Top Ten Subsim Events of the 2000's
Jan. 1, 2010 by Neal Stevens

A decade has come and gone, the first of the new millennium.  The 2000's started with the Y2K panic, the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, saw a terrifying hurricane and even more apocalyptic tsunami. The US weathered a startlingly close presidential election, suffered the worst attack on its soil in 2001, went after the terrorists in Afghanistan and brought down a dictator in Iraq. The New England Patriots won 3 Super Bowls, the Euro outperformed the dollar, and the world economy teetered on the brink of collapse. Ronald Regan died, Michael Jackson died, the Vice-President shot a friend, and America elected its first black President (ok, half-black). All these events changed the world. Following is a list of the top ten events of the Subsim world. Some were achievements, some were tragedies, and some are historical events.

10. Russian Nuclear Submarine "Kursk" Lost

On August 12, the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing all 118 crew aboard. On October 21, Russian and Norwegian divers successfully entered the sunken vessel. A consortium formed by the Dutch companies Mammoet and Smit International using the barge Giant 4 eventually raised the Kursk and recovered the dead, who were buried in Russia -- although three of the bodies were too badly burned to be identified. The heat generated by the first blast detonated the warheads of several torpedoes causing a series of blasts big enough to be measured on geological seismic sensors in the area -- and those secondary explosions fatally damaged the vessel.

9. Subsim Almanac

In 2007, Subsim released its first book, the 2007 Submarine Almanac. A compilation book with articles from experts and historians that also featured the creativity of its members. "Celebrating 10 years on the web with a flotilla of stories, articles, and art from naval historians, subsim players, game developers, and Navy men." Subsim followed with a 2008 Almanac, and a belated 2009 edition is closing in.

8. Sonalysts Nuke Subsims

While Sub Command and Dangerous Waters never reached the level of commercial success of the Silent Hunter series, there was never a shortage of critical success. Engineered by experts and designed for the more cerebral subsim skipper, Sonalysts' nuke subsims offered a chance to recreate modern naval warfare that has never been equaled. Where U-boat and fleet boat games were mainly peek and shoot, Sub Command with its three subs brought the third dimension wholly into the subsim repertoire. Contacts had to be classified and mentally challenging target motion analysis processed to arrive at a shooting solution. Dangerous Waters took the gameplay to an unprecedented level--you could actually play in all three arenas--beneath the waves, on the surface as a Perry class frigate, or from the air as a Seahawk helo and Orion ASW plane. One can only hope the market for a new Sonalyst game will make it worth their while someday.

7. Subsim Fire

It all started on a quiet May 31 afternoon. The server alert hit the admin's cell phone with the most terrifying two words other than "I'm pregnant"-- server down. The Planet operates a data center in Houston where the two Subsim servers are located.  I went to log in and reboot...no response. I went to the Planet's support system...down.  Getting info was difficult. Reports ranged from explosions, to fires to FBI Raids. The company claimed power to the facility was interrupted when a transformer exploded. Official reports that three walls were blown down causing a fire; but also claimed no servers were destroyed. Observers on the scene indicated they didn't see a single fire truck or emergency vehicle during the incident. There were rumors that the fire marshal was keeping employees out of the facility. By the end of the day a customer indicated that the FBI was swarming all over the facility, removing servers. Through it all, Subsim went black for the longest stretch of our 12 year existence: four days, with only intermittent activity. Talk about crash dive!

>>Click here for # 6 through #2