The concept of a subsim MMO is good and workable. In fact any simulation MMO concept is good and workable. It all depends on how you implement it.
serious MMO simulators have to be in some way or another, monthly fee based. Aces high has been running for 14 years now since the first alphas, and 12 from the initial release (at 30 buck a month back then). Has done just fine and is a reasonably hardcore flight simulator that has had success because it has had proper developing over time, and good customer support/feedback. But that requires monthly income. It's unavoidable.
sure enough MMO requires some gameplay concessions here and there (it's just inevitable, it's the nature of the limits a MMO imposes on any online gaming experience), but if finely tuned they don't do a mess nor they impair the realism and immersion a simulation demands.
So what we are offered is a web-browser game implemented under the "F2P" label. And THAT is where I start saying "no way, not for a game of this nature, and not for a game branded as Silent Hunter".
It's just the implementation they chose and the limits imposed by said implementation. Web browser. Flash based. Nothing against those things (they work quite well for something like Minecraft), they just don't cover the bases for something as complicated as a subsim.
Also Free to play?. Seriously, enough with that BS. F2P games are a scam on themselves and they range from "Pay to Win" to "free to get bored in the years long grind in front of you before you get anywhere near competitive enough". Lots of "magical" or "Boost" items for cash to give you surreal performances. Those things simply don't work for a simulation, for starters, and as I said, are scams to get money out of you. I don't like to be scammed. So another "No way, joe, I'm not into that"
Another thing is that I see none of the names that have made Silent hunter series great, involved in this project. And I mean, the modders who selflessly, and for no monetary reward other than donations that I'm sure didn't compensate at all for the work they put in their creation, turned unimpressive stock games into polished jewels of the simulation gaming history. And not only they are out of the project, they won't even be able to contribute to it by free at all because the MMO concept and web browser implementation inherently prevents them from doing so.
Finally the publisher is Ubisoft. Nothing else needed to argument this point.
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