Silent Hunter 3

[Skii]

Skii its just possible I may have to hate you for suggesting this to me. Got it yesterday
O M G!!! Setting off tonight on my 1st patrol Love it love it love it

Just be very careful mate - I had this a week now, and Mrs Skii's blown a fuse twice already

Wedge - tonight won't be possible cos I managed to sail right through our Anniversary at the weekend so I'll let you know when I'm up for some multiplayer !

[mnet674]

Here is what happens when you hit something expensive

[yamangman]

Do I need a system like you've got for my screenies to look like that, or will a Barton 3200+, 9800Pro, 1Gb PC3200 handle it well enough? (nevermind AA/AF)

[Skii]

Do I need a system like you've got for my screenies to look like that, or will a Barton 3200+, 9800Pro, 1Gb PC3200 handle it well enough? (nevermind AA/AF)

My system is an Fx5900 with 1Gb DDR333 and XP2500, and it runs full tilt with no visible slow-down or choppyness - the only sticking point is an Nvidia bug which causes problems in the bridge-binocular + attack periscope view (soon to be fixed with the next drivers)

Your system is more than enough to run this maxed out

[wedge22]

Excellent I will be able to run it maxxed out too. I have just got to nuy it now.

[mnet674]

Though annoyingly you can either have AA OR that nice soft focus effect, but not both, and screenshots i take with 8xAA on come out black

[wedge22]

Well I have just bought it so I will be playing it tonight.

[Zak33]

right...quick question guys:

How do you play it? Sounds silly, but sensible answers only. Is it 3rd person...or do you swap between positions in the sub and back out.

if so do you swap positions with a single key stroke?

How do you control the boat? Mouse, keyboard, commands to the engine room?

When you speed up time, by how much do you speed up? 2x....4x? And how long is each 24 hours taking you in real time? And if you are all speeded up, does it slowdown if a target comes into view?

Radar? Who's in control of radar and Sonar? Do you contact home base alot?

God...my mind is FILLIMG with questions...filling....you'll see them pour outta my ears soon

Who decides your routes? How big is each " map" and do you stray off it? Do you get "map icons" and if so are they accurate?

Is it WW2 based or modern?

[wedge22]

Well Zak I will let you know the answers tonight after I have played it for a while.

[mnet674]

Time acceleration can be up to 1024x on the nav map, but I think limited to 16x or 32x in a 3d view, you control the boat mostly with the mouse (well I do) but there are shortcut keys as well, and if you play with 100% realism you get no outside view (but then how are you supposed to take screenshots )

[yamangman]

My system is an Fx5900 with 1Gb DDR333 and XP2500, and it runs full tilt with no visible slow-down or choppyness - the only sticking point is an Nvidia bug which causes problems in the bridge-binocular + attack periscope view (soon to be fixed with the next drivers)

Your system is more than enough to run this maxed out

Nice, thanks for the info Skii, i'll probably be getting this.

[Skii]

right...quick question guys:

How do you play it? Sounds silly, but sensible answers only. Is it 3rd person...or do you swap between positions in the sub and back out.

if so do you swap positions with a single key stroke?

How do you control the boat? Mouse, keyboard, commands to the engine room?

When you speed up time, by how much do you speed up? 2x....4x? And how long is each 24 hours taking you in real time? And if you are all speeded up, does it slowdown if a target comes into view?

Radar? Who's in control of radar and Sonar? Do you contact home base alot?

God...my mind is FILLIMG with questions...filling....you'll see them pour outta my ears soon

Who decides your routes? How big is each " map" and do you stray off it? Do you get "map icons" and if so are they accurate?

Is it WW2 based or modern?

Its first person Zakk, its basically the same concept as the bombers in IL2, its a 3D model that you can change positions in, the command room is 3D, the bridge is 3D, all of th interior positions are 3D APART from the periscope views which are 2D but the viewing optics show 3D.

You can navigate around the boat by simply pointing your mouse button at the relevant area and clicking, or you can jump there using the Function keys, or just order the officer to perform the task by clicking on his profile and clicking on the pop up menu.

If you want to see any of this in action, best way to explain it is have a look at the videos here

http://www.silent-hunteriii.com/uk/videos.php

Far right one is called 'in-game-weather-effects' - download it and take a look, its very impressive

You can alter the passage of time by hitting the + and - keys on the numeric keypad all the way up to x 1024, you'll need this if you intend to travel across the Atlantic U-boat missions lasted months The game will revert to normal time if anything happens.

Probably the best way to describe this is the movie 'Das Boot' as a game. You are in a WW2 U-Boat matey, you can start at the beginning of the war in a Mk2a boat and progress by sinking more and more tonnage, thus earning more and more 'renown' (in game currency) and getting better and better subs with better crew. You take part in dynamic campaigns where ANYTHING can happen and every day is different, you are assigned a patrol area and can njoy relative freedom to go where you like and sink whoever you like.

Oh and did I mention the whole world is there to sail around if you want (fuel permitting) and the topography and oceanography is very accurate

[mnet674]

Couple more random screenies:
Eat that carrier!


and a destroyer that went in deep on an attack run

[Dakaras]

2nd mission in its a tough game First mission saw sod all, this one Ive had 3 long range sonar contacts on way out, chased them all but no visuals yet

Im afriad Zak isnt allowed this He will go mad for it

[wedge22]

Well I managed to complete the navigation training last night and nearly the deck gun training too, I just could not locate the last merchant ship for the deck gun training.

[Skii]

Well I got sunk

I sunk an Armed Merchant who had spotted my periscope by searchlight, he was heading dead on towards me and a single torpedo stopped him in his tracks, unfortunatley I wasn't able to get away from the scene of the crime in time and a destroyer arrived sweeping the whole area with asdic He started a depth charge run and in 30m water there wasn't anywhere to hide, 3rd run got me.