Working on a new submarine sim: Sub Commander - advice needed!

[TheGeoff]

EDIT: Latest Version: 0.28
Download Latest Version Here: http://bit.do/subcommander_028
(Download, then unzip the entire folder and run subcommander_0_28.exe)

VirusTotal link (to prove the file is safe): https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/40012e33e8317413234e5b9d710b066dd96582f1cf869162fa 4fe2508ca1ddaf/analysis/
(An obscure Russian antivirus program returns a false positive but the more mainstream, trustworthy programs show it is safe)

Tutorial: https://goo.gl/FUzqOW


A (slightly outdated) guide/manual is now included in the .zip file, titled 'guide.txt'

Submarine Development Tools:
http://goo.gl/MxBNIc
Made a custom submarine? Share it here! (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=217354)

Sub Commander is a free, independently developed roguelike submarine simulator with an emphasis on realism and freedom of choice. Originally, the game was envisioned to be a kind of cross between Dwarf Fortress and the film K-19 The Widowmaker but it is rapidly growing to a full featured submarine warfare simulator. Eventually I plan to simulate all aspects of cold war era naval and aerial combat, so the player's submarine will be in the midst of a dynamic, procedurally generated global war.

One of the main focuses of the game is dealing with accidents and emergencies aboard the submarine. Nuclear submarines are hugely complicated pieces of equipment and there's a lot which can go wrong - fires, flooding, radiation leaks, lack of oxygen etc are all accurately simulated. Careful management of the crew and the submarine's automated systems is essential to conquer these threats and complete your mission successfully. In some ways, it's like a much more complex version of Faster Than Light aboard a submarine (without the fancy graphics unfortunately!)

While the simulation of the onboard systems is highly detailed, I have tried to ensure the game is accessible to almost anyone and the learning curve is not too steep. The graphics are very basic but I try to keep them clean and functional - but I admit great graphics were never a priority for this game.

Key features:
- 38 nations represented in game, 36 of which are playable
- AI controlled forces consisting of 23 classes of ships and 10 types of aircraft, all with historically accurate armaments
- Huge in game map covering the entire globe, with more than 80 cities (uses high-res NOAA sea depth data)
- Realistic physics-based modelling of fire, fluid dynamics and radiation aboard the sub
- Extremely detailed submarine with accurate models of all important systems

Full Mac and Linux compatibility is planned eventually. In the meantime, players have reported it is possible to run the game through Wine on Linux and Wineskin Winery on OSX. The following instructions were posted in the Reddit thread for the game by user arcsey:
"Use Wineskin Winery. Create a wrapper with Wineskin 2.6.0 (current version) and use WS9WineCX13.1.0 as your engine. Just move the subcommander_0_21 folder into Program Files and set subcommander_0_21.exe as the executable. It should run fine without having to change any other settings."

Sub Commander is under active development, with new updates released anywhere from once a week to once every couple of months. Any feedback, suggestions or bug reports are greatly appreciated!


Edit:
A lot of people have recently asked about where to send donations / if I will make a Kickstarter etc. I'm amazed and honoured that people think this is a project worth donating to!

I want to make it clear that Submarine Commander will always be completely free, and that I do not in any way expect donations. But if you love the game and really want to make a donation to the project, you can send a donation via paypal to subcommandergame@gmail.com
Thank you!

Screenshots (v0.20):
Nuclear reactor management
http://i.imgur.com/bu8DqPu.png

Navigation
http://i.imgur.com/xCDtNUw.png

Activating fire supression system
http://i.imgur.com/OCDEixj.png

Download links for previous versions:
Version 0.27 http://goo.gl/9avGXB (Alternate link: http://goo.gl/cGHk7P)
Version 0.25 http://goo.gl/eAy0BO
Version 0.24 http://goo.gl/owcu6w
Version 0.23 http://goo.gl/9lOLz2
Version 0.22 http://goo.gl/Qpr0w1
Version 0.21 http://goo.gl/PsBCbK
Version 0.20 http://goo.gl/1PzpZK
Version 0.19 http://goo.gl/7J74vm
Version 0.18 http://goo.gl/3bcZ4K
Version 0.17 http://goo.gl/cRdSoM
Version 0.16 http://goo.gl/wwMJqL
Version 0.15 http://rapidshare.com/files/1713526527/subcommander_0_15.zip
Version 0.14 http://rapidshare.com/files/1265137437/subcommander_0_14.zip
Version 0.12 http://rapidshare.com/files/2245270754/subcommander_0_12.zip
Version 0.10 http://rapidshare.com/files/1693504064/subcommander_0_10.zip
Version 0.09 http://rapidshare.com/files/1053906501/subcommander_0_09.zip
Version 0.08 http://rapidshare.com/files/899958767/subcommander_0_08.zip
Version 0.07 http://rapidshare.com/files/3311299378/subcommander_0_07.zip
Version 0.06 http://rapidshare.com/files/3481182951/subcommander_0_06.exe
Version 0.04 http://rapidshare.com/files/4084177128/subcommander.exe

[Red October1984]

Wow! Looks great! Keep on working!

I don't have any questions at the moment...but it looks great.

:salute: :up:

[Ethaniel]

- User interface
- Graphics
- Historical accuracy
- Setting (WWII / cold war / modern)
- Realistic modelling of submarine systems
- Realistic modelling of environment (water physics etc)
- Lots of different playable submarines
- Lots of missions
I'm a huge fan of roguelike games as well as minecraft. Freedom of choice is my kind of gaming. I always prefer non linear and open ended games to high quality graphics and such. So you shouldn't worry about graphics. What I think is that your game is going to attract certain groups of gamers so you should consider more features. Randomly generated ocean could be one thing. The setting should follow your available building techniques. You can't have nuclear reactors on a ww2 game for example. I think this game would certainly be on my play list and why not even test list. As far as submarine info, maybe other members can help or even Wikipedia. I have betatested 3 or 4 roguelike games and I really enjoy them. I don't if my reply answers your questions but I just wanted to point those things out. I hope to see some progress.
Keep up friend

[Julhelm]

So is this almost something akin to FTL with subs?

[TheGeoff]

Thanks for the replies guys, good to see some interest!

I definitely plan to include as much random/procedurally generated content as possible. The ocean and weather conditions will almost certainly be generated on the fly, and the engine is coded to be as versatile as possible. Ideally once the submarine editor is finished players will be able to create virtually any submarine imaginable, with the game able to simulate how it behaves under pressure, how well it functions with damaged components etc. This sounds pretty optimistic but at the moment it's all going according to plan!

I hadn't heard of Faster Than Light before Julhelm, but I looked it up and it does indeed look fairly similar to what I had in mind. I'm hoping to model the individual subsystems with a greater degree of complexity than what I've seen in FTL though - for example, the mathematical model for a pressurised water reactor I coded today takes into account the reactor's maximum power rating, the loading on the steam turbine, the pressure in both the primary and secondary coolant circuits, the temperature of the fluid in the primary coolant circuit, the positioning of the control rods, and the damage condition of all of the relevant pumps, heat exchangers, turbines and pressure vessels. It sounds complicated but the result is a versatile, realistic model which can handle any situation the player can throw at it. Since my game will be free there isn't any commercial pressure to rush through development and oversimplify things! I'm intrigued by the combat and navigation systems in FTL though, I might pick up a copy and see how it all works.

[TheGeoff]

Hello again subsimmers!

I've made a fair bit of progress on my roguelike sub sim and I thought I'd release what I've done so far. It's not much of a game yet - there are no missions, and no terrain features, just a single submarine in an endless, bottomless ocean. I'd like to see what people think of it so far!

Download Here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/4084177128/subcommander.exe
(it's 1.2mb or so)

At the moment, you can:
Control the nuclear reactors (don't let the core get too hot!)
Control the diesel backup generators
Dive and surface the submarine (if you dive too deep the pressure will crush the hull and the boat will flood)
Look through the periscope (the periscope can't be fully controlled yet though)
Launch torpedoes and order the crew to reload the tubes
Battle fires and flooding in emergencies

The main bug you'll probably notice at this stage is that the crew are immortal. Even if the submarine is burnt out and completely flooded the crew will continue wandering (or swimming) around their assigned compartments, waiting for orders. The firefighting AI is also pretty simplistic at this stage, so crew ordered to extinguish a fire will wander over and pat it out with their bare hands. One of these days I'll get around to implementing buckets, hoses etc!

Many of the control panels on the submarine are not yet functional - at the moment everything is controlled by the Reactor Control Panel, Power Sys. Control Panel, Maneuver Control Panel and Weapon Sys. Control Panel. So don't bother trying the others :)

Temporary controls used for debugging purposes:
Press TAB to start a fire, press left control to crack walls/floors and damage objects. These allow you to set up a disaster for your crew to deal with. If you set fire to the torpedo room or the reactor coolant pumps.... well, you'll probably get what you deserve! As explained in the game, press F to order crew to extinguish fires and R to order repairs.
Press left shift+D to view the FPS monitor. If the game runs at more or less than 12FPS please let me know!


Please post any thoughts and feedback here! Whether you love it, think it's rubbish, can't figure out how to play, found a bug, have some advice, or are completely indifferent I'd love to see your comments :)

[Deamon]

Ohhh, a new subsim project. How cute! :)

Is this sort of subsim life ?

[TheGeoff]

Hah yeah, I guess so. I really want to focus on managing the crew and different subsystems of the submarine, which is something I haven't seen done in many other sims. Maybe nobody else is interested in that kind of game but I'm definitely having fun making it :)

[TheGeoff]

The screenshot in the OP is pretty outdated so I took a few more to show off the latest version:

Managing the power systems of the submarine: (not as complicated as it looks!)
http://i.imgur.com/KvH2fr7.png

Major fire in the bow torpedo room:
http://i.imgur.com/6Y2aVhV.png

Watching the sun rise through the periscope:
http://i.imgur.com/tw3h07x.png

I'll post a download link to the new version soon, if anyone's interested.

[Hawk66]

Nice idea...to mix genres (roguelike/simulation).

In what progr.languages/frameworks do you code?

[Red October1984]

I am going to download this and try it out!

If only the sub management was incorporated into Silent Hunter and Dangerous Waters. I really like the idea. :up:

[TheGeoff]

Here's the new version (0.06):
http://rapidshare.com/files/3481182951/subcommander_0_06.exe
Power systems, turbines, diesel generators and electric motors all work now. Soon I'll be adding more options for crew management, then some actual terrain to navigate around.

Hawk66, this is all programmed in Blitz Basic. I also know C but I find Blitz is much easier to use when programming games.

Thanks for downloading it, let me know what you think!

[Red October1984]

I like it TheGeoff!

Great work! :D

[TheGeoff]

Thanks RedOctober, glad you like it!

The navigation system is coming together quicker than I'd expected - sneak peek:
http://i.imgur.com/FXqyxiC.png

Creating your own maps for this game will be incredibly simple, just create a heightmap in MS paint and the program will do the rest. Made some very satisfying progress over the past few days!

[Red October1984]

I have one request.

Can you post a comprehensive list of controls and maybe a tutorial on how to play?

Of course you are still working on the game... That comes first.

[TheGeoff]

Sure. The interface is a bit unintuitive at the moment so any suggestions are welcome. This is the start of a readme/guide I've been typing up which will be included in the game in the future.

Controls (as of version 0.06)

General:
Arrow keys - move the cursor square around the screen
Enter - interact with the object at the cursor (eg. use a control panel, look through periscope)
Backspace - return to main screen (if you've opened a control panel or are looking down the periscope, this takes you back to the main game view)
Escape - return to game menu

Main screen
R - order crew to repair square or object at cursor
F - order the crew to extinguish a fire at the cursor
S - surface the boat (only works while submerged)
D - crash dive (only works while surfaced or at periscope depth)
O - open the door/hatch at the cursor
C - close the door/hatch at the cursor (crewmen can still open the door to pass through)
L - lock the door/hatch at the cursor (not recommended, may cause pathfinding errors)

Using a control panel
+ and - often control various settings. For example, in the reactor control panel pressing + or - will raise or lower the reactor control rods. [ and ] sometimes control other settings, as do ; and '
The number keys on the main keyboard (not numpad) are sometimes used to select an object to control - selecting a torpedo tube to fire, or selecting a reactor to control for example.
In the weapon control panel, Space fires the selected tube and R orders the crew to reload the tube.

To simulate a disaster aboard the submarine:
Tab - start a fire at the cursor
Left Control - damage the object/square at cursor


Basic tutorial
This is your submarine:
http://i.imgur.com/XouEVVR.png
Most control panels are located in the control room, as well as the periscope. The reactor control panel is the small blue rectangle in the generator room adjacent to the reactor chamber.

Controlling the submarine:
Move the cursor to the maneuver control panel:
http://i.imgur.com/lXCf9AA.png

Press enter to access the control panel

Press + and - to change the target depth of the submarine. As soon as the target depth changes, the submarine will begin to rise or sink to attempt to reach the target depth.

Press [ and ] to increase or decrease the target speed of the submarine. When the target speed is changed, the turbines will automatically increase or decrease power levels to speed up or slow down the sub to match the target speed. If the nuclear reactors are running at a low power level or one turbine is shut down, the submarine may be unable to reach the target speed. If both turbines are shut down/destroyed, the electric motor will automatically engage - note that the electric motor is nowhere near as powerful as the steam turbines, so the maximum speed of the ship is dramatically reduced.
http://i.imgur.com/T4HcHXw.png

While the submarine depth is between 0 and 10 metres, pressing D will order a crash dive. This sets the target depth to 90m.

While the submarine is submerged, pressing S will order the submarine to surface. This sets the target depth to 0m.


Controlling the reactors:
Move the cursor to the reactor control panel and press enter:
http://i.imgur.com/3KUMBxW.png

The reactor physics model in the game is quite detailed; it helps to know how a pressurised water reactor works in real life.
Basically, use the control rods (+ and -) to increase/decrease the reactor power output. If the control rods are above about 75% the reactor will shut down, if the rods are below about 5% the reactor will overheat and eventually cause a nuclear meltdown (this will happen if the core temperature reaches 1000 degrees celsius). In an emergency, pressing Z will SCRAM the selected reactor, lowering the control rods to 100% in an attempt to rapidly slow down the reaction.

Firing torpedos:
Move the cursor to the weapons control panel and press enter:
http://i.imgur.com/z1eVQtc.png

Press 1, 2, 3, or 4 on the main keyboard (not the numpad) to select a torpedo tube. Tube 1 is selected by default.
Press Space to fire the selected tube, then R to order the crew to reload the tube. Reloading is a slow process - you can watch the crew in the fore torpedo room moving the new torpedo into position.

Managing power:
Move the cursor to the power systems control panel and press enter:
http://i.imgur.com/gaHNF7z.png

On the left hand side of the screen is a display of the power output of each nuclear reactor and the controls for the diesel backup generators.

Press 1 or 2 to select generator and + or - to increase/decrease throttle. As in real life, running a diesel generator at low power (less than about 30%) for long periods of time will result in carbon buildup in the cylinders and decreased performance. For optimal performance the diesel generators should be run at 60%-80% throttle - at very high throttle settings, the generators may be damaged. A damaged generator running at high power may even start fires so be careful!

On the right hand side of the screen is a summary of all the power generated and used aboard the ship. If the net power is negative, the batteries will slowly discharge. Up to 1 megawatt of (positive) net power can be used to recharge the battery - this will happen automatically. Note that while the electric motor runs off the battery, the steam turbines require power from a nuclear reactor to operate.

The turbines can be shut down from either of the turbine control panels, located in the turbine room at the rear of the ship. If neither turbine is operational the electric motor will automatically engage.

Disasters:
This is what a nuclear accident in the No. 1 reactor looks like:
http://i.imgur.com/fkiRAg0.png
(to set something like this up, put the cursor over the reactor coolant pump and hold Left Control for a couple of seconds to simulate a damaged pump. Or open the reactor control panel, set control rod position to 0% and wait a few minutes)

The squares with red and yellow particle effects are on fire, while the squares with black cracks are damaged. The blue cracked squares near the bottom are leaking seawater - this must be quickly controlled or the boat will flood.

First off, we must control the fires:
http://i.imgur.com/CUo96s6.png
Point the cursor at the squares on fire and press F. The nearest crew will rush to extinguish the fires.

The explosion in No.1 reactor may have damaged the No.2 reactor as well. Open the reactor control panel, press 2 to select the second reactor then press Z to initiate an emergency shutdown.

Next, to control the radiation spread and flooding, point the cursor at the damaged bulkheads and hull segments and press R. Look carefully at the damage and determine which squares NEED to be repaired to control the flooding - be aware that the reactor room is heavily irradiated and avoid sending in crew for non critical repairs. You could also decide to repair the reactor unit (and/or coolant pump) to slow the spread of radiation.



Hope this helps a bit! There will be a lot more direction and purpose to the game once missions are added, it's basically a sandbox at the moment.

[Red October1984]

Very good tutorial!

I'm eagerly awaiting the next release. I really like this. What kind of features do you have planned? :hmmm:

[TheGeoff]

Version 0.07 is now available!
http://rapidshare.com/files/2915033900/subcommander_0_07.zip
Make sure subcommander_0_07.exe and world.map are in the same folder.

Navigation and a world map have been added - press M to access the map in game, then ; and ' to change heading to port/starboard. Like in the maneuver control panel, [ and ] can be used to control speed. Navigation currently has a LOT of time compression - your submarine will move slightly faster than a fighter jet. This will be toned down in future releases, and an option for temporary time compression will be added.

Ocean depths are approximately correct at this stage - still tweaking the program which processes data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Pay attention to the depth under keel though, as it's now possible to sink your sub by repeatedly bashing it against the sea floor...

The way the world map is handled may cause a drop in framerate on older computers. Let me know if this happens to you, I might be able to find a way to fix it :)

Edit: RedOctober, The next few releases will probably improve and modify the navigation system and maybe the crew management. I'll try to add some basic missions in the near future too. In the long term I have no idea where this is going to go... hopefully a few months or a year from now it'll be a comprehensive submarine sim, covering both hunter-killer and missile subs from the 1950s to the present. I've already started work on an easy to use submarine editor allowing players to design their own subs as well, which should allow a huge amount of customization. Want to sail around the world in a doughnut-shaped soviet bathyscaphe powered by twin nuclear reactors? Hopefully Sub Commander will eventually allow you to realise that dream :)

[PeriscopeDepth]

Hi Geoff,

Good to see indie subsim projects! I would give your project a try but I don't have a Windows install at the moment. :)

As someone who has toyed with getting the NOAA bathy data into a 3D engine, I'm wondering how you keep your download size so low? The higher res data set (ETOPO 1) is something like 200-300 MB in size.

While I would consider myself a more than competent programmer, I've never done any game programming. So maybe there's just some widely known asset voodoo that I don't know about. :)

PD

[Red October1984]

Version 0.07 is now available!
http://rapidshare.com/files/2915033900/subcommander_0_07.zip
Make sure subcommander_0_07.exe and world.map are in the same folder.

Navigation and a world map have been added - press M to access the map in game, then ; and ' to change heading to port/starboard. Like in the maneuver control panel, [ and ] can be used to control speed. Navigation currently has a LOT of time compression - your submarine will move slightly faster than a fighter jet. This will be toned down in future releases, and an option for temporary time compression will be added.

Ocean depths are approximately correct at this stage - still tweaking the program which processes data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Pay attention to the depth under keel though, as it's now possible to sink your sub by repeatedly bashing it against the sea floor...

