Wanted:Depth Gauge for Balao/Tench
 

Major tactical advantage of Balao and Tench were they could go quite deep if needed. 650 is deepest I heard of during the war but possible. Since devs did not bother to give us proper performance and stability below certain depths its a mess. TMO provides a 600 ft depth gauge, otherwise have to hit "D" which throws the dive planes on full dive and even when order a level boat after never seems to respond properly, as it does when set 600 feet and slowly sink below. Problem is need to get to the depth quickly and order it so planesman will be ready to level off. Boat

Just need a deeper depth gauge or some way to order say 650 feet for better control of boats in combat.

Anyone have a 700 foot gauge?

The problem isn't the gauge, but the game mechanics itself. First, the dive planes don't actually control any of the physics of the boat and are purely for show. Second there's a mechanic in place that forces vessels to increase their sink rate beyond a certain depth until they reach 1450ft where they are removed from the game.

Then why make the drag coefficient on the dive planes adjustable In the subs sim file?
Increasing those numbers (more drag) will slow the rate of decent/accent...decreasing those numbers (less drag) will speed it up. So it looks like the dive planes are more than just for show.

What ETR3(SS) is referring to is the control surface, such as an airplane elevator. The fact is that your dive planes in the game can get "stuck", as in a graphical anomaly from a data corruption, and they will not influence the behavior of the boat. So whether the dive planes are "up" or "down" pointing, or if they're even stowed away, or partially deployed, they do not influence the change in depth the way a real dive plane would in real water. What the "drag" for the dive planes does is influence a "simulated" dive plane, if you will. The same holds for a rudder or the propeller - or buoyancy even. It's all "fake"... lol

You know what is interesting, once taken on some flooding at that depth and pump water out, you then have better control lol. Happened a few times now.

Last night I attacked a convoy in February 1945 few miles off Indochina Coast( 13 10 N 109 24 E) . Was a night surface attack but after sunk a troopship, a Chidori was running me down so had to dive. This is a "deep" spot so perfect for attack. After about three hours under attack was in even deeper water. The bottom was at 744 feet. A close charge caused some flooding in engine compartment, it was controlled but of course while being pumped out boat took a slight angle by stern. Did not want to speed up so waited, then boat touched bottom so sped up some. Took another hour or so to lose them, but noticed at that depth once water pumped out, could maintain 735 feet with just 2 1/2 knots lol. That is the problem that sort of nixed the Balao's advantage in game, have to use too much speed to maintain depth and not sink, it gives your position away because can hear you until youve taken on water, it does something lol even after its pumped out.

I would love to talk to people who created this sim sometime and ask them what were they thinking?

Interesting. :hmmm: The devs for SH4 were not the same as 3, but built it off of 3 without fully knowing the ins and outs of it. It's come a long way since release but some things just make you scratch your head.

They (Ubi) bought the Aeon/SSI SH1 game while SH2 was being developed, along with Destroyer Command, and my thinking is there was a lot of "black box" technology then, and each generation of the game, having different development teams each time, only allowed that monster to grow.

True, but SH1 was a different game engine from SH2, which in turn was a different game engine from 3, 4, and 5.

Very true, more I mod the game and see things, it makes me laugh but also go "really?" Rather amazing the things the community has accomplished with SH 4 and continue to do so. SH 3 as well and SH 5 seems to be thriving but have yet to play it much with mods. Never warmed up to SH 5 enough, purchased it and played it a few times lol. May give it a try sometime.

yes... yes they were... lol - I sometimes prefer the SH1 engine, though it wasn't nearly as pretty... lol