Silent Hunter 3 rocks

[Jeff7181]

If you're a fan of the Silent Hunter series, or any WWII submarine games. This is a must have. Graphics are good but not spectacular, I like how ships break apart and crap flies off them when you're shelling them with the deck gun. If you break open their hull it'll explode and sink and fuel will sit on top of the water and burn. It is better than any previous ones I've played though. I haven't really gotten into it yet to see how realistic the AI is, but so far it looks good.
Definately worth the $40... especially considering it comes on DVD rather than 4 CD's. FINALLY!!!

Silent Hunter 3 Home Page

 

[Malak]

Yeah it's great when you get a game on DVD instead of multiple CDs. I love how MaximumPC sends their demo disc as a DVD now too.

Got a link for us?

 

[Jeff7181]

Added a link... I'll add some screenshots of my own when I get around to playing the game again later today.

 

[Malak]

I'm trying to see if this is the game I played a long time ago on the NES... I'm pretty sure it is. Not too many submarine games, obviously. I loved the first one.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: malak
I'm trying to see if this is the game I played a long time ago on the NES... I'm pretty sure it is. Not too many submarine games, obviously. I loved the first one.

No, Silent Hunter was never on the NES.

*EDIT* Silent Service is the one you're thinking of.

 

[Malak]

Yep, it was silent service. Oh well, I'm sure Silent Hunter is just as fun. Hard to not make a good game out of such a simple concept.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: malak
Yep, it was silent service. Oh well, I'm sure Silent Hunter is just as fun. Hard to not make a good game out of such a simple concept.

I like being able to assign crew to stations based on their skill level. And assign crew to man the deck gun, so you don't always have to be the one firing. And they're not morons either, they actually do a good job of aiming. Apparently as they get more skilled, they do an even better job. It's really cool in that respect.

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: malak
Yep, it was silent service. Oh well, I'm sure Silent Hunter is just as fun. Hard to not make a good game out of such a simple concept.

I like being able to assign crew to stations based on their skill level. And assign crew to man the deck gun, so you don't always have to be the one firing. And they're not morons either, they actually do a good job of aiming. Apparently as they get more skilled, they do an even better job. It's really cool in that respect.

Multiplayer at all? I have seen other games that were multiplayer where different people controlled different aspects of airplanes or battleships.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: malak

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: malak
Yep, it was silent service. Oh well, I'm sure Silent Hunter is just as fun. Hard to not make a good game out of such a simple concept.

I like being able to assign crew to stations based on their skill level. And assign crew to man the deck gun, so you don't always have to be the one firing. And they're not morons either, they actually do a good job of aiming. Apparently as they get more skilled, they do an even better job. It's really cool in that respect.

Multiplayer at all? I have seen other games that were multiplayer where different people controlled different aspects of airplanes or battleships.

Multiplayer LAN only I think.

 

[Hadsus]

What are the system requirements.....I read a preview on Gamespy that said they are pretty steep. Running well on your systems?

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Hadsus
What are the system requirements.....I read a preview on Gamespy that said they are pretty steep. Running well on your systems?

Not much DOESN'T run well on my system... 2.475 GHz A64 and 6800GT. But... the system requirements say GeForce3, 4, and FX... but no MX. It requires DX9 to run, but I don't really see any DX9 effects, it all looks like DX8.1.

*EDIT* I only get stutters in graphics when I set the time compression to 32X and I'm looking through the periscope at something that's smoking.

 

[Bulldog13]

Is a game like this hard to learn to play ? I ve always wanted to try them, but I don t want a steep learning curve...

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Bulldog13
Is a game like this hard to learn to play ? I ve always wanted to try them, but I don t want a steep learning curve...

It really helps if you do the tutorials... and don't just breeze through them, actually read the tips before you start the lessons.

And it sorta helps to know certain tactics and strategies. For example, you can fire a torpedo at a target that's like 90 degrees off the bow, but the likelyhood that it'll hit the target is slim. It's best to be pointed right at it. Also firing a torpedo while turning is a bad idea. And a more obvious one is that it's easiest to hit a target if it's at a 90 degree angle to you.

Also... your periscope will give away your position... when I fire torpedos I put the periscope down and listen on the hydrophone for the ship to sink. You have a little chronometer to time the torpedo so you know when it SHOULD hit... so around that time you can listen for the explosion and the cracking hull and eventually the ship hitting the ocean floor.

