Drebbel
07-03-06, 02:24 AM
I am currently reading the book Submarine Diary by C. Mendenhall. It is probably the first US sub book I read in over 5 years.
While reading I have been making notes of things I think could really be good to have included in SHIV.
The book really describes the daily life aboard a US sub during WWII. It does not really go deep into the actual action, but is does give a lot of interesting details. I especially made notes of stuff that can solve the SHIII problem of "feeling alone"
The book describes the real story of Ensign C. Mendenhall (now a reired Rear Admiral) abourd the USS Sculpin and Pintado.
So here are some of my notes. With some I added my own comment. For others it is simply a nice feature for SHIV. Don't hesitae to comment and tell me what you think about it. And dev-team--> PLEASE READ AND REMEMBER WHEN CODING :D
- Chapter: Introduction
Time Zones:
I realized that since the international date line in in the pacific Dec-7 in Pearl Harbor is Dec-8 in Manilla (Philipines). This probably means that there will be a mix up with times, local times, and time zones. GMT/ZULU is probably used for all official orders. But I hope that whenever there is a calander or clock I can also find out the real local time/date (e.g. by hoovering the mouse over it). Or GMT/ZULU, depending what is displayed in tghe calander/clock.
These time/dates are needed to use the accurate start map (which I hope will be included) and to find out if it will be day light outside.
Unique Sinking:
"..in late 1943 Hallibut sank a ship simply because wo dud torpedoes punched 2"inch holes in the side of a freighter.."
- Chapter: Foreword
Wolfpacks:
"....later in the war we began patrolling in 2 and 3 boat wolfpacks..."
Friendly fire:
"....it is well established that several of our submarine where sunk by friendly forces.."
So why not have a very rare possibility programmed that one can be attacked by frinedly ships/planes.
- Chapter: Before Pearl Harbor
Dolphins:
I never knew officers and enlisted men hat different dolphins (gold and silver)
Radio Messages:
"....There was a stream of radio messages coming day and night, in code....."
So why not include much more radio traffic. Even stuff not really interesting for our own sub. Maybe even include an option that the Radio Man only tells us there is a new message when it is of interest for our sub. But all messages should be logged, and be available for easy reference days or weeks later.
Drills:
"....as we plotted across the western Pacific towards Asiatiuc waters, conducting morse code and semaphore signal drills, practise dives and other exercises...."
The morse code and semaphore drills could be used for an additional Academy Training Mission. But I am not sure non-hard core player would find this interesting. But I know that I would.
Discrimination:
Book also reminded me that the allies still not allowed locals from the colonies (colored people) in the various clubs. But this political uncorrectness will probably not make it in the game. But hey, maybe we do get an officers club.
- Chapter: Sculpin's First Patrol (Dec 1941-Jan 1942)
Mooring:
A lot of times (not only in this chapter) the submarine is moored close to the coast or harbor. I bever realized it was that common. I know that in some other thread an anchor was alreay requested. Which is a neat idea. Although in this chapter the submarine is always moored to a buoy, normally with a submarine tender moored nearby.
I definately think that SHIV should finally get rid of the idea one can only stop in port at the quay !
Radio Messages:
"......radio messages received on 9 and 10 December told us that devastated Cavite Shipyard...."
Another reminder how badly SHIV needs radio traffic. Not only does it add to the immersion. It also make the tedious (for soem) looking for pray much more interesting. And of course it could provide tactical info (what are the best hunting areas) as well.
Darkened:
"...ships where darkened and there where no navigation lights on shore"
But they do see the occasional light house / navigation light. Probably not ever body realizes war has started.
Escort out of base:
it is described how an escort guides them through the minefield and gives them orders by coded signals. When the submarine was free to proceed on its own the escort did that uncoded.
Trim Dive:
"....Sculpin made her trim dive, one of the first items of business for submarine on leaving port..."
Maybe one can make things like doing a trim dive having an effect on how the diving officer performs.
Roster:
".....we where to be submerged from one hour before sunrise untill one hour after sunser...."
It would be nice to be alble to set a schedul/roster for things like this. Just plot a course for a couple of days, and then tell the crew when to surface and submerge
Smoking:
".....after a few day the captain ordered only limited smoking while submaerged........we where reminded of how thoughtfull the limited no smoking was when the boat abruptly filled with smoke after the smoking lamp was lit fifteen minutes before surfacing.
An other nice litle detail, which could even be linked to the roster I mentioned in the previous item.
Tide tables:
"...the tide tables for San Bernardino Strair predicted......."
This show there was clearly more documentation abourd then the small ships ID book :-)
Random Damage:
"....The fathometer (depth finder) quit working, and the electronice technician concluded the head had been flooded...."
