Lately I've been finding my sea legs. I've been installing and playing Silent Hunter 3, 4 and 5. One after another. Stock game. Then mod heaven...then mod hell. Nothing hardcore, just enjoying the scenery, loving the external views, and sinking ships at the lowest/easiest level with calculations all done for me by the TDC and delivered to me on a sliver platter.
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/38598015449608202/3F3791D606583C0DC0F6EBCB82E08B0895042FD8/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside%7C128:128&composite-to=*,*%7C128:128&background-color=black)
Here are some of my thoughts:
1. Silent Hunter games reflect real-life's everyday tasks and maths problem-solving. It is not a slash-and-kill or pour 1,000 rounds per minute into the enemy type of game.
http://www.newstatesman.com/killing-time/2013/12/magic-mundane-more-games-should-reflect-real-lifes-everyday-tasks
2. Silent Hunter 5's graphics are the best of the series. Outstanding. But gameplay-wise, Silent Hunter 3 (especially with mega-mods) is the best;
3. Silent Hunter type of game true joy comes from doing manual mathematical calculations - trigonometry - to navigate and to sink ships. Knowing trig + playing Silent Hunter 3 (a 2005 game) is more fun than Not knowing trig + playing Silent Hunter 5. So I won't enjoy the game until I brush up on me college and high-school Trigonometry.
4. It is possible to be so good at maths and trigonometry that one actually builds the tools to accurately replicate the old school ways of manually calculating torpedo strikes.
http://www.gizmology.net/sliderules_mancomp.htm
5. If you want to be a Man, specifically a Gamer Man, even more specifically a true manly Gamer Man, learn how to sink ships in Silent Hunter in full 100% realism, without external views, without the Target Data Computer (TDC). That, in my mind, maketh a Man.
So, what in your opinion, makes a true manly Gamer Man?
Regards
Frankie Kam