The way the world map is handled may cause a drop in framerate on older computers. Let me know if this happens to you, I might be able to find a way to fix it :)

Edit: RedOctober, The next few releases will probably improve and modify the navigation system and maybe the crew management. I'll try to add some basic missions in the near future too. In the long term I have no idea where this is going to go... hopefully a few months or a year from now it'll be a comprehensive submarine sim, covering both hunter-killer and missile subs from the 1950s to the present. I've already started work on an easy to use submarine editor allowing players to design their own subs as well, which should allow a huge amount of customization. Want to sail around the world in a doughnut-shaped soviet bathyscaphe powered by twin nuclear reactors? Hopefully Sub Commander will eventually allow you to realise that dream :)



I'm really liking 0.07 right now. Keep up the good work!

This is an Indie project worth watching... :rock:

[TheGeoff]

Hi Geoff,

Good to see indie subsim projects! I would give your project a try but I don't have a Windows install at the moment. :)

As someone who has toyed with getting the NOAA bathy data into a 3D engine, I'm wondering how you keep your download size so low? The higher res data set (ETOPO 1) is something like 200-300 MB in size.

While I would consider myself a more than competent programmer, I've never done any game programming. So maybe there's just some widely known asset voodoo that I don't know about. :)

PD

Hey PD,

No, there's no secret trick - I'm just using low resolution data sets. Usually no more than about 1000x600 pixels or so, hence the low file size. The one I like best (and will probably use for all future releases of the game) is the cleaned up version of the TOPO2 dataset found here: http://www.shadedrelief.com/cleantopo2/index.html
The current version I'm using has been resized to 854x427 - I may include the option for higher res maps in the future but at the moment I don't think the increased file size and hugely increased load times are worth it.

[TheGeoff]

Version 0.08 is out!
http://rapidshare.com/files/899958767/subcommander_0_08.zip

This one's a big update, a few of the changes:


A basic crew interaction screen has been added. Press V to select the nearest crewman and view his rank, current task, any symptoms of illness or injury etc. Press Z to send the selected crewman off duty (pressing Z a second time orders him to return to his post). This is a good way to get vulnerable or injured crewmen out of harm's way.
Crewmen now have names - American names only at the moment, but in the future there will be lists for Russian, British, French etc.
Crewmen are no longer invulnerable. They can drown, pass out from smoke inhalation and be affected by radiation sickness so be careful... accidents aboard the sub are a lot more lethal now.
AI has been dramatically improved, especially when firefighting. Crew will now work together to tackle larger fires, while maintaining a safe distance from the flames to avoid injuring themselves.
A new, larger, more detailed world map has been added. The data for the new world map is extracted from the CleanTOPO2 data set, and is far more accurate than the previous maps used. Press M to access the map and 1,2 or 3 to change zoom levels. The code which displays the map has also been optimized, increasing performance (on slower computers) by several FPS while the map is open.
Numerous changes and fixes to the periscope - if you're near the shore, you can see land through the periscope now!


There's probably a few more things that I can't remember at the moment. As always I really appreciate any feedback! Thanks very much to everyone who's downloaded the game and given it a try so far :)

[Hawk66]

Version 0.08 is out!
http://rapidshare.com/files/899958767/subcommander_0_08.zip

This one's a big update, a few of the changes:


A basic crew interaction screen has been added. Press V to select the nearest crewman and view his rank, current task, any symptoms of illness or injury etc. Press Z to send the selected crewman off duty (pressing Z a second time orders him to return to his post). This is a good way to get vulnerable or injured crewmen out of harm's way.
Crewmen now have names - American names only at the moment, but in the future there will be lists for Russian, British, French etc.
Crewmen are no longer invulnerable. They can drown, pass out from smoke inhalation and be affected by radiation sickness so be careful... accidents aboard the sub are a lot more lethal now.
AI has been dramatically improved, especially when firefighting. Crew will now work together to tackle larger fires, while maintaining a safe distance from the flames to avoid injuring themselves.
A new, larger, more detailed world map has been added. The data for the new world map is extracted from the CleanTOPO2 data set, and is far more accurate than the previous maps used. Press M to access the map and 1,2 or 3 to change zoom levels. The code which displays the map has also been optimized, increasing performance (on slower computers) by several FPS while the map is open.
Numerous changes and fixes to the periscope - if you're near the shore, you can see land through the periscope now!


There's probably a few more things that I can't remember at the moment. As always I really appreciate any feedback! Thanks very much to everyone who's downloaded the game and given it a try so far :)

You make fast progress :)...what is for me not so clear yet...do you strive for a full simulation or how do you wanna actually handle combat?

[Red October1984]

Version 0.08 is out!
http://rapidshare.com/files/899958767/subcommander_0_08.zip

This one's a big update, a few of the changes:


A basic crew interaction screen has been added. Press V to select the nearest crewman and view his rank, current task, any symptoms of illness or injury etc. Press Z to send the selected crewman off duty (pressing Z a second time orders him to return to his post). This is a good way to get vulnerable or injured crewmen out of harm's way.
Crewmen now have names - American names only at the moment, but in the future there will be lists for Russian, British, French etc.
Crewmen are no longer invulnerable. They can drown, pass out from smoke inhalation and be affected by radiation sickness so be careful... accidents aboard the sub are a lot more lethal now.
AI has been dramatically improved, especially when firefighting. Crew will now work together to tackle larger fires, while maintaining a safe distance from the flames to avoid injuring themselves.
A new, larger, more detailed world map has been added. The data for the new world map is extracted from the CleanTOPO2 data set, and is far more accurate than the previous maps used. Press M to access the map and 1,2 or 3 to change zoom levels. The code which displays the map has also been optimized, increasing performance (on slower computers) by several FPS while the map is open.
Numerous changes and fixes to the periscope - if you're near the shore, you can see land through the periscope now!


There's probably a few more things that I can't remember at the moment. As always I really appreciate any feedback! Thanks very much to everyone who's downloaded the game and given it a try so far :)



Sounds great! Keep it coming! I'll download this and try it out!

[TheGeoff]

You make fast progress :)...what is for me not so clear yet...do you strive for a full simulation or how do you wanna actually handle combat?

Thanks! Eventually it will be a complete simulation with other vessels, combat simulation, missions etc. I'm still deciding exactly how to do all of this - for combat, I think I'll add a tactical map under the world map, showing the area around the submarine and all nearby ships/targets. From there you'll be able to launch torpedos, cruise missiles etc. Still gotta figure out how to make it all work in a user-friendly way though!

[Red October1984]

0.08 is just as good as always! Keep it coming! :rock:

[TheGeoff]

Version 0.09 is here!
http://rapidshare.com/files/1053906501/subcommander_0_09.zip

I've been working a lot on the submarine editor, it works but it isn't quite ready for public release yet. It's very time consuming but hopefully within a couple of weeks I'll release it! You'll notice that the default sub has been updated in this version - the turbines and generators are arranged in a more realistic way, and a few new rooms have been added.

Also:

Several options can now be set using the new gameoptions.ini file. These include changing the crew name set (default is Russian at the moment, but US names are included), changing the reliability of components aboard the sub etc. Eventually this file will contain all options available to the user, making the game far more customisable.
Component failures and fires aboard the ship can happen on their own now! Adjust the sub_reliability file in gameoptions.ini to set how frequently accidents happen. Realistically this should be about 100 - for gameplay purposes, 25-50 gives more of a challenge. Set this to 0 if you want a REAL challenge.
The water outside the sub now looks different when the sub is surfaced, to make the difference between surfaced/submerged more obvious.
Latitude and longitude readings have been added to the world map
A second crew interaction screen has been added - press C to view all crew aboard the sub, their current jobs and health status. You can use the Z key on this list to send entire compartments off/on duty. Useful for quickly moving crew around in an emergency.
Reactor physics have been tweaked to slow the rate at which the temperature increases when the cooling system fails. Reactors won't go from normal operation to full on nuclear meltdown in 20 seconds any more, now it's a slower process. When more detailed repair systems are added, this time window should be enough to allow a competent player to attempt K-19 style improvised repairs.
Fixed a bug where crew were almost always unaffected by explosions.


This is a fairly minor update gameplay-wise but some serious changes have been made under the hood to allow a lot more features and options later on.

Good to see a few more people trying the game! Really looking forward to releasing the sub editor, it's a lot of fun to play with. You can expect to see it in a week or two!

[Red October1984]

Keep up the good work! :yeah: :rock:

[TheGeoff]

Version 0.1 released: http://rapidshare.com/files/1693504064/subcommander_0_10.zip

I've been thinking about the submarine editor and decided to hold off releasing it for a while. There are a few reasons for this; the main one is that it's still pretty difficult to use and unforgiving, so it would be a lot of work for a user to actually create a new sub. Since the game is still being actively developed, chances are that any user-made subs would soon be obsolete and incompatible with the current version within a week or two... so to save you all some frustration I've decided to wait a while :)

Version 0.1 takes a step in a different direction:

Nations and cities, and diplomacy have been added to the world. You're no longer a sub sailing round an empty world, there are now around 15 nations and 30something cities. You can select a nation using gameoptions.ini (but if you pick a nation without a seaport the game won't know where to put your sub and might crash, so I'd recommend sticking to USSR, USA, Great Britain or China at the moment). There are still many more cities and countries to be added but it's a start!
A tactical map has been added to the weapon systems control panel. This is a small map displaying the submarine's surroundings, with a range of about 40 nautical miles. Eventually this will show a info about a target from the sonar, radar and periscope to help plot a firing solution for torpedoes.
Your submarine now moves at a realistic speed across the world map. Because this is pretty slow, I've added "fast travel mode" to emulate a time compression system. Press F while the map is open to activate it; pressing F again, or leaving the map, will cancel it.
The placeholder model for diving and surfacing has been replaced by a real one - ballast tanks are now modeled semi-accurately. The amount of water in the submarine will affect your ability to surface, and severe flooding will sink your sub.
Missions have been added to the game. Near the start of the game you will receive a radio message with your orders - select the radio and press enter to read radio messages. There's only one type of mission at this stage, but now that the system's in place it'll be easy for me to add more in the future.
Lastly, there are a few bug fixes, mostly relating to crashes when travelling in the arctic circle at high speeds.

[Red October1984]

Awesome work as always!

[TheGeoff]

Version 0.12 Released!
Download here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/2245270754/subcommander_0_12.zip


This one's a good one:

Other ships have been added to the game! Every nation now has a number of merchant ships travelling around the world, and your missions now revolve around finding and sinking rival nations' shipping. No warships implemented yet but they aren't far off. Every ship in the game is named after an actual cold war merchant ship belonging one of nine nations - though the lists aren't that long yet so there might be a few repeats. Not every nation has it's own name file yet (so Australian ships use British names, for example).
A game guide/manual is included in the zip file, 'guide.txt'. Contains very detailed information on how everything works, including a much better write up on the nuclear reactors and a description of how the crew management system works.
The tactical map now shows more information and allows you to identify and target nearby ships. The tactical map also now shows any torpedoes launched by your sub.
Changed the power systems control panel to more accurately and clearly show the power consumption of each subsystem.
A second type of mission is now in the game, involving hunting down and sinking a strategically significant enemy ship. The radio is slightly more functional now too.
A few more nations and cities added.
A couple of secret easter eggs have been added :)
A lot of bugs relating to crossing the international date line have been fixed. Maps now display cities and targets correctly across the date line. Also, it's now possible to sail under the arctic ice and across to the other side of the globe.


Really happy with how the game's taking shape now. As always I appreciate all feedback :) Hope you guys enjoy it!

[thefinnishguy]

The interface could be slightly improved, but don't ruin the Minecraft-ish mood of the game, and keep the realism high. One all-round sub is good enough (Kilo, Akula III, 688I). Also, some type of multiplayer would be nice, but stay away from stuff like Uplay.

[thefinnishguy]

I like how the crew interacts to disasters, in many ways this game is more realistic than Silent Hunter, where the sub's systems are invulnerable to malfunction and where the crew member who just got shot in the leg by a destroyer's deck gun is now calmly rubbing his head and leaming forward to look at the gauges every 10 minutes. Ubisoft's SH games have after the third game only been made for economical purposes. This is just the project that's progress I'd like to track. Oh, and by the way, could you add some kind of "options" screen for customising controls, my European Logitech Ultra-Slim keyboard is unable to do the speed, heading and depth commands because the keys don't have the same properties as Western keyboards. Also, when I look through the periscope, the game pauses, not good while attacking.

[TheGeoff]

Glad you like it, and thanks for the feedback! Realism and versatility (that minecraftish feel) are exactly what I'm aiming for in this game, it's always good to see someone who appreciates that.

I didn't know that different keyboards would respond to the controls differently, thanks for pointing that out. I'll include a control setup file in the future (probably in the next release). As for the periscope, it's definitely a work in progress... it's pretty much useless at the moment, but I'll overhaul it sometime soon so it doesn't need to pause the game when used.

And as for multiplayer... there are no plans for that any time soon. Maybe one day once I'm happy with the rest of the game.

[Red October1984]

This is a great project!

Keep up the awesome work! :)

[TheGeoff]

New version in time for the weekend: 0.14!

http://rapidshare.com/files/1265137437/subcommander_0_14.zip

This is a big update over 0.12, several major new features are now fully functional:


The periscope has been completely overhauled. It no longer pauses the game, provides a lot of navigation and attack controls and features a (very basic) homemade sprite-based 3D engine! Now you can actually see the enemy ships you're firing at. This still needs a lot of improvement but it's well on the way. Try it out and let me know what you think!
The game now monitors oxygen levels in the submarine. Fires consume a lot of oxygen quickly, but will be extinguished when the supply runs out. A ventilation system simulation has also been added to the submarine, controlled from the misc. systems control panels. Together, these open up a huge range of possibilities - there are a lot more ways for things to go wrong now but there are also a lot more ways to deal with an emergency!
Radar has been added. There are two types of radar model - an old, WW2 style radar and a newer '70s/'80s radar. Choose which one you want in the gameoptions.ini file before you start the game. Radar is accessed through the "Sonar Equipment" object near the command room (it's misnamed at the moment).
Crewmen are now a lot more individual - each man has a set of skills and abilities which will affect performance at different tasks. Crewmen will become more proficient at tasks they complete often. The starting skillset of each crewmember depends on their rank; the captain won't be good at loading torpedoes or welding, for example, but he probably will have good leadership skills.
It is now possible to control which tasks each crewman will complete (select the crewman then press T). This allows you to respond to emergencies more effectively and protect important crewmen from entering dangerous situations.
You are now (usually) assigned missions close to your current location. So you won't start in Los Angeles and be ordered to patrol the coastal waters of Madagascar any more, for example. Sometimes you'll have to travel a significant distance but it's a whole lot better than it used to be.
As requested, it's now possible to change key bindings. Instructions are in the guide.txt file.
Added a loading progress bar on startup, when the game is loading the world map.
Slightly edited the world map in a couple of places, particularly around the Suez Canal and San Francisco. It's now possible to access some harbours and areas which were previously inaccessible.
Whole bunch of other bugfixes.

[troopie]

G'day Geoff! Love what you're doing here but unfortunately I haven't really got the time to get involved at the moment.

In regards to the request in your first post though, Neal posted this great link to a USN training film about the construction of a WWII era diesel/electric sub:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7ixYuCObUk

It covers some of the fundamentals of a sub such as ballast ect.

I imagine you're fairly well along now but I hope it maybe of some use to ya. :up:

[TheGeoff]

New update: Version 0.15
http://rapidshare.com/files/1713526527/subcommander_0_15.zip

This one took a while, I haven't had much time to work on this project lately.

Change log:

Equipment has been added to the game. There are about eight different pieces of equipment currently, with many more planned - read the guide for instructions on how to equip crew. The different pieces of equipment behave roughly as they would in real life, play around and see what combinations are effective.
Added simple depth indicators to the periscope and maneuver control panels. This will help you determine if the conning tower is above the waterline or not, among other benefits. It also helps avoid hitting the sea floor in shallow water.
Crew names are now tied to the submarine's nationality - so if you pick a US sub your crew will have American names, if you pick a Chinese sub the crew will have Chinese names etc. Still got to add name files for a few nationalities but it's on the way.
The game speed can be changed in the gameoptions.ini file. You can pick any speed (in frames per second) you want, but about 8-12 is recommended.
Ships now look more 3D through the periscope.
Numerous changes to how crew skills work, especially with regards to gaining proficiency with a task.
Made a few small changes to the UI to make important information more obvious.
Redid a few dodgy parts of the water/pressure physics code to fix a couple of old bugs. Water will now flow more naturally, and water pressure in flooded compartments should work correctly now.
Fixed an amusing bug where switching on the ventilation system in a flooded compartment would turn all the vents on the sub into vacuum cleaners, rapidly sucking all of the air out of the sub (still don't know what caused that one!)
Fixed a bug with the day/night cycle lighting which sometimes made the sky turn green at about 8:00am.
Probably more small bug fixes and minor changes, I forget.


Give it a try and let me know what you think!

[TheGeoff]

It's been a while since the last update but I just wanted to clarify this project isn't dead... I'm still working on it, just at a much slower rate. Hopefully I'll have another update ready soon!

[TheGeoff]

New Update: Version 0.16
http://goo.gl/wwMJqL
(Now hosted on Dropbox because Rapidshare's stopped working)

Changes:

Completely overhauled the damage modelling for most of the submarine. Now everything is tracked in much more detail; it's not just "Nuclear Reactor: 50% damaged" any more, now the internal components are modeled as well. Press D to order a crewman to examine an object in detail and report how damaged it is. As far as possible, everything behaves as in real life... try it out and let me know what you think! Since the new damage model introduces a lot of complexity and may be daunting for new players I've made it optional, you can disable it in gameoptions.ini
Added the ability to give a crewman a direct order (select a crewman and press O). He will immediately start work on the assigned task, and anyone who was already working on that task will get out of his way. This is really useful for managing damage control teams - you can now order your expert fireman to extinguish the fire while your best welder focuses on repairing the hull breach, without worrying about them trying to do the wrong job.
Added (limited) mouse support. You can now use the mouse instead of the arrow keys, if you enable it in gameoptions.ini
Added a couple of different rendering styles for fire in the game. Select style 1, 2 or 3 in gameoptions.ini and see which one you like best.
Added the ability to change the font used in the game (once again, this is set through gameoptions.ini) Most Windows fonts should work I think.
Some graphical improvements when looking through the periscope.
Many small bug fixes and tweaks.


Sorry about the wait!

[Red October1984]

Still got a great project with great work being done, I see. :)

Keep it up man! :rock:

[rooivalk]

brilliant so much potential

[Onkel Neal]

What's this game called?

[TheGeoff]

It's called Sub Commander :)

[Onkel Neal]

Nice. Keep the updates coming :salute:

[TheGeoff]

Version 0.17 released!
Download here: http://goo.gl/cRdSoM

Changes:


Changed the periscope view completely. The low quality pseudo-3D view has been replaced by a clear, useful birds-eye view of the sea around your submarine. It displays the terrain and ships which would be visible from the periscope in reality and allows for precise targeting and visual tracking of torpedoes. The switch from (almost)3D back to a 2D view removes a huge barrier from the development of the sim and I think the end result is a whole lot more useful, realistic and versatile.
Changed the tactical map in the weapons control panel. It now displays a much larger area around the submarine, and shows both radar and visual contacts. It looks a lot more authentic now too.
Added 6 different types of ship to the game. Now there are three types of cargo ship and three types of warship. Warships are still unarmed at the moment but that should change soon.
Changed the spotting mechanics - now you're not able to see the exact type and name of a ship until you get close to it and look through the periscope.
Changed the way the game handles keyboard inputs, completely removing the annoying input lag from earlier versions. The difference is massive - the controls now feel a lot more precise and responsive.
New radar contacts are now announced, and detecting a new radar contact will immediately disable fast travel mode.
Numerous bug fixes, mostly relating to water pressure and radiation sickness.


