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General discussion (archive)Release: Silent Service 1+2(111 posts)(111 posts)
(111 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 23, 2014
A hunter lurks beneath the waves!

Silent Service 1+2, a bundle of two legendary MicroProse classic submarine simulation war games, dating back to 1985 & 1990, now available on GOG.com for only $5.99!

From the second you take command, you'll live by the motto FIND 'EM, CHASE 'EM, SINK 'EM, as you follow instruments, charts and your instincts in search of hostile convoys. Is a submerged daylight periscope attack best or do you charge in on the surface at night using only radar bearings to guide you? Do you fire a spread of your precious torpedoes or can you close the range and pick off the enemy with a single torpedo shot? These decisions and many more are yours to make as you take your place among the elite ranks of the Silent Service!

Silent Service 1+2 includes MicroProse's both legendary submarine warfare titles, that will bring you all the challenging combat versus single ships and heavily escorted convoys you could handle. All the critical battle stations are represented: engine room, conning tower and ship’s bridge. The games present you with an infinite variety of situations using complete maps and charts for the entire Southwest Pacific. With a wide selection of historical scenarios from individual attacks to patrol missions, and clear distraction-free graphics that allows you to stay on top of the situation, this classic pack provides you with everything that you need to feel the excitement of actual submarine combat.

Battle stations! Prepare to fully submerge in Silent Service 1+2, for only $5.99, on GOG.com!
Posted January 23, 2014
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Nerevar: I think you could tweak the difficulty with different options. I played SS1 on my Amstrad CPC 6128, and one possibility was doing the torpedo angle calculations yourself.

Now praying for the Gunship series. Want to fly an Apache again.
Gunship! I've got that on floppy disk for C64 in my basement. :)
Posted January 23, 2014
As someone completely new to silent service, is there any point getting it if I've played a lot of silent hunter 3 & 4? Does this offer anything compelling that would help me see past the ancient graphics and interface?
Posted January 23, 2014
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POLE7645: I only heard Joueur du Grenier (aka the French AVGN) bash the NES port).
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Telika: From what I saw of the video, that port is faithful to the pc/amiga versions, but the JdG is completely retarded. He can't deal with a sib sum, by definition. His attempt showed that he had absolutely no idea of what he was dealing with ("uh, the torpedo doesn't run straight ahead, wtf, maybe it's a submarine thing, dunno", that he hadn't opened the manual, and that he is immediately lost when a game doesn't provide the pacing of sonic or require less twitchy reflexes than tactics.

JdG is fun when it comes to old animes and such, but he's pretty much gaming-illiterate. He mostly wants to look angry at things.

And Silent Service, when used in conjonction with a brain, is absolutely awesome.
Well, to be fair, he did say that he got the game used without a manual (and finding a fully boxed game in the used market, let alone with a manual is pretty much a big stroke of luck (AVGN also commented on that)). And let's admit it, if you tried playing this game without a manual (or any knowledge on how the controls works (let alone how a submarine works), you're pretty much lost, brain or not.

And some of his gaming videos (especially the ones on the FPSs) were genuinely funny. I didn't liked, for example, some of his complaints on Prince of Persia 2 (even though he played the horrible SNES port) got me the wrong way since that's how the game is supposed to be working (but I suppose that Prince of Persia with it's strange controls are sort of a love-it-or-hate-it series), I don't have a problem with most of his videos. Even on the RPG video (the genre he admited was his favorite), he still makes creative parodies of all the clichés of the genre.
Posted January 23, 2014
Am I the only one who thinks that Silent Service sounds like the title of a Cinemax porn movie?
Posted January 23, 2014
I have failed... I couldn't be strong and just purchased it as soon as I saw it :(.

Good to see more games are coming :).
Posted January 23, 2014
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PMIK: As someone completely new to silent service, is there any point getting it if I've played a lot of silent hunter 3 & 4? Does this offer anything compelling that would help me see past the ancient graphics and interface?
Your words say it all really. Don't get it. The game is not for you.

Regarding gameplay, you get single missions (right into battlle) or war patrols ("campaigns") where you choose where to go and get random encounters. The graphics are obviously old, but the submarines react very well to keyboard commands/shortcuts. There are game options to make the game more or less realistic and difficult.

They are both set in the Pacific with SS2 able to patrol certain predefined zones and SS1 you can just patrol anywhere you want if you like in the whole region. You do have to be careful of course for your fuel, but you can return for refueling and then go out again.

While the graphics are not as advanced as the games you mentioned, they do have their own charm in person. With SS2 having a more modern look. Few months ago I tried to play Silent Hunter 3 after years since last time I played it and it looked so much ugly to my eyes. 3D graphics do that to you if you keep playing modern games. After a few years the graphics look ancient. While SS1 certainly doesn't look modern (it looked good in 1987), SS2 with a more refined look, looks far easier to my eyes than SH3 does.

The battles can take hours (although there is time compression) or minutes, depending the battle.
They are not easy games.
Posted January 23, 2014
Very happy to see these added to the catalogue. Silent Service II was the first simulation of any kind that I invested a significant amount of time into learning. This is great; thanks GOG.
Posted January 23, 2014
Do you know what I like best about Silent Service? THE BOSS KEY. Man that brings back memories. I was too young to have a job at the time I first played these games but I remember nearly every game in the 80's and some int he 90's having a boss key.

Hilarious.

I highly recommend these games if you can stomach the dated graphics. I'm also playing Silent Hunter 5 and I have no problem personally switching between them. I guess I'm old school at heart.
Posted January 23, 2014
Hey! An actual GOG!
Posted January 23, 2014
I played the NES version of Silent Service. I had a blast even though the graphics on the NES version were much worse. Glad to see a Good Old Game. I never played the PC version. I sank many destroyers with my deck gun. ;)

NES version youtube link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEQTLUwduTI
Posted January 23, 2014
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POLE7645: Considering that the original Elite (and Elite Plus) are considered freeware nowadays
"Are considered" freeware, or are freeware full stop? If the owner of the game released them as freeware, it's freeware, if not it's still "abandonware", which has no real legal basis. For example, TES Arena and Daggerfall are freeware because Bethesda released them as such, and offers free downloads of them.
Posted January 24, 2014
Awesome sauce. I remember playing the first game on my old, long dead C-64. Ahh, memories. Very cool release.
Posted January 24, 2014
Now we are talking! More MicroProse releases please..
Posted January 24, 2014
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Kabus: Now we are talking! More MicroProse releases please..
It looks like Tommo acquiring all those Atari tiitles in the bankruptcy was a good thing for GOG. At least they certainly don't seem to mind putting games up on GOG.
Posted January 24, 2014
It is kind of weird because few years ago I remember reading that Sid himself acquired several of his licenses back, including Silent Service.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Release: Silent Service 1+2(111 posts)(111 posts)
(111 posts)