[FireDragon76]

I got this recently. This is playable, but it's got an "early access" feel all over it. The interface isn't all that great and the AI is really bad in places (it drives right into itself alot, and the AI has a fair chance of capsizing ships in rough seas).



If you play with Americans, it's incredibly grinding and tedious to perform ASW missions using sonar. Japanese sonar is so much better. If it rains or it's sea state 4 or above, you can forget finding any contacts unless you like spending hours on fruitless searches with maybe a one off chance of finding anything. According to the Steam forums, air power is more effective at killing Japanese subs.


The subs in this game have gutsy, brash AI and have a nasty habit of unloading a full salvo of torpedoes on any surface ship they encounter, including destroyers. They aren't choosy. Which makes alot of ASW engagements dicey in the opening moves. And you still might not find them due to the fact the game lacks ways to plot search areas on the map. Ships in this game are nearly blind to subs that are traveling slow and not cavitating (which is often the case). I know that's realistic, but without the right tools, ASW is a real chore, and it really shouldn't have to be that way.


You can sometimes spot subs by their water disturbances: masts, periscopes, or the shadow they produce on the water at shallow depth, using binoculars. But your crew is so dumb they don't seem to see this themselves.


Without a way to auto-resolve encounters or plot out replenishing patrols or air stations, the game is extremely heavy on micromanagement.


In short, this game is really not ready for prime time. Not unless you can deal with an unpolished game that won't be many peoples cup of tea. Many of Killerfishes games have had this quality to a much lesser degree, I guess Cold Waters was a one-off experience and they got everything more or less right.