Silent Hunter IV is official! Sim fans rejoice!

**Navaros** · 08-24-2006, 20:18

I too shall not rejoice until it is 100% confirmed that part IV won't have Starforce. Never touched part III for that reason, won't touch anything with Starforce with a 10 ft pole.

**Kraxis** · 08-24-2006, 21:30

I never knew of the Starforce issue before I bought it, and SHIII gave me so many cool monets it is downright unfair for the competition.

I love the inclusion of special missions, naval battles (who wouldn't like to intercept the Japanese fleet on its way to Leute Gulf? Or Midway for that matter?) and the MP aspect.

I don't like that it is the Pacific. I have nothing against the US subs or their achievements, but with no convoys it is bound to be less intensive when hunting merchants.
Also, the Japanese merchant marine was way smaller than the British, so contacts will be rather far apart. I somewhat hope that contacts will be unhistorically upped a bit.

Love the radio! Could be fun to listen to Moscow in the early game, good old communist propaganda can't be beaten for amusement.

Dislike the current sublist. Where is the Tench, the Baracuda, the Narwhal, the S-class... Ok so the last three were rather marginal boats, but the Tench was a serious adition. And it saw plenty combat.
I wold love to play the Narwhal with it's two 6' deckguns. Beware destroyers! But it is actually fair it isn't represented (three boats I think).

No mention of Japanese boats... That was something I kind of missed in SHIII. And no mention of AI boats either (running into or rendezvous with them on patrol, joining attack on ports, whatever...). I guess they still haven't managed to create a credible sub AI.

I'm kind of reserved in regards to the new crewmanaging. Sure the old system was heavy and not terribly great most of the time. But I got a special kind of satisfaction when I saw that my Flak specialists reloaded and aimed a lot better. My work had payed off and that guy I had nursed along to become a good specialist was now repaying my attention. Splendid!

I wonder if the MP escort commander will control from a ship (and if sunk shift to another?)... If he is, then it is potentially possible for modders to create a surface version of SHIV. That would be cool.

**Spino** · 08-24-2006, 22:50

I knew of the SF issue when I bought SHIII but was so hungry for a state of the art, quality naval sim I bit the bullet and bought the game. No regrets and no issues with SF (thank goodness).

Inclusion of Japanese subs would be really cool but it would serve little purpose other than to provide more exotic targets for players. Incorporating a huge 'what if' campaign where gamers could play the part of an Imperial Japanese sub commander embarked on an incredibly ahistorical campaign of convoy raiding would be incredibly cool but would require alot more money, time and resources to make it all work. 3D Models, textures, 2D graphics, sounds, music, etc.

Obviously the designers are going to compensate for Imperial Japan's historical shortcomings regarding anti-submarine warfare and convoys by making any given campaign in SH IV more challenging for than it was historically.

I doubt SH IV's crew management will do away with skills, stats, medals, promotions and the like. I think they're simply going to make it easier for gamers by having the crew operate in shifts preassigned by the player, thus decreasing the tedium of micromanagement on long, boring patrols.

To be honest I wish UBI had done the Pacific theater in SH III and saved the Atlantic theater for SH IV. Historically speaking the Battle of the Atlantic was far more dynamic, intense and challenging for German submariners than the Pacific theater was for American submariners and it certainly involved a helluva lot more naval and air assets from all the participating nations (with regards to anti-submarine & convoy activity). I just think SH IV, being a more advanced, complicated and polished game than SH III, should have been the title to deal with the Atlantic theater and not vice versa.

One thing for sure is that I'm looking forward to SH IV's MP mode and the inevitable mods for SH IV. Hopefullly some intrepid modders will convert SH IV into a total conversion U-Boat-centric extravaganza.

**TB666** · 08-24-2006, 23:05

Silent Hunter III was easily one of the best subsims ever made.
Never had a problem with SF either but I'm glad that Ubisoft got rid of it.
But I don't really know about being americans.

Would be nicer if they got a proper german campaign up and running with wolfpacks and such.

**Kraxis** · 08-25-2006, 01:09

Given how modable SHIII was I believe that if anybody is up to the task they can make a U-Boat comversion. But it will simply not be the same...

I can't imagine any Japanese convoys larger than 10 ships all together. If they make convoys that rival those in SHIII I will not feel it is right.

What I do expect is plenty of Japanese air cover from all those little islands. Way more than historically. At least I hope so, it was great fun to engage in Flak battles.

I hope that Japanese torpedoboats will be prevalent and actually be able to launch topedos. Those Elcos of SHIII were nothing more than gunnerypractice for my heavy flakgun.

**edyzmedieval** · 08-26-2006, 12:08

I'm very very proud. Silent Hunter III is made in Romania, and it was an AWESOME game.

Silent Hunter IV it will be again made in Romania.

**Syxx_Killer** · 08-30-2006, 04:20

I can't wait for SHIV. SHIII is awesome in its own right, though. Starforce hasn't been an issue for me, either, and I was worried about it. I am sure SHIV won't have it as Ubi has stated they will not be using it any longer in their upcoming titles. Starforce is a VERY hot topic over at the Subsim forums. Many a colorful discussion there.

With the mods for SHIII that are available, especially the upcoming Grey Wolves mod (best one out there, IMO) update, SHIII will reach a whole new level. I'm helping out testing it so I know things.

Mods will help SHIII stay alive quite a bit longer. Subsim, hands down, has the best modding community out there. Anyway, SHIV will be a VERY welcome change of pace. I am very much looking forward to getting out of the North Atlantic. It is long overdue for a sim based on American subs. I'm so tired of sinking Allied ships. I want to be on a winning side for a change!