SSE - First Impressions

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[clipperskipper]

First Impressions after 2 hours of testing:

What's better than SS2008:
- much better graphics, especially water dynamics  
- daughter boats & water monitors  
- more realistic vessel behavior  
- game runs more stable than SS2008
- additional environments
- controllable navigation lights

What did not improve or is still missing:
- No working gauges, such as rudder indicator, radar, chart, etc. on the bridge  
- No single player missions in the game  
- Usability of steering equipment is still complicated to adjust with "mouse steering"
- Still no autopilot for long distance sailings
- No radar overlay for the chart, which is standard today even on sportingvessels
- No interactive radio traffic module
- Computer vessels ignore traffic rules
- No lifeboats on board of Orient Star
- poor horn sounds

In total, SSE is still miles away from simulators like Microsoft flight simulator, especialy regrding the bridge systems but the realism of vessel behavior and graphics have been improved.  

Would like to hear your opinions.

Fair winds & smooth sailings
clipperskippr

[santi_leal]

I agree with you....the cynetics of ships are not true...the pitch of propeller has disappear, the movement of the red jet 4 is stupid...i say the same that in the other ss2008...it has become an arcade game just and only...very far from a real simulator and for the people that we work in this world, is the same that playing to MArio Kart. a really shame because they could ask to many Masters that we use this program..and in my case 9 years in an incat catamaran 98m.

[alan2605]

Totally agree with the above. I was disappointed that there are so few missions. SS2008 had a lot more in the original version and was half the price. I can agree that some of the graphics etc. have been improved but personaaly I don't think that all the hype that was about before the launch has made the game very disappointing. Let's hope that some new missions etc. are added very soon and hopefully some will be in the daytime.

[CaptJodan]

Couple Points

-No single player missions in the game:

I'm trying to figure this out.  Because I pre-ordered, I got some single missions for the fishing vessel, but there are no single missions for anything else.  Are there really no single missions other than the fishing vessel missions?  Is this true?  That's very strange. 

-Autopilot: 

I found some kind of...odd autopilot in the map view, and what looks like a kind of time compression function.  If you expand the nav map to full view, you should see it.  Trouble is, I'll put down a waypoint, and it's even money as to whether the ship will follow to that point or veer off on some random course.  I've tried this several times around Dover.  A few times it has worked, but most times it hasn't.  No idea what's going on there.  It's really great to have a TC function and an autopilot, but either I'm doing something wrong, or it needs some repairs. 

I agree with a lot of what is above, but I'll add to the list. 

Positives
-Bigger waves.  I've lurked around here a while and seen how many don't think big waves are important.  I have no idea why.  But I'm glad that they've grown since the 08 version of a measly 4 meters.  Their behavior also seems vastly improved, with what looks to be more variability between waves, rather than evenly spaced walls of water coming at you all the same height. 
-On a related note, wave differences in the same map.  Go out of the harbor, and the waves grow to more respectable heights.  This is a vast improvement.
-Deployable RHIBs.  Since travel time between destinations can be tedious, it's nice to break out a RHIB and do circles around your mother ship, or just check things out while the sleepy Rainbow Warrior gets where its going. 
-Addition of some Coast Guard units.  Nice to see them, especially the smaller boat.  Very versatile and just fun to sail. 
-Generally improved weather function. 


Some disappointments
-Trampoline Ships still around.  You hit a wave and the effect just seems very much off, where you look like you are bouncing up rather than sinking into the wave, then as buoyancy takes effect, come back up.  Additionally, see below *
-"Mission failed"..."But I was just free sailing!":  You can no longer transition between environments in free roam.  This seems very strange to me.  Why take out that feature?  And why fail in that map when you're free sailing?  Surely there's a better solution. 


*Perhaps the sim could benefit from a small amount of modeling of the underwater environment.  Not much, maybe...10...20 feet or so.  Just enough so that when a ship dips under the waves, the graphics don't go all screwy.  It might also help with the trampoline ships, because you won't have to force the ship to pop back up so quickly.  Even some of the larger vessels look a bit too cork-like. 

[CaptJodan]

Edit:  Found the missions thread, so now I understand what's going on there. 

[andrews75]

I agree with most of the comments above.  Why no single player missions?  Another thing I have noticed is that the chart cannot be dimmed / made opaque therefore constantly blocking view.  I do think the graphics are better and the new environments but other than that I can see myself using SS2008 rather than extremes.  Such as shame after all the hype.

