160. Thought on manual reloading of torpedoes:

Reloading should be:

Realistic
Quick
Manual

Quick is obviously faster than realistic, and manual should be quicker than quick - if well handled - or slower, if incompetently done. It should be much easier if prosecuted at depth - less easy in a sea-state above flat calm. Ideally not just the expertise, but the number of players involved should make a difference to the time to reload, in order to get "spare" players moving around the boat to aid each other which is no bad thing. Ideally all the manipulation of bow caps, purging the water from the tube, opening rear door, lifting and lining up the reload etc etc should be modelled.

As stated elsewhere, it'd be useful if the deck-plates were segmented, as I simply cannot believe 10m long 6mm steel deck-plates were lifted in one go to access the underfloor torpedo stowage. If anyone is able to furnish photographs shewing the underfloor torpedo stowage exposed, that'd be interesting to see. (Same applies to battery compartments).

For the aft torpedo reloads, it'd be nice if the engine room crew were left to prosecute the reload, as there are currently long periods of inactivity. Likewise, if ever manual setting of the gyro angle comes in, and possible manual firing on verbal order, again, it'd be good if this was left to the machinists/engineer for much the same reasons?

161. Use of "spare players" as ballast.

In order to simulate the movement of crew to move the C of G of the boat to the bow, and therefore to steepen a dive angle, it might be fun if each player crewmember moving to the forward torpedo room was represented by the addition of the weight of (say) 5-10 crew, so that non-essential players rushing thereto could make a crash dive to depth quicker. Of course if they ran forward when only a dive to PD was required, then..... Use of the alarm-bell might be used as the signal as to whether or not the rush was required, and likely the dive-safe panel going all lit should be the cue so to do?

162. Anachronism correction: All of our placards, for example "speed controller" appear to be embossed plastic or metal from the rear, as with Dymo tape. Dymo tape did not exist until 1958. If the placards are of the "punched" type - as is the case on a modern car's VIN plate, then they should not appear to be embossed from the rear, but punched from the front!

It would be nice to have the chance to opt for German language placarding/dials (with English or other language on mouse-hover) if these placards are corrected.

163. Does the Hun play "darts"?

If so, might the Engineer and machinists have an automatically-scoring dart-board, and black-board (for displaying score) on the back of the emotor room door; and throwable "darts", for those very long submerged periods at dead-slow? If you add the comedy-effect of a dart stuck in the captain's nose if the door is opened at an inopportune moment, all to the good!

(somewhat tongue in cheek)

164. Reworking of rudder-authority/engine or emotor asymmetry?

Currently, of you'll pardon the pun, once the u-boat is submerged, but also to a degree when on the diesels, there's quite prolonged periods where there's little to do in the diesel/emotor room.

One reason for this, is unlike any footage I've ever seen of submarines we always and only ever use the rudder to change the boat's heading. Instead of the use of asymmetric power on the diesels or e-motor in addition to, or in place of, (especially at low speeds) the rudder.

It seems to me therefore that reducing rudder authority a little, and relating it's authority to the speed/being submerged etc, may be helpful in creating the situation where asymmetric power is needed to perform reasonably swift turns. This would provide a continuous extra workload for the helm, or at least an additional skill to learn for the captain and helm to learn, as well as a greater workload for the engine room when manoeuvring, which I think would be most welcome! As both stations can be a bit dull on occasion, this would help, and of course it would not unduly affect solo players with bots. It might even be possible to have the commanded rudder position cause the engine room bots to reduce the power-setting by 1 value on the engine to the same side of the rudder displacement, if auto-engines are on..?

There are accounts of surfaced-uboats being much more manoeuvreable than destroyers, and this might also allow for this to me more the case...?

165. Opening/closing submarine nets - entering anchorages.

If I've understood it correctly, the devs are currently working towards adding shorelines, so it may become possible to penetrate ports or operate in constricted waters. Such facilities were usually protected by torpedo-net/boom, as well as mines. This potentially provides scope for a u-boat to attempt to penetrate a submarine-net. This was most often done by following a surface ship through a gap opened by another surface (tug?) temporarily. In order to for our u-boat to penetrate such a net, bearings would need to be taken of ships the position of the gap when opened, and/or to follow a ship through a gap as it opens. These nets could be forced by repeatedly running into them at speed, although this attracted attention owing to movement of the boom above.

This provides lots of scope for the navigator to do submerged navigation. Both to pass through or around minefields, and to locate and enter through the gap. Significant features on land (light-houses etc) could be used to accurately position the u-boat but might run the risk of the AP being detected? Very limited underwater visibility through the OP, might allow for mines to be manoeuvred around too?

Such games probably ought to be capped at single boat spawnable?

166. Improvement to later war hedgehog.

Early forms of hedgehog were simply bolted to the deck, meaning that if the escort was heeled to (say) starboard at the moment of firing, the bombs would tend to hit the sea outboard and right of the targets position. This gives some scope for the u-boat to manoeuvre to cause this to happen with a reversal of turn. Although a lot of hedgehogs were fitted, they were not used operationally much until the Admiralty started requiring captains to account for why they were not being used. This occurred in '43, but I'm unaware of the month.