Also updated the screenshots in the first post of this thread to show off the new tactical map and periscope view!

[Tango589]

Hi Geoff,

I've been playing this for the weekend, and a couple of thoughts:

a) can there be an auto-navigation option, so instead of controlling the subs' movements, these are delegated to the navigation officer, a la SH3?

b) Can the crew give warnings about system failures instead of just 'a muffled bang was heard' or me having to carry out sweeps of the systems to find out if anything has broken yet? I'm sure a systems panel would throw up alerts for something as critical as the Reactor 1 coolant pump failing...:hmmm:

Also, are there any ways of dealing with major fires or radiation leaks, such as using the ventilation purge system, that I am unaware of?

Other than these queries, a good involving game!:salute:

[TheGeoff]

Hi Tango, thanks for the feedback. I definitely like the idea of an auto navigation system, since at the moment I think manually navigating long distances is probably the least interesting part of the game. I'll figure out a nice way to partially automate it and include it in a future version - I doubt it'll make the next release but I'll be adding it soon.

When an accident occurs aboard the sub, I want the player to feel the tension. It's tricky to find a balance between giving the player way too much information and not giving enough - but I agree, the current system is pretty unhelpful (not to mention unrealistic). In a future update I'll probably either expand the current system with more detailed warning messages or add a "Maintenance Control Panel" or similar which tells you at a glance where potential problems are.

When dealing with fires and radiation it's important to be prepared - it's often best to equip some of the more skillful crew with fire extinguishers, gas masks, chemical suits etc at the start of the game so when something goes wrong they're ready to deal with the problem immediately. Equipment and crew experience makes a big difference in this game. Another decent way to extinguish a fire without risking any crew is to evacuate the room, seal the doors, close the vents and wait till the fire dies from lack of oxygen. I've read that British submarines have some kind of foam-based fire suppression system, I might add something like that soon too.

Purging the ventilation system is meant to allow you to remove radiation and replenish oxygen throughout the sub while you're on the surface. It's way too slow at the moment but I've tweaked it a bit so it'll be a whole lot more effective in the next version.

It's encouraging to see so many people interested in the game! This version already has twice as many downloads as every other version put together :)

[Tango589]

Cheers for the reply Geoff, that is some useful information. I found out it is a BAD idea to forget to close the ventilation system before diving, I ended up with severe rising damp! :rotfl2:

Would you be interested in writing, or having someone else write (if given the bare bones details), a more comprehensive manual, as there is a lot of stuff i'm not sure about, such as the effects of altering the reactor pump speeds combined with altering the control rod levels to adjust the power output, or how to pump flood water out of your sub?:hmmm:

[Tango589]

As another thought, would the sub have emergency bilge pumps for the removal of flood water? I ask because to rapidly estinguish a fire in the fore torpedo room that I couldn't seal off due to the bulkhead door being destroyed, I locked all adjoining doors, opened the torpedo room vents and flooded the room. This put the fire out fast but i am unsure how to remove the excess water from the boat, which was now sitting on the sea bed at 30M deep.:hmmm:

[rooivalk]

Hi TheGeoff really enjoying the the new functionality

[TheGeoff]

Cheers for the reply Geoff, that is some useful information. I found out it is a BAD idea to forget to close the ventilation system before diving, I ended up with severe rising damp! :rotfl2:

Would you be interested in writing, or having someone else write (if given the bare bones details), a more comprehensive manual, as there is a lot of stuff i'm not sure about, such as the effects of altering the reactor pump speeds combined with altering the control rod levels to adjust the power output, or how to pump flood water out of your sub?:hmmm:

There is a small game guide included in the zip file, called guide.txt. It has a description of most of the subsystems on the submarine and has rough guidelines and advice on how to use them best. It's very outdated now though, it was written for about version 0.09 and definitely needs an overhaul. I'll rewrite it soon as a proper pdf manual with diagrams and screenshots I think.

And yes, bilge pumps (or some way to reduce flooding) are badly needed! I'll be adding them soon, definitely in one of the next two updates.

[Tango589]

Ooops, I just realised that I've never read the manual past the key bindings section. The rest of the manual does indeed answer many of my questions.:oops:

Whilst I'm playing this, my mind is whirling with things that could improve it; I've already posted a couple here so far. Others include hostile aircraft that are armed and can cause you damage (you've already said armed warships are a possibility, the aircraft would just be faster moving sprites that are not torpedo-targetabble.) Also, sound effects would boost the atmosphere. Some general submarine-like hubbub would be good, along with clankings when repairs are being carried out, and alarms to signify emergency situations. A good list of appropriate alarms can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alarms_on_submarines_of_the_United_States_Navy
with downloadable sound effect files for you to listen to (in .ogx format).

Personally I would have the Diving alarm/Cow Fart for diving, Collision alarm for collision/flooding, Missile Jettison for fire/radiation, Missile Emergency for inbound aircraft (if you are on or near the surface with radar on) and Power Plant Casualty for mechanical failures.

Hopefully my ideas are of some use, otherwise feel free to ignore them and write them off as the product of a fevered imagination.:03:

[TheGeoff]

Your ideas are definitely useful, I love hearing suggestions to improve the sim :)

Aircraft will definitely be in the game, both fixed wing and helicopters, as they have a unique and vital role in modern naval warfare. At first I'll probably add anti submarine aircraft and patrol aircraft like the P-3 Orion, Nimrod, IL-38 and Breuget Atlantic but many more will eventually be added, including carrier-based aircraft and helicopters. I'm not aware of any widely used submarine launched anti-air weapons so I don't think it will be possible for the player to engage hostile aircraft. But they will definitely pose a threat, and will make operating near enemy coastlines a lot more difficult.

Armed warships are not just a possibility, they're already in the next version and seem to be working pretty well! Currently there are destroyers with 5" cannons, frigates with anti-shipping missiles and cruisers with both. They fire at you if your submarine is surfaced within visual range, and I'm looking at the possibility of adding some kind of torpedo or ASROC for surface vessels to attack submerged submarines when they are detected on sonar.

Sound effects would be great but it's often difficult to find high quality free ones. That wiki link is very useful though and I'll definitely be using some of those alarm sounds.

[Tango589]

I might be missing something really simple, but can anyone tell me in wasy to follow steps how to change my ships nationality? It's all well and good being a Ruskie but I would prefer to be British, what?

[TheGeoff]

Open gameoptions.ini and change player_nation to whatever you want. At the moment the following nations should work:

USSR
USA
China
Italy
Turkey
Japan
India
Pakistan
Philippines
Argentina
Australia
South Africa
Libya
Israel

Other nations will not work at the moment because they do not have a valid port to start at. Unfortunately, both of the ports I placed in Britain seem to be nonfunctional for some reason, so attempting to start with player_nation=United Kingdom will cause the game to freeze. I'll fix this for the next version. Since there have been quite a few downloads from Germany, France, Spain and Poland I'll also add ports there.

[Tango589]

Thanks, I knew it had to be something simple!

[TheGeoff]

Version 0.18 released!
Link: http://goo.gl/3bcZ4K

Changelog:

Added ability for hostile warships to fire at the player's submarine. If the submarine is visible from the surface hostile warships will engage with 5" cannons and / or guided anti-ship missiles (depending on the type of ship). Some of these weapons can engage you from beyond visual range so keep an eye on the radar and don't surface in hostile waters unless absolutely necessary!
Added the foundations of the noise and stealth modelling system. From the Maneuver control panel it is now possible to check how much of the submarine is visible above the surface and how much noise the submarine is making.
Significantly improved AI in situations where there is fire nearby or a lack of oxygen. The crew won't stand around with their pants on fire and wait for orders any more, they'll move to safety. If the entire compartment they are assigned to is ablaze or low on oxygen they will retreat to a safe location and wait for further orders. If they are ordered to complete a specific task, however, they will bravely do so regardless of the risks.
Electrolysis of water to produce oxygen and hydrogen is now simulated. This allows you to slowly replenish the ship's oxygen supply while submerged - the system is controlled from the Misc Systems Control Panel. It uses a significant amount of electrical power to operate, so it might be wise to switch it off when not required.
Fixed the ventilation system so it's a whole lot more effective now. A side effect of this is that radiation spreads more quickly is the system gets contaminated.
Added a system damage summary to the Misc Systems Control Panel. It shows you at a glance which systems are damaged and if immediate repairs are necessary or not. Items shown in white are non-critical (eg. broken screen on a control panel, dented case on diesel generator) and red items are critical (radioactive coolant leak, fuel leak with risk of fire etc).
Added nine new cities / ports (Marseille, La Rochelle, Devonport, Glasgow, Kiel, Rostock, Barcelona, Gdansk, Warsaw) and one new nation (Poland). This means it is possible to play as a submarine from France, United Kingdom, West Germany, East Germany, Spain or Poland now, in addition to the existing options (listed earlier on this page)
Numerous other bug fixes.


Enjoy :salute:
(and keep those suggestions coming if you think of anything cool to add!)

[Tango589]

Keep them coming, I'm loving it so far because you're no longer shooting fish in a barrel, the fish can now shoot back! In addition to the possible inclusion of a fire suppression system and bilge pump system to pump out flood water whilst submerged, would it be possible to pull into a friendly port and have torpedoes replaced and existing damage (especially to the outer hull) repaired, so you are once again good to go? This would make for an interesting limp back to a friendly base after sustaining heavy damage, whilst avoiding detection by enemy vessels and aricraft. Also, sonar/hydrophone functionality is essential for shipping detection, albeit limited, when completely submerged.:up:

This could be useful for sound effects http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=206077

edit: re the fire suppression system, i reckon it really would need to prevent a fire for 30 mins - 1hr, as I've just had a killer time with a fire in the torp room whilst submerged to 14 metres. The fire destroyed one of the fuel bins as well as breaching the pressure hull letting in water and putting the fire out. I surfaced the boat draining the water out and sent someone in to repair the fuel bin. A large fuel fire broke out, killing my repairman. I had dive to 1 metre, flooding the room and extinguishing the fire, then resurfacing to drain it again, then send in another repairman. Repeat steps with repairman, fire, death, flood, drain, repair, fire etc until I'm running out of sailors!

Oh, what to do?

I can't wait for version 0.19!!!:arrgh!:

further edit: Given your list in post #1, here is my list of importance.

- User interface realistic subsystem panels would increase the realism, rather than a screen of plain text

- Realistic modelling of submarine systems we've already discussed a couple of good ideas

- Graphics a bit less blocky and a bit more realistic is always welcome

- Realistic modelling of environment (water physics etc)undersea currents/thermal layers could be a possibility

- Lots of missions escort or surveillance missions would mix things up nicely

- Setting (WWII / cold war / modern) personally I like the current modern setting

- Historical accuracy
- Lots of different playable submarines

these last 2 are 'as and when' for me.

Rock on!:rock:

[TheGeoff]

Good suggestions Tango! I'll definitely be adding the ability to have your sub repaired and rearmed at a friendly port (and any injured or sick crew treated at a hospital). That will hopefully add more of a sense of persistence - eventually this could grow into a full campaign-type mode, with a persistent boat and crew which you lead through an entire war... that's definitely a long term goal though.
And sonar is of course going to be added soon, it's probably the most important sensor in submarine warfare so that's definitely a priority. Environmental effects like thermal layers will be added at the same time as the sonar. I haven't found a lot of information about what sonar displays actually look like though... I've read a lot about 'waterfall' displays etc but can't find many reference images or videos. I'm not sure how realistic the displays in Dangerous Waters are but I'll probably end making something similar looking unless I can find better info elsewhere.

Thanks for the sound effect link, I'll see what I can find. Like most features, the sound system will probably be rolled out slowly over a few updates - I'll almost definitely start introducing them in the next update. It will definitely always be possible to play the game without sound though - I want to make sure you won't be missing any important information if you play with the sound off. It's purely for immersion.

Fires in the torpedo room are incredibly dangerous at the moment because the torpedoes tend to explode and kill your firemen before you get a chance to extinguish them. Hopefully the fire suppression system will help balance this a bit. At the moment my recommendation is to make sure the best firefighter on the ship is assigned to the torpedo room with a fire extinguisher and gloves, and set the oxygen level for the ship to lower than normal to slow down the rate the fire spreads. Normal air has 21% oxygen, but on real submarines they use around 18% oxygen for exactly this reason. I'm not sure why the fuel bin kept catching fire in your case though, it should only happen once - sounds like a bug to me.

It's funny you mention using realistic panels, that's something I've been thinking about adding for a while. Maybe I'll introduce them as an optional feature soon too. I'm not sure how easy it will be to accurately convey information but who knows, maybe it'll be better than the current system. It certainly would look a lot better!

And as for other mission types, adding a surveillance type mission wouldn't be hard. Most other types will have to wait until later, when the behaviour of AI ships is significantly improved. I also plan to add missile submarines later, which will of course be assigned different missions to the attack submarines.

Thanks again for the feedback and suggestions!

[Tango589]

Glad to be of assistance, I actually added to the post about 5 times over the weekend as I thought of more things!

Could you clarify the use of the deisel generators to recharge the batteries? In the name of experimentation, I shut down the turbines and scrammed the reactors, then tried running on battery power after turning off all non-essential systems. Despite having both generators thudding away at 80% throttle the battery drained faster than i could imagine, I had even deliberately slowed to 2 knots to minimise load. The battery only started recharging once I had got the nukes back online. On the first test, I made the mistake of running this test submerged, and it tickled me to see the air supply diminish and the last 4 crew members running round the boat looking for some air. They ended up hiding in the reactor antechamber, which was all well and good until I opened the reactor chamber door and hit them with a blast of radiation (~70sV/hr) from the damaged No.1 reactor! Mmwaaahaaahaaahaahaaa!:haha:

edit It's funny you mention using realistic panels, that's something I've been thinking about adding for a while. Maybe I'll introduce them as an optional feature soon too.

Optional schmoptional, if you implement them, I'm having them!:woot:

[Andayle]

This is fantastic :D

I only stumbled across this game yesterday, downloaded it at around 7pm. What I thought was around an hour later turned out to be a little more at 11pm :P

I'm a huge fan of the Dwarf Fortress format, combining this with a subsim is perfect gaming for me. One thing I did notice was that my sub would be very unreliable with its equipment. I had a major damage to both generators and also my torpedo room caught on fire and killed all the crew in it. This was before I even reached the mission area :)

I shall let a few of my friends know of this as they have very similar taste in games. Keep up the great work, this could well turn into something spectacular for us Dwarf Fortress type gamers :)

[Tango589]

I had a major damage to both generators and also my torpedo room caught on fire and killed all the crew in it. This was before I even reached the mission area.

A good way to combat this is, at the start of the mission, get your best torp room firefighter equipped with extinguisher and gloves, using the oxygen generator reduce the oxygen level to 17/18% instead of the usual 21%. This will stop the fire flaring up so fast, as is the standard procedure in real life. Lastly, be lucky! Hopefully an upcoming release will have a fire supression system modelled, so this should save on scorched sailors.:up:

[TheGeoff]

This is fantastic :D

I only stumbled across this game yesterday, downloaded it at around 7pm. What I thought was around an hour later turned out to be a little more at 11pm :P

I'm a huge fan of the Dwarf Fortress format, combining this with a subsim is perfect gaming for me. One thing I did notice was that my sub would be very unreliable with its equipment. I had a major damage to both generators and also my torpedo room caught on fire and killed all the crew in it. This was before I even reached the mission area :)

I shall let a few of my friends know of this as they have very similar taste in games. Keep up the great work, this could well turn into something spectacular for us Dwarf Fortress type gamers :)

Glad you like it! Sounds like we have similar tastes in games :)

If you want to change how often accidents/failures occur, open the "gameoptions.ini" file in the game folder and change the value for sub_reliability. If you make it much higher, say 1000, accidents will rarely occur. For a real challenge, make it zero and see how long you last!

I can confirm that the next version will include a fire suppression system, based on the LOKh ("Submarine Volumetric Chemical") system used on Russian and Indian submarines (and similar to those used on many other nations' subs). This is very useful, especially when torpedo room fires start getting out of control.

Also Tango thanks for pointing out the bug in battery usage - turns out the oxygen generator was using way too much power (even when switched off) and draining the battery in seconds. This will also be fixed in the next update.

[Tango589]

No probs, look forward to the next thrilling installment!

[TheGeoff]

Version 0.19 Released!
Download here: http://goo.gl/7J74vm


Sound effects are now in the game! Sounds for alarms, fire, flooding, combat etc are included, others will likely be added in the future. Sounds can be disabled in gameoptions.ini.
Realistic control panels are also here! The bland text-only control descriptions have been replaced by detailed, realistic and fully functional control panels. Let me know what you think! You can chose between the new and old panels in gameoptions.ini. When using the new panels, hold F1 to view keyboard commands.
Volumetric chemical fire suppression system (LOKh) is now modelled - activate from the Misc. Systems control panel. It rapidly fills a compartment with freon gas, which absorbs heat from the fire and displaces oxygen. Make sure you do not activate the system in an occupied compartment!
More realistic ship naming conventions. Now military ships have the correct prefix - a US warship might be called USS Rustbucket, while an Australian one would be called HMAS Rustbucket for example.
You can now go to periscope depth (14m) by pressing LShift-P
More accurate diplomatic relations between countries
Minor graphical improvements (in addition to the control panels)
Numerous tweaks and balancing changes.

[rooivalk]

Excellent changes, really like the new sound effects and panels, will you be adding mouse control? and I noticed there are two depth gauges, not sure what the top one measures, sorry not a submariner so all new to me:)

[TheGeoff]

Glad you like the changes. I probably will be adding mouse control for the switches, levers etc soon, the idea of a nuclear submarine with DCS-style clickable controls is very appealing :)

Maybe the depth gauges should be labelled better, they both display your depth but are on different scales. The top one shows 0-40m while the bottom one shows 0-400m - basically the top one allows you to more accurately measure and control your depth while near the surface.

[Red October1984]

It's been a while since I checked in with this project.

Coming along nicely! I like it. :)

[rooivalk]

Thank for the response, I see the scale now

Will you be adding SLBM,s ?

Really looking forward to the next vesrion

[Tango589]

This is great stuff! The new panels, fire defense and sound effects take this to another level!!

[Thetube]

I've really enjoyed this sim over the past couple of weeks, it's the kind of thing I grew up playing in the 80s/90s.

My only question being is there a way to repair items like the diesel generators without having them blow up and kill the guy trying to fix them? The torp fuel tanks do this as well although I can live without those.

[Aktungbby]

Welcome back to the surface after 6 years: Thetube!:Kaleun_Salute:

[TheGeoff]

Thank for the response, I see the scale now

Will you be adding SLBM,s ?

Really looking forward to the next vesrion

Yes, SLBMs will be added eventually. I plan to add more submarines in the future, including missile submarines (which will have both nuclear and conventional missiles).

My only question being is there a way to repair items like the diesel generators without having them blow up and kill the guy trying to fix them? The torp fuel tanks do this as well although I can live without those.

