Thanks and some questions.

[Yaivenov]

First off you guys are awesome for making the game playable in the first place, and then giving it such polish in the second.


Now for the questions, I'm trying to figure out where the limitations in modding the game are and I've already noted some of the issues (like even adding a new playable vessel) so I hope I'm not retreading too much old ground.

Is it possible to add new torpedo types, or are we limited to tweaking those already available?
Is it possible to add new logistical constraints such as food, fresh water, lube oil, battery electrolyte, spare parts, miscellaneous ship stores, et cetera?
Is it possible to add new seamanship evolutions like mooring (to either a dock or another ship) and anchoring?
Is it possible to add new extraneous forces like drifting (both translation ally and rotationally) due to currents and/or wind, minimum steerage speed?

And because I haven't gone that far into the campaign yet (I've just started in on the gap) how do milkcow resupplies function in the game? I'm curious if something like a submarine tender could be added.

Oh one more, is it possible to have distinct zones for sea states? I was taking my boat back to the barn in a storm and it was deep swells all the way through the harbor and even in the sub pen. These areas should have been (relatively speaking) calm due to harbor construction (seawalls, jetties...)

[vdr1981]

Welcome Yaivenov, I'll try to answer some of your questions...

Is it possible to add new torpedo types, or are we limited to tweaking those already available?

I think so, yes, but in my opinion, we already have to many advanced german torpedo types which are far more effective than they were in real life...

Is it possible to add new logistical constraints such as food, fresh water, lube oil, battery electrolyte, spare parts, miscellaneous ship stores, et cetera?

For now , only as visual eye candies...

Is it possible to add new extraneous forces like drifting (both translation ally and rotationally) due to currents and/or wind, minimum steerage speed?

Already there if you use real navigation mod...

And because I haven't gone that far into the campaign yet (I've just started in on the gap) how do milkcow resupplies function in the game? I'm curious if something like a submarine tender could be added.

No milkcows in SH5 but several other types of German supply vessels are modeled...

Oh one more, is it possible to have distinct zones for sea states? I was taking my boat back to the barn in a storm and it was deep swells all the way through the harbor and even in the sub pen. These areas should have been (relatively speaking) calm due to harbor construction (seawalls, jetties...)

When you get close to the shore, the game will automatically reduce wind/sea state to something like 2 m/s. That's how the game works...

[Aktungbby]

Yaivenov!

[Yaivenov]

So no milkcows, but how does the game handle resupply at sea? Do you request it, go to a place and then the game just magics your stuff into place like "refitting" does in a port?


To the sea state, can that value be altered? I think I'd trade off white caps on the shoreline for level water in my pens, ie. make it drop the wind state even further while perhaps still maintaining the appearance of a storm in rain, frothy looking water surface, and the sound of the howling wind.


I saw another fellow tied the foodstuff appearance/disappearance to the boat's fuel state. Could models also be tied to duration of voyage since last leaving port?


For realnav (which I was about to enable anyways ) is it true drifting from wind and current or is it just perceived drift from the inaccuracies inherent in manual navigation?


And finally, not a question but an explanation: with things like OH-II opening the door to alternate history outcomes I started thinking about how that would affect technological development in the BdU. The torpedoes in the game were the product of a Germany under severe material shortage limitations with their facilities under constant onslaught of enemy action. The point of adding more is to explore what might have been and also perhaps to create opportunities for the player to participate in the tech improvements. Perhaps a few reports of torps being inadequate to the task of sinking certain targets results in a model with a larger explosive payload or a change in the explosive mixture.

In practical game terms this would be (arbitrarily speaking) you shoot a larger fleet oiler with a G7a T-1 and it fails to sink it, so you radio back the weapon performance issues. Do this a few times and it triggers a particular tech event where in a few more months you get a report about an uprated warhead version of the T-1 is now being fielded along side the older models until the stock of the older models is "depleted" or "refurbished". The new model costs a bit more to start with then after a couple more months the old model is removed from selection in the bunker, and the price of the improved replacement is brought down to match.

Or at least I hope that sort of thing is possible. It would sort of be like having constant but hidden secondary objectives running in the background. I might be limited to some flavor of VII boat for the time being but there's still a hell of a lot you can do with that. Example: captured type XXI sub tech spurred an upgrade program in the US that ultimately saw things like improved batteries retrofitted to some Gato, Balao and Tench class sub's, among other things. So in alternate history why shouldn't the legacy type VII's start seeing their own GUPPY-esque refits as the new types start coming off the assembly line?


Achtung!


In other news I was able to fake unlocking "CO2 scrubbers" by exploiting a crew skill. -105% CO2 on the boatswain's passive skill. Just as an example of a work around.

Second ETA: I was just reading up on the German torpedo tech and I ran across something I thought might be interesting and a bit different. The TIü G7a, that is to say a "Torpedo dedicated for educational/training purposes with Schulboote at U-Flotillen. It had restricted settings on depth mechanism, a light (empty) exercise head and other minor modifications, to ensure positive buoyancy at the end of the run and reduced stress on the engine (=less damages and loss of torpedoes, i.e. achieving a higher number of shots)."

So how's this for a first mod: training torpedoes that do no damage but still register hits with the aforementioned performance alterations available in bunker for training exercises against controlled targets ("enemy" ships in a training zone in friendly waters that are unarmed and drive a set pattern at varying speeds, and an appropriate mission that is always available so you aren't penalized for your practice time.) Besides, all boats need a shake down cruise.

[Yaivenov]

Another thing that popped into my head, I've seen the map improvements like sunken block ships, mines and nets... but can the terrain and static buildings of ports be altered so as to correct some of the inaccuracies?

ETA: May have answered my own question after further reading.