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Silent Steel

by Magnetic North

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Original Thread: In the Navy! Let's Play Silent Steel! (Audience Participation Hybrid-LP)

 

Introduction


(Alternate Title: I'm on a Boat!)

Silent Steel is a full motion video naval simulation/adventure game released in 1995 by Tsunami Games. You are the Captain of the fictional USS Idaho, a US nuclear submarine patrolling the north Atlantic Ocean. Trouble lurks in the black, crushing depths. The fate of 155 men, and maybe even the free world, depend on you. Will you lead your men to glory, or to your name end up on a memorial somewhere?

This is a Hybrid LP, and it will take the two forms.

First, it will be a Audience Participation Screenshot LP. During this game, you periodically get the choice between 3 dialog options. When one of those come up, readers can vote on the option they want to see. Once one option reaches 3 votes, that one is chosen, and we will see what happens. (Depending on the popularity/unpopularity of the thread, this may change, but we'll start with this.) All votes will count, I'll total it whenever I am ready to update, which may be somewhat random. I will attempt to update most days, probably once a day, within reason. More often on the weekends. Also, keep in mind, the game mixes up which answer is under which number each time, so the playthrough I am working with might be different than the picture. I've already screwed this up a few times, and I'll try not to in the future, but let's just say we might not always go the way you vote. Kind of like real democracy.

If you wish to participate in the voting, Please follow these guidelines:

1: Please do not cheat by looking up walkthroughs to find out how to beat the game. This game has lots of paths and outcomes, so there's plenty to see. The voting should keep the effect of that to a minimum, but it's more fun if it's more democratically random.

2: If you have played this game before, understand that there are to be no spoilers in this thread even in spoiler tags. This game literally only has its plot going for it, so do not discuss anything that hasn't come up yet. Some people (myself included) cannot resist looking at spoilers, so just don't do it. (Edit: Okay, if you want to spoiler something other than Silent Steel plot, it's fine within the forum rules, but please note your spoilers so we know that they aren't Silent Steel spoilers.)

3: When voting, please include the number of your choice. Some choices are similarly worded, and some appear functionally identical, but each is counted separately.

The second part of this LP will be a somewhat more standard Subtitled Video LP, with context, trivia and some educational content, much of which is included with the in-game glossary. I honestly still haven't decided if this will run concurrently, or maybe release episodes to just cover material that has been already passed in the SSLP. Maybe we'll chronicle the democrasub in video? I'm undecided. I know that I intend to some form of videos as well, because I feel there is something lost in the screenshot format, but I don't want to have hundreds of 15 second videos to allow for the voting either.

Also, if you played the game, you may or may not be aware of a little in-game censoring that occurred when the game shipped (it was not on the demo that came with some PCs at the time). I have disabled that censorship, so you will see the game as it was originally intended. Don't worry, kids; it's only about as bad as a PG-13 movie, so it's still pretty much fine for all audiences.

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This LP is dedicated to the men and women of the United States Navy.

Special thanks to the Navy Goons who help make this thread awesome and keep America free.
al-azad Mouser.. SLDrisk The Casualty

Table of Contents

Videos


Video 1YouTubePolsy
Video 1.5YouTubePolsy
Video 2YouTubePolsy
Video 3YouTubePolsy
Video 4YouTubePolsy
Video 5YouTubePolsy
Video 6YouTubePolsy

Bonus Content

Bonus Video 1: What Am I Doing Wrong? A quick failed playthrough of the first part of the game. Try and guess what we did wrong.YouTubePolsyAnswer
Bonus Video 2: Miss Matthews Explains EverythingYouTubePolsy 
Bonus Video 3: The GlossaryYouTubePolsy 
Bonus Video 4: What happens when the CO gets his coffeeYouTubePolsy 
Bonus Video 5: Let's Play: With Our FoodYouTubePolsy 
Bonus Video 6: Silent Steel Bloopers:YouTubePolsy 


Can't get enough 1995 in adventure gaming? Check out my other LP from last year: Ripley's Believe It Or Not!: The Riddle of Master Lu

Fan Contributions

This post was going to be a glossary, but instead it's going to list reader contributions to the thread. Some people have left us some awesome information and have enriched the thread far more than I ever could. Thanks to everyone listed below. I apologize in advance if I've miss anyone's contributions.

Mouser.. explains what a wardroom is, and explains a little about the rules for using military uniforms in film and theater. He also explains about Kilo subs and special submarine only naval insignia pins.

Nibbles the Shark explains about the speed of sound underwater.

Mouser.. explains convergence zones and gives us a tour of the 'Sky King.' He also explains what a picket is.

Ilanin explains the meaning of hertz.

gradenko_2000 explains how countermeasures work as well as torpedoes.

Bondematt explains what baffles are.

Mouser.. lets us know about maximum operating depth of submarines.

Arglebargle III debunks a naval-based chain letter across two posts.

Mouser.. relays the story of 'Female Captain Bligh.' He also explains the high risk of being in command.

Mouser.. explains what VLF stands for, and shares some nautical slang with us.

Coolguye lets us know why the always annouce that the captain is entering a room.

The Merry Maurader lets us know a little about the reason for nuclear patrolling submarines.

gradenko_2000 lets us know about bearings in a way I can't even begin to understand.

Hugs Boson lets us know what a sound short is.

Nibbles the Shark gives us the run down on the towed array.

Arglebargle III explains some of the disadvantages of nuclear propulsion and an unusual type of reactor used by the Russians.

Nibbles the Shark shows us what it actually entails to fire a torpedo.

radintorov lets us know how sonar can tell different classes of subs apart.

Wheezer shares some data on the Kilo class subs, as well as target motion analysis.

radintorov and Wheezer catch a bit of a factual error in the game. Arglebargle III puts in his two cents as well.

The Casualty gives us more details on what Page 13 entries actually mean.

Fangz tries to determine the best course of action based on bearing and range.

Mr Crucial gives us a little more detail on Ohio Class SSBNs via Tom Clancey, while Wheezer lets us know a little bit of why those books are fiction.

Wheezer provides us some data on the Akula class subs.

Hovering Cheesecake suggests some lesser-known reading material for sub enthusiasts.

Arglebargle III gives us the run-down on why it's a big deal if the bowplanes don't respond.

mllaneza gives us a little trivia on anti-submarine rockets.

radintorov lets us know about the safety features on topedoes.

hankor reminds us all that submarines and airplanes don't react to small arms fire the same way.

Fangz gives us a short look at C4 and small arms fire.

Nenonen lets us know just how close subs can get without noticing each other.

Fangz fills in some questions about nuclear weapons that I would have been happier not knowing.

Thanks to everyone who contributed.
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