AOD Still Rocks

[Der_Meister]

I gotta bump this thread. Is anyone still playing AOD? I prefer this over GWX3.0! Not only are the wolfpacks and dynamic radio amazing, but it seems as though the destroyers are more realistic (ie., behave like humans) than those in GWX. Now I can actually slip through a screen without being detected running silent at 80m

And to get wolfpacks, once you spot a convoy, go to your radio and click "contact report", and BdU should start directing Uboots to your location if there are any nearby.

Amazing game

[Buddahaid]

I hate the map where you stay in the center. Blows any concept of distance traveled, but that's my only beef.

[St. Cobra]

I had this game many many years ago. It was good but not as lifelike as Silent Hunter 2. I think the aces campiagn was more interesting until I tried the subsim add on missions for sh2, they were very unpredictable. It was the first time I played a subsim where I was escorted to sea by a destoyer and was attacked by a British sub.

[Sailor Steve]

I'm waiting on a new video card so I can play some of the newer SH3 mods without crashing.

So while I'm waiting I broke out my copy of AOD and loaded it up. For some reason it's only working in a small window, but it's working great! It's easy to forget how much fun this old sim is!

[IanC]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

For some reason it's only working in a small window, but it's working great!

Steve try loading it up with D-fend reloaded, then you can choose "start in full screen" mode. You can also try hitting Alt+Enter, that usualy makes the window fullscreen.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by IanC

Steve try loading it up with D-fend reloaded, then you can choose "start in full screen" mode. You can also try hitting Alt+Enter, that usualy makes the window fullscreen.

WOOHOO! Did the trick! Thanks!

[Egan]

I still think the campaign was the best I've seen in a sub sim. I don't just mean the patrols but the whole shebang: The medals and promotions, transfers, the nightclub - the feel of being part of a world beyond you and your boat. The radio comms and the wolf packs just added to it. Winning a knights cross always felt like a real achievement.

The other thing I loved - and it's still not been done anywhere near as well in any of the Silent Hunter games (not even the first one,) was the damage management. There seemed to be a thousand different things that could get damaged and most of them could take a long, long time to fix.

And coming back into port with the pennants flying -

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Egan

The other thing I loved - and it's still not been done anywhere near as well in any of the Silent Hunter games (not even the first one,) was the damage management. There seemed to be a thousand different things that could get damaged and most of them could take a long, long time to fix.

And the way it looked. This is still the most realistic damage information method - looking at the things the LI has circled on the blueprint while he tells you what is wrong and how long he things the repairs will take. Others are much prettier, but this is the only one that's real.

And you don't have to allot the repair crews...that's his job.

Another AOD feature dropped from subsequent titles; when you run short of fuel BdU will set you up with a unique RV with a U-tanker within the proper historical time frame that you have to sail to and then may only provide enough fuel to get home. No torpedoes, just fuel.

Also your boat leaks and needs to be pumped out regularly and at depth you're using compressed air to blow the water out and that makes noise! Not good when being hunted.

[Egan]

Originally Posted by Randomizer

Another AOD feature dropped from subsequent titles; when you run short of fuel BdU will set you up with a unique RV with a U-tanker within the proper historical time frame that you have to sail to and then may only provide enough fuel to get home. No torpedoes, just fuel.

Also your boat leaks and needs to be pumped out regularly and at depth you're using compressed air to blow the water out and that makes noise! Not good when being hunted.

And when you went to silent running it switched te bilge pumps off, didn't it? You had to go faster on deep silent runs or you would start sinking.....and a career could end with you becoming a POW....

I've got Alpha Protocol waiting for me at home but I think I'm going to reinstall AOD when I get home tonight instead!

[Sailor Steve]

"We must run the pumps to maintain depth, Herr Kaleun!"

Gotta love it!

[Hitman]

Another AOD feature dropped from subsequent titles; when you run short of fuel BdU will set you up with a unique RV with a U-tanker within the proper historical time frame that you have to sail to and then may only provide enough fuel to get home. No torpedoes, just fuel.

Say what? I have played AOTD for years and didn't know there was a refuel feature!!!

What do you have to do for BdU to send you to a milk cow, simply status report when fuel is low?

[Sailor Steve]

I have to admit I didn't know about the refueling either; but in my case, just as in SH3, I never played past 1940.

[h.sie]

A really great game. But every time I start it and see the graphics, I immediatly end the game.

Originally Posted by Hitman

Say what? I have played AOTD for years and didn't know there was a refuel feature!!!

What do you have to do for BdU to send you to a milk cow, simply status report when fuel is low?

Remember that U-Boats in AOTD has much greater than historical range so you generally expend torpedoes long before you run short of fuel. However, when you send a status report to BdU, it includes your fuel state, generally OK but if you no longer have enough fuel to reach a friendly port and you are operating in the historical U-Tanker years this can happen. A status report where you get the low fuel warning can result in a response from BdU ordering you to refuel and a yellow tanker icon appears on the strategic map. You then have to close with the tanker and refueling is automatic. I never figured a way to determine bingo fuel using AOTD's primitive fuel gauge but clearly remember several refueling operations in the game. As I recall, there is one line referring to this in the manual (remember when games had useful manuals?) but it was largely undocumented. 15-years later a good chunk of the SubSim community would sell assorted body parts for this feature in SH3 or SH5.