[marcstrat]

Hoy,
Yes,some of the comments are right.I think that the missing parts(resque vessels on the cruiseliner)interior instruments e.s.o.......,are missing because of the time of release not to have delayed to a later date,even as far as next year.
Every extra's in the game takes very much time to create,as we all know that now afther 4 of 5 years.
I think that most will return in later patches and updates.
Compairing Flightsim and Shipsim,has been many times discused here on this forum.Just look at the time of existing?Flightsim more than 20 years,Shipsim just 4.
O.K. i know everything can be improved,but thats just normal.The future will tell.
Marc
P.S.I like what i have for now allready.

[TJK]

If you have register you key into profile you can download single missions from the link in the menu, Download content, i belive it's 2 missions their now and more will come later when the mission editor are ready for download

Regards
Tore

[MokMok]

SSE with realistic waves is far more demanding for your PC tha Virtual Sailor which also has realistic waves.

[dio]

overall, this game is big fail..

[MokMok]

You should report all the bugs and annoyances you encounter while playing. We are like being a Beta tester for a game we have purchased. It is just like Microsoft with their Windows Versions which came out the last twenty years. The first version of a new Windows OS always have had some nasty bugs and Microsoft had to release patches and servicepacks for the Windows OS'es. Windows 3.0, 95, 89 and Windows XP are very notorious with bugs and annoyances.

[marcstrat]

Well, again some double post here.
This could be under the topic"what do you think about SSE"
The forum will be loaded with double posts,and on the end topics will be hard to find!!!!
Use the searchbar instaid of making a new topic!!!
Regards
Marc

[jeanfla]

I don't understand why there isn't life boat on orient sta. Of course if you put all the lifeboat in water it will be slow but if we don't...It's sad because it is a big boat? When will we able to put lifeboat of orient star in water

[pjotr]

Here some feedback on the original posting:

- No working gauges, such as rudder indicator, radar, chart, etc. on the bridge
No these are all on the overlay where you can see them much better. They were too small on the bridge.

- No single player missions in the game 
Most of the missions are now subdivided in Campaigns. We created 11 missions in the Core Campaign, 13 missions in the Tourist Campaign, and 9 missions in the Greenpeace Campaign. These missions are often much more complex than the SS08 missions. We spent a long time creating the new Mission Editor and the missions. Additional missions will be added over time, as downloadable content.

- Usability of steering equipment is still complicated to adjust with "mouse steering"
You can use mouse steering, keyboard steering and joystick steering. I don't know how we can improve on this.

- Still no autopilot for long distance sailings
We added an autopilot for long distances. It is part of the chart, if you make it full screen you an set waypoints and use the fast track slider to speed up time.

- No radar overlay for the chart, which is standard today even on sportingvessels
On cargo vessels, people still usually prefer to use a separate dedicated radar.

- No interactive radio traffic module
We will add this in the next patch.

- Computer vessels ignore traffic rules
We spent a lot of effort on improving the AI vessels, so they would actually obey the rules. We will try to improve this in future patches.

- No lifeboats on board of Orient Star
The Orient Star has so many lifeboats, that we thought it would become a bit confusing, ans take up too much performance, if they would all work. We will add two usable lifeboats in a future patch.

- poor horn sounds
I wasn't aware of this issue. We'll see if we can improve this.

[MokMok]

Will there be a patch which will improve the FPS-rates of the 3D-engine?

Concluding the many reactions at SSE2010, is that it suffers from teething troubles. It will reach maturity when all these issues are resolved by patches, fixes and a service pack.

[Stuart2007]

Suddenly I retract my criticism. I am impressed by Pjotr posting above- both for acknowledging issues and explaining them.

I hope people appreciate him doing that. This has long been a strong criticism of vstep, that they don't communicate....

Right. So now I'll go and buy a copy then

[Matthew Brown]

Yes I thought the Esperanzas horn was rather weird for a boat that size.
But I have found another one much better 
I don't know if you can still change the horns as I have no game yet.

In this soundclip, it is a comparison. The Esperanzas current horn is at the beggining and then the suitable alternative follows 

[dodweb]

Love the ability to launch RIBs, something I requested for SS08 or its then unnamed sequel eons ago.
Waves look really good if you have a system able to run them, if youre stuck on low/minimum they are rather washed-out.
The radar and echosounders are cool, but the map needs more depth detail. I've ran aground countless times on the 'light blue' (2-5 meters?) without having any way to know actual depth other than either guessing or running a RIB as a remote echosounder over the shallows to map out a path... many times I've barely made it over with a "--" depth reading. Yes, I like exploring...
I find connections (ropes) a lot harder to work with in this version. When I want to create a connection and I have the connection "bubbles" showing, it takes 5 clicks easy before it is selected. Then it is a hit-or-miss if I am in range of another bubble. If not, I have to redo it. Also when a connection is made, it is someties hard to see if it is still there, and harder to disconnect it. During the first Ocean Star(?) mission, it took me ages to free the ship from the rear mooring as terrain was in the way and blindly clicking didnt do much.
It's a pity that the wheelhouse instruments are not working yet (I prefer sailing/flying/driving in simish games without any HUD).
Ships feel a little more restricted now than in '08, on the Cutter I cant access the bow, and on the Sigita I'm stuck on the upper deck.
Is it just me, or is the Marabella Delight (?!) extremely sluggish on the handling? Even the Esperanza is more manouverable than that little tupperware box...
Oh, and the new sinking is interesting, as I found out after hitting an iceberg with the VLCC (very much unintentional, by the way) and it took several minutes from damage occurred until ship was submerged. "Oooh, that was cool, lets try not to repeat it.. ever."

