimming in the water after it sinks and floating casualties above and below the surface after a sinking.

2. More ship debris that is also more persistent after a sinking.

3. Some underwater terrain details (mountain ranges, vegetation, coral formations, or even old shipwrecks occasionally would break up the boring flat sandy bottom in SH3)

4. No instant death when sunk and being able to watch your sub sink/break up after it does sink. Or at least see this in the event of a castostropic kill being suffered.

5. Missions that dont involve going to a grid and waiting for 24 hours to elapse so that you can get down to really hunting the enemy. Being able to have a follow-on mission that results from activities in the area would make a player feel more involved with the war.

6. More detailed ports with sea traffic for all sides. Something to do once you manage to sneak into the enemy port would be nice.

7. Refueling/rearming ships (aka Milk cows), enemy and friendly subs to fight or communicate with (even if the communication were just basic). These dont have to be wolfpacks, I personally dont care about that, but having another friendly sub (you can communicate with) nearby help with an attack would be a refreshing change every once in awhile.

8. More realistic ship sinkings (ex: a ship sinks aft first and the bow breaks off above the water from the stress, a ship rolls over and explodes, etc) and no "bouncing" on the flat sandy bottom when they do sink.

9. More realistic fire/smoke (w/o modding), and secondary explosions.

10. More interaction with the interior of the sub if thats what the player wants to do. More to do in the sub rather than just compress time if you want a more realistic patrol. The ability to improve crew efficiency through battle drills while at sea would be cool and at the same time, not something a player would HAVE to do if they didnt want to.

11. A default watch system that can be modified by the player if desired to eliminate crew micromanagement.

12. A renown system that focused on your contribution as a warship to the war effort rather than just tonnage alone. Sinking a carrier would be worth 20 merchants I would think. Rescue of downed pilots, retreving special forces performing missions on Japanese held islands (mine clearing, etc) should also count towards renown. Not just going to and sitting in your assigned grid for 24 hours to get points.

[VON_CAPO]

Indispensable!!!!
Type XIV "MILK COW"
And associated missions for them.



Also a AI coordination for wolfpacks in single player and campaign.

The Luftwaffe must explore the ocean too.

Fluid communication by radio (with ability by the AI to answer something intelligent, not non sense phrases like now), the morse code BACK!!!

A accurate map with the current deep.

Get lost in the ocean because my navigator can not see the sun and the stars when it is stormy.

A device to transmit light signals.

A pistol to fire flares.

SNOW and ice in winter!!!

Life boats, debris and survivors swimming. With the capacity to fire flares when they spot some vessel.

I want that the rain snow and smoke match the direction and intensity of the wind.

Big warships should engage in a fight beyond the horizon. It is not real at all the 8 km limit.

Ability to fill independent ballast tanks and fine regulation of the dive planes.

Ability to choose when I want to use diesels or electric engines.

A realistic damage control, because the current repair stuff to the light speed.

A watch officer and company awaken, because the current is blind, deaf and may be in drugs and drunk.

The possibility to finish my 1945's patrol in some Argentinian harbour. Somebody should be there to hand over my boot.

Traffic in the southern oceans too.

[CB..]

[TDK1044]

I would really like to be able to set the depth of the sub using the number pad. This would allow for more precision than clicking on the dial.

[Harry Buttle]

an ability to move more than one sailor at a time, ie draw a box around them or hold down the CTRL key and click on several, then click where you want them to go.

[Tom Jefferson Jones]

[canimo]

A QUICK RELOAD IS A MUST !!!


There´s no point on having to save / exit / reload the same game again just cause you have messed a sneaky attack on a convoy !!


It takes hours !!! :down:

[Harry Buttle]

[Dave Kay]

Sorry, but historically speaking, I just can't get enthused about a Pacific sub game because I believe it would tend to become quite boring. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the US sub fleet attack mainly Japanese merchants? Supply ships? I mean, encounters between the Japanese Imperial Navy and US subs was historically nil. And for another realistic/historic aspect; these same US subs travelled loooooong lonely distances just to accomplish that... even the Jap subs rarely engaged US warships.

The Pacific theater was a fast moving, aircraft dominated type of exchange and compared to the North Atlantic, subs played a relatively small part. Carriers were the deciding factor in the Pacific.

Love SHIII but I've always thought it was historically incomplete because the Devs neglected the most important and decisive development of the Atlantic sea-war---- WOLFPACKS!

And I digress...

