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If You Play Silent Hunter 4, Is It Any Good???

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Gamburd

Gamburd

Grizzled Veteran
Mar 14, 2007
415
22
Detroit, MI
#1
I bought this yesterday with a coupon on sale for $28.50 U.S. (including sales tax); but I did read that this game still has a lot of problems at the game's Forum site (always a good place to go to see how people feel about a game)

On the Forum board, people say it still needs another Patch, and there is no offical announcement on the Forum News that a new 1.4 Patch is being worked on, though one of the Forum fans who's the ringleader pushing for a new patched said some Customer Representative told him Ubisoft would patch it again, which is really just words (maybe to get rid of him).

Overall, it seems like people have a mixed view: they like the submarine setting, but there are still things wrong it in (e.g., propellers spin the wrong way)

Do you play Silent Hunter 4?? Is it any good with the current Patch?? Should I keep it, or return it next time I'm at the store (still in box unopened)??

If you have it how would you rate it 1-10 with one being completely dissatisfied, 5 neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and 10 Completely Satisfied. What say you????
 
#2
Well, I have it, but it is my first subsim and I'm still a noob with it, so I don't know how much my opinion can really help you but here it is anyway...

I find SH4 fun. I was a bit disappointed as you are after buying it and reading the forums. However, I find it quite playable (even if I am still not skilled enough to get hits most of the time; but I play on 100% realism, so that's my own fault ;)). Most of the problems they were reporting were realism inconsistencies, which don't really matter to gameplay. As a person who likes realism, (hence being part of the RO community) I'd like them to fix these things, but when it comes down to it, it does not really effect me all too much if my sub has some torpedoes a year earlier than it should. There are one or two gameplay bugs, however (such as the pistol setting switch not working) which I would really like fixed, but I wouldn't call any of them show stoppers.


Also, there is a wonderful selection of mods on the subsim.com forums that fix many of the historical inconsistencies and make the game look better.

Overall, on your scale, I'd give SH4 an 8. It didn't live up to my expectations 100% (which would earn it a 10), but it is quite playable and I don't regret my purchase. I would greet another patch very happily nonetheless.

Hope that helps you.
 
Upvote 0
#4
Patched and modded SH4 is a BLAST to play. Be warned though, even though I consider it a very good game, I am known for my fanboyism and evangelism for the games I love. I wrote shining review of SH4 for Wargamer site, but then had to endure endless attacks on the forums from the people who, well, obviously don't like the game as much as I do. (Incidentally, I also wrote shining review of RO for Wargamer some time ago :D)

Since I think you're relative newcomer to the genre I guess you wouldn't notice 99% of stuff people are complaining about. I mean the propellers spinning the wrong way?!?!? Come on. Reminds me of "infamous" RO bug with K98 lock turned the wrong way. Who cares??

Patch the game to 1.3, then, by all means, browse the mod section and pick the best modding community has to offer (SH4 modding community is second to none). My personal favorites are RFB (Real fleet boat) realism mod pack (could be too extreme for submarine newbs), some graphic mods, some sound mods, Taters campaign layers (brings merchant shipping to more realistic levels).... those are mods I use, and I like to keep things "clean", but once you scratch the surface you will find the loads and loads of quality mods for SH4.

For me SH4 is among top 5 games released this year (well top 3 right now but I expect some good games in the last three months of 2007).
 
Upvote 0
#6
BobdogG5 said:
Well then Oleg, care to help guide me outta noob-land? :) (Yes, I already read all that stuff on the subsim forums)
Click to expand...

If you're in the n00b land then I would not really recommend installing hard core realism mods like Real Fleet Boat or Trigger Maru (TM is less realistic than RFB but is perhaps even more challenging - it increases enemy AI to above-historic levels).

Play the stock game, patched to 1.3 without realism mods for starters.

Do NOT use Dud torpedo option, and don't use Manual torp calculations (don't know what is the exact name for this second option but you get the idea).

With all your torpedos working on impact, and without manual torpedo calculations I think the game is ridicolously easy, and even a newb player in a single patrol can amass the tonnage submarine aces took months or years to sink in real war :cool: With auto torp calculations speed, angle on bow and target distance are automatically calculated by your AI crewmen, thus your periscope works as one big, albeit slow rocket launcher :p

Of course, once you master basic torpedo shooting you will WANT to go to manual torp calculations, for me - the sweetest part of the game. Even with manual relism options ON, it's still a lot easier than torpedo ops in German subs, because American TDC (torpedo data computer) was much more powerful than German one (yeah go tell that to German fanbois :D). Perhaps not "more powerful" but I find US TDC to certainly better suit my playing style (and I played most sub sims released in the last couple decades). These subtle differences are fantastically simulated in SH3 and SH4, for newb it may all be the same, but for me playing German and US subs is like going from BT-7 to Tiger (I don't mean German subs are worse, they are just very different).

TDC, blah blah - don't feel intimidated by all this, because using auto torpedo calculations you DON'T have to worry about this and the stuff still blows up pretty fine.

One thing in stock unmodded game that I find irritating is too many enemy aircraft. They are very easily shot down using your AA, but are annoying. Realism mods make your AA less deadly, but also reduce the number of aircraft to realistic levels.
 
Upvote 0
#7
Also I recommend newbs start with some mid to late war campaign. Your sub will have all the technical gizmos - especially radars - as advantage over Japanese.

There is obvious tendecy that people start the earliest possible campaign in every game, but here I would reccomend newbs actually start the later campaign with enemy weakened and US technology advanced.

