You know it just struck me ... why black???

[MarkQuinn]

I've been playing SH4 since it's release and although I probably had this in the back of my mind all along, I never really pursued the train of thought.

Can anyone explain why the paint schemes of all our subs are very dark grey or black? All the subs I've seen in pictures, and indeed the one sub I've visited (USS Requin at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh) are all light grey. Do you guys think Ubi went with a much darker scheme simply because they thought it looked more striking? If that's so, I think I'd take realistic over striking any day.

Or are these accurate period paint schemes and the lighter ones came later?

Thanks.

[tedhealy]

Originally Posted by MarkQuinn

Or are these accurate period paint schemes and the lighter ones came later?

For the most part yes. You'll get a lighter scheme later in the war in game.

[Ducimus]

Take a look through here:
http://www.shipcamouflage.com/submarines.htm

MS/9 is the black paint job, which most boats had for the majority of the war. The question i have is, i wonder why they decided on black before the war? Maybe they *thought* it was better at night at the time?


edit: From http://www.fleetsubmarine.com/wartime_mods.html

Various camouflage paint schemes were tried during the war. These ranged from simply painting the entire boat black, to various geometric patterns intended to break up the outline and make the boat difficult to see on the surface. In the end, the standard pattern was to paint all horizontal surfaces flat black and all vertical surfaces haze gray. As a result, a surfaced fleet boat tended to fade into the horizon from the surface while, from the air, a submerged boat would either not be seen or possibly be mistaken for a whale.

[stillalearnin]

Well, my two cents worth is because the human is is drawn to colors, and is most sensitive to green. The cones are senstive to the bright colors. The rods, on the other hand, are "more" sensitve, and is primarily what you use to see in the "dark". That is why when you are in a dark enviroment you do not tend to "see" very much color.

In your eye the cones are in the center, with the rods being on the outer edge, and you can test this by covering one eye for about 20 to 30 minutes, and then go into a dark room. When you first enter you would notice that the room is almost pitch black. Cover that eye up, and then look with your other eye. You will notice that the room isnt as dark as you thought it was. Your covered eye has become dark adapted, and if you look out of the "corner" of your eye, you can see even more. Thats the rods working for ya.

Being an amautuer astronomer, its not uncommon to see me running around the house in the early evening wearing an eyepatch with pantyhose stapled in to block out all the light so when I go out to observe, I can actually see quite a bit more.

On a side note, the eyes is least sensitive to red, and that is the light you want to use if you want to try to keep any dark adaptation. Hence why during the night, the control room is lit in red light. Makes it easier to pick out tha targets

Hope that helps ya out

Derrek

[Orffen]

Originally Posted by stillalearnin

Well, my two cents worth is because the human is is drawn to colors, and is most sensitive to green. [...] [T]he eyes is least sensitive to red, and that is the light you want to use if you want to try to keep any dark adaptation. Hence why during the night, the control room is lit in red light. Makes it easier to pick out tha targets

Hope that helps ya out

Derrek

Very interesting stuff!

[MarkQuinn]

Hey thanks for all the feedback guys. Admiring my striking black boat is even better now knowing it has a basis in reality.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Yeah, the black grows on you. If you are however interested in changing the look of your sub, Foofighters has done some nice skins both black and grey, here:
http://www.oldsmobile1958.com/silenthunter/




RDP

[Crosseye76]

The Black paint job was standard due to the way the Subs were taught to operate in training and wargames during Peacetime.

During the day, the boat would remain submerged, listening for ships and conducting regular Periscope observations. They would surface only at night to charge batteries and move to new locations as needed.

Once war broke out, that very cautious method pretty much went out the window, and the Subs began staying on the surface longer day and night, and borrowed the U-boat doctrine of Night Surface attacks.

Black was still thought to be the best color..... Black sub against a dark background for Night attack. But experiments showed that a dark gray was the best in hiding the surfaced boat. So, along with other grey schemes, the Measure 322 / B or "Dark Grey" paint job came into being. I think it was Bill Ruhe in his book that remarked on how well it worked. He was not sure about it, but was won over after exercising against another Boat that had it recently applied.

[kylesplanet]

Originally Posted by stillalearnin

Well, my two cents worth is because the human is is drawn to colors, and is most sensitive to green. The cones are senstive to the bright colors. The rods, on the other hand, are "more" sensitve, and is primarily what you use to see in the "dark". That is why when you are in a dark enviroment you do not tend to "see" very much color.

