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Originally Posted by Subject
Or - you go get the "Neutral boyancy mod for GWX" to get rid of that modelling.
Some like to play that the crew is there to handle the boat and obey orders  |
If reality is your desired goal in the game though, even the best crew could not keep a boat at constant depth without forward momentum and use of the control surfaces (planes). A submarine in a state of neutral bouyancy is a delicate balancing act and practically impossible to acheive with mechanical means. Sure, you can pump water in and out of tanks, shift water between trim tanks and such, but true neutral bouyancy is a knife's edge state that you will keep slipping off of.
The boat, for one thing, is not stationary. It is subject to currents. Those currents will move it through water with subtly varying temperatures/salinity, hence subtly varying density. As it sinks, it's hull compresses, so it's volume changes slightly, so ballast needs to be released. So, true neutral bouyancy is fine in theory, but impossible with real life machinery.
Plus, pumping out water at depth takes a lot of power, as you have to pump out against the external pressure. It's also thus difficult to percisely meter pumping out very small amounts of water to maintain neutral bouyancy and level trim.
It's one of those classic instances where the theory is relatively straightforward, but engineering a 1000+ ton machine that can exactly implement the theory is the challenge.