Later in the war, a gyroscopically motorised mount was used which caused the mount to remain "local vertical" despite a list, which greatly improved accuracy.
This should probably be reflected in the accuracy of AI escorts employing hedgehog, so that they're more accurate when there's no list?

167. Post game reveal of each course adopted by convoy, and speed, sequentially, between alerts.

This idea came from Muttley, who wants this feature as a means of discovering why torpedoes miss, if it occurs. As it's theoretically much easier to code than a full game-replay system, it's worth thinking about, if indeed it's straight-forward?

168. Itemised date-sensitive u-boat and escort additions.

There's a great deal of kit that could vary with the date, (known entry to service dates) for both escorts, and uboats. It occurs to me that as the date is advanced in the lobby setting, then the person setting the lobby should see a list of what new kit the u-boat and escorts are equipped with for that date. Ideally only the uboat equipment should be shewn to u-boat crews, and escort kit only to escort players (when implemented) and the owner of the lobby. This would allow for content where players may be surprised to discover aircraft equipped with radar, or escorts ditto.

There should also be some form of check-box system whereby a lobby owner can elect to include, or exclude, any date-sensitive kit despite the nominal date allowing for those items being on a u-boat or escort.

Possible inclusions might be: Sound-following torpedoes, the various FaT and Lut torpedoes, a more highly armed "band-stand" vis Flak weapons, Naxos and Metox radar-recievers, Albericht anechoic tiles, more powerful engines, and for the escorts: Radar, hedge-hog, Squid, Mousetrap, improved asdic with depth reading capability. Aircraft (Wellingtons?) with Leigh-lights for night-time attacks. Ju88's to clear out enemy anti-submarine aircraft. Escort carriers. I've probably left some stuff out worthy of inclusion.

So, the game would become one where selecting a given date would allow for both escorts and uboats to employ all this kit, subject to that kit being widely in service on that date. Or, the lobby owner could elect to get rid of things such as radar if desired. If using the elective extra difficulty idea (#93) then this would allow the captain to redeem points so gained to gain access to extra kit a calendar-month ahead of the nominal entry to service-date. This might allow for situations in a multi-boat game, where only one - or some - of the u-boats has a radar receiver on a certain date, meaning the others have no warning of aircraft or escort employing radar. So the boat with Metox, for example, would have the warn the others. Canned text on the mission-orders might also be used to tell the crew of suspected enemy improvements, or new kit on the u-boat...

See also #47 and #93

169. Changes and additions to log-book entries (see also #70, #77, #85)

1. The log-book should be in pen and ink cursive (hand-writing). Logs were not type-written in this period.

2. Additions to log book. A ".toi 22:15" command entered by the captain should add the phrase TOI 22:15:00" in the loo-book at that instant to every log of every boat currently spawned, regardless of whether they are surfaced, when the times is 22:15.00. Note the TOI still needs to be disseminated ahead of time in the normal way.

3. Torpedo launch times should be rendered in seconds as well as minutes and hours. EG "Torpedo 1 launched at 22:13.12" for the players boat, and EG "(U564 Torpedo launch 22:13.06)" for other boats. Note parentheses. This would allow all logs to be used to see which boat launched when.

4. Torpedo hit times, as above with entries for torpedo hits of other boats likewise in parentheses to show which boat hits before, or after a TOI.

5. Ability to suppress other boats hits an launch times. This is important as screen-shots are often posted on discord to log performances in games.

6. Generation of a rich-text log, as an alternative means of recording, to provide a tool for debriefs.

7. A u-boat being sunk adds a log-book entry to that effect.

8. "Submerged" and "Surfaced" added automatically to the log-book, for that u-boat only. (Added for ALL boats to all rich text log)

9. Ability to type short comments by the captain into log. Eg "Bloody Fidd CE blew both breakers and a cyl again!"

10. Record the tonnage of each ship sunk (in parentheses for other boats), with the latter suppressible in results voa check-box

11. Combination of the radio-log into the main log-book when using simple radio.

(I may add to this in future)

170. 2nd headset in hydrophone station.

There's a 2nd headset on the wall in the hydrophone station. Any player not at the hydrophone station should be able to click on that to put it on, and thereafter be able to hear the same as the hydrophone sounds as well, whilst also allowing conversation between the two. This would allow (say) the captain to be shewn the bearing of the signal but also allow for the hydrophone operator to explain what they can hear on a given bearing to the captain.

171. Leaking hatches.

I think there should be an intermediate stage between a hatch being opened, and therefore causing extensive flooding, and it being closed, and watertight. So, after a near miss by a DC, this might cause a hatch (or other halve valve) to leak slowly - a trickle of water and/or considerable and fast drops. The effect of this would be to very slowly cause the bilge to fill, eventually causing slight trim changes for the dive officer, but not so fast that it causes other problems such as flooding the diesels immediately, in the way an open exhaust hull-valve does. The flooding rate would be proportional to depth. If, for example, an exhaust hull valve were damaged, it would eventually flood the diesels to the point that they need clearing, but this might be avoided if depth were reduced.

