U-Boat Simulation Day Video
This is a short video of our recent Silent Hunter III Simulation day, edited in the style of a WW2 propaganda film.
You might remember my diorama which betrayed an interest in the Battle of the Atlantic. My friends and I periodically huddle together in a darkened attic and play a real time patrol of the PC game Silent Hunter. No cheats, no computer aids, very limited time compression, full realism settings. Torpedoes fired manually, with no automatic aiming - lots of scribbled trigonometry to work out the firing angle. Each one of us has a specific role on board, and we play real period music, eat real U-Boat rations, dress up in real U-Boat clothes... generally having a very nerdy time of it. To give you an example of how realistic we try to make it, Kieran has to navigate the boat by pen and pencil, taking sextant readings and logging course manoeuvres. None of this computer-generated mapping for us...
It was a very enjoyable day. We sunk three ships in the end, one by torpedo and two by gunfire. Not strictly wargaming, I know, but it was born out of the same drive for realism and immersive games which led to our famous Supercampaigns.
Enjoy!
You might remember my diorama which betrayed an interest in the Battle of the Atlantic. My friends and I periodically huddle together in a darkened attic and play a real time patrol of the PC game Silent Hunter. No cheats, no computer aids, very limited time compression, full realism settings. Torpedoes fired manually, with no automatic aiming - lots of scribbled trigonometry to work out the firing angle. Each one of us has a specific role on board, and we play real period music, eat real U-Boat rations, dress up in real U-Boat clothes... generally having a very nerdy time of it. To give you an example of how realistic we try to make it, Kieran has to navigate the boat by pen and pencil, taking sextant readings and logging course manoeuvres. None of this computer-generated mapping for us...
It was a very enjoyable day. We sunk three ships in the end, one by torpedo and two by gunfire. Not strictly wargaming, I know, but it was born out of the same drive for realism and immersive games which led to our famous Supercampaigns.
Enjoy!
The level of immersion is wonderfully extreme- but very eviable. Do you have an outfit fort every army you own?
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Ha, "extreme" is probably the kindest word you could use. My wife would say "dangerous". Not quite every army, but near enough! The War Drobe (http://palladian-guard.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/the-war-drobe-full-immersive-gaming.html) is a lot better stocked now than it was in 2016 when I last wrote a post about it.
DeleteBloody love that video, definitely always saw a link between this and the supercampaigns - definitely the level of immersion. It's time to construct some new charts I think...
ReplyDeleteI never really drew a link between Supercampaigning and this until I wrote this, but it's definitely there. I fancy a North Atlantic one some time soon...
DeleteI left a comment already, but it's gone. Sods.
ReplyDeleteThe care and planning that must have gone into this I imagine are immense mate. The finished vid is fantastic to watch! Really enjoyed it.
Thanks Dai; yes, it was quite a task getting there, but I think like Wargaming itself, getting there is a big part of the fun. Losing yourself in all the details and research is what we enjoy about it, quite apart from the good fun you can see us having on the video. Thanks for watching and I’m glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteWhilst putting together almanac data I did briefly consider my sanity, but ultimately I think it’s an interesting way to do historical research - as with wargaming as it makes you consider questions that would never come up if you were just looking into the Battle of the Atlantic
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