In your eye the cones are in the center, with the rods being on the outer edge, and you can test this by covering one eye for about 20 to 30 minutes, and then go into a dark room. When you first enter you would notice that the room is almost pitch black. Cover that eye up, and then look with your other eye. You will notice that the room isnt as dark as you thought it was. Your covered eye has become dark adapted, and if you look out of the "corner" of your eye, you can see even more. Thats the rods working for ya.

Being an amautuer astronomer, its not uncommon to see me running around the house in the early evening wearing an eyepatch with pantyhose stapled in to block out all the light so when I go out to observe, I can actually see quite a bit more.

On a side note, the eyes is least sensitive to red, and that is the light you want to use if you want to try to keep any dark adaptation. Hence why during the night, the control room is lit in red light. Makes it easier to pick out tha targets

Hope that helps ya out

Derrek

That reminds me of Admiral Fluckey's book Thunder Below when he talks about wearing the red goggles to get his eyes adapted before heading to the bridge.

The Mythbusters also did a show on pirates where they claimed the eye patch was for adapting for the changing light from down in the ship to up on deck. It worked! They would shift the eye patch and could see in the dark much better. Who knew?

[stillalearnin]

Astronomers for years, lol. Also, if you are ina city, your eyes will never stay dark adapted outside because of the light pollution. Try looking at the stars in town, and then go way out in the country(no towns within 30 miles) and then you can see stuff that you never would have thought was up in the sky. I can see 1 galaxy, 4 globular clusters, and one nebula wiht my naked eye.

[Captain Vlad]

Originally Posted by stillalearnin

Astronomers for years, lol. Also, if you are ina city, your eyes will never stay dark adapted outside because of the light pollution. Try looking at the stars in town, and then go way out in the country(no towns within 30 miles) and then you can see stuff that you never would have thought was up in the sky. I can see 1 galaxy, 4 globular clusters, and one nebula wiht my naked eye.

Yeah, tell me about it. I live in rural Oklahoma and good Lord it's pretty when you have a clear-skies night.

[stillalearnin]

It is. I work with the scouts some and take my telescope out to a dark sky preserve and I try to get them to look up. Most kids cant even point at Polaris, Jupiter, some know the big dipper, but not many. The ones that come to get an easy badge, I try and snag em into it, and I do get one or two to an astronomy club meeting, but it does sadden me that most kids could care less.

The best one I ever heard coming away from the scope was from a 11 year old boy. It wasnt wow, or thats really neat, or anything like that. When he stepped away from the scope, his eyes were really shiny, and your eyes can water up from the strain, but when i told him next time not to try so hard and just let his eye work, he said his eyes were fine. He told me that it was the most beautifull thing he had ever saw. He had jsut looked at the double cluster in Perseus, an open cluster divided by a dark nebula. Hundreds of stars that looks like diamonds strewn about in a very tiny area. It is beautifull. Just never expected something like that from a kid. It does help the telescope is big enough to launch a butterball turkey out of it, so you do see ALOT more than you could with what most people think of when you say telescope ( you know, the one on the tripod sitting in the livingroom).

If we cant get kids interested in these kind of things, we are likely to lose a great resource, which is our night sky. As I said earlier, light pollution kills the night sky, and if it isnt controlled, we lose something that helped bring civilzation to us. It told the early peoples when to plant their crops, it gave sailors the only way to navigate the seas and oceans(and then together with the ship born clock when it was invented), and to this day helps us keep accurate time.

Wow, didnt mean to go on like that, Ill shut up now

[Captain Vlad]

Originally Posted by stillalearnin

It is. I work with the scouts some and take my telescope out to a dark sky preserve and I try to get them to look up. Most kids cant even point at Polaris, Jupiter, some know the big dipper, but not many.

Orion's my favorite. For some reason, I can almost always pick him out without having to really look.

[stillalearnin]

It is one of the most easily recognizable constellations, it has a very destinctive pattern. one of the stars you are seeing in the sword isnt really a star. It is a stellar nursury, a nebula that is bieng lit by the intense radiation of the new stars. Its called the Great Orion Nebula, and if I can find it I will post the drawing I made of it with a smaller 6 inch scope.

[stillalearnin]

Here is a link to it.http://www.cloudynights.com/photopos...t=7&thecat=500