a crazy idea..

[Akotalaya]

I had an idea, this idea consists of building a submarine simulator but not just any simulator...one that is modeled after a real fleet boat, that would mean having several stations that people could control and those stations would behave like the real thing, meaning the hydrophone and sonar would behave as such, along with radar etc. basically it would be one big room set up like the inside of a submarine compete with periscopes and ladders..i dont know if this idea has ever been attempted but it could be based on any boat from WWII or even a u-boat but i just thought it would be really cool to do. its been a dream of mine to serve aboard a fleet boat in the second world war and this would be the single best way to do it unless i somehow came up with money to buy the USS Pampanito!

[fireftr18]

It seems like a good idea, but the problem you run in to is complexity. In these sims, things are dumbed down. Not because the players aren't smart enough to understand, but because it takes away from the enjoyment. Too much becomes too much to keep up with and becomes frustrating. The main reason I choose to still do auto-targeting is because I don't feel like keeping up with manual targeting. Can I do manual, yes, I don't want to because it takes away the enjoyment. Years ago, I had an F/A-18 simulator. It concentrated so much on the instruments being as realistic as possible, it sucked. What could have been a fun game turned into more an exercise in watching the instruments.

[Sailor Steve]

Would you really want to sit at the hydrophone station for six hours on and six hours off every day for a week, and never have a contact? Sit in the crew quarters playing cards for a couple of hours? Or is what you really want is to play a single-mission type scenario where you get the fun but not the boredom. I've been on a warship and believe me it's not fun. The only real break in the monotony is watching a movie on the mess deck or going outside and watching the water go by, and I'm not sure a WW2 submarine sailor could do either.

I think a lot of people have a highly romanticized idea of what it's like to serve on a naval vessel, and no idea of what it's really like. The point of a submarine simulator, or any ship simulator, is to be the captain. Anything else is just another job.

[Sniper297]

It's not just a job, it's an ADVENTURE! With liberty in exotic places like Jacksonville Florida, Norfolk Virginia, and Lakehurst New Jersey! 20 hours on and four hours off seven days a week! Soaking wet and chilled to the bone trying to catch cat naps someplace warm and dry between flight ops! :har:

Actually the idea might be possible within a few years, they're working on virtual reality gadgets that make Track IR look like a fossil. Back when Battletech and Mech Warrior first came out there was a place in Chicago called Battle Tech with fully enclosed mech warrior cockpits you and a bunch of friends could do multiplayer in - cost per hour was pretty high but it was fun.

[Akotalaya]

it would only be the single missions, i really wouldn't wanna spend a week in open water without seeing anything...i also have a flight simulator with aircraft that you have to treat just like the real thing...ive blown an engine more than once and its not that bad haha...well, if you like airplanes...and as far as auto targeting goes, i enjoy it yea...but i find myself having an easier time manually lining up a shot on a ship that is zig zagging around, i have hit more firing manual than not. i have also done patrols that have lasted 12 hours or so, i did one patrol that lasted 6 hours chasing down a large task force...its really not that bad, i actually find the adventure in it kinda neat!

[Sailor Steve]

I have to admit the idea of a single mission doing that might be fun if your the sound man. Loading the torpedoes, on the other hand...

[Akotalaya]

well, it would just be the main elements of the submarine, mainly the control room..the steering and depth controls, along with the sonar, hydrophone, radar and such..just to simplify things, but the inside would be based on a real submarine, and i think an s-class would be pretty cool..just because well, hey there fun to use..but it could be any boat of the war really

[Sniper297]

http://www.history.navy.mil/museums/keyport/submarinetech.htm

They've had one at the submarine school for ages, changing to new ones as fleet boats were replaced by nukes. I remember seeing a training film showing the officers practicing dives on a tilting platform rigged up exactly like the control room of a diesel sub. Would be expensive to build tho.

[Warren Peace]

You know what? I'd go for that. Especially if there were, say, three or four of those rooms radio-linked. Get a bunch of the community members together, take over the place for the weekend, and run a series of joint operations, starting with initial contact, work through intercept, coordinate with the other boats for targets and firing. Sounds like a great way to kill a weekend to me.

[Sniper297]

What would be nirvana, an Omnimax type screen wrapped around the top of the conning tower with a 3D world simulated every direction you looked when you climbed up the hatch to the bridge. Again outrageously expensive now, but as technology advances who knows. Wrap around VR helmet would be much cheaper and possibly more effective.

[Snarf]

You could do a deck gun simulation as simple as a driving range simulator, then kick it up a notch with a tilting platform.

[Akotalaya]

yea, well i think the idea of having several rooms linked so multiple subs could work together would be awesome..it wouldn't have to be super expensive but having the basics would be nice, like for example what you see in the command room on silent hunter, you see the important things but not every single wire...it would be really fun and you could even educate people on submarine warfare with it, i wouldn't care if it had a tilting platform or not, it would be cool regardless but the simulator would require loads of teamwork..i wouldent mind sitting at one station for a few hours talking to friends or something..but im considering the S class boats, seeing as how in my opinion they are really fun and pretty enjoyable to learn and since they aren't as advanced, they require a bit more thinking...also for a sim it would be easier to build since there smaller..im enjoying everyone's opinions though!

[ETR3(SS)]

Join the Navy and volunteer for subs. It's cheaper and really provides you with the real feeling! :yeah:

[fireftr18]

This idea has gone a lot further than I had expected. To have actual physical stations sounds cool.

[Akotalaya]

i would love to join the navy but...nuke subs arent as cool as the old diesel submarines...and the idea would start off as just physical stations then who knows...might progress into even more..it was an idea and i bet it would be a pretty cool thing to see finished haha..would be the closest anyone alive (minus the real submariners) would ever get to the old submarines...

[Snarf]

I think it would be cool to completely refit a fleet boat with every modern thing possible, turbine engines, Li-ion batteries, modern weapons, the whole works.

[Akotalaya]

hey go right ahead, see if you cant buy one and restore it, but change out everything haha..makes you wonder what kinda range they could give them since they already had a pretty decent range when submerged to start with..and the modern diesel subs have (correct me if im wrong) a 400+ nm range...but yea, i would work on board the modern fleetboat!