SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - Working on a new submarine sim: Sub Commander

TheGeoff · 03-02-14, 08:07 AM

Good suggestions Tango! I'll definitely be adding the ability to have your sub repaired and rearmed at a friendly port (and any injured or sick crew treated at a hospital). That will hopefully add more of a sense of persistence - eventually this could grow into a full campaign-type mode, with a persistent boat and crew which you lead through an entire war... that's definitely a long term goal though.
And sonar is of course going to be added soon, it's probably the most important sensor in submarine warfare so that's definitely a priority. Environmental effects like thermal layers will be added at the same time as the sonar. I haven't found a lot of information about what sonar displays actually look like though... I've read a lot about 'waterfall' displays etc but can't find many reference images or videos. I'm not sure how realistic the displays in Dangerous Waters are but I'll probably end making something similar looking unless I can find better info elsewhere.

Thanks for the sound effect link, I'll see what I can find. Like most features, the sound system will probably be rolled out slowly over a few updates - I'll almost definitely start introducing them in the next update. It will definitely always be possible to play the game without sound though - I want to make sure you won't be missing any important information if you play with the sound off. It's purely for immersion.

Fires in the torpedo room are incredibly dangerous at the moment because the torpedoes tend to explode and kill your firemen before you get a chance to extinguish them. Hopefully the fire suppression system will help balance this a bit. At the moment my recommendation is to make sure the best firefighter on the ship is assigned to the torpedo room with a fire extinguisher and gloves, and set the oxygen level for the ship to lower than normal to slow down the rate the fire spreads. Normal air has 21% oxygen, but on real submarines they use around 18% oxygen for exactly this reason. I'm not sure why the fuel bin kept catching fire in your case though, it should only happen once - sounds like a bug to me.

It's funny you mention using realistic panels, that's something I've been thinking about adding for a while. Maybe I'll introduce them as an optional feature soon too. I'm not sure how easy it will be to accurately convey information but who knows, maybe it'll be better than the current system. It certainly would look a lot better!

And as for other mission types, adding a surveillance type mission wouldn't be hard. Most other types will have to wait until later, when the behaviour of AI ships is significantly improved. I also plan to add missile submarines later, which will of course be assigned different missions to the attack submarines.

Thanks again for the feedback and suggestions!

03-02-14, 08:07 AM	#60
TheGeoff Planesman Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: 37°47'S 144°58'E (Melbourne, Australia) Posts: 197 Downloads: 27 Uploads: 0	Good suggestions Tango! I'll definitely be adding the ability to have your sub repaired and rearmed at a friendly port (and any injured or sick crew treated at a hospital). That will hopefully add more of a sense of persistence - eventually this could grow into a full campaign-type mode, with a persistent boat and crew which you lead through an entire war... that's definitely a long term goal though. And sonar is of course going to be added soon, it's probably the most important sensor in submarine warfare so that's definitely a priority. Environmental effects like thermal layers will be added at the same time as the sonar. I haven't found a lot of information about what sonar displays actually look like though... I've read a lot about 'waterfall' displays etc but can't find many reference images or videos. I'm not sure how realistic the displays in Dangerous Waters are but I'll probably end making something similar looking unless I can find better info elsewhere. Thanks for the sound effect link, I'll see what I can find. Like most features, the sound system will probably be rolled out slowly over a few updates - I'll almost definitely start introducing them in the next update. It will definitely always be possible to play the game without sound though - I want to make sure you won't be missing any important information if you play with the sound off. It's purely for immersion. Fires in the torpedo room are incredibly dangerous at the moment because the torpedoes tend to explode and kill your firemen before you get a chance to extinguish them. Hopefully the fire suppression system will help balance this a bit. At the moment my recommendation is to make sure the best firefighter on the ship is assigned to the torpedo room with a fire extinguisher and gloves, and set the oxygen level for the ship to lower than normal to slow down the rate the fire spreads. Normal air has 21% oxygen, but on real submarines they use around 18% oxygen for exactly this reason. I'm not sure why the fuel bin kept catching fire in your case though, it should only happen once - sounds like a bug to me. It's funny you mention using realistic panels, that's something I've been thinking about adding for a while. Maybe I'll introduce them as an optional feature soon too. I'm not sure how easy it will be to accurately convey information but who knows, maybe it'll be better than the current system. It certainly would look a lot better! And as for other mission types, adding a surveillance type mission wouldn't be hard. Most other types will have to wait until later, when the behaviour of AI ships is significantly improved. I also plan to add missile submarines later, which will of course be assigned different missions to the attack submarines. Thanks again for the feedback and suggestions!