The diesel generators should only explode if they are 1) on fire or 2) being run while damaged. But I think there's a bug at the moment causing them to explode more often than they should, including when they're not actually switched on... I'll look into it.
The torp fuel tanks explode if there is a major HTP leak, which is accelerated if the ventilation system in the tank fails. If you order a damage assessment you'll see the status of the ventilation system and the HTP tank - if the HTP tank is damaged, especially more than 50%, it's very risky to attempt repairs. If the HTP tank itself is not damaged there is no immediate risk of explosion and it's safe to attempt repairs (but if the ventilation system is not working, the HTP tank will take slowly damage and eventually fail).

The whole system definitely still needs tweaking balancing, some things happen way too quickly and others happen too slowly. I'm also considering giving more warning before things explode... maybe the object starts flashing and the crewman tries to run away, or something like that. At the moment it's a bit too easy to lose valuable crewmen to seemingly random explosions.

[Thetube]

The diesel generators also explode (whether running or not) if you are repairing them and the damage percentage gets to about 64 (counting down from 100). Unfortunately this kills the guys repairing them!

[TheGeoff]

New version released: Version 0.20
Link: http://goo.gl/1PzpZK

Changelog:

Added AI controlled aircraft to the game. The aircraft are based in major cities and will patrol their nation's airspace and territorial waters - they are equipped with anti-shipping missiles and will fire them at your submarine if you are spotted.
Added air search radar to the player submarine - this can detect air contacts up to 80 nautical miles away. It is controlled in the same way as the surface search radar.
Added 10 new ship types. They aren't simply "Destroyers" or "Frigates" any more, there are now "Charles F. Adams Class Destroyers", "Sverdlov Class Cruisers" etc. All ships are equipped with historical armaments, and are used in the game only by the nations which actually used them in the mid-late 20th century.
Added the ability to repair and rearm at friendly ports. Approach the port (can't be more than 1 square away) and press LShift+R - your submarine will be immediately repaired, rearmed, radiation will be removed etc.
Added a new mission type: reconnaissance. You will be tasked to infiltrate a hostile port and observe enemy activities in the area.
Improved hit detection; it is slightly more difficult to hit hostile ships, but your sub will also be hit less often.
Minor graphical improvements.
The "constantly exploding diesel engine" bug has been fixed! Several changes have also been made to the behaviour of other components when damaged. Now the damage models should be working correctly - generators, turbines etc can explode if they're being run while severely damaged, but if you turn them off you can safely conduct repairs. Similarly, radiation leaks from the reactors more slowly if they are shut down.
Other bugfixes, mostly relating to the way missions are assigned.


Enjoy!

If there are any ship classes, cities or countries you want added to the game, don't hesitate to ask! It's quick and easy to add them.

[Tango589]

Hi geoff, the latest update is awesome! I don't know if I've just missed it but is there any bilge pump facility to pump out flood water yet? What do you think would be a suitable max depth for the pumps to work before the outside water pressure is too great for the pumps to get water out of the boat? I'm thinking maybe 50 - 60 metres, this way there can be a race against time to get the water out before the weight drags you too deep.

[TheGeoff]

No, work on the pumps took longer than expected (and required a bunch of other things to be changed) so I decided not to include them in 0.20, they'll be in the next version. Because of limits with the old file system, adding the pumps as new objects required me to redesign the entire submarine - so now I've completely overhauled how the game handles submarine data files to make building and editing submarines an easier and quicker process in future. Which was definitely worthwhile, as it simplifies a lot of other tasks too.

But back to the pumps. Previously I tried adding them in a similar way to the ventilation system (so they simply removed water at a constant rate from every room) but it was very difficult to balance - sometimes the pumps were almost useless, other times they were so effective it almost felt like cheating. Now, I've added them as independent objects in the game (like the diesel engines for example) so they can be individually damaged, destroyed, repaired etc. I hadn't considered the effects of water pressure but that's an excellent point, and provides a very good way to balance the system. At the moment I think the pumps should run at full efficiency down to about 30m, then taper off until about 100m where they will basically stop working - but this will require some testing and balancing. As you said, it should be a tense race against time! The pumps will definitely be included in the next version, and I expect the sonar system to be mostly finished by then too.

[Tango589]

You are too cool for school!:rock:

[Thetube]

I'm really enjoying this sim, great job.

This may sound a little odd, but is there any chance you could add a pause button? It's really frustrating when things are just getting exciting and the doorbell rings or the phone goes, if you're not careful you've got a smoking ruin rather than a sub!

[Tango589]

I'm really enjoying this sim, great job.

This may sound a little odd, but is there any chance you could add a pause button? It's really frustrating when things are just getting exciting and the doorbell rings or the phone goes, if you're not careful you've got a smoking ruin rather than a sub!
Pressing 'esc' does the trick, press enter to resume!:up:

[Thetube]

Pressing 'esc' does the trick, press enter to resume!:up:

So it does, that'll teach me to rtfm!

Cheers

[Thetube]

Would it be possible to add the ability for the crew to work on repairing the outer hull/dive planes when surfaced (obviously going outside the boat to do so).

[TheGeoff]

Hmm, it's possible. Not sure exactly how that would work but I could try adding some way to open the hatch and allow crew to walk outside... I'll do some experimenting and see what works. In the meantime, remember you can be fully repaired at friendly ports by getting close and pressing Left Shift + R.

[TheGeoff]

Hmm, it's possible. Not sure exactly how that would work but I could try adding some way to open the hatch and allow crew to walk outside... I'll do some experimenting and see what works. In the meantime, remember you can be fully repaired at friendly ports by getting close and pressing Left Shift + R.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Keep up the good work : )

[TheGeoff]

Will do :salute:

By the way everyone, I don't think I've mentioned it before but (because of the way the crew experience/skills system works) it's possible to 'train' crew so they're better prepared for a disaster. Find an empty, unimportant area of the sub with nothing explosive nearby and use Tab to start fires or Left Ctrl to damage walls/floors/objects, then order the crew to extinguish the fires and repair everything. The crewmen will become more proficient at skills they practice regularly, so when a real emergency occurs they will be able to deal with it more quickly and efficiently.

This is a similar process to the training drills run on real submarines to keep the crew disciplined and well-prepared. I doubt they actually set real nuclear submarines on fire just to keep the crew on their toes but it's the same principle!

[Tango589]

Just out of curiosity, would it be possible to make this game touch screen compatible, so I can play it with the stylus on my Win 8.1 tab?:hmmm:

edit: I have trouble shutting down both reactors and pumps, then restarting from cold without various things breaking. The worst is a loss of coolant, which causes an irreversable temperature rise and meltdown. Should equipment be this fragile?

Also, I've tried shutting down the reactors and running on the diesels with all vents open and the system purging, but the genny room O2 level still diminishes. Could the inclusion of a snorkel help with this?

[TheGeoff]

Making it playable on a tablet would be very tricky - there are so many keyboard commands it'd be difficult to completely replace it with on screen controls. But I plan to expand the mouse functionality soon (so you can click switches, buttons etc) so I'll see how I go with the touch screen stuff then, if it doesn't seem too hard then you might be in luck.

Shutting down and restarting the reactors should be pretty safe... only thing to watch out for is running the pumps too fast, which can cause damage to them. Also make sure the pumps are running at full speed before you start raising the control rods. But I can't think of anything which would cause the components to start breaking - maybe it was just random failures which happened to affect the reactor? Increasing sub_reliability in gameoptions.ini should improve that if failures are happening too often. I'll look into it though - there's always the possibility of a bug sneaking in and causing failures to happen too often.

Loss of coolant is pretty deadly though, at the moment the only way to fix it is to return to port. I have an idea for fixing this which I will add to the next version. After all, the coolant is just water so there's no reason it couldn't be replaced while the sub is underway.

And thanks for letting me know about the diesel engine problem, I'll tweak the rates for the engine air consumption and ventilation system to fix that. Or maybe add a snorkel, but I think the functionality would be pretty much exactly the same as the purging system.

[TheGeoff]

Version 0.21 released!
Download here: http://goo.gl/PsBCbK

Changelog:

AI controlled ships can now move around, and warships will actively hunt down your submarine if you are detected. Sonar is now simulated for all warships which were historically equipped with it. Anti submarine weapons are also simulated: many warships are equipped with depth charges, ASROC missiles or mortar systems like the RBU-6000. Evading destroyers is now a real challenge! If detected it's best to stay submerged, move slowly (less than 5 knots is best) and try to either escape or reach a position where you can launch a torpedo at the attacker.
Passive sonar is now simulated for your submarine. Note that the sonar display is clearest while moving slowly and completely submerged - moving quickly, especially while surfaced, will add a lot of noise to the display and make identifying contacts difficult. Your sonar has a 'blind spot' directly behind your submarine due to interference from the submarine itself. No active sonar, narrowband info or towed arrays yet but they're planned for future updates.
Related environmental effects are also simulated, like the thermal layer in water which can distort sonar signals. The depth of the thermal layer varies with ambient temperature, currents etc but it is generally shallow (or non-existent) near the poles and deep near the equator. It is marked in blue on your depth gauge.
Bilge pumps have been added. Select them like a control panel and press + or - to turn the pump up or down, or Z to toggle the pump fully on/fully off. Pumps are more effective at shallow depths.
The submarine layout has been changed slightly.
It is now possible to replace lost coolant fluid in the nuclear reactors. The coolant reservoir is simulated (part of the primary coolant pump) and will take damage over time as coolant leaks out. Stopping the leak then repairing the reservoir will replace the coolant. It's important to identify the source of the leak and fix it BEFORE you repair the reservoir, otherwise the coolant may leak out faster than you can refill it.
Added a couple more ship classes and weapon types.
Made explosions slightly less common and slightly more damaging.
Several other bugfixes, including tweaking the rates for oxygen use in the diesel engines and the rate crewmen breathe.


Enjoy! As a special request, could you please let me know how difficult (or how easy) you find fighting destroyers, frigates etc?
(A good way to get some quick action is to play as West Germany and immediately sail east to Rostock, where you will almost always find some East German ships)

[Tango589]

Hi Geoff,

What's the maximum range of the passive sonar? I've tried to hunt ships completely submerged using it, but I find you have to be quite close (about as close as you have to be for ships to show up on the tactical screen) before the sonar detects them. Maybe it's just me not understanding the operational ranges, so any info is useful.

cheers.

[vimza]

Looks a bit like dwarf fortress.

Sails out and dives. Crash into the sea floor. Surfaces again. Use the sonar. The sonar is on fire. Put out sonar fire. Read radio message. Look at map. Notice a fire in the torpedo room, send crew. All of torpedo room and crew on fire.

Hard as dwarf fortress also :)

[Tango589]

Looks a bit like dwarf fortress.

Sails out and dives. Crash into the sea floor. Surfaces again. Use the sonar. The sonar is on fire. Put out sonar fire. Read radio message. Look at map. Notice a fire in the torpedo room, send crew. All of torpedo room and crew on fire.

Hard as dwarf fortress also :)
Yeah, but that's why we love it! Where else could you deal with simultaneous hull breach, flooding and a fire as well as an overheating reactor and just when you thought it was getting a bit dull the fire extinguisher system in the generator room malfunctions and threatens to suffocate your crew? Nothing like a relaxing bit of gameplay to while away the afternoon!:rock:

[TheGeoff]

Hi Geoff,

What's the maximum range of the passive sonar? I've tried to hunt ships completely submerged using it, but I find you have to be quite close (about as close as you have to be for ships to show up on the tactical screen) before the sonar detects them. Maybe it's just me not understanding the operational ranges, so any info is useful.

cheers.

Information about the range of modern military sonar is very hard to find, as I'm sure you can imagine! And from what I have found, the range of sonar is hugely variable anyway, depending on sea conditions, the material on the bottom of the ocean etc. At the moment the passive sonar on your submarine will start detecting faint signals at around 16 nautical miles (each square on the map is 13.3 nautical miles). So if you're moving fairly slowly, it should be possible to identify ships slightly outside visual range. I'll probably tweak this to extend the maximum range a bit next version, maybe to 20 nautical miles. From what I've read, the detection range of modern sonar can vary from about 5NM to more than 100NM depending on the skill of the operator and the weather conditions - so until I get around to coding a more realistic sonar model, I think around 20NM in all conditions is a reasonable value.


Looks a bit like dwarf fortress.

Sails out and dives. Crash into the sea floor. Surfaces again. Use the sonar. The sonar is on fire. Put out sonar fire. Read radio message. Look at map. Notice a fire in the torpedo room, send crew. All of torpedo room and crew on fire.

Hard as dwarf fortress also :)


Yeah, but that's why we love it! Where else could you deal with simultaneous hull breach, flooding and a fire as well as an overheating reactor and just when you thought it was getting a bit dull the fire extinguisher system in the generator room malfunctions and threatens to suffocate your crew? Nothing like a relaxing bit of gameplay to while away the afternoon! :rock:


Someone should really talk to the guys at the shipyard who keep building these terrible accident-prone submarines :)

[Tango589]

Hi Geoff,

another bug to be squashed:

Out making a nuisance of myself round Rostock, I allowed myself to be spotted by a small warship. He knocked some holes in me, started a couple of small fires which were easy to deal with (O2 level at 18% :03:) and caused some flooding. I sat the sub on the sea bed and turned on all required bilge pumps and went to work with the welding. Suddenly, my guys start turning blue and falling over. WTF?? It seems the bilge pumps are so efficient they suck all the air out of the boat as well!! Surely this will leave a large mass of bubbles on the surface for any enterprising warship to spot?

[TheGeoff]

Hmm, interesting. Thanks for pointing it out, I'll take a look!

[Leo_93]

It's been a while since I posted but I just have to commend you on the fantastic game your making. I especially like the random failures as it makes commanding a nuke far more interesting. Also I noticed a little bug in the game that will display 2 radio messages overlapping each other as if you were to write two sentences on the same line of paper. However small bugs aside I believe that this game has huge potential as even in this early state of development it is quite playable and is already one of my favorite games. Forgive the length of this post but I just wanted to throw in my two cents and let you know how good of a job your doing, keep up the good work.:up:

[TheGeoff]

Thank you! Comments like that are very encouraging. I'm glad you're enjoying it - and thanks for pointing out that radio message bug.

[pip12345]

The game got featured on Rock Paper Shotgun!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/25/the-flare-path-wharf-fortress/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RockPaperShotgun+%28Rock%2C+P aper%2C+Shotgun%29

[Sirnicknack]

Greetings had to register to say thanks for the great game. The community Here (http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1388617) started a thread on your game and we are loving it, If you get a chance feel free to come say hi and read through the fun times people are having with it. Keep up the great work!

[TheGeoff]

Amazing! A big thank you to Tim Stone for the Rock Paper Shotgun write up. I never expected the game to be this popular, it's great to see so much interest all of a sudden.

Thanks Sirnicknack, I'll definitely be signing up to the Facepunch forum to join in on the discussion!

[Sirnicknack]

Have you thought about creating a wiki for all the ship systems? as the game grows and more systems get added it will make it easier for people to learn the exact mechanics of each system for instance the way bilge pumps don't work after a certain depth etc.

Your adding some really well thought out systems with complicated mechanics but they are kind of transparent unless the player is paying close attention to each system. Having the details of each system documented would make modding support easier if you decide to add it and help the learning curve for new starters if the game grows more complex. Players could also add a lot of content around tutorials or strategies.

[Aktungbby]

Sirnicknack!:Kaleun_Salute:

[PunkiBas]

Just wanted to drop by and say that I found out about this game through that RPS article and I'm really loving it!
Had to die a lot of times, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it...

Many Thanks!

[Robsoie]

I found out about the game from a Bay12 board thread (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=138137.0) and after giving it a quick run, i find it fantastic.
Of course my first contact ended in a horrible failure :D but i really loved it.

Congratulations for that amazing game and thank you for sharing it with the world !

[Jimbuna]

Have you thought about creating a wiki for all the ship systems? as the game grows and more systems get added it will make it easier for people to learn the exact mechanics of each system for instance the way bilge pumps don't work after a certain depth etc.

Your adding some really well thought out systems with complicated mechanics but they are kind of transparent unless the player is paying close attention to each system. Having the details of each system documented would make modding support easier if you decide to add it and help the learning curve for new starters if the game grows more complex. Players could also add a lot of content around tutorials or strategies.

Just wanted to drop by and say that I found out about this game through that RPS article and I'm really loving it!
Had to die a lot of times, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it...

Many Thanks!

Welcome :sunny:

[TheGeoff]

Have you thought about creating a wiki for all the ship systems? as the game grows and more systems get added it will make it easier for people to learn the exact mechanics of each system for instance the way bilge pumps don't work after a certain depth etc.

Your adding some really well thought out systems with complicated mechanics but they are kind of transparent unless the player is paying close attention to each system. Having the details of each system documented would make modding support easier if you decide to add it and help the learning curve for new starters if the game grows more complex. Players could also add a lot of content around tutorials or strategies.

Yeah, a wiki would definitely help make the learning curve a bit less daunting. Would also be a good place to share info about modding the game, creating new submarines etc - I'll look into making one soon.

[Marcin]

Long time SH3 fan but not a regular forumer - dropped in by way of the RPS article to say amazing job, and keep it up!

So far half the crew dead although pressure hull repaired in the torpedo compartment; reactor leaking; fire suppression system malfunctioning - crew on break. :D Absolutely loving this so far, barely scratching the surface.

[Jimbuna]

Welcome to SubSim Marcin :sunny:

[Rilder]

Hmm tried to play it but gives me nothing but an "Illegal Memory address" on start. :hmmm:

[Robsoie]

Hmm tried to play it but gives me nothing but an "Illegal Memory address" on start. :hmmm:

googling this i found some people had this problem with the game and apparently they made it work with either :
- running it as administrator
- adding it as a safe program in your "Data Execution Prevention" , method to do that in case you don't know :
http://www.windowsanswers.net/articles/dep-config

By the way, enable the mouse in the gameoptions.ini, it makes the game a lot more pleasing to play with.
I hope there will be some more work on the mouse support so we can tweak all those panels and levers in the sub with the mouse, but already the ability to move the cursor and click around in the sub helps gameplay a lot.

[Rilder]

googling this i found some people had this problem with the game and apparently they made it work with either :
- running it as administrator
- adding it as a safe program in your "Data Execution Prevention" , method to do that in case you don't know :
http://www.windowsanswers.net/articles/dep-config


Ah the DEP was the issue, only second program I've ever had that issue with.

[MrBismarck]

A pause button that doesn't dump me back to the start screen would be useful.

I'd love an FTL-style pause that allows me to issue orders and properly consider which of the crew should be the one sent to the only room not on fire.

[TheGeoff]

Yeah, an 'active' pause function which allows you to look around and issue orders would be really useful and is definitely planned for the future.

Not sure why the game is running into problems with Windows DEP, but quite a few people are reporting it!

[Rilder]

Someone created a thread about Sub Commander on the Roguelike subreddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikes/comments/244l41/sub_commander_a_submarine_based_roguelike/

[NefariousKoel]

What a great idea.

Two of my favorite genres.. sub simming and roguelikes. :up:

[MrBismarck]

Yeah, an 'active' pause function which allows you to look around and issue orders would be really useful and is definitely planned for the future.


No rush. Is it done yet?

I've tried playing without the pause and it all goes wrong much too quickly to be funny. I need it to go wrong slowly and painfully so I can enjoy it.