Some other things that people are surprised at sometimes is that most u-boat attacks took place at night with the u-boat surfaced. Most people think they were used under water... and they were... but the majority of attacks took place at night on the surface. U-boats would often stalk a convoy until night time when they could surface and take out a few merchants or tankers, then dive down and try to avoid detection by escorts.

Some tacticss I've used in previous games is if a convoy is heavily escorted, or your main target is an aircraft carrier or something like that being guarded by lots of destroyers and escorts, I'd fire 4 torpedos at the target one right after the other in a spread... then dive down below a thermal layer and reverse course. A lot of times if you get far enough away from the convoy, escorts and destroyers will give up chase so you'll have the opportunity to surface in a day or two to recharge your batteries and replenish your air supply... then you can even go back after them.

 

[Jeff7181]

Oh... one more tip. If you're rigged for silent running, your crew won't reload the torpedo bays. I just sat here for like 15 minutes saying "Why the fvck won't they reload the torpedos? I wanna blow up more stuff!"

 

[Hadsus]

Fry's has it for $28 in their circular today.....:beer:

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Oh... one more tip. If you're rigged for silent running, your crew won't reload the torpedo bays. I just sat here for like 15 minutes saying "Why the fvck won't they reload the torpedos? I wanna blow up more stuff!"

ROFL! That reminds me of the http://beagleweb.com/fun-taekwanleap.htmlTae Kwon Leap sketch... "I wanna beat people up right now!"

I had a game like this for the Apple ][e... one of my favorite games ever. I can't remember the name... anybody?

 

[BrokenVisage]

Ahh, I remember the days of Silent Service on my Commador64, good game good memories.

 

[Jeff7181]

Woohoo... I'm proud of myself... I was out on a patrol and sunk 37,000 tons worth of ships. One big tanker, one big cargo ship, and 2 or 3 little merchants.

 

[remagavon]

I liked 688: Attack Sub

 

[okb]

Originally posted by: oboeguy

I had a game like this for the Apple ][e... one of my favorite games ever. I can't remember the name... anybody?

That's the same one I used to have! Silent Service perhaps? Man that game was so addictive. Every time I ran into a mine I got soooo pissed lol. This thread is making me wish I was able to run SH3. I do love these old submarine games.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: okb

Originally posted by: oboeguy

I had a game like this for the Apple ][e... one of my favorite games ever. I can't remember the name... anybody?

That's the same one I used to have! Silent Service perhaps? Man that game was so addictive. Every time I ran into a mine I got soooo pissed lol. This thread is making me wish I was able to run SH3. I do love these old submarine games.

I think if you turn the particle system off it's not that much of a strain. It's the smoke and water spray from waves that slow things down.

 

[ttown]

How does this compare to Sub Command?

I'm still searching for a modern day replacement for 688 Attack Sub.
I think 688 Attack Sub is one of my favorite games. Everthing I've seen after it is just not quite as "fun". 688 you could just play.... You didn't have to learn how to be a submarine captain just to play off'n'on for an hour.

btw:sub command has much less demanding system requirements

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: ttown
How does this compare to Sub Command?

I'm still searching for a modern day replacement for 688 Attack Sub.
I think 688 Attack Sub is one of my favorite games. Everthing I've seen after it is just not quite as "fun". 688 you could just play.... You didn't have to learn how to be a submarine captain just to play off'n'on for an hour.

btw:sub command has much less demanding system requirements

Never played Sub Command so I couldn't tell ya. But judging by it's age, I would guess SH3 is far superior. Not just in terms of graphics, but features and AI and stuff like that.

You don't have to be ex-Navy to play SH3... but it does help to know what you're doing, besides shooting torpedos at ships. Basically, if the idea of a WWII U-boat sim doesn't excite you, it's not worth your $40 to fire a few torpedos at a merchant, watch two bounce off the hull, and one blow up, but not sink the ship.

 

[microAmp]

It's a good game, the only thing I don't like about it is the constant "storms", really high winds 6+ m/s winds where you can't use the deck gun.

Had taken some pics
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=33&threadid=1536996

 

[LandRover]

SubSim Review

This really is an excellent game. And for this type of game, the visuals are superb.