[CaptainHaplo]

Actually this is explainable - and its not a bug. The game has a number of hull parameters. Standard HP - how much damage it can take till its not floatable. Crush depth - which is a function of normal crush depth and damage - the more damage you take - the less your crush depth is. The third is crush speed - which at default is pretty danged fast. The last is a floatability variable based on how much hull damage you have taken.

When your hull takes damage - bulkheads let go. Bulkheads are internal components but represent leaks in the hull - a bulkhead being damaged really shouldnt make water come in as it just seperates 2 compartments inside the pressure hull, but thats how the devs made the things... If your hull takes damage (which it did because you dove past your "crush" depth) then bulkheads start popping - which is why you saw what you did.

The key here is that once you start crushing - at default speed - your doomed. Even if you get above crush - its not stopped till you surface. Now you did surface - but 2 factors play here. With water in one or more compartments - and reduced "floatability" value on your hull = your boat either never fully surfaced - or did and then part of it dipped slightly below the surface again. Either way - your "crushing" continued or restarted until your HULL HP hit 0. At that point - your dead. Regardless of it showing your boat on the surface..

A number of us have delved into the damage model as best we can - and have asked to get a bit more info on it from the devs as well if they can. There are alot of things we cannot yet change - either due to coding or lack of knowledge. Hopefully that will change with time. Things like death dives with no water in the hull, which you experienced although were able to pull out of - things like that - we hope to be able to tweak one day. Time will tell.

Given your description - I would say you really just made the mistake of keeping the boat out too long - when your badly damaged (and yes - without a damage meter how can you tell?) its time to just head to the barn. Not your fault - hard to decide wisely when your damage screen looks all perfect.... Hopefully thats something that gets addressed in 1.3!