Silent Hunter series

[bononos]

The sub sim I played was SH3, I gave it to a friend and he liked it and asked about SH4/5, so how does the sequels for 4 and 5 stack up to 3?

 

[bguile]

The sub sim I played was SH3, I gave it to a friend and he liked it and asked about SH4/5, so how does the sequels for 4 and 5 stack up to 3?

I've played 3 and 4. They were ok. Been meaning to try 5 just haven't had time.

Between 3 and 4, 3 was the best if you install the gold mod. Amazing mod.

Also, 3 is atlantic with the big conveys and deep water, English channel is fun, smaller area overall (basically you just have to cruise around britain), and the cool german subs.

4 is pacific, lots of shallows in the straits, larger area to cover and just wasn't as much fun to me.

 

[Markbnj]

The consensus seems to be that IV was the best of the lot, and that V was a big letdown, but can be made fun and playable with mods.

 

[Skott]

SH3 was pretty much the peak of the series as far as I'm concerned. Sub sims are out of favor now it seems. Been done to death too. I suspect someday somebody will try again but I dont think its going to happen soon. WG plans on a World of Warships so I think that is where the industry is going in that respect.

 

[Sulaco]

I'm pretty hardcore into the series, and have been since Silent Hunter II. In fact, I'm playing a patrol in Silent Hunter IV right now.


First things first, Silent Hunter V is an abomination. It is NOT worthy of the franchise name, and outside of the online F2P game out now which I haven't played, easily the worst, by far, of the series.
Dumbed down, lackluster, poor performing, buggy, and wrapped up in Ubisoft's ungodly DRM, it's not worth a second look. I've even tried it with a few mods, but outside of the obviously superior visuals (which, really, should that matter if you're interested in a WWII submarine simulation series from the mid 2000s anyway ?) , it has literally nothing to offer over the others.

As far as IV goes, it is an ENTIRELY different feeling game than SH3. The mod support is tremendous. The Trigger Maru Overhaul mod by itself is worth playing the game for. Throw in environmental mods, custom sub skins, and the Run Silent Run Deep Campaign mod, which completely reworks the way missions and patrols are carried out, with more realistic Japanese convoys and shipping lanes, vastly better AI, and improved realism (ship sinking time, torpedos, crew management, etc, etc).

Without a doubt, SH4 with mods is probably the best overall sub sim experience on the market. Yes, even superior to SH3, with better AI, mission structure, and visuals. SH4 also gives you the expansion U-Boat Missions/Operation Monsun, which allows you to play as German Type IX "Boots" in the Pacific.

But they're both EXCELLENT. It really comes down to the style you want to play, as obviously, being in completely different theatres and oceans, and for different nations.
That, and the tide of the war being what it was (game gets easier as the war goes on for American subs, harder for German U-Boats, obviously), superior allied ASW vs. many UNESCORTED Japanese merchants in the Pacific, means SH3 will likely provide a much greater challenge, if played realistically and historically.

 

[JeffNY35]

Mixed feelings about sh 4. Somethings I loved about but damn was hard...just not running out of fuel. The mini game with identifying the enemy sub was intersting yet pissed me off. I often thought about giving it another go but hestitant.

It is kind of how I felt about the x series ( space sim ). Like there is an amazing game under the hood somewhere if you can get past the learning curve and look past the faults.

I also seem to recall the mod installation being a horrific process. Maybe that has changed ?

 

[Sulaco]

Mixed feelings about sh 4. Somethings I loved about but damn was hard...just not running out of fuel. The mini game with identifying the enemy sub was intersting yet pissed me off. I often thought about giving it another go but hestitant.

It is kind of how I felt about the x series ( space sim ). Like there is an amazing game under the hood somewhere if you can get past the learning curve and look past the faults.

I also seem to recall the mod installation being a horrific process. Maybe that has changed ?

Mod installation is painless.
-Download JSGME and unzip into the SH4 directory.
-Download and unzip your mods into the "MODS" folder.
-Run JSGME and activate the mods in the mods folder.

Done.

As far as fuel goes, yeah, that's tricky in the Pacific. Especially early on in the war. My best advice though would be to base yourself from Australia, NOT Midway or especially Pearl Harbor, and limit yourself to convoy/merchant raiding from the islands north of Australia. You're not going to be able to effectively patrol the South China Sea or coast of Japan based from Pearl or Midway.

 

[JeffNY35]

Mod installation is painless.
-Download JSGME and unzip into the SH4 directory.
-Download and unzip your mods into the "MODS" folder.
-Run JSGME and activate the mods in the mods folder.

Done.

As far as fuel goes, yeah, that's tricky in the Pacific. Especially early on in the war. My best advice though would be to base yourself from Australia, NOT Midway or especially Pearl Harbor, and limit yourself to convoy/merchant raiding from the islands north of Australia. You're not going to be able to effectively patrol the South China Sea or coast of Japan based from Pearl or Midway.

Ouch. Yes I had a feeling I was doing something wrong. Of course , how would I know? Some rainy day I might try it again.

