Donīt think this has something to do with Killerfish not being a Navy Contractor as today there is plenty enough free OSINT to do a decent subsim. It is simply the already mentioned fact that Cold Waters aims to be an action game in the spirit of submarine action movies like Red October, made for people who always wanted to do those sub knife fights were the hero captain does that cool full rudder move in the very last moment to evade a torpedo by an inch and the sea being full with torps demanding some sub acrobatics from you. Sure it isnīt marketed as "arcade" or "quick action" as this would deter people from getting it in the first place as some enjoy the impression to experience the real deal but without getting too involved. Compared to the racing genre, Cold Waters is a "Need of Speed" of sub sims, modelling real cars, acting and sounding like cars but with some over the top action stuff and a simplistic physics/driving engine.
While the lack of more mod support may be an important factor why specifics canīt be changed in CW there are probably still ways to improve respectively change the realism aspect. The question is if there is even an great interest in making Cold Waters realistic as most who enjoy this game (and probably mod it because of it) may prefer this simplistic action approach which is probably the reason why most work focuses on additional subs and campaigns and not on making authentic torpedo evasion or detection ranges happen. Flight sim modders probably wouldnīt approach an air combat action game like Ace Combat and try to make it realistic because the gameīs nature itself comes with alot of limitation concerning this goal. They would stay with Falcon 4.0 or other sims that already come with fundamentals like the ability to model complex aspects of aerial combat. However this are asumptions and I would be very happy to be proven wrong by the CW modding community. But chances are 0.1% slim that this will be ever able to replace Dangerous Waters so at the moment my tip is to keep in mind for what CW was made for and enjoy it for it. Wait for an adequate replacement when it comes to sims like DW, until then stay with them.
My inner narrowband shows a faded line on the bearing of Sonalyst Combat Studios, planning to bring a new sim in the next years