Just an example of randon damage realy think we randon damage (when not under attack) is needed.
Casing damage:
".....the sonar sonar kept reporting noises that wher diagnosed as coming from the deck superstructure.............on the surfac after dark the captain stopped the boat........I went topside to investigate.....the ganngway fripes had worked loose....."
Especially early war I have read of numerous occaisions that loose deck/casing items where ratling and making niose. This could really be interesting feauture. Not too often ofcourse, probably not even ever carreer.
This also remind me of storm damage, would be realy interesting to have a litle storm damage every now and then, maybe even have a piece of railing missing.
Reversa:
"....the captain instituted a plan of encouraging everyone not on watch to sleep and relax during the day and to do their work at night.......that would quiet the ship for underwater sound equipment (remember they where submerged duing the day), reduce the depletion of oxygen, and cut the rate of air pollution from various sources such as cooking, diesel oil, and tobacco smoke...."
This sleep during day and work during night was called "reversa"
Another nice item (work at night when possible) that could be included in the roster that was mentioned before
Air Pressure:
Various time they mention build up of air pressure inside the boat because of leaks from the air banks and from other pneumatic sources such as torpedoes, tubes, venting negative tank, or jsut from the rise of temperature inside the boat.
"...before we surfeced at the end of a long day under, the air compressors would be run to draw down the pressure and charge the airbanks ..... if this was not done before opening the hatch the conning tower hatch would slam wide open and possible blow a man though, breaking bones or cracking his skull..."
Could be a nice f*ck up the crew could make resultimng in a injured crew member.
Radio Setup:
".....Sculpins radio set up was such that we could not cover both the submarine FAX schedule and get the press news as well, so radio copied the submarine traffic, all traffice was in morse code...."
Later on this would change and the subs gets a dedicate broadcast receiver. But could be a nice feature when some one listen to radio tunes early war that they do not receive any imprtant messages from sub command :-)
Jamming:
"......the Japanes waisted no time in jamming the fleet radio broadcasts, Sculpin was too far away to pick up NPG Radio San Fransisco, or NPM Radio Honolulu; our station was NPO Radio Manilla, the jamming cause copying errors and made messages difficult to decode.."
Maybe including corrupt radio messages would be a nice option, or maybe just include some words that do not make sense at all :-)
O, thats it for now, more later
Drebbel
While reading I have been making notes of things I think could really be good to have included in SHIV.
The book really describes the daily life aboard a US sub during WWII. It does not really go deep into the actual action, but is does give a lot of interesting details. I especially made notes of stuff that can solve the SHIII problem of "feeling alone"
The book describes the real story of Ensign C. Mendenhall (now a reired Rear Admiral) abourd the USS Sculpin and Pintado.
So here are some of my notes. With some I added my own comment. For others it is simply a nice feature for SHIV. Don't hesitae to comment and tell me what you think about it. And dev-team--> PLEASE READ AND REMEMBER WHEN CODING :D
- Chapter: Introduction
Time Zones:
I realized that since the international date line in in the pacific Dec-7 in Pearl Harbor is Dec-8 in Manilla (Philipines). This probably means that there will be a mix up with times, local times, and time zones. GMT/ZULU is probably used for all official orders. But I hope that whenever there is a calander or clock I can also find out the real local time/date (e.g. by hoovering the mouse over it). Or GMT/ZULU, depending what is displayed in tghe calander/clock.
These time/dates are needed to use the accurate start map (which I hope will be included) and to find out if it will be day light outside.
Unique Sinking:
"..in late 1943 Hallibut sank a ship simply because wo dud torpedoes punched 2"inch holes in the side of a freighter.."
- Chapter: Foreword
Wolfpacks:
"....later in the war we began patrolling in 2 and 3 boat wolfpacks..."
Friendly fire:
"....it is well established that several of our submarine where sunk by friendly forces.."
So why not have a very rare possibility programmed that one can be attacked by frinedly ships/planes.
- Chapter: Before Pearl Harbor
Dolphins:
I never knew officers and enlisted men hat different dolphins (gold and silver)
Radio Messages:
"....There was a stream of radio messages coming day and night, in code....."
So why not include much more radio traffic. Even stuff not really interesting for our own sub. Maybe even include an option that the Radio Man only tells us there is a new message when it is of interest for our sub. But all messages should be logged, and be available for easy reference days or weeks later.
Drills:
"....as we plotted across the western Pacific towards Asiatiuc waters, conducting morse code and semaphore signal drills, practise dives and other exercises...."