[TheGeoff]

Version 0.22 released!
http://goo.gl/Qpr0w1

Changelog:

Aircraft are now simulated in much greater detail. They can be selected (targeted) with LShift+T - although obviously they can't be hurt with torpedoes. There are currently 8 types of aircraft in game with many more planned.
Weapon graphics in the periscope view have been redone. The little red dots have been replaced with proper graphics for missiles, torpedoes, depth charges and cannon shells.
Overhauled the anti-submarine weapons of AI ships. Now they will fire proper depth charges at you, which you will see sinking through the water around your sub and detonating. Much more realistic and it also looks really cool.
Added Sweden, Finland and Canada to the game. All 3 nations are playable.
Added 6 new cities, bringing the total to 65.
Added many, MANY more crew names and ship names for almost every nation. A BIG THANK YOU TO THE FACEPUNCH COMMUNITY FOR HELPING CREATE THESE NEW NAME FILES!
Better hydrodynamics modelling has been implemented. Modern nuclear submarines are designed to be submerged most of the time - their hull design means they are most efficient when fully underwater. Your top speed is now effectively limited when surfaced or near the surface.
Moved a lot of formerly hard-coded data to ini files. It is now possible to create custom submarines - a submarine development toolkit will be available for download soon.
Sonar range has been increased by 25%.
Crew AI has been improved. Crew will now avoid fires better and are slightly better at judging risks.
A mission log has been added. While you play the game, it will record important events to "mission_log.txt" in the game folder. After the mission ends you can read this, make copies of it or whatever. I suggest making a folder to keep copies of your best missions / worst disasters :)
*Note that the mission log is erased every time you start a new game*
SCBA gear (self contained breathing apparatus) has been added. This allows crew to survive indefinitely in low oxygen environments. 2 sets are available in the equipment storage.
As a temporary solution to the "equipment stuck on dead crew" problem, pieces of equipment will now teleport back into storage if their owner dies.
Aircraft and ship AI improvements.
Fixed the radio message bug.
It is now possible to restart the game without quitting. Simply press R on the pause menu - this will start a new game and randomise everything. You will lose all progress and the mission log will be overwritten.
Fixed a number of damage models, including the infamous torpedo fuel tanks. Now, as long as the fuel ventilation system is intact, the tanks will never explode. Numerous other systems were tweaked or fixed also.
The diesel generators will now switch off when you refit at a port, fixing an interesting bug pointed out on the Bay12 forums.
Fire suppression malfunctions now have a small chance of blowing up the Misc Systems Control Panel.
Fixed a bug where the game would freeze when playing as a completely neutral nation, because it couldn't figure out whose ships you should be sinking.
Numerous other bugfixes.

[Marcin]

You are a machine, sir. /salute

I know what *I* am doing tonight!

.... hmm, I wonder if this will run on this windows VM I have at work ... ^_^

[TheGeoff]

If you have downloaded v0.22 in the last 8 hours, please download it again. A very annoying bug in the fire suppression system has been fixed.

[Tango589]

Sweeeet, will d/l tomorrow at work. Sshhh, don't tell anyone...:cool:

[Urist McSubmariner]

Ah, I love this game! Came here from RockPaperShotgun and started playing from v0.21 :)

First voyage in v0.22, departed Odessa at periscope depth and 25kts, then got shelled to pieces by a Turkish destroyer. Spent some time contemplating life while stuck to the seabed in the Sea of Marmara; eventually patched enough leaks to float again and headed back Odessawards, this time aggressively torpedoing every enemy warship. I didn't take further damage, but did sink a few more times. Oxygen dropped to critical levels and I barely got to the surface in time to purge, which was surprising, as the reactors and generators were functional and electrolysis was running. Two crewmen survived, who turned out to be those wearing SCBA - very useful!

I really like the improved weapons modelling in v0.22 - and those SCBAs :)

I have a couple of questions:

- currently can asphyxiating crew recover? I have never observed an unconscious crew member get better.

- would it be possible to have a visual indication of whether or not a bilge pump is running?

- would it be feasible to have a centralised bilge pump control station? Perhaps in addition to the current direct control?

You're making the game I always wanted to play - thanks :)

[Tango589]

I have a couple of questions:

- currently can asphyxiating crew recover? I have never observed an unconscious crew member get better.

- would it be possible to have a visual indication of whether or not a bilge pump is running?

- would it be feasible to have a centralised bilge pump control station? Perhaps in addition to the current direct control?

You're making the game I always wanted to play - thanks :)

These are some good questions! As well as unconscious crew members recovering, could there be the ability for them to be carried to the crew quarters where they can receive medical attention to get them back to full fighting strength?

[Jimbuna]

Put a medic alongside them in the crew quarters and they should recover but not always.

[Tango589]

I wasn't even aware you had a medic onboard!:o
How do you get someone who's unconscious to the crew quarters?

[TheGeoff]

No, medics haven't been added yet but they're planned for one of the next few updates. At the moment, unconscious crew will very occasionally wake up again but mostly they just die... working on a fix for that at the moment.

Soon the AI will be improved so crew drag their comrades to safety, try to revive them and call for medical staff. That's the plan anyway...

[Tango589]

Hot diggity doo dah!:yeah:

[Aktungbby]

Urist McSubMariner!:Kaleun_Salute:

[TheGeoff]

The ruthless efficiency of the Subsim Welcome Committee never fails to amuse me. No newbie will go unwelcomed! :up:

In other news, I'm releasing the first version of the Submarine Development Tools. The zip file linked below includes two small programs which provide you with the tools needed to create a huge range of submarines.

If you want a submarine to work perfectly with the existing GUI, the following limitations will apply:

The submarine must have:

Two nuclear reactors
Four torpedo tubes
Two turbines
One turbine generator
One electric motor
One periscope
The sub can only have one equipment storage


But if you're willing to put up with some minor bugs (and use the text interface instead of the graphical one) almost anything should be possible!

Download here: http://goo.gl/MxBNIc

edit: also, here's a new sub loosely based on the USS Triton.
Download here: http://goo.gl/fl6iiP
Put the 'triton' folder in your /subs/ directory (where the default folder is), then open gameoptions.ini and change 'sub_folder = default' to 'sub_folder = triton'

[Tango589]

This is fantastic! At last, I can have a spherical sub!!:o

[Aktungbby]

The ruthless efficiency of the Subsim Welcome Committee never fails to amuse me. No newbie will go unwelcomed!:up::sign_yeah: :yeah: :Kaleun_Salute: :Kaleun_Periskop: :Kaleun_Binocular:From Caesar's misquoted Commentaries: We Seek; We Find; We Welcome! :subsim:

[Jimbuna]

The ruthless efficiency of the Subsim Welcome Committee never fails to amuse me. No newbie will go unwelcomed! :up:



To think you've been a member longer than some helps bring along the realisation this is one of the friendliest communities on the internet :salute:

[Thetube]

I'm liking the depth charges, they add a whole new dimension to it, but at the moment that are more of a nuisance than a threat. If one goes off close aboard and the outer and inner hulls are already damaged I'd expect at least a destroyed result on one of the parts of the hull, also when depth charges go off alongside the reactor room they damage the hull but leave the shielding alone, they might be better if they were a bit more damaging.

[kritZ]

First Post!:ping:

Anyway, I really love this game so far. The tension of hoping that you're deep enough to avoid depth charges, or the hilarity of ordering a crash dive and hitting the bottom 3 seconds later. I also like the management aspect too, something that few games have.

I have a few questions also.

Will ships that are depth charging me leave if I minimize the noise enough?

Will you be adding different levels to subs? It would be cool to have a WWII sub with a deck gun.

Also, how do you purge? This came out of a long episode in the middle of the pacific where the radiation level eventually reached over 900 rads. Adding on to this, will things like reactors build up damage? Like it starts at 7% and then builds up to 15% while releasing more radiation and potentially a meltdown?

Again, I really love this game and it will continue to have my attentions for a long while.:D

[Aktungbby]

KritZ:Kaleun_Salute:

[Tango589]

First Post!:ping:

Anyway, I really love this game so far. The tension of hoping that you're deep enough to avoid depth charges, or the hilarity of ordering a crash dive and hitting the bottom 3 seconds later. I also like the management aspect too, something that few games have.

I have a few questions also.

Will ships that are depth charging me leave if I minimize the noise enough?

Will you be adding different levels to subs? It would be cool to have a WWII sub with a deck gun.

Also, how do you purge? This came out of a long episode in the middle of the pacific where the radiation level eventually reached over 900 rads. Adding on to this, will things like reactors build up damage? Like it starts at 7% and then builds up to 15% while releasing more radiation and potentially a meltdown?

Again, I really love this game and it will continue to have my attentions for a long while.:D

Welcome aboard kritZ :arrgh!:

The longer you leave the reactors damaged, the more damage they sustain and the more radiation they leak, depending on what is damaged. If the casing is damaged, you should be OK, but if you have a coolant leak then you are spilling radioactive water all over the floor, the reactor will get hotter and hotter until *BOOOM* meltdown occurs. If this is the case then SCRAM the reactor ASAP, kit out your best welder in gloves, overalls, gas mask and welding kit and repair the leak fast.

You purge the subs' air system from the misc. equipment panel. Toggle the switches to isolate any areas you don't want purging and press 'p'.

To empty the boat of radiation:

1) Close all vents to prevent spreading the radiation further round the boat.

2) Open the vents to the compartments you need purging

3) Press 'p'

***WARNING: perform this on the surface or you will flood any compartment you have opened the vents to!!***

I have made this mistake before, in the days when there were no bilge pumps onboard!! Remember to close all vents before diving again as well...:oops:

[Jimbuna]

Welcome Aboard kritZ :sunny:

[Tango589]

I've spread the good word about this sim on SimHQ and people have shown interest! :yeah:

BTW, someone did mention the use of Blitz3D and wondered if this was a way to go in the future?:hmmm:

[TheGeoff]

First Post!:ping:

Anyway, I really love this game so far. The tension of hoping that you're deep enough to avoid depth charges, or the hilarity of ordering a crash dive and hitting the bottom 3 seconds later. I also like the management aspect too, something that few games have.

I have a few questions also.

Will ships that are depth charging me leave if I minimize the noise enough?

Will you be adding different levels to subs? It would be cool to have a WWII sub with a deck gun.

Also, how do you purge? This came out of a long episode in the middle of the pacific where the radiation level eventually reached over 900 rads. Adding on to this, will things like reactors build up damage? Like it starts at 7% and then builds up to 15% while releasing more radiation and potentially a meltdown?

Again, I really love this game and it will continue to have my attentions for a long while.:D Glad you like it!

To answer your questions: it is possible to evade attacking ships, but can be difficult. Basically, the faster you are moving, the more noise you will make and the further away they will be able to detect you. But the attacking ships always remember where they last detected you, so if you're going too slowly you won't be able to escape before they return and depth charge you again. It's possible to evade them by carefully managing your speed and turning away from the attackers at the right time - diving below the thermal layer (marked in blue on your depth gauge) will also help.

Different levels might be added, eventually. It would allow for much bigger subs as well as conning towers, proper radar masts etc, but it's not a priority at the moment.

And as Tango said, you must surface and press P to purge (then press P again before you dive!)

I've spread the good word about this sim on SimHQ and people have shown interest!

BTW, someone did mention the use of Blitz3D and wondered if this was a way to go in the future?Thanks Tango! Always great to see more people interested in the game, and I imagine there's a lot of people at SimHQ this game might appeal to.

I have a trial version of Blitz3D and I've thought about experimenting with a 3D version - the language is almost identical, so it shouldn't be too hard. Maybe I'll give it a try some time soon and see what I can come up with.


By the way everyone, in response to some feedback from the Facepunch forums I've updated the Submarine Development Tools a bit. The sub editor now has keyboard support, a fullscreen version, and the ability to remove doors (press delete to remove all doors). Please redownload the dev tools zip file (http://goo.gl/MxBNIc) to get the new version - might make things easier!

[kritZ]

Thanks for the tips:salute:

Something that I've noticed is that when you send guys in to do something, like repairing, after they've completed the job they just kinda hang around for awhile. It gets somewhat annoying when you have to constantly monitor a guy in the reactor room so that he doesn't hang around after he's done and grow a new arm in the face.

Also, any word on when a clickable interface is coming?

Keep up the good work.:ping:

[MrBismarck]

Five subs in and all five have caught fire doing somewhere between 5 and 7 knots, about five minutes from base. If this was accurate The Hunt For Red Oktober would have been a much shorter movie.

Not aided by the fact that the crew can't be bothered to do anything about the fires. "The crew report an explosion." Yeah... that's what happens when you ignore a fire in the generator room forever.

I even turned the sub_reliability up in the .ini, in the hopes of getting out of dock without exploding. On that mission the Maneuver Control Panel broke and then the fire suppression system malfunctioned and then the sub caught fire.

I feel like the Monty Python guy who built his castle in a swamp.

[Mixolyde]

I found this game via a roguelike thread in the GamersWithJobs forums (which is an amazing place): http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/37043?page=64#comment-2916772

First, I just have to say that it completely blew me away in terms of awesomeness, presentation, surprises, complexity, and fun. The detail is fantastic, and I'm looking forward to more updates.

Second, I was messing around with game options and encountered a few bugs. I'm not sure which option(s) caused this issue, but I changed
player_nation = USA
sub_reliability = 90
advanced_damage_model = 0
sub_radar_model = 2
And whenever I start a game like this, I cannot use the periscope at all. The game doesn't crash, but an officer will go to the periscope and nothing will happen. Also with these settings, the Misc Panel that should list damaged systems never lists anything, no matter what goes wrong.

Third, the game pegs my CPU usage, even when it's at the main menu, and even when alt-tabbed. Slowing it down or pausing when alt-tabbed would be nice. It kills my CPU even before I've started a game. This is on win XP.

Some general interface suggestions:
Where possible, please show current heading, speed, depth and desired heading speed and depth, and depth under keel on more screens. It may not be "realistic" to show all of this info on all of the nav/periscope/map/main screens, but I think it would make it more playable.
Similarly, being able to use -/+ to change depth from other screens would be handy, too. Alternatively, change -/+ keys for depth to some other keys, or change the -/+ keys for menu up/down to some other keys so that you can change your depth from anywhere, even in a menu.
When a seaman is getting equipment, hitting backspace should take you back to the "view crew member" menu, so that you can immediately assign them to work, instead of having to hit 'v' again.
If you hit 'z' a second time on a crew man, they should go back to their post, instead of to the bunks and then back to post.
Pressing Enter over the equipment storage should give you a list of current equipment in storage, and maybe show the equipment that has been taken and who has it.


Now general suggestions/enhancements:
Be able to store preferred depths or speeds and recall them
Have crew automatically move to another tile of fire or repairs when they finish a tile
Have crew automatically return to positions after all fires or repairs are completed in their current room.
Pop up a message warning when you assign a crew to go inside a room with high rad count and they don't have a rad suit on, or low O2 and they don't have SCBA.
Another blinking color for crew that indicates that they are not feeling normal (e.g. - dizzy, fever, etc). So you don't have to keep cycling through your crew to know if something is wrong.
Of course, a pause button that still allows you to view the game would be great. But that could be an option you set before you start a game.

That laundry list should keep you busy for a while. ;-)

Questions:
Is there a maximum that reliability can be set to?
Do rad suits prevent breathing in irradiated air?
How long after you scram a reactor does it stop producing radiation?

Super huge thank you for making such an amazing and interesting sim!

[Mixolyde]

One more question. Are there any good books or guides to cold war-era sub operations and tactics? This sim is so good/real, that I imagine books on real submarines would apply really well. And apply even more as the sim becomes more detailed.

[Aktungbby]

Mixolyde!:Kaleun_Salute:

[Jimbuna]

Welcome to SubSim Mixolyde :sunny:

[Tango589]

A quick question about the SubDeveloper. I created a sub and took it for a test sail. I dived to 20M and my luxuriously spacious torpedo room filled with water! How do you seal the tubes against the incoming deluge?

edit: never mind, I realised I was missing the pressure hull, so I basically had four gaping holes to let the sea in through!

Also:

Damn me this has suddenly got harder! I remember when you could steam around at periscope depth and very few ships would look twice at you. Now I've just been depth charged into oblivion by a small Egyptian Frigate that I couldn't shake in 30M of water.:o

[MrBismarck]

A quick question about the SubDeveloper. I created a sub and took it for a test sail. I dived to 20M and my luxuriously spacious torpedo room filled with water! How do you seal the tubes against the incoming deluge?

edit: never mind, I realised I was missing the pressure hull, so I basically had four gaping holes to let the sea in through!


I leave those open. It helps put the fires out.

[Tango589]

I leave those open. It helps put the fires out.
:haha: Believe it or not, before there was a fire suppression system and bilge pumps installed and there was a bug that kept re-igniting the torpedo fuel bins, I had to do the very same thing!


I've just had a killer time with a fire in the torpedo room whilst submerged to 14 metres. The fire destroyed one of the fuel bins as well as breaching the pressure hull letting in water and putting the fire out. I surfaced the boat draining the water out and sent someone in to repair the fuel bin. A large fuel fire broke out, killing my repairman. I had dive to 1 metre, flooding the room and extinguishing the fire, then resurfacing to drain it again, then send in another repairman. Repeat steps with repairman, fire, death, flood, drain, repair, fire etc until I'm running out of sailors!
:nope:

[Alex1993]

hi i'm new here :lurk: and i need to say i fell in love in this game the dev did a really good job (it's also the reason why i register to this site)i downloaded it around 9AM and played it for 19 hours already your game is really great i feel addicted to it thanks for such a beautiful game:salute:

[u crank]

Welcome to SubSim Alex1993. :salute:

[Mixolyde]

Thanks for the welcoming, guys!

Another interface change suggestion. Hitting 'z' while in a room sends all off the crew in that room to rest, if there are in that room. If all of the crew assigned to that room are at rest, hit 'z' to bring them back to work.

[TheGeoff]

I found this game via a roguelike thread in the GamersWithJobs forums (which is an amazing place): http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/37043?page=64#comment-2916772

First, I just have to say that it completely blew me away in terms of awesomeness, presentation, surprises, complexity, and fun. The detail is fantastic, and I'm looking forward to more updates.

Second, I was messing around with game options and encountered a few bugs. I'm not sure which option(s) caused this issue, but I changed
player_nation = USA
sub_reliability = 90
advanced_damage_model = 0
sub_radar_model = 2
And whenever I start a game like this, I cannot use the periscope at all. The game doesn't crash, but an officer will go to the periscope and nothing will happen. Also with these settings, the Misc Panel that should list damaged systems never lists anything, no matter what goes wrong.

Third, the game pegs my CPU usage, even when it's at the main menu, and even when alt-tabbed. Slowing it down or pausing when alt-tabbed would be nice. It kills my CPU even before I've started a game. This is on win XP.

Some general interface suggestions:
Where possible, please show current heading, speed, depth and desired heading speed and depth, and depth under keel on more screens. It may not be "realistic" to show all of this info on all of the nav/periscope/map/main screens, but I think it would make it more playable.
Similarly, being able to use -/+ to change depth from other screens would be handy, too. Alternatively, change -/+ keys for depth to some other keys, or change the -/+ keys for menu up/down to some other keys so that you can change your depth from anywhere, even in a menu.
When a seaman is getting equipment, hitting backspace should take you back to the "view crew member" menu, so that you can immediately assign them to work, instead of having to hit 'v' again.
If you hit 'z' a second time on a crew man, they should go back to their post, instead of to the bunks and then back to post.
Pressing Enter over the equipment storage should give you a list of current equipment in storage, and maybe show the equipment that has been taken and who has it.