[LukeFF]

[Drebbel]

To keep most wish lists in one place I copy and pasted Safe-Keeper his wish list down here:

[Safe-Keeper]

The best one is ironically the one I didn't post myself: The game plotting courses from Point A to Point B for you.

It's in every single RTS game out there, so why not for SH IV, even though you're only controlling one sub, not a whole fleet of them?

Saving courses would be so sweet, too. Imagine having plotted an elaborate course from Wilhelmshaven to the west coast of Ireland. Then, when you reach Scapa Flow, you get a report on a task force north of you. So you save the course as "Preset1", clear it, and plot an interception course to the task force. After surviving the task force encounter, you load "Preset1", check to see if it needs correcting to avoid landmasses, and sit back. Same with targets an target info: Let's say you're attacking a convoy and have 95% of the information needed to torpedo a T3 Tanker. Then, suddenly, you notice a destroyer that can be torpedoed if you act really fast. You save the T3 info as "T3", clear the notepad, gather info on and sink the destroyer, and load up "T3", finishing the notepad info gathering and torpedoing it, too.

But by all means, let's stick to the things listed so far. Random other suggestions are for the wish-list threads.

And just as a side note, Battlecruiser Millenium Gold Edition was sweet. Tragically, my dog bit the disk in two and I haven't found another copy in stores yet (and no, I'm not illegally downloading a copy !).

But yes, I'd love that. Every ship in the sea had an agenda beyond just going from Point A to Point B and vanishing in thin air once it reached Point B. I'd love for every ship generated to actually have a task to perform. For example, let's say the game generates a tanker in Sydney, Australia. The tanker's job is to ship oil to New Zealand (don't bug me with historical correctness here, I'm just making things up ). So it sits still at a pier in Sydney for a day (if the port is full, it either waits for a spot or docks on the outside of an already docked ship), after which it has its cargo changed to "Oil", making it more volatile (and also weighting it down so that it sits lower in the water and is slower, which is noticeable to the player), and it either sets off for NZ straight away, or waits with other ships bound for NZ until warships are made available, then forms an escorted convoy and heads out. Once at NZ, it unloads its oil (animations aren't needed for this, I guess) and sets back for Australia. If it's damaged, it's parked in a dry dock or something.

New ships are generated every time you start a patrol, and if they start thinning out during a mission, new ones "spawn" where the player can't see them (I hate seeing ships pop out of nowhere and Disapparating without a trace - this is Silent Hunter IV, not Harry Potter and the Gato Sub Skipper of Azkaban).

I don't need variables for amount of fuel and other supplies at port, seamen in each navy, etc. like there was in BCM (you could actually starve out a space station by destroying all the freighters going to it! ), but have each ship have a purpose in life beyond getting somewhere and then disappearing. \

[giganoni]

Well, many of the things mentioned before are what I want, but just some ideas.


Don't make a new engine, I don't care if SHIV looks only a tiny bit better than III. Eye candy is not important to me, I want content. Less time working on the engine means more content, in theory anyway I hope!

As people have mentioned, SHIII campaign got really boring, but due to the nature of the war, it is understandable. Better crew management (fatigue!) would also make things easier which I'm sure they will work on.

So, diverse missions would be nice. Orders based off of ULTRAJapan intercepts might be nice for US side. Downed flyers... well both sides uses their subs for this, but I don't know how fun it would be. If Japan is included, transport/evacuation missions with reduced torpedeos and avoiding ASW might prove to be hair raising missions.

Reason I wanted only minor engine improvements is to be able to include Japan. I wouldn't mind it being like Pacific Fighters as some people have mentioned. Just adding the KD6/KD7 and RO-35 class would be enough for me.

But, this is a wish list after all, so hopefully at least mods can come out with a released SDK

[Joe S]

I would like to see the following
1) a mission builder like the one we had in the original Silent Hunter, where you can control date, time, emeny AI, composition of opposing forces, etc.
2) abilitly to drop map notes as in SHII
3)more usefull reports from soundman
4) ability to see the enemy at realistic distance, including smoke on the horizon, masts over the horizon,etc, for realistic tracking .
5) Forget the crew management
6)sunset,sunrise moonrise,info available onboard, as in Silent Hunter
7)Accuratly modeld TDC with correct manual fire control
A target book with indexes like the one in Silent Hunter so you can find what you want without paging through the whole book, Better yet , a printed TArget manual
9)more sound effects and better sound effects, including audio reports from crew
10)more meaningfull radio traffic
11)ability to "mark" a target on the map which will show the target ID and time of observation, similating the work of the fire control party
12)instruments that are legible
Thats all I can think of right now, Joe S