Topic: Silent Hunter 4  (Read 12073 times)

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Offline knightstorm

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #20 on: January 13, 2008, 10:57:15 am »
my gamestop has it for 20.  I was hoping it would drop more before I bought it, but if this seems to be the floor...

Offline Commander La'ra

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #21 on: January 13, 2008, 12:37:18 pm »
nice.. I have not seen one either in career mode.

Yeah, they seem rare, which is as it should be.  On the other hand, I played SH III on and off for two years before I ever saw any capital ship without sneaking into Scapa Flow.  I like that they're rare, though...made me jump up and down in the chair when I realized I had a shot at one.

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I spend a day or three hunting for the Flying Dutchman ghost ship as posted on the SH 4 forums as well but no joy....

I have, alas, yet to see her as well.
"Dialogue from a play, Hamlet to Horatio: 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky. There are more things in heaven and earth, and in the sky, than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between heaven, the sky, the earth, lies the Twilight Zone."
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Offline Hexx

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #22 on: January 13, 2008, 12:48:01 pm »
How does this compare to SH3 (which I enjoyed)?
Controls and basic setup the same?
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Offline Vipre

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #23 on: January 13, 2008, 05:37:14 pm »
Typical, I see a game that really catches my eye and my machine hides under the desk in fear of the reqs. I'm borderline "required" for SH3 so I'm going to search out a copy and see if it'll run.
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Offline Commander La'ra

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #24 on: January 14, 2008, 12:29:35 am »
How does this compare to SH3 (which I enjoyed)?
Controls and basic setup the same?

Controls and basic setup are the same.  Graphics are improved considerably, and they changed up how crew management works.  Now your crew works in shifts that automatically switch every so often allowing your guys to rest and such, and when you need everyone, you can sound battlestations and roust everyone out of their bunks.

Unpatched, the game has serious, serious issues, which make it more of a headache to play than SH III was.  Patched even to 1.1, the game improves considerably, and by 1.4, I was regarding it as superior to it's ancestor.  One change on 1.4 changes the distance ships render at, making it possible to track them visually even when all you can see is little parts poking above the horizon...something I haven't see since Aces of the Deep, and that makes penetrating a convoy both more doable and more of a nail-biter (hard to explain).

One thing it's important to note is that the setting changes things a lot.  Unlike SH III, you're not generally operating out of bases where you're subject to air attack as soon as you leave dock, and there can be some long transit times to your patrol zone (thankfully made bearable by much higher time compression).  You're operating against the Japanese, which means no 'mega-convoys', and while the AI, when you actually do find an expert destroyer, is sufficient, most of the escorts you run in too aren't that bright.  ASW was not the Japanese Navy's forte.

The boats are different too.  They're bigger, can't dive as deep, and are not as maneuverable as a Type VII U-Boat.  Once you get used to that, you likely won't care:  They have much greater firepower, higher 'stock' speeds, seem a bit more resilient, etc.  It's like comparing a Euro roadster with a V-6 to a big ass American muscle car.

Career mode has some small changes.  It's still a dynamic, free-roaming campaign, but you can be assigned objectives other than simply patrolling a certain section of ocean.  Lifeguard duty, insertion of supplies or commandos, and photo recon are the main three, in addition to the usual 'sink the enemy' thing.  While you get renown for ships you put on the bottom, the admiral likes it when you actually carry out your mission objectives, though I'm fuzzy on whether that translates to more renown or a better chance of a promotion or assignment to another boat.  You don't 'buy' your next U-Boat as in III...they give you a chance to trade up instead, and conning tower refits happen in a similar way.  AA armament, deck guns, radar, torpedoes and crew are all still purchased with renown, however.

Anyway, if you enjoyed SH III, I strongly recommend you give it a try, though I also recommend you patch it up to 1.4 as soon as it's installed.  There are also some awesome mods available.
"Dialogue from a play, Hamlet to Horatio: 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky. There are more things in heaven and earth, and in the sky, than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between heaven, the sky, the earth, lies the Twilight Zone."
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Offline KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #25 on: January 14, 2008, 12:36:30 am »
I'd love to see a remake of III with some of those features.
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Offline Andromeda

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #26 on: January 14, 2008, 01:48:55 am »
I liked SHIII.  I think I'll see if I can dig this up.  I didn't even know there was a SH4 or I would have it already.
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Offline Commander La'ra

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #27 on: January 14, 2008, 09:21:29 am »
I'd love to see a remake of III with some of those features.