The morse code and semaphore drills could be used for an additional Academy Training Mission. But I am not sure non-hard core player would find this interesting. But I know that I would.
Discrimination:
Book also reminded me that the allies still not allowed locals from the colonies (colored people) in the various clubs. But this political uncorrectness will probably not make it in the game. But hey, maybe we do get an officers club.
- Chapter: Sculpin's First Patrol (Dec 1941-Jan 1942)
Mooring:
A lot of times (not only in this chapter) the submarine is moored close to the coast or harbor. I bever realized it was that common. I know that in some other thread an anchor was alreay requested. Which is a neat idea. Although in this chapter the submarine is always moored to a buoy, normally with a submarine tender moored nearby.
I definately think that SHIV should finally get rid of the idea one can only stop in port at the quay !
Radio Messages:
"......radio messages received on 9 and 10 December told us that devastated Cavite Shipyard...."
Another reminder how badly SHIV needs radio traffic. Not only does it add to the immersion. It also make the tedious (for soem) looking for pray much more interesting. And of course it could provide tactical info (what are the best hunting areas) as well.
Darkened:
"...ships where darkened and there where no navigation lights on shore"
But they do see the occasional light house / navigation light. Probably not ever body realizes war has started.
Escort out of base:
it is described how an escort guides them through the minefield and gives them orders by coded signals. When the submarine was free to proceed on its own the escort did that uncoded.
Trim Dive:
"....Sculpin made her trim dive, one of the first items of business for submarine on leaving port..."
Maybe one can make things like doing a trim dive having an effect on how the diving officer performs.
Roster:
".....we where to be submerged from one hour before sunrise untill one hour after sunser...."
It would be nice to be alble to set a schedul/roster for things like this. Just plot a course for a couple of days, and then tell the crew when to surface and submerge
Smoking:
".....after a few day the captain ordered only limited smoking while submaerged........we where reminded of how thoughtfull the limited no smoking was when the boat abruptly filled with smoke after the smoking lamp was lit fifteen minutes before surfacing.
An other nice litle detail, which could even be linked to the roster I mentioned in the previous item.
Tide tables:
"...the tide tables for San Bernardino Strair predicted......."
This show there was clearly more documentation abourd then the small ships ID book :-)
Random Damage:
"....The fathometer (depth finder) quit working, and the electronice technician concluded the head had been flooded...."
Just an example of randon damage realy think we randon damage (when not under attack) is needed.
Casing damage:
".....the sonar sonar kept reporting noises that wher diagnosed as coming from the deck superstructure.............on the surfac after dark the captain stopped the boat........I went topside to investigate.....the ganngway fripes had worked loose....."
Especially early war I have read of numerous occaisions that loose deck/casing items where ratling and making niose. This could really be interesting feauture. Not too often ofcourse, probably not even ever carreer.
This also remind me of storm damage, would be realy interesting to have a litle storm damage every now and then, maybe even have a piece of railing missing.
Reversa:
"....the captain instituted a plan of encouraging everyone not on watch to sleep and relax during the day and to do their work at night.......that would quiet the ship for underwater sound equipment (remember they where submerged duing the day), reduce the depletion of oxygen, and cut the rate of air pollution from various sources such as cooking, diesel oil, and tobacco smoke...."
This sleep during day and work during night was called "reversa"
Another nice item (work at night when possible) that could be included in the roster that was mentioned before
Air Pressure:
Various time they mention build up of air pressure inside the boat because of leaks from the air banks and from other pneumatic sources such as torpedoes, tubes, venting negative tank, or jsut from the rise of temperature inside the boat.
"...before we surfeced at the end of a long day under, the air compressors would be run to draw down the pressure and charge the airbanks ..... if this was not done before opening the hatch the conning tower hatch would slam wide open and possible blow a man though, breaking bones or cracking his skull..."
Could be a nice f*ck up the crew could make resultimng in a injured crew member.
Radio Setup:
".....Sculpins radio set up was such that we could not cover both the submarine FAX schedule and get the press news as well, so radio copied the submarine traffic, all traffice was in morse code...."
Later on this would change and the subs gets a dedicate broadcast receiver. But could be a nice feature when some one listen to radio tunes early war that they do not receive any imprtant messages from sub command :-)
Jamming:
"......the Japanes waisted no time in jamming the fleet radio broadcasts, Sculpin was too far away to pick up NPG Radio San Fransisco, or NPM Radio Honolulu; our station was NPO Radio Manilla, the jamming cause copying errors and made messages difficult to decode.."
Maybe including corrupt radio messages would be a nice option, or maybe just include some words that do not make sense at all :-)
O, thats it for now, more later
Drebbel