[Artur Salwarowski]

@Grumpy Pete:
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond. We value community feedback and our intention is to make a game that will appeal to the realistic simulation crowd. We are still very early in development and certain things that you are asking about are undecided, so I guess there is still room for maneuver My answers below.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

AI Crew Ratings. Most naval sims give a flat crew experience to the entire ship's crew ie, a ship is rated as novice/green/average/experienced/elite. That rating applies to all aspects of the ships company. I would like to see this rating broken down into departments. Example: An AI ship can have and Elite Sonar section, average visual search, experienced radarman, green damage control and experienced gunnery/CIC section. In reality, ship crews had their strengths and weaknesses and it would be great to see this simulated.

That sounds interesting, also because it gives a tiny bit of personality and gameplay variety to the given crew/ship. I am not sure how far we will go in making each of the escorts different, but I have always liked unit variety in tactical games, so we will see what we can do

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Merchant crews should have different standards than naval crews especially regarding visual search capability. History shows that "most" merchant crews were effectively blind to surfaced u-boats especially while they were in convoy.

I couldn’t agree more.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Which Sonar and radar systems will you be modelling for initial release? SC or SG radar? QCA? I'd really LOVE to see accurate sonar models for both player controlled units and AI. IMO it has never been done in WWII simulations.

We have decided to set the game in 1942, so I think it’s gonna be the SC. We will do our best to model sonar and radar accurately and we have already done a lot of research on this subject.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Dynamic ocean environments. Will sonar be affected by Wake turbulence/depth charge explosions/thermal conditions and ambient noise generated by other ships (especially convoys). I could go on in more detail but will try to keep it basic for now.

Yes, we are planning to take into consideration a lot of factors that affected sonar performance. Water temperature, plankton content, salinity levels - all those (and more) were important and we are aware of that. Although we might not be able to recreate all such matters to the very last detail, then again, we will attempt to portray the most meaningful aspects of the sonarman’s work and recreate it to a level that will satisfy players who expect a faithful depiction of equipment.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Search patterns/doctrine for reaquiring lost submarine contacts. Box/ladder/line abreast sweeps? This is something that SH3 and SH4 specifically didn't model and I believe was a major over sight. Ironically, the very old subsim Aces of the Deep did model those behaviors...

There were TONS of different search plans that were selected in accordance with a certain key, and as far as I know, they were printed on translucent plastic so that they could be used with the DRT surface. Search plans are going to be quite an important gameplay element and we want the player to have a decent level of choice in that respect.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Zones of responsibilty: It would be great if escorts guarding convoys could be assigned specific areas to cover. Instead of simple right flank/front/left flank/rear, there was a grid system in place in each of those areas. During the day, they could be assigned zones further out and at night be brought in for close escort. This is how it was done historically.

Yes, we want the player to have full control over the formation, as well as zones of responsibility, search plans, and perhaps even manual setting of sonar responsibility (although that could lead too much towards micromanagement, we will need to see about that).

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Obviously, you will be catering to as many play styles as possible. There will be customers who expect "every-depth-charge-to-be-a-kill people all the way up to those who want as much realism as possible short of getting salt water in their computer. I happen to fall into the last group and while your bread and butter customers will probably be somewhere in the middle, I think it is the grognards who will provide longevity to your project.

Yes, the balance between fun and realism in the simulation genre is a very delicate matter. We will do our best to deliver an experience that has the best of both worlds.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
It appears that your initial release will be mainly scripted so as to follow a story line. I don't have a problem with this but also think that creation of a dynamic campaign encompassing multiple Atlantic crossings would be a tremendous asset. A dynamic campaign definitely adds longevity to a simulations appeal.

That’s why we are planning a series of episodes that will allow us to introduce further missions. There could be more Atlantic crossings before we take things to the Pacific, it’s difficult to say. But as you have noticed, we do not want to bite more than we can chew.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
My hope is that you "make it real" for the community who has long looked for a simulation that reflected reality rather than a simplified version of it. If you get this first installment right, I believe you will create a community that will back you with not only their thanks but their wallets.

Our intention is to deliver a game for everybody who has been waiting for a solid, realistic destroyer sim. We also want to change things up a bit by introducing a quality story element and tactical squadron management to the mix. Hopefully, the end result will be on par with the community’s expectations