Now general suggestions/enhancements:
Be able to store preferred depths or speeds and recall them
Have crew automatically move to another tile of fire or repairs when they finish a tile
Have crew automatically return to positions after all fires or repairs are completed in their current room.
Pop up a message warning when you assign a crew to go inside a room with high rad count and they don't have a rad suit on, or low O2 and they don't have SCBA.
Another blinking color for crew that indicates that they are not feeling normal (e.g. - dizzy, fever, etc). So you don't have to keep cycling through your crew to know if something is wrong.
Of course, a pause button that still allows you to view the game would be great. But that could be an option you set before you start a game.

That laundry list should keep you busy for a while. ;-)

Questions:
Is there a maximum that reliability can be set to?
Do rad suits prevent breathing in irradiated air?
How long after you scram a reactor does it stop producing radiation?

Super huge thank you for making such an amazing and interesting sim!
Glad you're enjoying it! Looks like you've put a lot of thought into possible improvements - I appreciate the suggestions.

Firstly, thanks for pointing out the periscope bug. Turns out there's a bunch of problems when using the old damage models ("advanced_damage_model = 0"), meaning the periscope and misc systems panels will not work properly. I'll fix this in the next version, but from now on I recommend always using the advanced damage models anyway.

Not sure about the CPU usage. While the game is playing I imagine it would use a lot (lots of calculations in the simulation for reactors, radar, sonar etc, as well as managing the AI for more than a thousand ships and aircraft) but while paused it shouldn't use much at all. I'll see what I can do to reduce it further.

I like the interface suggestions about the equipment storage and will probably add them to the game very soon. And the 'pressing z twice' thing is something I've been meaning to fix for ages. I'm hesitant to add depth controls to every screen though - I'll think about it, and maybe add an option for it.

Your general suggestions are excellent too. I've just made it so crew blink yellow if they are not feeling well (tired/irradiated/low on oxygen etc) and it seems to work well. I'll look into implementing the others in the next update.

Again, thanks for the feedback, glad you're enjoying the game and welcome to Subsim!

A quick question about the SubDeveloper. I created a sub and took it for a test sail. I dived to 20M and my luxuriously spacious torpedo room filled with water! How do you seal the tubes against the incoming deluge?

edit: never mind, I realised I was missing the pressure hull, so I basically had four gaping holes to let the sea in through!

Also:

Damn me this has suddenly got harder! I remember when you could steam around at periscope depth and very few ships would look twice at you. Now I've just been depth charged into oblivion by a small Egyptian Frigate that I couldn't shake in 30M of water.Yeah, you still need pressure hull under the tubes! I'm sure the crew appreciated the fresh air though ;)

And the next version includes an even more dangerous opponent than the frigates and destroyers - enemy attack submarines! You will also get a much better sonar system to deal with them though...

hi i'm new here and i need to say i fell in love in this game the dev did a really good job (it's also the reason why i register to this site)i downloaded it around 9AM and played it for 19 hours already your game is really great i feel addicted to it thanks for such a beautiful gameWelcome to Subsim! Thanks for the comments, glad you like it :salute:

Five subs in and all five have caught fire doing somewhere between 5 and 7 knots, about five minutes from base. If this was accurate The Hunt For Red Oktober would have been a much shorter movie.

Not aided by the fact that the crew can't be bothered to do anything about the fires. "The crew report an explosion." Yeah... that's what happens when you ignore a fire in the generator room forever.

I even turned the sub_reliability up in the .ini, in the hopes of getting out of dock without exploding. On that mission the Maneuver Control Panel broke and then the fire suppression system malfunctioned and then the sub caught fire.

I feel like the Monty Python guy who built his castle in a swamp. Since a lot of people are commenting on how accident prone the subs are, I will explain a bit more about what sub_reliability actually does.
Basically, the mean time between failures is 10 + 2*sub_reliability seconds. So if you use the default value of 100, there will be an accident on average once ever 210 seconds. If you set it to 0, there will be an accident on average once every 10 seconds. If you set it to a value less than -4, there will never be random accidents on the sub.

[Tango589]

The next version includes an even more dangerous opponent than the frigates and destroyers - enemy attack submarines! You will also get a much better sonar system to deal with them though...

This is going to make nosing round an enemy harbour even trickier. Bring it on!!!:rock:

[Jimbuna]

hi i'm new here :lurk: and i need to say i fell in love in this game the dev did a really good job (it's also the reason why i register to this site)i downloaded it around 9AM and played it for 19 hours already your game is really great i feel addicted to it thanks for such a beautiful game:salute:

Welcome Aboard :sunny:

[Mixolyde]

Glad you're enjoying it! Looks like you've put a lot of thought into possible improvements - I appreciate the suggestions.

Firstly, thanks for pointing out the periscope bug. Turns out there's a bunch of problems when using the old damage models ("advanced_damage_model = 0"), meaning the periscope and misc systems panels will not work properly. I'll fix this in the next version, but from now on I recommend always using the advanced damage models anyway.

Not sure about the CPU usage. While the game is playing I imagine it would use a lot (lots of calculations in the simulation for reactors, radar, sonar etc, as well as managing the AI for more than a thousand ships and aircraft) but while paused it shouldn't use much at all. I'll see what I can do to reduce it further.

I like the interface suggestions about the equipment storage and will probably add them to the game very soon. And the 'pressing z twice' thing is something I've been meaning to fix for ages. I'm hesitant to add depth controls to every screen though - I'll think about it, and maybe add an option for it.

Your general suggestions are excellent too. I've just made it so crew blink yellow if they are not feeling well (tired/irradiated/low on oxygen etc) and it seems to work well. I'll look into implementing the others in the next update.

Again, thanks for the feedback, glad you're enjoying the game and welcome to Subsim!

Since a lot of people are commenting on how accident prone the subs are, I will explain a bit more about what sub_reliability actually does.
Basically, the mean time between failures is 10 + 2*sub_reliability seconds. So if you use the default value of 100, there will be an accident on average once ever 210 seconds. If you set it to 0, there will be an accident on average once every 10 seconds. If you set it to a value less than -4, there will never be random accidents on the sub.

I love it, and am telling all my roguelike/FTL fan friends about it.

You might consider not supporting the simple damage model until you get more of the game finished, and then bringing it back. I'm an app developer, so I understand the pain of supporting multiple modes.

I understand not wanting to add depth controls to every screen. But having "depth under keel" on the weapon/map/periscope screen makes, sense, I think.

Blinking yellow sounds great, I would make it a slightly slower blink than the red one, so that it's less emergency looking, and more of a warning.

For the reliability, I have a suggestion that would ease the learning curve slightly, and that is to start the game with a "grace period" of maybe two minutes or so, where no random damage can occur. This gives a new person time to look around the sub and figure out the controls before all hell breaks loose. And it gives an experienced player a little bit of time to have crew pickup equipment, set O2 level, set reactor controls, etc. After the grace period you start the "mean time to failure" clock ticking like normal.

Another general suggestion. It's a little frustrating to get mission coordinates by radio, that I then have to go to my browser to look up where they are in the real world, and then plot a course. I'd suggest either a way to scroll the world map, and/or add lat and long markers to the map. I suppose you could have even more zoom levels, but then it's harder to plot a course to the green X, once you find it.

I tried using the mouse input, and it does make some things easier, but it also makes it a little clunkier. I'm sure you're aware of that and are thinking about it!

In general, it seems like the officers are not too good at assigning crew with the proper skills and equipment for jobs like fires and damage. As in, "why did you ignore the Experience Firefighter with an extinguisher and gloves, and put in this Strong guy with nothing?" Is this a bug or a "feature" of bad leadership?

Also, to whom can I paypal a small donation? :yep:

[Mixolyde]

I will feel less guilty about all these requests if I can give you a small donation. :D

If I already have a guy repairing something, can he be the one to give me the damage report? I hate having an already suited up technician in the reactor chamber working on the reactor, and then hitting 'd' and my generator room ensign comes running in to the reactor room sucking up sieverts like it's no big.

[Tango589]

I was thinking at lunch, whilst I was being d/c'd to oblivion again, who forgot to pack the decoys for this holiday? I know you always forget something behind when you leave, but I would have thought decoys are up there with sunscreen, passports and travellers checks in importance. Maybe in a later edition...:hmmm:

Also, would it be possible to implement a 'do you wish to exit yes/no' box before you can quit, to save myself and maybe some others from accidentally quitting when I just wanted to pause?

[Leo_93]

I can't wait for the enemy attack subs and improved sonar that will definitely make things more interesting. Also I notice a relatively small bug the occurs when you refit the submarine while having empty torpedo tubes, torpedoes will appear in the empty tubes but they are not considered loaded, however if you order the offending tubes to be loaded crew men will run to the tubes and "load them" after a sec or two and then they are considered loaded. Anyway that's the only bug I noticed so far while playing, while its far from a big deal i just figured I would mention it. Anyway keep up the good work on my favorite up and coming sub sim.:up:

[TheGeoff]

Good suggestions again Mixolyde, expect to see many of them in the next version :) And yeah, I think I will disable the simplified damage model for now - or at least make comment in the options file that it is not recommended.

Decoys are an awesome idea too Tango. I don't know much about the use of decoys in sub warfare so I'll need to do some research, but it could definitely add some depth to the battles in the game. At the moment it's way too hard to escape from a surface ship and often the only real option is to sink it. Maybe decoys will help avoid that situation.

By the sounds of things, an exit confirmation is badly needed. Plenty of people have asked for that so I'll definitely be adding that too.

And thanks for the bug report Sub Ace, I've found the problem and fixed it for the next version.


Also, to whom can I paypal a small donation?
I've had a lot of people asking this from several different forums recently. I'm amazed and honoured that people think this is a project worth donating to!

I want to make it clear that Submarine Commander will always be completely free, and that I do not in any way expect donations. Creating this sim has been purely a hobby for me and all through the development I never expected to make a cent from it. I don't want people to feel like they owe me anything for the game.

But if you really do enjoy the game and want to make a donation to the project, you can send a donation via paypal to subcommandergame@gmail.com

[Tango589]

I've just depth tested my sub and started taking damage at 350M. I had flooding in the engine room and command centre. I set max throttle and blew ballast, but only rose slowly to a peak of 250M before sinking again. Does the sub speed make the sub surface faster? Also, is the crush depth the same each time or is it randomised?

#1 edit: Another question, what is the max depth to evade depth charges?

#2 edit: And another question: will there ever be missions to attack enemy convoys, because that would really sort the men from the boys!

#3 edit (I really should think more before making a post :oops:): Are there future plans for a career, awarding medals and promotions to sailors, retiring old sailors and bringing in new recruits to train?

That should be everything for now...:03:

Cheers for an excellent game that seems to be getting more popular every day!:yeah:

[Leo_93]

And thanks for the bug report Sub Ace, I've found the problem and fixed it for the next version.
No problem glad to help out in anyway I can. Also when you add AI subs do you plan on modeling propeller cavitation and have it occur at different RPM's at different depths like in Dangerous Waters. Another cool thing to consider adding is a mission objective to deploy SpecOps teams to different areas across the globe via ASDS or other means.

[Mixolyde]

No problem glad to help out in anyway I can. Also when you add AI subs do you plan on modeling propeller cavitation and have it occur at different RPM's at different depths like in Dangerous Waters. Another cool thing to consider adding is a mission objective to deploy SpecOps teams to different areas across the globe via ASDS or other means.

Or putting a tap on an undersea cable as in Ivy Bells

[TheGeoff]

I've just depth tested my sub and started taking damage at 350M. I had flooding in the engine room and command centre. I set max throttle and blew ballast, but only rose slowly to a peak of 250M before sinking again. Does the sub speed make the sub surface faster? Also, is the crush depth the same each time or is it randomised?

#1 edit: Another question, what is the max depth to evade depth charges?

#2 edit: And another question: will there ever be missions to attack enemy convoys, because that would really sort the men from the boys!

#3 edit (I really should think more before making a post :oops:): Are there future plans for a career, awarding medals and promotions to sailors, retiring old sailors and bringing in new recruits to train?

That should be everything for now...:03:

Cheers for an excellent game that seems to be getting more popular every day!:yeah:
At the moment speed does not affect depth control, so the dive planes don't actually have an effect right now. Speed should affect it, I just haven't got around to coding that bit of the physics yet.

As for crush depth: each tile of the hull has a slightly different (and randomized) ability to withstand pressure, to account for differences in welding quality, materials etc. So there's no exact figure for crush depth but it almost always works out to be 280-350m.

Diving below the thermal layer will almost always cause hostile ships to lose track of you and stop dropping depth charges. The thermal layer is affected by a whole bunch of factors but it is usually present everywhere except for shallow water in the tropics.

Convoys would definitely be good, I'm planning on having both civilian convoys and military taskforces. The taskforces will include aircraft carriers, submarines etc and will definitely be a challenge!

And unfortunately sailors on these accident-prone subs never seem live long enough to be promoted or retire, but I might add something like that down the track anyway, just in case!

Also when you add AI subs do you plan on modeling propeller cavitation and have it occur at different RPM's at different depths like in Dangerous Waters. Another cool thing to consider adding is a mission objective to deploy SpecOps teams to different areas across the globe via ASDS or other means.Propeller cavitation is currently modelled in reasonable detail for your ship and broadly factors into the 'faster=more noise' calculations for AI ships. And thanks for the cool mission idea, I hadn't thought of that but it would be a good way to add some variety!

[Navo]

Hey Geoff, thanks for the great game. :up:

I saw you asking for suggestion for new nations to add on Facepunch. How about the Netherlands? I could provide names for the ships if you want.

[Jimbuna]

Hey Geoff, thanks for the great game. :up:

I saw you asking for suggestion for new nations to add on Facepunch. How about the Netherlands? I could provide names for the ships if you want.

Welcome Aboard :sunny:

[ReallyDedPoet]

Welcome to SUBSIM Navo :yep::up:

[299314]

Someone showed me this game a few days ago and I've been having a blast with it - FTL was fun enough with just oxygen and power, and now I've got water and pressure and a nuclear reactor to play with.

I think the biggest thing missing right now is challenge - enemies get taken out with a press of the space bar, and even if you let yourself get damaged the sub is almost unsinkable when you're surfaced, or when you're submerged and open all the doors and turn on all the pumps. I'm definitely looking forward to convoys and enemy submarines.

As far as minor issues my biggest complaint is how repair works right now - two separate guys always have to run to every object, one to diagnose it and one to repair it, and often reaching a component is so hazardous you want one man to do both and have to coerce him into it by locking doors.


Here's my latest run, inspired by your comment explaining the reliability system, I set mean time to malfunction at 2 seconds. This gives a few minutes until the reactors explode - they fail too fast to shut them down - and a few minutes more until all the battery power is gone, so you have to abuse fast travel between nearby ports like East and West Germany in order to sink anything. With all vents open, all fire suppression on, and the command center staffed by SCBA men, you can render yourself almost invincible to anything except unlucky nuclear reactor explosions that blast too big of a hole in the wall.


https://i.imgur.com/IDkCmW8.png

Also, one question: I tried desperately flooding the nuclear reactor with seawater once to cool it down, but it didn't have an effect - is that something that isn't modeled, or would it be ineffective in real life too?

[Urist McSubmariner]

Welcome to SubSim 299314! There. I've pre-empted the established SubSimites :D

[Jimbuna]

Welcome Aboard 299314 :sunny:

[TheGeoff]

Rayboy1995 from the Facepunch forums has created a vastly improved submarine editor for the game!

Download link is here: http://filesmelt.com/dl/subcomeditor_v0.22_.4_.jar

It cuts out about 90% of the tedious .ini file editing involved in making a submarine, and I'd highly recommend it. He posted some basic usage instructions:
-You can load a submarine by selecting the folder that contains its files.
-You save a submarine the same way by selecting a folder to put all of the files in.
-To select what to edit, click the dropdown menu labeled edit. There are four buttons: "Edit Tiles", "Edit Doors", "Edit Objects", and "Edit Areas"
-While editing tiles use the scroll wheel to move through tile types. Left click to place the tiles, right click to change them to water. Hold control then click and drag to fill in a square with the tiles.
-While editing doors you can left click to place them, right click to remove them, and left click on any existing door to change its orientation.
-While editing objects you can hold left click to drag them, right click to edit their properties, and remove them by selecting them and clicking edit->delete selection to remove them.
-While editing areas you can do the same things you do with objects.


Also thanks for the feedback 299314. There's a few improvements I'm hoping to make to the battles in the near future - the main ones are implementing damage models for AI ships (so they aren't killed in one hit), and improving the enemy AI so they stick together and use teamwork. That should increase the challenge significantly.

And at the moment, flooding the reactor room has no effect. The ability to flood the reactors with seawater for emergency cooling is a unique feature of US submarines as far as I know, but most of the systems in the game are modelled on Soviet submarines. It's easier to use Soviet subs because:
1). They have exported them several other countries (like India), and as a result information which would be classified on most western subs has slowly leaked.
2). More accidents and near misses have happened - so more is known about the behaviour of the emergency systems and response procedures.
3). Western countries have spent a long time building up data on acoustic signatures and specifications of Soviet subs, and some of this data has slowly been released (particularly through academic papers).

More information means I can make a more detailed simulation, so most of the stuff in the game is currently based on Soviet equipment. I do plan to include the differences between different nations' subs at some point though.

[LoSboccacc]

Hi! I am new here and registered just to say I love this game!

I found a minor issue: if the pressure hull under a torpedo launcher cracks, I can't get it repaired as crew always try to act on the launcher


Anyway: I managed somehow to kill my objective with a combination of radar, luck and torpedo spam

I do have some questions however: how does targeting torpedo works? do you always need to be at surface using the periscope/radar? What is the radar max working depth?

Currently my tactic of dropping ballast, firing a shot and emergency dive isn't working so well XD

[Tango589]

The radar only works up to periscope depth. After this, it is submerged and useless.:up:

[TheGeoff]

Thanks! Glad you like it.

Currently, you can only select targets from the periscope or tactical map when at or above periscope depth. You can fire torpedos at any depth, and they will always lock on to your current target. If you fire a torpedo without a target selected it will run straight.

In the next version (I expect to release it this weekend) the sonar system can also be used to identify and track targets, meaning you can engage enemies from below periscope depth.

And thanks for pointing out the torpedo tube repair bug, I'll put a fix in the next version.

[Tango589]

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!:rock:

[Jimbuna]

Hi! I am new here and registered just to say I love this game!

I found a minor issue: if the pressure hull under a torpedo launcher cracks, I can't get it repaired as crew always try to act on the launcher


Anyway: I managed somehow to kill my objective with a combination of radar, luck and torpedo spam

I do have some questions however: how does targeting torpedo works? do you always need to be at surface using the periscope/radar? What is the radar max working depth?

Currently my tactic of dropping ballast, firing a shot and emergency dive isn't working so well XD

Welcome and I see your question has been answered :sunny:

[Tango589]

I'm having trouble with the new sub editor. I've copied the sub 'triton' and renamed it 'tritonbeta' I've opened the sub editor, opened 'tritonbeta', clicked on 'edit objects' and moved one of the generator room bilge pumps to the reactor room to deal with leaking reactor coolant or flooding the reactor with sea water in future. I've saved the new sub under 'tritonbeta' and loaded the sim. For some reason , my crew is no where to be seen, I get messages that the crew can't find their pathway (the same as when you want them to get through a locked door), and I get a barrage of low oxygen warnings and sirens. what's going on? :/\\!!

[Aktungbby]

Losboccacc!:Kaleun_Salute:

[Jaystew]

This is truly awesome. It reminds me of the old Sub Battle game I used to play hours in 1989/1990 on the Apple II GS. And sort of reminds me of Silent Service on NES.

