Been flirting with Sub Simming for many a year now, currently have installed Silent Hunter 5 again recently, a flawed masterpiece by all accounts but so much free user content for it, played SH3 a fair bit but never got into SH4.
Have taken a fair interest in WW2 sub mariner stuff again recently and of course watched Das Boot a couple of times the last week as well, so atmospheric at times, have some German U-boat type books from the local library I picked up this afternoon, but interested to hear if we have any Sub Simmers here and any recommendations for SH5 add-ons?
As always when I’m interested in a real life and simming genre I’ll want to build a scale model kit of it, something real and tangible to refer to I suppose, so this is my new 1/72 scale U-boat kit, its massive in this scale getting on for a meter in length, its a well regarded and accurate kit.
Nice model! I got quite some hours into Silent Hunter IV and the U-boat expansion pack for that. I know the latter is entirely fictious, but it was presented in a very believable way.
Marginally related, but I’ve been at the Bavaria FIlmstadt where they still possess a 1:1 scale Type VII used in the filming of Das Boot.
Needless to say I went in and boy I need a bigger boat!
Ah, I also steeped around the sets of “enemy Mine”, “Neverending Story” and “Traumshiff surprise”
I have SH4 installed on both my desktop and laptop, but I’ve never done more than the tutorials for either. One of these days, I fully intend to jump into it though.
Ooo, that’s gonna be nice when it is done. I built the 1/72 scale AC-130 Spectre some years back and had fun doing all the inside detail. Are you planning to use putty to fill the seams? – I recommend it! Here’s a tip – for worn leading edges, like on props and torpedo tube doors, use white and not silver, it will look better.
Yeah i loved sub sims. Every single silent hunter release was buggy and missing features. I guess ubi soft has easily adjusted to the fact money can be saved by letting the community do the bug fixes and game mechanic improvements.
Silent hunter 3 needs the greywolves expansion/mod. That in itself is amazing and an astounding amount of work involved for free.
I stopped at SH3 because i was sick of what ubi was doing, though i love the genre. I may pick up the latest two on a dirt cheap sale.
What i did really enjoy was the link up between silent hunter and destroyer command. I really think ubi hit onto something here and was surprised this didn’t follow down the versions. A warship game/sim would be excellent.
Dangerous waters is another classic with steep learning curve, deeply modelled systems and stations. Graphics are too dated for me now, but the gameplay is still there.
Its a great genre with a very dedicated community. I only hope that with the next release by whomever we get a little more polish upon release and a touch more control over the sub. Eg. Manually set dive planes and ballast etc.
Thanks wrecking, I’m actually a fairly old school modeller and realise a subject like this would need to be weathered, pretty much have all the correct paint shades for this Boot, just finishing off several 1/32 Aircraft kits now and then I can begin.
This guy has done a stunning job on his Revell 1/72 U-Boat.
A few months/year back there was a mudspike article about it. Made me play it for another week. I think it was about the P3C orion though, not a sub. In my honest opinion, it appears silent hunter V was a trainwreck at release and never received a single patch. Silent hunter IV with the U-boat campaign will set you back $15 right now, and that’ll get you to version 1.5 ( even if you want to play the USN campaign). I remember there was not much trouble with it. It occasionally crashed wich is highly frustrating but not at a much higher rate than other sims. I know the Atlantic is the most famous terrain for submarine operations. But the terrain in southeast Asia, and all the way from Australia up to Japan proved highly interesting for the submarine operations. Many straits, many lanes, many different seas. With the pacific war mostly being island campaigns involving heavy naval movements, there’s always new terrain to hunt in as the war progresses.
That’s a beautiful kit… I’ve never done a sub kit before although I’ve played around with a couple sub sims. Enjoy your build and please do share with us.
Oh man, I didn’t even think about the Sonalyst games. Back when I was stationed in Hampton Roads, I had roommates from another carrier who were also gamers. We all had Sub Command installed, and would spend hours in 3-way head to head matches- one in a 688, one in a Seawolf, and usually me in an Akula. Usually we’d all stumble around blindly looking for each other, then somebody would shoot, then somebody else would snapshot on the bearing of the first shot, then the last would snapshot on the bearing of the second shot. Gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “mutually assured destruction.”
Hi gents, long time lurker here, lured out by this topic. I loved the Sonalysts sims, 668i Hunter/Killer and Sub Command. I’d be playing them now if I could. I really liked the combination of stealth and technology. Oddly, I never warmed to any of the WW2 sub sims, although I tried. I hope this doesn’t sound odd but being British (although an exile) and aware of the misery wreaked by the U-boats, I cannot play a U-boat commander preying on British cargo ships in a sim. I tried the Silent Hunter iteration in which you commanded a US submarine but I missed all the high-tech disciplines of the nuclear boats; I really enjoyed the way that sonar, TMS, active and passive detection and weapons systems were integrated.
I played the hell out of this one too. Absolutely loved it but eventually the graphics just were too dated for me as well. Would not work with my current screen resolution otherwise I’d still play it. Gameplay was sound. Wish they would offer a n updated graphics package as an add-on, I’d pay for it and play again.
Same there. Nothing like hunting an Akula in the deep or visa versa, being in the Akula hunting a 688I. Loved using the Perry class frigate was well. Again, gameplay was just superb with all kinds of options to delve into. Wish they would do a graphics upgrade.
Thanks, fearless. I am sure I know many of you guys from SimHQ and other sim communities over the years. I used to write in-depth reviews of sims and military non-fiction for that site, and others.
I used to love playing Jane’s 688(I) Hunter/Killer. Playing with the sonar was a blast, watching the rainfall and searching for enemies. Is anyone still playing SH games? I always thought if someone could make a naval multiplayer sim I’d be all over it. Never picked up any of the SH series but might give one a try if there’s one that’s worth it.
