nubbins
12-01-17, 06:23 PM
Howdy y'all. This is my first post and let me just say that I'm incredibly grateful for the Russian subs mod (should be renamed to Cold Waters Extreme Enhancement for all it adds to the game) and the 2004 campaign (though it no longer works properly on account of being outdated).
I've been playing Cold Waters for quite some time now and mostly stick to '84. I dabbled once in '67 to see the Sverdlov but the Mk 37 frustration drove me back to 84.
1. Variety of enemy surface vessels, particularly capital ships
Anyways, I have noticed as the game version progresses and the Russian Subs mod is constantly updated that the variety of enemy ships has drastically decreased. Subs are fine.
Previously (dunno how many months ago), I would typically end an 84 campaign with one or more capital ship kills. It was unpredictable but went something along the lines of:
- Moskvas could be encountered on random ASW patrols. I appreciated the added challenge from the extra helicopters, and that they made encountering surface groups much more exciting.
- Kirovs on random ASW patrols (less realistic) and also inserted as heavy anti-surface escorts into large invasion task forces (more realistic). The presence of a Kirov and usually formidable escorts (e.g. Kara, Kresta II, Udaloy) would prompt a frantic reassessment of the battle plan on my part. I amusingly recall one instance where the first engagement I had in a campaign was against a surprise Kirov in the vicinity of the Soviet coast.
- I think I ran into 1 Kiev in the campaign, don't quite remember where. Or was that a single mission?
- The possibility of encountering a Moskva or Kirov made the Archangelsk incursions particularly masochistic. The corridor from the Barents Sea into the White Sea is made extremely shallow and if I ran into any ship on my way to a land attack or SEAL insertion (let alone capital) I would probably start ****ting myself with the game on ELITE difficulty.
All of the above seem to have gradually disappeared. I don't know if it's something in my Default folder or the Override files but I can't remember the last time I saw a Kirov or Moskva. Even the Archangelsk missions are very few and far between.
If I had a penny for every time I sank a Kara / Kresta II / Udaloy (not to discount them, they are formidable opponents on Elite) I would undoubtably be a millionaire. Currently, the 84 campaign is boring to the point of wanting to lose the game on purpose.
2. Number of helicopters
It must have been a recent update because I can no longer face more than 1 helicopter or any aircraft in any given scenario.
I remember distinctly in days past pressing F4 to cycle through a Ka-25, a Ka-27 and a Tu-95 all hunting for me. This was before the nerf to aircraft, when there was literally no way to escape a Tu-95 that had a bead on you in shore waters; the only way to escape was to dive to 1000 ft (depth allowing) or reach the map border as the Tu-95 would continuously circle around and drop sonobuoys, depth charges and torps (since the game would not let you exit with aircraft around).
Now, regardless of the number of hangar-equipped ships in sight, or the proximity to shore-based aircraft like the Mi-8 or Il-38, I only ever see Ka-25s and Ka-27s, and always 1 at a time. Routine patrol with a Kara and a Krivak? 1 helicopter. Massive invasion fleet with multiple Udaloys and Sovremennys? 1 helicopter.
It just makes me sad because while the old model of omniscient helicopters was obviously unsustainable, it's now way too easy regardless of difficulty. With the addition (from the Russian Subs mod, and very soon in the vanilla game) of the Seawolf and other ultra-modern subs, helicopters are little more than a trivial background piece. That is, aside from providing midcourse correction data to nasty airborne SS-N-14s that essentially home in on your location in real-time regardless of initial target. The helicopters' own weapons may as well be removed from the game if they are limited to 1 craft per engagement.
I've been playing Cold Waters for quite some time now and mostly stick to '84. I dabbled once in '67 to see the Sverdlov but the Mk 37 frustration drove me back to 84.
1. Variety of enemy surface vessels, particularly capital ships
Anyways, I have noticed as the game version progresses and the Russian Subs mod is constantly updated that the variety of enemy ships has drastically decreased. Subs are fine.
Previously (dunno how many months ago), I would typically end an 84 campaign with one or more capital ship kills. It was unpredictable but went something along the lines of:
- Moskvas could be encountered on random ASW patrols. I appreciated the added challenge from the extra helicopters, and that they made encountering surface groups much more exciting.
- Kirovs on random ASW patrols (less realistic) and also inserted as heavy anti-surface escorts into large invasion task forces (more realistic). The presence of a Kirov and usually formidable escorts (e.g. Kara, Kresta II, Udaloy) would prompt a frantic reassessment of the battle plan on my part. I amusingly recall one instance where the first engagement I had in a campaign was against a surprise Kirov in the vicinity of the Soviet coast.
- I think I ran into 1 Kiev in the campaign, don't quite remember where. Or was that a single mission?
- The possibility of encountering a Moskva or Kirov made the Archangelsk incursions particularly masochistic. The corridor from the Barents Sea into the White Sea is made extremely shallow and if I ran into any ship on my way to a land attack or SEAL insertion (let alone capital) I would probably start ****ting myself with the game on ELITE difficulty.
All of the above seem to have gradually disappeared. I don't know if it's something in my Default folder or the Override files but I can't remember the last time I saw a Kirov or Moskva. Even the Archangelsk missions are very few and far between.
If I had a penny for every time I sank a Kara / Kresta II / Udaloy (not to discount them, they are formidable opponents on Elite) I would undoubtably be a millionaire. Currently, the 84 campaign is boring to the point of wanting to lose the game on purpose.
2. Number of helicopters
It must have been a recent update because I can no longer face more than 1 helicopter or any aircraft in any given scenario.
I remember distinctly in days past pressing F4 to cycle through a Ka-25, a Ka-27 and a Tu-95 all hunting for me. This was before the nerf to aircraft, when there was literally no way to escape a Tu-95 that had a bead on you in shore waters; the only way to escape was to dive to 1000 ft (depth allowing) or reach the map border as the Tu-95 would continuously circle around and drop sonobuoys, depth charges and torps (since the game would not let you exit with aircraft around).
Now, regardless of the number of hangar-equipped ships in sight, or the proximity to shore-based aircraft like the Mi-8 or Il-38, I only ever see Ka-25s and Ka-27s, and always 1 at a time. Routine patrol with a Kara and a Krivak? 1 helicopter. Massive invasion fleet with multiple Udaloys and Sovremennys? 1 helicopter.
It just makes me sad because while the old model of omniscient helicopters was obviously unsustainable, it's now way too easy regardless of difficulty. With the addition (from the Russian Subs mod, and very soon in the vanilla game) of the Seawolf and other ultra-modern subs, helicopters are little more than a trivial background piece. That is, aside from providing midcourse correction data to nasty airborne SS-N-14s that essentially home in on your location in real-time regardless of initial target. The helicopters' own weapons may as well be removed from the game if they are limited to 1 craft per engagement.