[Fidd]

1. The boat seems rather sparsely crewed currently: Sleeping/resting crew in every bunk in both sleeping areas. Such resting crew should be able to be put in respirators (for later chlorine escape from batteries). The very occasional cough, gentle snore, animated and very very rare butt-scratch and low inaudible conversation in German sound effects whose aim is to create the impression of a larger crew being aboard. Some crew could be reading/writing animations? Periodic meals being prepared, Animated cook with usual kitchen noises, except at action-stations, followed by crew eating at tables in messes, likewise when not at action stations.

2. Options for player to adopt different mouse-cursors of differing sizes and visibility in game. I personally find it VERY difficult to find my cursor against some colour backgrounds/light levels. Ability to cycle through them on the fly would be useful? IMPLEMENTED

3. Visible animated raising of flooring in forward torpedo compartment with animated raising of torpedoes from underfloor storage via chain or rope hoists with suitable sound effects internally, and noise generated a risk of detection. Possible slower quieter reload possible?

4. Access to battery compartments via crawlspace, with bilge-water level modelled, as a preparation for broken battery cells and chlorine generation/suppression via blowing the bilge, ventilating the boat, and straps across broken batteries to maintain voltages etc as part of a later damage-model. If chlorine present, requires use of respirator to access, making communication impossible.

5. Ability of player operated crew to crawl and/or move on bended knee, in order that the compressor may be reached with the aft torpedo reload being modelled as an obstacle, and also allowing for operating in crawl-spaces such the two battery compartments.

6. Greater trim-changes required when torpedoes are fired, and addition of operable fore-aft trim tanks to balance the boat longitudinally. Consideration given to animated movement of crew towards Torpedo compartment during crash dives or at bottom of descent requiring fore-aft trim to be re-optimised.

7. And of course ...... playable escorts!

Feel free to add, amend, laugh until you cry, deride or otherwise make you own suggestions.... <dons tin-hat>

[LATER EDIT] Strike #2, it already exists - I just hadn't found it!

8. Fore-aft longitudinal balance trim tanks. These were used not to balance the boat the boat to neutral bouyancy, but to trim the boat so the bow and stern had the same relative bouyancy, preventing the boat from adopting a bow low or high aspect in relation to the stern. Although these were small tanks, their correct configuration was vital to the handling and depth keeping of the boat, especially when speed was developed, as a loss of such balance could easily cause a boat to lose control in pitch and either accidentally broach the surface, or unintentionally dive to greater depths than intended. (This change of pitch trim at speed because drag varies with the square of the speed, and the conning tower provided drag above the C of G of the boat, meaning, that acceleration to a higher speed causes the boat to pitch-up, requiring a persistent plane input, or, longitudinal trim change)

Various factors affected the need to trim, such as the movement of personnel between compartments (Indeed as we know such movement of bodies was used deliberately to aid in sudden dives), but also firing of torpedoes or leakage of water in the bilges, which of course migrates to the lowest possible point, thus making the control of pitch attitude with the Hydroplanes more and more unstable as water is taken on.

People might, with some justification, prefer not to have this modelled, so I suggest it's a lobby configurable feature, but it should provide Dive officers with a much more difficult and rewarding task, which crucially would need continuous attention paid rather than the short bursts of activity which is normally a Dive Officer's game experience?

On a related note, it used to be the case that firing a torpedo also had a fairly major effect on the regular trim of the boat, and that unless the DO was on the ball, and added water to the trim tank as each torpedo was fired, he'd rapidly find himself, and the boat both, rising in the water column. It's a shame this feature was seemingly dialled-back. With an implementation of longitudinal balance-trim, it'd become even more interesting.

If one reads accounts of WW2 Submarine battles, one of the main dangers were crews losing control of their boats, either rising involuntarily to the surface, or diving to dangerous depths, because these craft were relatively unstable. Salinity changes, a DC changing the water pressure above or below one end of the boat, loss of control of trim - all these could precipitate such a loss of control. I think we need to put it back again, at least as a selectable difficulty for individual players?