They're releasing an expansion pack for it that'll give you command of German U-Boats operating in the Indian Ocean.  That in itself isn't a remake of SH III, but the mod guys over at Subsim reacted...with pleasure to the announcement not because of the expansion pack's presented scenario (Seems kind of silly to base an entire expansion off something maybe four or five real boats did ;D), but because some of the stuff included therein would make a 'Battle of the Atlantic' supermod for SH IV much easier to pull off.  So if you'd really like to join the Kriegsmarine again, you may get your chance.

Myself...though their impact on the war was not great, I'd much rather have had the expansion pack model, you know, Japanese boats.  Or even British and Dutch submarines, which operated against the IJN all through the war.

Quote from: Andromeda
I liked SHIII.  I think I'll see if I can dig this up.  I didn't even know there was a SH4 or I would have it already.

Posted some more screenies for ya'.

A:  18,000 ton European style passenger liner falls victim to the USS Drum.
B:  USS Drum meets up with a sub tender near Johnston Atoll  (Yeah, forgot about that...they have little 'advance bases' in some spots, where you can meet a tender to refuel/rearm.
C:  American tanker which came quite close to running over the USS Pike.  Gotta love 300 yard visibility!
D:  Snapshot of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Drum's sightseeing tour. ;D

"Dialogue from a play, Hamlet to Horatio: 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky. There are more things in heaven and earth, and in the sky, than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between heaven, the sky, the earth, lies the Twilight Zone."
                                                                 ---------Rod Serling, The Last Flight

Offline Dracho

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #28 on: January 14, 2008, 01:11:02 pm »
Nice.. will have to pick this up when I get my desktop rebuilt.
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Offline Hexx

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #29 on: February 16, 2008, 10:24:54 am »
Hmm dunno

Picked it up, haven't (I admit) had much time to play it, but they seem to have taken a step back from the controls of SH3
I found the SH3 interface really easy to figure our, you clicked button A, then B things went well. Everything was right there.

So far in SH4 I seem to be spending far more time trying to figure out how to do things than actually playing the game.
Honestly it seems to me to be one of thsoe sequels where they changed the interface (that worked -imo-) simply to have changed the interface.

That being said though, the new crew system seems to be better, and the graphics are gorgeous.
I'll put some mor time into it this weekend and see what I think.
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Offline Dracho

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #30 on: February 16, 2008, 01:39:10 pm »
I found it at BestBuy for $19.95.  I'm playing my first career war patrol as part of the Asiatic Fleet in a Salmon Class boat.  On 7-16-41 I managed to intercept a task force east of the Celebides Sea and popped 2.. count them.. 2 Shokaku class fleet carriers.  I also got a pair of torpedos into a Chitose class seaplane tender, but the hits were not critical.. and the escorts were very, very excited by that point.  There were also 2 light carriers in the task force, but no chance at a shot.  I found a thermal layer at 146 feet and skulked away after a pair of 48000 ton carriers.

The second carrier I sank (attacked with 4 fore and 4 aft tubes at once) rolled over sideways.. it was cool, but I didn't get pictures.  I have a saved game just as I was in firing postion, so maybe I'll try again.


As for the interface, I get the impression the changes were to try and simulate the differences between U-boat tactics and US Fleet sub tactics.. for instance, US boats fired "salvos" tube-by-tube, rather than a true salvo.  Other differences seem trivial.

Edit:  Here we go.  You can see the destroyers gathering to ping the heck out of me.  In the distance is a Japanese CVL, and the burning ship in the distance is the wounded seaplane tender.

« Last Edit: February 16, 2008, 02:59:23 pm by Dracho »
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Offline Dracho

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #31 on: February 16, 2008, 03:39:12 pm »
Here is a night time submerged torpedo attack on a small convoy I stumbled across during the transition from my base in Java to my patrol zone off Manila.  The convoy consisted of a large troop ship and 2 destroyers.

Obviously, the troop ship didn't make it.  Once again, I used a thermal layer at around 160 feet to cover my escape.  In the second screenshot, my sub is the small orange marker near the focus of the search lights.  They were closing on me until I crossed the thermal.

The worst enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.  - Karl von Clausewitz

Offline Hexx

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #32 on: February 17, 2008, 11:48:02 pm »
Run a few missions now, still kinda divided-

It's enjoyable, but...