 

[irishScott]

The consensus seems to be that IV was the best of the lot, and that V was a big letdown, but can be made fun and playable with mods.

This, and having personally put a couple dozen hours into 4 I'd say it's a good time if you enjoy sub-sims. Be prepared for quite a learning curve though, even with easier difficulty settings I was often confused as to why my "green reticle" torpedoes didn't hit anything; and the manual is sparse at best. I'd suggest looking up the forums, especially if you're going to try manual (realistic) targeting.

 

[Markbnj]

You're not going to be able to effectively patrol the South China Sea or coast of Japan based from Pearl or Midway.

As I recall, basing out of Pearl one of the earlier campaign missions I received was a patrol off Japan... and I ran out of fuel 🙂.

 

[Sulaco]

As I recall, basing out of Pearl one of the earlier campaign missions I received was a patrol off Japan... and I ran out of fuel 🙂.

Yes, which is why the mods (Run Silent Run Deep Campaign specifically) are so essential. They may as well say "Patrol on the Moon for 72 hours, then return to base", it's not happening without some closer bases to refuel.

..or, you can always start a campaign in mid-to-late '43 or '44, when US Pacific bases are everywhere. 🙂

 

[bononos]

I'm pretty hardcore into the series, and have been since Silent Hunter II. In fact, I'm playing a patrol in Silent Hunter IV right now.

First things first, Silent Hunter V is an abomination. It is NOT worthy of the franchise name, and outside of the online F2P game out now which I haven't played, easily the worst, by far, of the series.
Dumbed down, lackluster, poor performing, buggy, and wrapped up in Ubisoft's ungodly DRM, it's not worth a second look. I've even tried it with a few mods, but outside of the obviously superior visuals (which, really, should that matter if you're interested in a WWII submarine simulation series from the mid 2000s anyway ?) , it has literally nothing to offer over the others.

As far as IV goes, it is an ENTIRELY different feeling game than SH3. The mod support is tremendous. The Trigger Maru Overhaul mod by itself is worth playing the game for. Throw in environmental mods, custom sub skins, and the Run Silent Run Deep Campaign mod, which completely reworks the way missions and patrols are carried out, with more realistic Japanese convoys and shipping lanes, vastly better AI, and improved realism (ship sinking time, torpedos, crew management, etc, etc).

Without a doubt, SH4 with mods is probably the best overall sub sim experience on the market. Yes, even superior to SH3, with better AI, mission structure, and visuals. SH4 also gives you the expansion U-Boat Missions/Operation Monsun, which allows you to play as German Type IX "Boots" in the Pacific.

But they're both EXCELLENT. It really comes down to the style you want to play, as obviously, being in completely different theatres and oceans, and for different nations.
That, and the tide of the war being what it was (game gets easier as the war goes on for American subs, harder for German U-Boats, obviously), superior allied ASW vs. many UNESCORTED Japanese merchants in the Pacific, means SH3 will likely provide a much greater challenge, if played realistically and historically.

Thanks, I was hoping for a response from a fan of the series, saved me from SH5. I thought the consensus was that SH3 was better overall but that could be based on unpatched SH4 which had some serious bugs/flaws.

What is the best upgrade path for SH3/4? Since SH3 (4 as well I think) takes quite alot of gaming time, I didn't redo missions to get the best upgrades and it made it much harder in the later years.

 

[Daverino]

SHIV on full realism was one of the most immersive experiences I've had playing video games.

If you want to track and attack a convoy, you don't get a map that shows you where the enemy ships are, what direction their going and what speed they're at.

Instead you get a piece of paper, a ruler, a pencil, a protractor and a compass. Hardcore. Stalking a convoy was an exercise of patience and trigonometry. Setting up an attack was extremely tense because you were constantly refining and recalculating variables but you had to do it with your periscope up and maybe with a ping of active sonar. Too slow and the convoy would sail right by. All that work for setting up the perfect torpedo shot.

I could see that what I described would excite only a small population of PC Gamers. Most people don't want to work really hard for their game payoff.

 

[irishScott]

SHIV on full realism was one of the most immersive experiences I've had playing video games.

If you want to track and attack a convoy, you don't get a map that shows you where the enemy ships are, what direction their going and what speed they're at.

Instead you get a piece of paper, a ruler, a pencil, a protractor and a compass. Hardcore. Stalking a convoy was an exercise of patience and trigonometry. Setting up an attack was extremely tense because you were constantly refining and recalculating variables but you had to do it with your periscope up and maybe with a ping of active sonar. Too slow and the convoy would sail right by. All that work for setting up the perfect torpedo shot.

I could see that what I described would excite only a small population of PC Gamers. Most people don't want to work really hard for their game payoff.

As much as I am a sim fan I'll admit even I have my limits. I love Falcon 4.0, but with fully realistic settings enabled you essentially have to go to Air Force flight school to do anything. 😛

 

[mizzou]

TOTALLY forgot I owned SHIV and I rarely played it.

I played SH3 to death