So far I like the game far more than I dislike it, and I am sure I will like it a lot more once I get home to my gaming PC and can turn the graphics way up.

As a response to Pjotrs post which was written at the same time as mine; will there be a patch allowing for working wheelhouse instruments (not all of us have small monitors, and even on my laptops 15.4" I dont have any problem reading the instruments), and one allowing for more than two lifeboats of the Ocean Star for those of us whom are not easily confused, as some sort of selectable 'advanced' mode or something? A combined radar/moving map wouldnt hurt either for those who prefer it that way? Could also make the instruments "pop-out" if one wants a closer looks, like in Flight Sim. Then they wouldnt be too small on the bridge, and wouldnt steal more space (some are complaining about the map/radar taking up a lot of screen area now) than the user would want..

[marcstrat]

Hoy,
2 liveboats witch we can use on the Oriënt Star wil do fine.It is crazy to make them all interactive.
Regards
Marc

[pjotr]

We will discuss the depth soundings on the charts and the wheelhouse instrumentation here tomorrow. Maybe we can add this in a patch. For now, everybody is fighting the Steam problems here ....

About the mooring bubbles: you can scroll in, and move the camera left and right in orbit cam using the Delete and PageDown keys. Home and End key shift the camera forward and backwards. That way it becomes easier to connect and disconnect.

[dodweb]

Of course, the important stuff first  I plan on enjoying this game for years to come (like 2008 before it), and those are just things I'd like to see at some point in the future.

I've tried getting as close as possible to the bubbles, but especially on the first mission with the cruise ship, it was really hard to get a good view at the aft mooring as it was hiding in a tree. Might very well be a performance issue with my system too, it is rather underpowered. A virtual axe cutting all connections from the current ship would come in handy though.. One last thing, is it correct that you can only have one connection from each bubble on the ship? (and not one rope going forwards + one going aft, both connected to the same bubble)

[Dez]

Disappointed!

Ahoy mateys,

Have to agree with a lot of the comment's on this page. I was waiting a long time for SSE to be released and the trailers looked very promising. I bought the pre-order pack with extra missions.

I'm mostly disapointed with the gameplay. The developers took some of the best aspects of SS2006 and 2008 and completely left them out of SSE?

Ship controls are terrible to control with the mouse, this is especially annoying when trying to control multiple ships! Using keyboard buttons doesn't allow for precise inputs. Graphics are only slightly better if you ask me and finally the missions are quite tedious.

It feels like the game isn't finished but the developers decided to release it anyway. I've seen icebergs floating in the sky and other strange things. I hope the developers read the messages on this forum and come up a few fixes soon. In the mean time happy boating

[Stuart2007]

So far, I've still only seen screenshots and youtube. But I have to say the appearance is MUCH improved.

When I get back home to a fast broadband, I will download from vstep (saving steam being installed).... LOOKS good

[MokMok]

@Dez:

It feels like the game isn't finished but the developers decided to release it anyway. I've seen icebergs floating in the sky and other strange things. I hope the developers read the messages on this forum and come up a few fixes soon. In the mean time happy boating

Please, do not use it until the problems have been fixed by a patch. Use SS2008 instead of SSE2010!

[sydmichel]

I must admit, having read all the forum coments and error reports, I installed the game with some trepidation.  But to my suprise it installed quickly and cleanly.  Although it was a boxed pre-order, it did not require Steam (phew)!

On completion of installation (and before running), I installed the 1.1 update, again no problems.  On running the game the licence key went in without any issues as did creation of a profile. 

Although I have a modest CPU and graphics card (Q6600 and Radion HD 5700 series) and only 4 Gigs of RAM, I left all of the graphics setting to default (High) and saw none of the FPS issues that others have experienced.

Therefore, first impressions so far are better than expected.

In game my only gripe is that the waypoints are not as clearly defined as they used to be, but I think that may be because we were 'spoon-fed' in previous versions and this now seems more Simulator and less Game.