The nuclear reactor sim aspect is pretty good too. I think it needs some tweaking for realism but its a great game. Works on my netbook too :)

[TheGeoff]

New Update: Version 0.23
Download here: http://goo.gl/9lOLz2

Changelog:

Active pause mode added - you can now give orders while the game is paused. Default key is Left Alt, but this can be changed in keybindings.ini. If you don't like this feature you can turn it off in gameoptions.ini for more of a challenge!
Crew can now rescue injured comrades. Point at an unconscious crewman and press H - a crewman will run over, drag the unconscious guy to safety then administer first aid.
Mouse control improved: Almost every control panel is now clickable. Clicking on gauges will set your target speed/depth/secondary coolant pump pressure/whatever. Also, if using mouse control, you can choose to instead control the cursor with the keyboard by pressing \ (you will still be able to use the clickable control panels).
Improved the sonar on board the submarine. It is now possible to locate and track targets from the sonar screen (then move to the weapons control panel to fire a torpedo). LOFAR analysis can be used to identify ships (match their sound signature to the database).
Sonar and visual contacts are now reported, so you won't accidentally fast travel past an important ship. To avoid spamming the message log you can enable/disable contact reports with Lshift+C.
Reactor damage models have been fixed. They now put out a LOT more radiation when damaged, and damage to the coolant pumps will severely reduce the coolant pressure.
You can now switch on city labels on the map screen by pressing Z.
Better hydrodynamics modelling - dive planes are now simulated, so it is quicker to dive/surface while moving quickly.
Completely recoded pressure and water flow calculations. The models for both are now extremely realistic and should handle almost any situation correctly.
Nitrogen narcosis and other health adverse effects related to water pressure are now simulated.
Sound effects now loop more smoothly (thanks to Torkovsky from Reddit)
New sound effect for crash dives (thanks to Tango589 from Subsim)
Added an adjustable 'safety period' after the start of the game and after refits, when no accidents can occur on the sub. The length of this safety period can be changed in gameoptions.ini.
Added two types of AI submarine and one more class of AI destroyer
Added Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Taiwan and the Netherlands (all playable). Brazil is also a playable nation now.
Added 11 new cities, mostly in South America
The world map now renders more efficiently, significantly improving performance on older computers.
Added crew names for Italy, Turkey, India, Poland, Netherlands.
Added ship names for Poland, Netherlands, Australia, Indonesia.
Added ability to change number of ships and aircraft in world in gameoptions.ini
Added support for up to 8 torpedo tubes, 4 reactors and 4 turbines in custom submarines, although the GUI will look weird. Also added support for single-reactor subs.
Added ability to choose what GUI folder a sub uses (top of objects.ini in sub folder), and added a GUI folder for use with single-reactor subs.
The most important performance characteristics of the sub have been moved to "performance.ini" in the sub/default/ folder. This allows you to change the maximum speed, battery capacity, bilge pump power consumption etc.
Depth charges can now cause more damage.
There is now a bit more visual feedback when the submarine is undergoing a refit.
Tweaked ability of reactor shielding to withstand water pressure.
Tweaked submarine noise characteristics.
Doubled the rate of oxygen production from electrolysis.
Fixed a bug preventing repairs to objects without a damage assessment - you can now point at an object an press R, just like you would repair the hull.
Fixed a bug where the player was ordered to sink a ship which was already destroyed.
Fixed a bug where the diesel generators continued to generate 4kW while switched off.
Fixed a bug where torpedoes where not automatically reloaded during a refit.
Fixed a bug which prevented players from repairing the hull under a torpedo tube.



Note: If you created a custom submarine for version 0.22 and you want to port it to version 0.23, you must take the following steps:
1. Copy "performance.ini" from the /subs/default/ folder to your custom sub folder, and set your submarine's maximum speed, battery capacity etc.
2. Add "ui_folder = default" under [GENERAL] in your submarine's objects.ini file.
3. Replace the entire [TURBINES] section in your custom sub's objects.ini, with the [TURBINES] section from the default sub. You can then customise it again if you wish.

[Robsoie]

Thank you very much, i really like that new version.
On a patrol i managed to sink my first warship from the sonar -> press T and + or - to try to match the signature -> weapon station -> spacebar without visually seeing it.

And those panels , gauge and levers that are now mouse controlled, it's really great.

On a long patrol (started in China) i was above Canada and surfaced, i was having most of the crew repairing the heavy damage an explosion in the torpedoes room caused.

Still moving , and while at the map display, with fast travel active i pressed 1 (the zoom in) i got an "Illegal Memory Adress" error message.
Odd because i have done this a lot during that patrol without a problem.

http://i.imgur.com/J6FOepU.gif

The surface radar was turned off, i had no contact message from sonar and all i can think that was different than usual was that many of the crew members were working on repairs.

2 of them were "nauseous" after having to make some repair in the reactor room.

[Tango589]

I can't get the mouse to control any of the panels. What could be wrong?

I've got mouse control enabled in the game option, although it does say that mouse control: 1 is (limited) mouse control.:06:

[TheGeoff]

Thank you very much, i really like that new version.
On a patrol i managed to sink my first warship from the sonar -> press T and + or - to try to match the signature -> weapon station -> spacebar without visually seeing it.

And those panels , gauge and levers that are now mouse controlled, it's really great.

On a long patrol (started in China) i was above Canada and surfaced, i was having most of the crew repairing the heavy damage an explosion in the torpedoes room caused.

Still moving , and while at the map display, with fast travel active i pressed 1 (the zoom in) i got an "Illegal Memory Adress" error message.
Odd because i have done this a lot during that patrol without a problem.

The surface radar was turned off, i had no contact message from sonar and all i can think that was different than usual was that many of the crew members were working on repairs.

2 of them were "nauseous" after having to make some repair in the reactor room.
Thanks for the detailed bug report! Really helps. Looks like there is a fairly uncommon crash which can occur when travelling very close to the north pole, I'm looking into a fix for it now.

I can't get the mouse to control any of the panels. What could be wrong?

I've got mouse control enabled in the game option, although it does say that mouse control: 1 is (limited) mouse control.That's very strange - all of the control panels except the bilge pump should be working now. If you're running it fullscreen, try running it windowed. I'll see if I can find anything else which could be causing it.

[Robsoie]

thanks, great game i'm enjoying it a lot so far

I can't get the mouse to control any of the panels. What could be wrong?

I've got mouse control enabled in the game option, although it does say that mouse control: 1 is (limited) mouse control.

For me all the controls and panels seems to work with the mouse in that new version.
Is there some mouse manager program running on your system that could give problem with the game ?

[Tango589]

If you're running it fullscreen, try running it windowed.
There lies el-problemo! Thats odd.:/\\!!

[TheGeoff]

Ah, ok. I didn't think to test the mouse controls in fullscreen mode! I'll see what I can do about that.

By the way, to answer your question from last page:
I'm having trouble with the new sub editor. I've copied the sub 'triton' and renamed it 'tritonbeta' I've opened the sub editor, opened 'tritonbeta', clicked on 'edit objects' and moved one of the generator room bilge pumps to the reactor room to deal with leaking reactor coolant or flooding the reactor with sea water in future. I've saved the new sub under 'tritonbeta' and loaded the sim. For some reason , my crew is no where to be seen, I get messages that the crew can't find their pathway (the same as when you want them to get through a locked door), and I get a barrage of low oxygen warnings and sirens. what's going on? Your problem sounds like it's in the areas.ini file, if in doubt copy the original version from the triton folder and replace the one in your tritonbeta folder. The new sub editor seems to have some rare bugs in loading/saving, I think the creator is working on it.

[Tango589]

I've copied the 'triton' sub folder and renamed it 'tritonbeta'.
I've opened 'tritonbeta' in the sub editor and moved one of the generator room bilge pumps to the reactor room by altering its coordinates.
I've saved this new layout.
I've changed sub_folder to 'tritonbeta' in game options.
I've tried running sub commander and at the end of the loading bar I get the 'Illegal Memory Address' box.


Damn it.

:/\\x:

[TheGeoff]

Very odd - if you zip the tritonbeta folder and email it to me or attach it to a post I can take a look if you want.

[Tango589]

Tritonbeta folder is sent to subcommandergame@gmail.com .

Good luck.

[TheGeoff]

Looks like there are a couple of compatibility issues using the java submarine editor with version 0.23.

To make a submarine compatible:
First, I recommend opening the .ini files in Notepad++ or similar, because regular notepad screws up the formatting.

Open objects.ini and add "UI_folder = default" under the [GENERAL] heading
Replace the [TURBINES] section with:
[TURBINES]
number=2
turbineobj1 = 9
parentreactor1 = 1
turbineobj2 = 10
parentreactor2 = 2
Open areas.ini, go to Edit -> Replace...
Tell it to find "AREA_" and replace with "area_" (without the quotation marks)


The sub should now work fine with version 0.23. Sorry for any inconvenience caused and thank you to Tango for pointing out the problem.

[EffingController]

Hello fellow seamen! I posted a little video on YouTube wherein I attempt to play a few rounds of this game, with somewhat predictable results. Hope you guys enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLkJ6BUf3Q0&list=UU2UMFWDhUEcOCAV1nWvsNAA

[Rilder]

Hello fellow seamen! I posted a little video on YouTube wherein I attempt to play a few rounds of this game, with somewhat predictable results. Hope you guys enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLkJ6BUf3Q0&list=UU2UMFWDhUEcOCAV1nWvsNAA

I honestly expected you to have more posts on Subsim, Effing. :O:

Also, oh nice an update since I last checked on this.

[Radiorobot]

Hey wanted to let you know of a crash I had.
I was off the southwest coast of Australia playing as a Japanese trition sub I had just taken damage from an enemy ship so I paused to give an order (order first aid) I then immediately unpaused all within about a second in a half (give or take) and the game froze up then crashed.

Besides that loving the game so far absolutely amazing.:up:

[Aktungbby]

RadioRobot!:Kaleun_Salute:

[Jimbuna]

Radiorobot...now there's a great name, welcome :sunny:

[TheGeoff]

Awesome video EffingController! Very amusing too - you had some really bad luck a few times but showed off the game really well!

Hey wanted to let you know of a crash I had.
I was off the southwest coast of Australia playing as a Japanese trition sub I had just taken damage from an enemy ship so I paused to give an order (order first aid) I then immediately unpaused all within about a second in a half (give or take) and the game froze up then crashed.

Besides that loving the game so far absolutely amazing.Glad you're enjoying the game and welcome to Subsim! Thanks for reporting this - did the game exit (saying "Illegal Memory Address" or something similar) or did it freeze and stop responding?


Also, watching EffingControllers video I noticed I'd forgotten to update some of the help text in the new version. You can select targets in the sonar screen by pressing T, just like in the periscope or weapons systems control panel.

[Wojtek94]

Sorry for my bad eng but im from Poland. Hmm... Game is great-for my the best sub simulator. Only Aces of the Deep give my as much fun;) But i wait for save game option... Without it game is boring. Like a single mission. Brr... I hope you give us that option in nearly future. Thanks for that game!:) Respect

[PMantix]

This game is amazing and it brings me great joy that it exists.

I will await further releases with as much patience as I can muster.

[Aktungbby]

PMantix! :Kaleun_Salute:and Wojtek94!:Kaleun_Salute:

[Jimbuna]

Welcome to you both :sunny:

[PMantix]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! This seems like quite a friendly forum, I'm happy to see.

Although I have some bad news... as it turns out I'm not a very good Captain. My men seem to have life expectancy on the order or days or hours...
I'd like to say that there was no meaningless loss of life, but.. well.

Which, while we are on the topic, is there any way to move around... the bodies... to a more respectful final resting place? Seems like leaving the deceased just lying about doesn't cause much of a gameplay issue, but I feel a little guilty about sending the generator room crew on break and just leaving the chief there in the middle of the floor, glowing green.

[TheGeoff]

Sorry for my bad eng but im from Poland. Hmm... Game is great-for my the best sub simulator. Only Aces of the Deep give my as much fun;) But i wait for save game option... Without it game is boring. Like a single mission. Brr... I hope you give us that option in nearly future. Thanks for that game!:) Respect

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying the game so much. Saving the game is planned eventually - hopefully soon you will be able to save between missions (in port), and later I'll add the ability to save at any time.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! This seems like quite a friendly forum, I'm happy to see.

Although I have some bad news... as it turns out I'm not a very good Captain. My men seem to have life expectancy on the order or days or hours...
I'd like to say that there was no meaningless loss of life, but.. well.

Which, while we are on the topic, is there any way to move around... the bodies... to a more respectful final resting place? Seems like leaving the deceased just lying about doesn't cause much of a gameplay issue, but I feel a little guilty about sending the generator room crew on break and just leaving the chief there in the middle of the floor, glowing green.

Welcome! That's a very good point, the casualties pile up pretty quickly sometimes and it would be good to have a way to move them off the floor to somewhere more appropriate. I think I'll replace the galley (which doesn't actually do anything) with a medical room soon, which would offer some options for treating injured or irradiated crew as well as a place for the deceased.

[Mixolyde]

I think I'll replace the galley (which doesn't actually do anything) with a medical room soon, which would offer some options for treating injured or irradiated crew as well as a place for the deceased.

A place for the deceased. So you'll add the galley back in? :o

[Tango589]

A place for the deceased. So you'll add the galley back in? :o

The crew have to eat something on along voyage, what better than Soylent Green?

[TheGeoff]

Haha I meant there will be a medical room instead of the galley, not a horrific medical room/galley hybrid :o

I figured that since crew don't actually need to eat at the moment a galley is not really necessary. I experimented with a couple of systems for simulating rations and supplies a while ago but it felt like it didn't add much to the game... either I make it so crew occasionally go off duty to eat (leading to terrible disasters when the reactor watch decides to go grab some sandwiches at a bad time) or you will need to specifically order crew to eat, which seems silly. A real submarine of course has many more crew so some are on duty while others are resting/eating, maybe I'll change the crew system to reflect that one day.

[Gobbopathe]

Ahoy,

I just discovered your game. OK for all the rooms, etc... But I went where is the mission, with the green X on the map. But no way to find the target, through radar, sonar, looking through the periscope, ...

Can the ship be in a large area around ?

Btw, thanks

[BubbaJake]

It was running fine a bit ago, but now after two minutes it spits out that "Illegal Memory Address" and crashes. I have tried Administator and DEP, nothing has worked. The game was excellent while I was playing it! Also could someone link me to the newest download, I'm a little confused.:hmmm:

[TheGeoff]

The game was featured on Rock Paper Shotgun again!
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/06/09/sub-commander/


Ahoy,

I just discovered your game. OK for all the rooms, etc... But I went where is the mission, with the green X on the map. But no way to find the target, through radar, sonar, looking through the periscope, ...

Can the ship be in a large area around ?

Btw, thanks
The target should be somewhere near the mark on the map - you should be able to find it setting the radar range to maximum and patrolling around a bit.

The mark on the map (and the coordinates given by radio) are the target's approximate coordinates at the time the mission was given. It might have moved a bit in the time it took you to reach the mission area, but should still be somewhere nearby (almost certainly within ~150 nautical miles).

It was running fine a bit ago, but now after two minutes it spits out that "Illegal Memory Address" and crashes. I have tried Administator and DEP, nothing has worked. The game was excellent while I was playing it! Also could someone link me to the newest download, I'm a little confused.
I always make sure the link at the top of the first post in this thread (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2011696&postcount=1) is for the newest download (where it says "Download Latest Version Here")

The crash is strange, not sure what could be causing that. Thanks for reporting it! Have you modified the gameoptions.ini file or added any custom submarines? Also, is the crash happening in the game screen or on the menu? Redownloading the latest version and unzipping it to an empty folder should fix it if it's a configuration issue of some kind.

[Mixermath]

I've been trying to play for a few hours now, but there is one thing which is holding me back. It seems that whenever I am playing, my location on the map you get when you press M is not updating. It still is saying that I am at the starting position, even after 3 days straight of travelling at 30 knots. Is this a bug, or am I missing something?

[Jaystew]

I think your famous. Happened to stumble on this about sub commander. :)

Not even a true blue submariner as he refers to them "torpeodoes" as missiles but forgive and forget ;)

Check it out here

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/06/09/sub-commander/

Congrats :)

[BubbaJake]

Hey Geoff, Sorry, I don't now how to quote you (I'm not real good using forums).

I attempted to reinstall the latest version, Into a clean folder, And I left the config to default. Sure enough after about 2 minutes, I got "illegal memory address".

I really hope you can fix this, I loved your game for the time I got to play it!

[TheGeoff]

I've been trying to play for a few hours now, but there is one thing which is holding me back. It seems that whenever I am playing, my location on the map you get when you press M is not updating. It still is saying that I am at the starting position, even after 3 days straight of travelling at 30 knots. Is this a bug, or am I missing something?

I've never seen or heard of a bug which could cause that... the only explanations I can think of are:

You are pointing at land (you can't run your sub aground at the moment, you will just stop moving when you hit land). You'll be able to clearly see if this is the problem using the periscope.
You have dived too deep and you're stuck on the sea floor (check the "depth under keel" on the map screen)
Your turbines are non-functional (because they have been destroyed, switched off or are not receiving power from the nuclear reactors) and your electric motor is also not working (either because it has been destroyed or you have run out of battery). Check the turbine control panel in the engine room.


I think your famous. Happened to stumble on this about sub commander.

Not even a true blue submariner as he refers to them "torpeodoes" as missiles but forgive and forget

Check it out here

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014...sub-commander/

Congrats I knew something was up when the number of downloads suddenly skyrocketed! It still blows my mind that actual gaming websites are publishing articles about my game :)

Hey Geoff, Sorry, I don't now how to quote you (I'm not real good using forums).

I attempted to reinstall the latest version, Into a clean folder, And I left the config to default. Sure enough after about 2 minutes, I got "illegal memory address".

I really hope you can fix this, I loved your game for the time I got to play it!Hmm, I really don't know what could be causing this. I've compiled a special debug version which should help narrow it down - if you don't mind, could you please download this file (https://www.dropbox.com/s/1uridl2tgg8siu8/sub_023_DEBUG.exe), place it in your sub commander folder (same folder as the regular .exe file) and run it. It is almost identical to the regular game (with some extra logging stuff added) so it should crash the same way. After it crashes it will generate a log file called DebugLog.dbg in the sub commander folder with some behind-the-scenes info on what the game was doing (this file can be opened with notepad if you want to read it). Could you please email the DebugLog.dbg file to subcommandergame@gmail.com? It would really help me track down the problem!

Edit: By the way, you can quote people on the forum by pressing the buttons in the bottom right hand corner of every post.

[BubbaJake]

It ran successfully, and crashed at around the same time, except this time it gave me "array out of bounds".

The debug log has been sent, keep me posted! I really want to play this game.

[Myxale]

Gotta admit, this part of Subsim i rarely frequent.
But thanx to RPS article on this little Sim-Jewel i found it.
And its worlds of awesome-


:salute:

Well done maestro-

[999-Jay-999]

Wow- did not know about this little gem until I saw it on ROCK, PAPER, SHOTGUN.



FTL for sub simmers eh.. :)

[BubbaJake]

The new minutes file you sent me has worked so far, (the twenty minutes I've been playing it) thank you so much!

By the way, what was wrong with it? If you don't want to say or just can't its okay. Just wanted to know.

Another non-critical error i wanted to report was that in fullscreen mode a lot of the textures and object flicker. I am using a 1920 by 1080 screen. It's nothing big, but I just wanted to mention. This has happened with every file.