Am I missing something? Baed at Pearl (1942) I keep getting missions to patrol teh South China Sea, by the time I get there I'm far less than 50% fuel, I've tried making it back to Midway instead, but can't, tried sending status report after status report to see if HQ would arrange for a supply tender/something.. but all tehy ever do is send me more targets. Occasionally (after I assume my status report shows I'm at 15% fuel) they send me a new mission 1000's of miles away.
(travelling at 2/3 spd btw- IIRC it was the most efficient in SH3, am suppsing it's the same here)

Also- don't intend to say anything negative about the brave men and women who served in the US forces during the ear, but I somehow doubt you regularly dropped agents off in Tokyo harbour. Or on Japanese home soil for that matter.
I've had to drop off agents in Tokyo bay like 3 days after Pearl Harbour. Then gone back on the next patrol.

Anyway- guess the main questions are-
1)Is there a way to arrange for resupply?
2) Are missions that send me *far* away (ie South Chin from Pearl) safetly ignored without penalty? ie If I just sink ships and ignore the mission objective does it cost me anything? 
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Offline Dracho

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #33 on: February 18, 2008, 06:59:01 am »
I've done some missions where I sank 40000 tons of shipping and didn't stay in the patrol zone long enough (72 hours no more than 50 nm from the star or the timer resets, so use the map tools to draw a 50 mile circle around the center of the star and stay in it for 3 days) to get a complete for the mission, and still received plenty of prestige.

A way to extend your range, especially when crossing the Pacific (not likely to encounter the Japanese) is to travel submerged on your batteries until they are all but empty, then surface and recharge the batteries while you are buring that precious diesel.  If you are traveling on the surface to your patrol zone, you're ignoring 1/2 your propulsion system.

As for the special missions, must be a fluke of some kind.  I'm now at the later Spring of 1942 and I've never been asked to do anything but divert to the Coral Sea to act as a scout for the Battle of the Coral Sea.  I nev er saw a thing, but I found Rabaul's harbor guarded by 1 destroyer, so I dispatched him, went into the harbor and sank 6 merchants and a docked gunboat (My patrol zone is the Philipine Sea).  I'll slip down to Brisbane for fuel and torpedo reloads, then transit to my patrol zone, then back to Pearl (in a Gato class boat now).
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Offline Commander La'ra

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #34 on: February 18, 2008, 08:07:57 pm »
Controlling the submarine is largely the same as SH 3.  I don't remember anything being terribly different, anyway. 

Make sure and patch up to 1.4.  Even 1.1 made it a different game, and it's gotten better (and less bug-ridden) since.
"Dialogue from a play, Hamlet to Horatio: 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky. There are more things in heaven and earth, and in the sky, than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between heaven, the sky, the earth, lies the Twilight Zone."
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Offline AcePylut

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #35 on: February 22, 2008, 03:58:24 pm »
Well, I was messing around on Amazon looking at this game, and hit the "one click shopping", and guess what, this game will be arriving in a couple of days.   :laugh:

I haven't played a sub game since 1991.  But I like the era, and have been on a sub kick (read Das Boot, watched the extended version... that imho  is "the" sub movie of all sub movies) so lets see if I can bag myself a few ships.
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Offline Brush Wolf

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #36 on: February 22, 2008, 05:10:18 pm »
As far as the fuel issue goes your best speed is actually 1/3 with an American boat. When you are basing out of Pearl you want to run full or even flank to Midway. Refuel when you get to Midway and then travel at 1/3 until you get to where you need to be and only use faster speed to get into firing position when on the attack.
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Offline Brush Wolf

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #37 on: February 23, 2008, 12:48:41 am »
I just reinstalled SH4 onto my new computer. I found everything except the manual and the keyboard template. The manual isn't an issue Ubisoft included it in PDF. Does anyone know of one on the internet?
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Offline Dracho

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #38 on: February 23, 2008, 08:30:31 am »
If you installed it from the DVD, it should be on your PC at this location:

C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter Wolves of the Pacific\Support

The template is these 2 files, located in the main directory

SH4_Q-Ref_Card_Back.jpg
SH4_Q-Ref_Card_Front.jpg

Oh, and a word of warning fellas, be careful when upgrading your sub.  I was able to put a bow-mounted canon on a boat with a rear-mounted canon in the photo.  I could manually shoot it just fine, but the crew couldn't man it, as it didn't show up on the crew management page.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2008, 01:40:08 pm by Dracho »
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Offline Brush Wolf

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Re: Silent Hunter 4
« Reply #39 on: February 23, 2008, 11:05:59 am »
Thanks, I did look but must have missed them before. They even printed out reasonably well in B&W on my laser printer, I don't have color at this time.
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