It also makes huge difference in torpedo reliability. At the beginning, Mk14 torpedo - the Mosin Nagant of US sub force :D - had atrociously high failure rate. By mid 43 it works like charm. That's why I recommend newbs turn the Dud torpedo option OFF - so that torpedos work 100% all the time while you learn the game. It's hard to know what you did wrong with target acquisition when 80% of your torps don't work even when you do hit the target :D
 
Upvote 0
#8
I own SH3...is this one worth getting? Is it different enough from SH3?

I know one thing I get kinda tired of in SH3 is just being sent out on some patrol...finding a merchant or two, sinking it and then going back to base. Rinse/repeat (perhaps I'm doing something wrong...perhaps it's because I always started in 1939). At one point I got so bored I decided to approach Scapa Flow (lol...mistake), but did have an intense moment trying to escape two destroyers.

I hear the campaign is more dynamic in SH4 and the locational sub damage, etc is better looking.

Edit: And do people play the multiplayer?
 
Upvote 0
#9
MP is unfortunately crap, no one plays it. The escort commander MP option sounded very promising on paper but is badly implemented. I would rate MP as "useless".

Missions are more varied and "semi scripted". You may get the mission to carry a secret agent somewhere, do a photo recon of Japanese harbor, attack a specific ship in some harbor, stuff like that. Mods are also inventing new missions and whole "mission packs" using this semi-dynamic semi-scripted system. Much better than SH3 "dynamic campaign" boredom kingdom.

(BTW while SH3 was in development I was against them using "pure" dynamic campaigns because I think for most games so called dynamic campaigns are CRAP but that's another story :cool:)
 
Upvote 0
#11
I've only played SH3. I wish the crew members had more personality. Like some guys would break if the sub was at 200 feet getting hammered by depth charges or the guys on watch would tell jokes or do something to break the monotonous boredom. A story mode (aswell as a standard dynamic campaign) would be very cool, maybe something for SH5?
 
Upvote 0
#12
Any good? It's GREAT! I've been devoted to the SH series since I was seven years old and the first game came out. I grabbed SH4 the day it came out, and, from what I've gotten to play of it, I love it, and it is without a doubt the best in the series with some really nice improvements over the third game. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to spend very much time with it because it does not run all that well on my system (an issue soon to be fixed:cool:).

If you return it, God will kill a kitten.
 
Upvote 0
#13
Oleg said:
If you're in the n00b land then I would not really recommend installing hard core realism mods like Real Fleet Boat or Trigger Maru (TM is less realistic than RFB but is perhaps even more challenging - it increases enemy AI to above-historic levels).

Play the stock game, patched to 1.3 without realism mods for starters.

Do NOT use Dud torpedo option, and don't use Manual torp calculations (don't know what is the exact name for this second option but you get the idea).

With all your torpedos working on impact, and without manual torpedo calculations I think the game is ridicolously easy, and even a newb player in a single patrol can amass the tonnage submarine aces took months or years to sink in real war :cool: With auto torp calculations speed, angle on bow and target distance are automatically calculated by your AI crewmen, thus your periscope works as one big, albeit slow rocket launcher :p

Of course, once you master basic torpedo shooting you will WANT to go to manual torp calculations, for me - the sweetest part of the game. Even with manual relism options ON, it's still a lot easier than torpedo ops in German subs, because American TDC (torpedo data computer) was much more powerful than German one (yeah go tell that to German fanbois :D). Perhaps not "more powerful" but I find US TDC to certainly better suit my playing style (and I played most sub sims released in the last couple decades). These subtle differences are fantastically simulated in SH3 and SH4, for newb it may all be the same, but for me playing German and US subs is like going from BT-7 to Tiger (I don't mean German subs are worse, they are just very different).

TDC, blah blah - don't feel intimidated by all this, because using auto torpedo calculations you DON'T have to worry about this and the stuff still blows up pretty fine.

One thing in stock unmodded game that I find irritating is too many enemy aircraft. They are very easily shot down using your AA, but are annoying. Realism mods make your AA less deadly, but also reduce the number of aircraft to realistic levels.
Click to expand...

Heh... well see, I'm really an all-or-nothing kind of guy :D

So yeah, I've been playing with TM already on 100% realism since pretty much day one. I'm comfortable with most of the manual targeting system; my only real problem there is getting a good AOB.

I'm bad at estimating AOB visually: I know what 90 looks like, I know what 0 and 180 look like, and I can approximate 45, but for everything in between, I notice very little change.

As you know, if you put a bad AOB into the PK, your firing solution will think the target is going off in another direction than it actually is. Even if my AOB is off my as little as 4 or 5 degrees, when I'm 1000 meters out and my target is making 6 knots, that can amount to a miss in front of or behind the boat. Then of course, boats tend to start turning and such when they figure out they are under attack, so the pk pretty much goes out the window at that point.

My other problem is getting into a good firing position. If I get a radio contact with information on a convoy, I can intercept it. But once it gets down to the individual ship, it is hard for me to figure out its course and get in position, and then take input all the data I need into the TDC in time I have before the target passes me by.

Visual contacts pose even harder problems. Far-off visual contacts are near impossible to intercept, as I can't get an accurate range reading when the ship is so small in the scope, so I can't get any estimation of their course. :(
 
Upvote 0
#14
I am good at estimating AOB, but bad at estimating speed.

I rarely fire torps further than 600-700 yards/meters away. Ideally it's below 500 yards. Also, after you have your solution, fire, then move gyro angle manually couple degrees to left and right and fire two more - just to be sure :cool:
 
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