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Cover art for Silent Service

248 · Silent Service

November 18, 2022 · 1 hr 10 min
Apple PodcastsSpotify

You are now a member of the Silent Service, the US Navy Submarine command. For a long while after Pearl Harbor, you are the only forces capable of striking back at the Japanese in the Pacific. Take one of the "fleet boats" and go on extended patrols of up to 2 months from Hawaii, Australia, or New Zealand. Set your difficulty/realism level and time period (early means less tech for juicier targets, later means tougher escorts, more tech, lousier targets). Contend with factors like dud torpedoes, maximum depth, and more.

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Show notes

  • The world is deep at war and you’re submerged among the enemy
  • NES Longplay
  • Introductions
    • Either of you have any submarine experience?
      • But really, this game and series pretty much launched the submarine simulator experience which in the day where there is a PC Building Simulator shouldn’t be a surprise.
        • Subsim.com and other fansites are really what enhance these kind of games. A community adding challenges and real life knowledge into a video game
    • Sid Meier
      • What do you like about Sid Meier Games?
      • Game History
        • Tic-Tac-Toe in 1975
        • ASCII The Star Trek Game
        • 1983 NATO Commander was his first strategy game
        • Silent Service first came out in 1985
        • Sid Meier’s Pirates! 1987, but we will play that one on the NES
        • He hadn’t really used his name yet as we would see in future titles
  • A trifecta of names
    • Rare, Konami, Sid Meier. People didn’t know then, but we know now.
  • Overview
    • US versus Japan during WWII
    • Sid Meier described several key factors that influenced the design of the game:
      • The size of the theater
      • the variety of tactical situations
      • and evolving technology, such as the use of surface radar and torpedoes that did or did not leave trails of bubbles on the surface
    • navigation, damage repair, and firing are compartmentalized into different screens to allow players access to a great deal of information, but also to focus on the immediate task.
    • Toggling difficulty
  • Gameplay
    • 3 different modes, each one adding an additional layer to the game. Much like our Bytes episode STAR LUSTER.
    • See the views section
  • Sequels and Spinoffs
    • Silent Service II was released in 1990 for Computers
      • No Sid Meier incvolvement, he would never work on another Sub game
      • In the career mode, the player undertakes a number of consecutive patrols in the submarine, meeting other ships or convoys in unscripted encounters generated by the game.
    • Modern games include
      • Wolfpack
      • U-Boat
      • Destroyer
      • Cold Waters
      • Crash Dive II
  • EGL
  • Next week - The Uncanny X-Men
  • NEStalgia Byte - Bokosuka Wars (last time I’m gonna say it)
  • VIEWS:
  • Press Select to choose from among the five views:
    1. Quartermaster’s Log – Tells you what you’ve sunk.
    1. View Gauges – Mostly useless, but it tells you how much of
  • your arsenal is left.
    1. Check Damage – Less useless, it will tell you if you have a
  • leakage problem, or if any of your equipment is damaged.
    1. Check maps – Tells you where you are, as well as the enemy.
  • It’s also good for telling you exactly how many ships are
  • in the immediate area, which can be difficult in periscope
  • view if there’s a big mass. The attack plot is most useful
  • when positioning for attack with an aft torpedo.
    1. Use Periscope – the bread and butter view. It won’t be
  • available when you’re at a depth greater than 42, or when
  • you’re submerged at night (though there’s a trick with
  • this one). To turn the periscope (or binoculars) around,
  • press and hold A on the handles of the periscope (or the
  • “straps” of the binoculars), either right or left.
  • This will allow you to use your aft torpedos.
  • When you have a ship lined up in your sights, click on
  • the Target ID space; it will tell you what kind of ship it
  • is as well as its tonnage. To select a view, move the
  • cursor arrow over the corresponding area and press A. To
  • resign (in convoy actions), or get back to the war patrol
  • map, move the cursor to the down and left.
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