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[Sowelu]

The last Silent Service game was in 1990.  The first Silent Hunter game was in 1996.  They had the same artist, but no other team members in common.  (I guess Kim Biscoe was good at modelling submarines.  He moved on to become a producer or something, though, and then into other non-game computer stuff.  I love MobyGames.)

[Rakonas]

I wanted to love 4, as I was a huge fan of the original Silent Hunter, which took place in the Pacific where you were in an American sub. In my opinion 4 was actually really good. I loved everything about it, except for the fact that the Pacific is big... much bigger than the Atlantic and even Sailing around relatively tiny Europe was tedious in 3. In 4 it's generally worse. They allow more time compression, but it gets to a point where your CPU just can't handle any more time compression and you don't gain any extra benefit from pumping it up higher. It gets slightly better as the war progresses and you get ports closer to Japan opening up, but my god, the sail from Pearl Harbor to the Japanese coast is mind numbing. From Midway is almost as bad, and from Australia is bad + a navigation annoyance. I ended up going back to 3 for this fact alone. I refused to buy 5 on the principle of god awful DRM.(The same stuff they stuck on Assassin's Creed 2) It's a shame, I want to support the developers, but Ubisoft goes and does that.

So I take it getting SH3 when I've already played 4 and loved it is a good idea? *Runs away and downloads 3*

[DJ]

I have SH2. Is 3 big enough improvement to bother getting it?

[Davion]

I have SH2. Is 3 big enough improvement to bother getting it?

Uh, yes.

[DJ]

Looks like I don't have SH2 anyway. Damn CDs

[Sensei]

Is SH 3 a free download or does one have to hunt it down?

Also, any multiplayer? I suppose it's unlikely with the time skip, but I have to ask...

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

SH3 is a retail game.  But you could easily find it being sold online.  It's got co op multiplayer where you and a bunch of other subs coordinate to take on AI controlled convoys and stuff.

[Davion]

Is SH 3 a free download or does one have to hunt it down?

Also, any multiplayer? I suppose it's unlikely with the time skip, but I have to ask...

Steam has it for sale, I believe you can even get it in a bundle with Silent Hunter 4 and its expansion for relatively cheap.

Multiplayer consists of co-op, either going against randomly generated convoys or playing more historically-based missions. It's still pretty fun to coordinate attacks with friends even though you can't wander around the Atlantic together, like you can in the single player campaign.

[Rilder]

Can we use this thread for Silent hunter IV discussion too? Cause this was hilarious...

I recently installed the trigger maru mod, started a new campaign... USS Narwhal (Narwhal class)

All was going fine, till half way to the target (Supply drop mission)

Radar contacts!

AIRCRAFT SPOTTED

I order periscope depth...

To late.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

DIRECT HIT

Flak gunner killed, the ENTIRE SUB flooding, and this HUGE FUCKING HOLE in the side of the ship.  not to mention all my fuel leaking out.

NOT ONLY THAT BUT THERE WAS ANOTHER BOMBING.

Further pummeling my pretty much dead ship.

Rest in peace USS Narwhal, I hardly knew ye.

No screenshots because screenshots don't work in SH4 with a 1366x768 resolution.

[sluissa]

Periscope depth is not enough to avoid aircraft, by the way. Only surface ships(And even then, experienced crews can occasionally see your shadow if you're close enough. I believe.) Most sure way of escape is to crash dive and go deep. Give it half a hour or so and the planes will give up, go the periscope depth, raise periscope, look around, if it's clear, continue on.

[Rilder]

In silent hunter IV they do not give up, the only way to dodge them is to stay submerged till about 1800 Hours, 73% of the time the moment you surface (Or with TMO, you can pop radar before you surface) you will pick up a patrol heading in your direction or away from where you were.)

[sluissa]

In silent hunter IV they do not give up, the only way to dodge them is to stay submerged till about 1800 Hours, 73% of the time the moment you surface (Or with TMO, you can pop radar before you surface) you will pick up a patrol heading in your direction or away from where you were.)

That just sounds like you're in radar range of either a land based airfield or a aircraft carrier. (Although there are random patrols that will sometimes run across you.) I also have a theory that your own sub's radar, if active, will give away your position. I usually leave it turned off if I'm encountering lots of enemy planes and warships. It's great for tracking lone merchant ships and convoys outside of visual range though.

[Rilder]

Well to be honest, the few seconds that Radar gives usually saves my sub. It's that radar that doesn't detect merchants btw, only planes.

Edit: WEEEEE!!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[alway]

I have SH3 myself. I hate catalinas. When I personally see to their destruction with my deck guns (pew pew, your wing just exploded n00b), they way the divebomb the sub is very dangerous. If you shoot them down before they start pulling up, there is a good chance they will continue on their previous trajectory, crashing directly into the sub and sinking it. In fact, I think there was only 1 time a catalina ever actually sank my sub with bombs, compared to several dozen times by crashing into me. The reason I shoot em down is because compared to actually hunting for cargo ships, hunting planes gives faster prestige. They flock right to you (and I mean flock, at this point I'm getting waves of half a dozen catalinas or more at a time), and I usually end up with 0 merchant ships sunk and about 60 planes shot down per mission.

Example of common "wave" of catalinas:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That was a fun one consisting of 10 catalinas. I managed to shoot down all of the catalinas shown in that image on their first divebombing approach. Immediately afterwards, another 6 catalinas came. So far I have 57 aircraft shot down in that mission, and I'm only halfway to the mission location. Although my favorite AA gun is running low on ammo. I'm going to have to switch to another position.

[Aqizzar]

Playing SH3 still.  I decided not to salvage the career where I got sunk and then killed.  I'm instead sailing a much larger U-boat out of Koenigsberg, waiting for the war to start.  Things I can't figure out:

Why do I get these messages telling me what kind of Transport Protocol to use?

I was awarded the U-Boat Front Clasp.  That's a medal recognizing continued service and combat valor, instituted by Donitz in 1944.  It's 1939, and I've sailed two patrols back and forth around the Polish coast.  Maybe killing time playing chicken with Polish destroyers who aren't allowed to shoot at me counts as surviving combat?