This would be somewhat "atmospheric", but would cause some low-level problems for the crew if remaining at prolonged depth with such damage. Hatches not currently operable - eg the two torpedo loading hatches - could be affected. Damage/leaks from such hatches/valves could reset by surfacing? Or it might remain for the remainder of the game?

172. Game "remembers and applies previously used filter settings for lobbies"

It's only a few clicks, but I do find this a little irritating to have to change every single time I log in for an organised game.... If the game "remembered" the previously used filter settings, I think that'd be useful? Not a high priority at all, but were it a simple fix, it'd be pretty welcome? Either that, or make the default setting show all games, ie filters OFF?

173. Moon-paths affecting detection ranges.

If "up-moon" the normal detection ranges are greatly increased, as the u-boat is silhouetted against the well lit sea. As soon as it moves out of the thin strip of illuminated sea, it drops rapidly to normal. Say to 3000m to 2200m or so. On the "down-moon" side, the detection range is slightly increased by (say) 300m as the extra illumination of the u-boat likely is governed by the inverse square law. (Brighter mathmaticians can sort out the physics)

This would mean captains would have to start taking into account the moon's position, and zenith/nadir when approaching the convoy or closing for an attack...

174. "Better deaths"

Currently the game just stops when a lethal-hit is suffered, be it by DC or gunfire. This seems a complete anti-climax from the action preceding it.

Suppose the death of the boat was more "fuzzy". What I mean by this is that one wouldn't necessarily be immediately aware that a fatal hit had occurred, but rather, were faced with a series of cascading problems. Prior to the lethal hit, the crew might be able to remedy these (see #98), but after the lethal hit, they'd be of an extent, and rapidity of occurrence, that damage control was no longer feasible. An effort to reach the surface and end up in a dingy might be possible, with some crew-members living, but most not.

Post-lethal hit (in order):
Unstoppable flooding
Chlorine from batteries (once bilge is full), coughing, need for respirators.
Electrical failures
Loss of pitch and roll control (boat takes on a list and bow high or low
attitude)
Water level remains flat to local-earth vertical, meaning that if the bow is
low, the water level is higher towards the bow until it begins to seep
through closed hatches, or pour through, open ones.
Uncontrollable descent to crush depth.
Rising water level internally, movement causes splashing sounds as if walking
in 3 feet or so of water. Water rises to 5 feet above lower deck level, leaving player struggling to breathe ..fade to black with screams etc.

As the interface between alive and dead is made less distinct, there will be a short period of "hope" where the crew may believe - and try - to save the boat employing damage-control, and then a realisation that it is going to be lost, at which point, attempting to surface is the only possible way of remaining alive - albeit adrift. Only very rarely will this work. The idea is to derive some dramatic - and "realistic" content from the process of the boat being lost, rather than simply an end-screen... This is not unrelated to the need for DC attacks to be (a lot less lethal) but much more sustained, both in terms of asdic searches and DC attacks, with no "safety" at 185m. The point being that the one thing that typifies the drama of fighting in a uboat is currently missing?

175. 12 (internal stowage) +2 torpedoes (external stowage) =need to reload the external two reloads through the external torpedo stowage, with some form of mini-game involved to locate the torpedo through the hatch(es?). I can't now remember whether those external reloads fed the forward tubes of aft tube. Anyone have info on that?

One external was under the forward deck, one under the aft deck.

175, (cont'd) Well that's easy then, 1 forward 1 aft. I'm thinking it should be a 7-12 minute process, with a further normal reload time, if put in the tube directly, or another 4 minutes if it's stowed in the underfloor torpedo stowage? Ideally it should require some 1-2 players out on the casing to get the torpedo from the deck to the inside of the boat, precluding diving, use of the deck-gun etc? There must have been some sort of jib to lift and manoeuvre the torpedoes?

Thanks for sharing your incredible knowledge once again!

Correct yes there was a portable crane that mounted on the deck in order to carry out the procedure. The only indication I have of how long it took in real life is from Brennecke’s “Jäger, Gejagte”, where he reports it took Merten’s boat U-68 50 minutes from the time the order was given to bring down an external torpedo til the breech door of the tube was closed. It was a lengthy process. At least in a pinch they could dive - the boat remained rigged for dive as long as the torpedo loading hatch was closed. They could sacrifice the crane and torpedo in other words.

From a gameplay perspective though yes, should be a shortened process.

176. Inconstant draft as a difficulty setting.

The draft of a ship changes with the degree to which it is loaded. East-bound ships tended to sit lower in the water than when west-bound. Goods were carried west-bound - often whisky - to help pay for the ammunition/tanks/guns/aircraft carried as cargo.

It might be a nice tough if the heading of the convoy also caused changes, specifically increased draft, for east-bound convoys, by way of a lobby-setting?