Thanks again, I look forward to the next update!:cool:

[VoidedWarranty]

Having a bug that sounds very similar to that of bubbajack. Downloaded Sub commander, moved to my game library file, extracted from the .rar package, and ran. Immediately upon opening, a window opens called "Blitz runtime window" and an error message appears saying Illegal Memory Address. I have moved the run folder to a few places, though I doubt that would make a difference.
EDIT: Using latest version link.

[TheGeoff]

Gotta admit, this part of Subsim i rarely frequent.
But thanx to RPS article on this little Sim-Jewel i found it.
And its worlds of awesome-


:salute:

Well done maestro-Thank you!

The new minutes file you sent me has worked so far, (the twenty minutes I've been playing it) thank you so much!

By the way, what was wrong with it? If you don't want to say or just can't its okay. Just wanted to know.

Another non-critical error i wanted to report was that in fullscreen mode a lot of the textures and object flicker. I am using a 1920 by 1080 screen. It's nothing big, but I just wanted to mention. This has happened with every file.

Thanks again, I look forward to the next update!:cool:Glad it worked! The bug was in the code to render the map, there was a problem with some code I added a couple of patches ago which could cause the game to crash. The game would occasionally try to calculate the sea depth at a point off the edge of the world (ie. further north than the north pole :o) and crash. I don't know why it happened to you every game and only very rarely for everyone else though. Were you maybe starting in Murmansk or Arkhangelsk and sailing north every time? :hmmm:

Anyway, the bug will be officially fixed in the next version. Thanks for pointing it out!

Having a bug that sounds very similar to that of bubbajack. Downloaded Sub commander, moved to my game library file, extracted from the .rar package, and ran. Immediately upon opening, a window opens called "Blitz runtime window" and an error message appears saying Illegal Memory Address. I have moved the run folder to a few places, though I doubt that would make a difference.
EDIT: Using latest version link. A few others have encountered this. Some computers block the game from running properly, I think it may be related to some hidden Windows security setting. There are two common solutions:
Run the game as an administrator.
Add the game to the Windows DEP exclusion list: http://www.windowsanswers.net/articles/dep-config

Let me know if it works!

[VoidedWarranty]

Running as admin did not work, DEP exclusion did. Thanks for the help!

[TheGeoff]

Sub Commander now has its own subforum!

I've created a thread for crashes and bug reporting here: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=2215736

[Myxale]

Finally your own sub-forum! (pun-pun) :)

Spend a few hours playing yesterday and it gets better the more I play.
Managed to save my sub from a fire, only to suffer a critical meltdown. :wah:

;)

I know that Russian Craftsmanship has a bad rep, but my Sub suffering a coolant pump failure five minutes after leaving pen is a bit extreme. :D

Have yet to stay alive long enough to reach my mission coordinates.

[feanix]

I just registered specially to say that I love this game. So hard, so compelling! I've managed to complete a couple of missions over about 10 different games and ohmahgawdsogood. So tense waiting for something to go wrong and then when it does it's a frantic process of trying to reign in potential disaster! Fire in the torpedo room? Evacuate the compartment, activate fire extinguishers! Reactor coolant pump damaged? Quick, shut down the reactor and start repairs immediately! Better overy safe than extremely sorry (and radioactive!).

Well done! So amazing! :D

[Forecaster]

I love the concept, will definitely follow and see where it goes!

Although I didn't love when an attack set fire to the outside of the hull and it didn't go out, and I couldn't do anything about it...

I'd also love a view of the sub from the side if feasible, plus a context sensitive right-click menu would make wonders, especially for ordering crew around!

[TheGeoff]

I've added a FAQ thread here: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=213948



Finally your own sub-forum! (pun-pun) :)

Spend a few hours playing yesterday and it gets better the more I play.
Managed to save my sub from a fire, only to suffer a critical meltdown. :wah:

;)

I know that Russian Craftsmanship has a bad rep, but my Sub suffering a coolant pump failure five minutes after leaving pen is a bit extreme. :D

Have yet to stay alive long enough to reach my mission coordinates.

Try increasing the submarine reliability a bit (in the gameoptions file), I'm starting to think the defaults are set a bit too low!

I just registered specially to say that I love this game. So hard, so compelling! I've managed to complete a couple of missions over about 10 different games and ohmahgawdsogood. So tense waiting for something to go wrong and then when it does it's a frantic process of trying to reign in potential disaster! Fire in the torpedo room? Evacuate the compartment, activate fire extinguishers! Reactor coolant pump damaged? Quick, shut down the reactor and start repairs immediately! Better overy safe than extremely sorry (and radioactive!).

Well done! So amazing! :D
Thank you! Welcome to Subsim, glad you're enjoying the game. I never get tired of comments like this haha :)

I love the concept, will definitely follow and see where it goes!

Although I didn't love when an attack set fire to the outside of the hull and it didn't go out, and I couldn't do anything about it...

I'd also love a view of the sub from the side if feasible, plus a context sensitive right-click menu would make wonders, especially for ordering crew around!You can put out fires on the outside of the hull by diving down a metre or two then surfacing again. But come to think of it, it doesn't make any sense for the outer hull to keep burning forever... what's fueling the fire anyway? I'll fix that up for next time :up:

A context sensitive menu when using the mouse is a damn good idea too, I'll definitely see what I can come up with.

[Jimbuna]

I just registered specially to say that I love this game. So hard, so compelling! I've managed to complete a couple of missions over about 10 different games and ohmahgawdsogood. So tense waiting for something to go wrong and then when it does it's a frantic process of trying to reign in potential disaster! Fire in the torpedo room? Evacuate the compartment, activate fire extinguishers! Reactor coolant pump damaged? Quick, shut down the reactor and start repairs immediately! Better overy safe than extremely sorry (and radioactive!).

Well done! So amazing! :D

I love the concept, will definitely follow and see where it goes!

Although I didn't love when an attack set fire to the outside of the hull and it didn't go out, and I couldn't do anything about it...

I'd also love a view of the sub from the side if feasible, plus a context sensitive right-click menu would make wonders, especially for ordering crew around!

Welcome to you both :salute:

[Oberon]

Just got into this via Rock Paper Shotgun, well done for getting mentioned there.

This is fantastic with tonnes of potential, and replayability. Very well done, indeed. :up:

[TheGeoff]

I've made a thread for AARs, screenshots and videos here: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=214023
(includes a sneak peek of version 0.24)
Feel free to post mission logs, Let's Plays, anything!


In case you haven't noticed, the game saves a mission log ("mission_log.txt" in your Sub Commander folder) every time you play. This gives a summary of most of the important events which happened in the past game.

[SubwayCommander]

While playing, I have had several ideas that might be a good fit for the game.



Seawater in your submarine should have far more severe consequences.
After being hit by an enemy missile, my entire generator room flooded. All I had to do was evacuate my men, equip two with breathing devices, fix the hull and turn on the bilge pumps. Problem solved. In a real submarine, I doubt it would be this easy. For one, those computer systems would be severely damaged, if not destroyed. And my men could easily pass through the bulkhead doors, and the water politely stayed in the generator room, even though the water was at 2 meters height. I have no idea how submarines work, but I imagine those bulkhead doors would not open until the water was removed. At least, that's what I see in videogames/movies.

What should have happened: the entire room locked down, and if I don't act quickly those men trapped inside will drown. All machines in the room stop functioning and the damage percentage ramps up until it's at 100%.
Maybe lift the economy system of Silent Hunter 5?
At the moment, wrecking your sub and finding most of your crew dead means you go back to your starting port and press shift+r. All damage is fixed, and your men replaced. You lose their equipment though. How about an economy system, where sinking enemy ships and completing objectives nets you renown/money/whatever, which you can spend at friendly ports? If you haven't sunk enough enemies or followed enough radio orders, why on earth would your commanding officers supply you with a fresh submarine and more men after you damaged your previous sub and killed many men with barely anything to show for it?
How about some descriptions next to the items in the storage?
I have no idea what thick leather gloves do. How about some item descriptions?

[EvilJawa]

Having a wierd problem where sometimes my crew starts suffocating and i cant find the cause, the o2 levels in parts of the sub just start dropping, i tried surfacing and couldnt figure it out, entire crew died except the two which had oxygen masks on, they later succumbed.

[TheGeoff]

While playing, I have had several ideas that might be a good fit for the game.

Seawater in your submarine should have far more severe consequences.
After being hit by an enemy missile, my entire generator room flooded. All I had to do was evacuate my men, equip two with breathing devices, fix the hull and turn on the bilge pumps. Problem solved. In a real submarine, I doubt it would be this easy. For one, those computer systems would be severely damaged, if not destroyed. And my men could easily pass through the bulkhead doors, and the water politely stayed in the generator room, even though the water was at 2 meters height. I have no idea how submarines work, but I imagine those bulkhead doors would not open until the water was removed. At least, that's what I see in videogames/movies.

What should have happened: the entire room locked down, and if I don't act quickly those men trapped inside will drown. All machines in the room stop functioning and the damage percentage ramps up until it's at 100%.
Maybe lift the economy system of Silent Hunter 5?
At the moment, wrecking your sub and finding most of your crew dead means you go back to your starting port and press shift+r. All damage is fixed, and your men replaced. You lose their equipment though. How about an economy system, where sinking enemy ships and completing objectives nets you renown/money/whatever, which you can spend at friendly ports? If you haven't sunk enough enemies or followed enough radio orders, why on earth would your commanding officers supply you with a fresh submarine and more men after you damaged your previous sub and killed many men with barely anything to show for it?
How about some descriptions next to the items in the storage?
I have no idea what thick leather gloves do. How about some item descriptions?Thanks for the suggestions.

I agree that flooding should be a bit more dangerous, at the moment the SCBA gear makes it too easy to repair everything and pump it out. Seawater destroying all the electronics in a room might be too extreme though, I'd imagine most systems on a submarine would have watertight casing. And doors getting stuck has the potential to get REALLY frustrating really quickly... but I'll keep those ideas in mind though and see what I can come up with. Water not flowing quickly enough through an open door is definitely a problem, I'll look into that too.

A renown system like SH5 is a great idea, I hadn't considered that but it would add a real sense of progression to the game. Make it feel more like a campaign instead of a series of individual missions.

The equipment in the game does roughly what you would expect it to in real life. So the gloves provide a bit of extra protection when fighting fires or dealing with radiation, but make fiddly tasks like repairing electronics more difficult. I will be writing up a better manual for the game soon which will hopefully explain things better!

Having a wierd problem where sometimes my crew starts suffocating and i cant find the cause, the o2 levels in parts of the sub just start dropping, i tried surfacing and couldnt figure it out, entire crew died except the two which had oxygen masks on, they later succumbed.If the submarine switches to battery power for any reason, the electrolysis (oxygen production) system will be automatically disabled to conserve power. It doesn't come on again unless you manually switch it on, so the sub slowly runs out of oxygen. I really need to sort out a better solution to this because it's happening to a lot of players - not many people realise what the problem is before it's too late.

For reference, to toggle the electrolysis system on or off use the Misc Systems panel and either press E or flip the switch. To refresh the air in the submarine when you're at the surface, use the Misc Systems panel and press P to open the induction valve.

[Myxale]

Make sure 'electrolysis' in the misc panel is on.

-----Edit----

The Maestro beat me to it. :)

[Loki_Cat]

Seeing Norway modeled in the game would be nice, since it did have submarines, even if they were Diesel-Electric. The Naval bases would be Oslo, Narvik and (maybe) Trondheim. Their prefix would be HNoMS and they were a member of NATO, so they would team with the western powers. Their Narvik base would make the Soviet games in the north more challenging. I also believe that systems fail too often to be realistic, and that some Diesel submarines would be cool as well. There should be a penalty for sinking neutral shipping in this, like they declare war or something of that sort.

[EvilJawa]

ah thanks i didnt even know you could turn o2 off, wierd.

[TheGeoff]

Seeing Norway modeled in the game would be nice, since it did have submarines, even if they were Diesel-Electric. The Naval bases would be Oslo, Narvik and (maybe) Trondheim. Their prefix would be HNoMS and they were a member of NATO, so they would team with the western powers. Their Narvik base would make the Soviet games in the north more challenging. I also believe that systems fail too often to be realistic, and that some Diesel submarines would be cool as well. There should be a penalty for sinking neutral shipping in this, like they declare war or something of that sort.

Thanks for the info, I'll add Norway straight away. It's already possible to make diesel submarines in the sub editor by the way but it is kind of tricky - one day soon I'll make one and release it, maybe a Soviet Kilo or Tango class to begin with.

And yes, simulating diplomacy is something I've been intending to add for a long time. I'll make it so that sinking a neutral or friendly ship has a chance to cause an international incident, which may result in the owner declaring war (especially if it happens more than once). There will have to be some modifiers depending on how important the sunken ship was, how close the countries are and how strong each county is - for example, it's pretty unlikely that a Warsaw Pact member like Poland would suddenly join NATO and declare war on the USSR over a single sunken cargo ship.


In other news, I've completely overhauled the mouse controls to be faster and more intuitive. You can now left click a crewman to select him then right click to order him around, like in real-time strategy games. A menu will then pop up allowing you to choose what order to give. A quick demo:
http://i.imgur.com/odtsqlu.gif

[Jimbuna]

I've been trying to play for a few hours now, but there is one thing which is holding me back. It seems that whenever I am playing, my location on the map you get when you press M is not updating. It still is saying that I am at the starting position, even after 3 days straight of travelling at 30 knots. Is this a bug, or am I missing something?

Welcome :sunny:

[Jimbuna]

Seeing Norway modeled in the game would be nice, since it did have submarines, even if they were Diesel-Electric. The Naval bases would be Oslo, Narvik and (maybe) Trondheim. Their prefix would be HNoMS and they were a member of NATO, so they would team with the western powers. Their Narvik base would make the Soviet games in the north more challenging. I also believe that systems fail too often to be realistic, and that some Diesel submarines would be cool as well. There should be a penalty for sinking neutral shipping in this, like they declare war or something of that sort.

Welcome :sunny:

[Fenex]

Hello I am new to the forums but I have been playing and really enjoying sub commander, and so I have a suggestion. Because it's possible for the sub to be invincible I think it might be worth it to include a life bar kinda like the one in the ftl.

[Tango589]

I can't wait for v0.24, each version is more awesome than the last!

At what point will this be released as v1.0?

Is there any help that can be rendered to an irradiated crew member, so they recover, or do you just lock them in the galley until they expire? At least you could have an irradiated crew member in each compartment to provide pleasant green emergency lighting (although the buzzing coming from them may put some of the less stoic crews' teeth on edge).:hmm2:

[Fenex]

Hello I am new to the forums but I have been playing and really enjoying sub commander, and so I have a suggestion. Because it's possible for the sub to be invincible I think it might be worth it to include a life bar kinda like the one in the ftl.

Edit:I have decided that my idea seems rather boring in hindsight so I have a new one, would it be possible to make a super structure for the sub that if dammaged enough would destroy the sub.

[Oberon]

I think the outer hull counts for the super structure of the ship, if the outer hull is damaged enough to damage the inner hull, then you have flooding which may eventually overcome the buoyancy of the boat and send you to the bottom.

[Fenex]

I guess so but it's really easy to fix everything and resurface.

[Aktungbby]

BUBBAJAKE, FENIX, SUBWAYCOMMANDER, VOIDEDWARRANTY, LOKI CAT, AND MIXERMATH!:Kaleun_Salute:

[SubwayCommander]

New suggestion! After accidentally leaving the main induction valve open while submerging, my entire sub flooded, and everyone drowned. The sub sank about 20K feet down to the bottom of the ocean. Then nothing. Maybe you should add the feature where if your sub goes too deep, water pressure destroys it?

[Tango589]

You should have found that every panel of the outer hull, pressure hull and many internal bulkheads were destroyed on the way down, accompanied by a lot of noise of crushing hull. This is the sign that your sub is hopelessly crushed.

[TheGeoff]

Hello I am new to the forums but I have been playing and really enjoying sub commander, and so I have a suggestion. Because it's possible for the sub to be invincible I think it might be worth it to include a life bar kinda like the one in the ftl.

Hi Fenex, welcome! It's a good suggestion and one I've thought about a lot in the past. I don't really want to add something as game-y as hit points but you're right, something definitely needs to change because at the moment the sub is invincible if you stay on the surface.

For the next version I've made it so that the water level outside your sub is always 200cm, even when surfaced, meaning it's always possible to be sunk if you take hull damage. It's not a perfect solution but I think it's an improvement.

I can't wait for v0.24, each version is more awesome than the last!

At what point will this be released as v1.0?

Is there any help that can be rendered to an irradiated crew member, so they recover, or do you just lock them in the galley until they expire? At least you could have an irradiated crew member in each compartment to provide pleasant green emergency lighting (although the buzzing coming from them may put some of the less stoic crews' teeth on edge).:hmm2:

When will it reach version 1.0? At this rate, about 4 more years. But who knows! I don't have a timeline for this, I'll keep developing it as long as I have time and motivation.

There's nothing you can do for irradiated crew at the moment, soon I'll add some kind of antiradiation drugs for treating mild exposure. The best thing you can do currently is return to port and refit (the crew will be treated at a hospital).

New suggestion! After accidentally leaving the main induction valve open while submerging, my entire sub flooded, and everyone drowned. The sub sank about 20K feet down to the bottom of the ocean. Then nothing. Maybe you should add the feature where if your sub goes too deep, water pressure destroys it?

This is already in the game... in fact, it's one of the first things I coded back in version 0.01. The pressure hull will be crushed at between 300-350m, damaging most of the hull tiles and causing major flooding. I don't know why it didn't affect your sub in this case - I just tested it again to make sure there's no bugs and it all seemed to be working.

edit: I think I see what you mean, the sub will never get completely destroyed no matter how deep you go. But all the tiles will be damaged and the crew will quickly drown, so the end result is the same... maybe one day I'll make it so the sub is properly crushed.

[EvilJawa]

Very awesome game, reminds me of dwarf fortress, weird though that when you hit tab it starts a fire on whatever tile you have selected and control destroys it, slightly annoying because i'm used to hitting tab in DF for a lot of things like switching between menu's so I sometimes cause problems for my little submariners, is this a debug thing? Is there a way to disable it?

[TheGeoff]

Haha yes, those are controls for debugging (or for setting up particularly crazy disasters). You can rebind the damage/kill key (left control) by opening keybindings.ini and changing the line:

damage_key = 29

to something like

damage_key = 70

This will rebind the key to Scroll Lock, which I doubt you will press by accident. Unfortunately I forgot to add an option for rebinding Tab so you'll have to live with that one till the next update.

[Fenex]

The Geoff I just looked your 12 day patrol and I have a question I it the destroyer actively dodged is this in the new version or is it already included because in my games the ships don't really make a effort to dodge which makes my missions very easy.

[TheGeoff]

The Geoff I just looked your 12 day patrol and I have a question I it the destroyer actively dodged is this in the new version or is it already included because in my games the ships don't really make a effort to dodge which makes my missions very easy.

Yeah, in in the new version AI ships will try to pull some basic maneuvers to dodge torpedoes. Big, slow ships like oil tankers and cargo ships usually aren't maneuverable enough to pull it off but small, agile warships can sometimes manage.

[Fenex]

Oh that's great hooray for more of a challenge! On a side note will there ever be. Mine fields or other static dangers?

[Tango589]

Will the map ever be draggable, or will it always be tied to your location? A draggable map would be useful to find the location of your next target when you can't see it on furthest zoom.:hmmm: