DEV Q&A post on Ubi Forum

[TDK1044]

There is an update posted today.

30.09.2009

How does the morale system work?

Your crew is a highly trained unit of the German Kriegsmarine. They will do their duty, but as with every man, there is a question whether they will go the extra mile for their captain and mission. This is translated into their morale – their capacity to use their special abilities such as making a team effort to reload all bow torpedoes very fast to deliver a fatal blow to enemy shipping.
Of course, as you spend time at sea, your crew will long for their families, get tired of canned food and their morale will go down. This diminishes your capacity to use them and excel in battle, so as captain, you have to be careful that there’s reasons for the crew to be happy. Sink some ships, make them proud, and it should be ok.


Will there be improved ship buoyancy dynamics EG the roll and pitch of the submarine?

Yes. Physics throughout the game is under tuning. We added a “flooded” mechanic to enemy ships as well, which simulates water flowing from one compartment to another, thus buoyancy is expected to be more realistic.


I have noticed that the ship/submarine textures on all the current screenshots are VERY basic; will you be replacing them with more realistic skins and textures like in SH4? (EG bolts and rust ect).

Textures and graphics are still under tuning. We textured the submarine based on real images taken from real uboats.

Will more realistic sounds be used for the ships and subs? Also will we finally have the function to change the crew’s voices to German (instead of relying on mods)?

Yes. There will be new sounds, true surround effects, and a German voice pack distributed with the game.

[SteamWake]

So no more endless patrolls

[Carotio]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Im assuming he is upset it was posted there instead of here. I can see why it was posted on the 'official' site.

But I think it would be wise of them to mirror this over here as well. A good deal of this community wont even open the UBI forums

Why would anyone even bother going there? Most of the topics in the official SH forums are off-topic threads, often made by the "leading characters" there...
The dev team members, who honoured the subsim meet(s), visit subsim and gives feedback here, and thank you for that.

(and I'm not welcome there, but that's another story... )

[Akula4745]

Originally Posted by TDK1044

There is an update posted today.

30.09.2009

Well SH5 sure sounds interesting to me... and since I most certainly plan to buy it upon release... methinks I shall not pick it apart too quickly. If you shake the box too many times before Christmas Day arrives your present might not be much of a surprise...

Heck... I still wanna go back and play SH3 w/GWX... even more so now that there will be no GW mod for SH4. So there is plenty to keep me busy till 3/2010. Since I bought SH4 my gaming has been intriguingly sub-clusive... and it likely shall not be changing anytime soon. Besides... maybe I will have this dad-gum U-boat career done by March 2010.

[Sledgehammer427]

one thing I liked to hear

The harbor keeps the first person perspective, but some of the management jobs are better done through 2D interfaces.

so I guess that means we will be able to walk about in the harbor. me like

[Elder-Pirate]

Originally Posted by Sledgehammer427

one thing I liked to hear



so I guess that means we will be able to walk about in the harbor. me like

Well if that's true I sure hope the Devs arrested that hot-rod truck driver on the docks.


Very impressive the way he made those 90 degree turns.

[Sledgehammer427]

Originally Posted by Elder-Pirate

Well if that's true I sure hope the Devs arrested that hot-rod truck driver on the docks.


Very impressive the way he made those 90 degree turns.

"watch aus!"
huh?
*boom*
fade to black
Your Captain died in a tragic car accident, in port, July 7th, 1942

[V.C. Sniper]

Originally Posted by TDK1044

There is an update posted today.

30.09.2009

How does the morale system work?

Your crew is a highly trained unit of the German Kriegsmarine. They will do their duty, but as with every man, there is a question whether they will go the extra mile for their captain and mission. This is translated into their morale – their capacity to use their special abilities such as making a team effort to reload all bow torpedoes very fast to deliver a fatal blow to enemy shipping.
Of course, as you spend time at sea, your crew will long for their families, get tired of canned food and their morale will go down. This diminishes your capacity to use them and excel in battle, so as captain, you have to be careful that there’s reasons for the crew to be happy. Sink some ships, make them proud, and it should be ok.


Will there be improved ship buoyancy dynamics EG the roll and pitch of the submarine?

Yes. Physics throughout the game is under tuning. We added a “flooded” mechanic to enemy ships as well, which simulates water flowing from one compartment to another, thus buoyancy is expected to be more realistic.


I have noticed that the ship/submarine textures on all the current screenshots are VERY basic; will you be replacing them with more realistic skins and textures like in SH4? (EG bolts and rust ect).

Textures and graphics are still under tuning. We textured the submarine based on real images taken from real uboats.

Will more realistic sounds be used for the ships and subs? Also will we finally have the function to change the crew’s voices to German (instead of relying on mods)?

Yes. There will be new sounds, true surround effects, and a German voice pack distributed with the game.

uber 1337

Originally Posted by goldorak

It makes perfect sense, once you have the ability to visit 100% of the sub, you can't have the ability to "teleport" your crew/captain below deck just because you've spotted an enemy. That makes going to the surface and getting your men/officers/captain on the the deck a much more realistic/visceral experience.
I like it, I like it a lot.
Don't understand why many are

it can be a very good thing once we get used to it but the "key" thing i am concerned over is i want to be sure i can give orders no matter where i am on the boat and that they happen "while" im running back to the control room.

like the capt on deck thing, the sub should start the emergency dive while im in the process of getting to the hatch in time. at the very least go to decks awash untill i get inside, this is how it was in real life, the priorities were to save the boat #1, save the crew #2, save an individual #3

[Sailor Steve]

Sorry to be replying to a post made several weeks ago, but this caught my eye and I felt I had to say something.

Originally Posted by DarkFish

Besides, I guess you can give orders about anywhere in the ship. I mean, wouldn't a real U-Boot captain be able to just give commands from anywhere within the boat? I guess the order would just be passed on by other crewmembers

Nope. If the captain is in the torpedo room and gives an order to change course, someone has to go to the control room and tell the helmsman. Problem is, the Officer Of the Deck (who is in command when the captain is not) has to be sure the order actually came from the captain. Who's to tell?

The officer in charge commands from the control room in a submarine, and that means the captain when he's actually excercising command, and the OOD when he's not. That's why all the controls are in the control room, including dive planes, steering and torpedo fire controls. Of course they are repeated on the bridge for surface operations, but the captain can't command from the engine or torpedo rooms - it just won't work.

Originally Posted by WEBSTER

it can be a very good thing once we get used to it but the "key" thing i am concerned over is i want to be sure i can give orders no matter where i am on the boat and that they happen "while" im running back to the control room.

like the capt on deck thing, the sub should start the emergency dive while im in the process of getting to the hatch in time. at the very least go to decks awash untill i get inside, this is how it was in real life, the priorities were to save the boat #1, save the crew #2, save an individual #3

I have to disagree here as well. Standing operational procedure, at least on the American boats (and if the German procedure was different it would be interesting to see evidence) was that the flood vents were never opened until all hatches were reported shut, even in an emergency dive.

I thought it was cool that when you hit 'Dive' in SH3 you were instantly taken below. Of course the conning tower would have felt more real, but you have to take what you get. But I hated it in SH4 when you and the watch crew stayed on the bridge until it actually dipped beneath the waves.

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I have to disagree here as well. Standing operational procedure, at least on the American boats (and if the German procedure was different it would be interesting to see evidence) was that the flood vents were never opened until all hatches were reported shut, even in an emergency dive.

well your right about the SOP but i think you have to agree that the sub shouldnt just sit there untill your inside, it should start moving up to speed and whatever else is doable to be prepared for the second the hatch closes just like it would be in real life

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by WEBSTER

well your right about the SOP but i think you have to agree that the sub shouldnt just sit there untill your inside, it should start moving up to speed and whatever else is doable to be prepared for the second the hatch closes just like it would be in real life

Oh, absolutely. If the captain (or any other officer, for that matter) gives the dive order, everyone is going to rush below and do everything that needs to be done. They just won't begin the actual flooding until the 'Christmas Tree' shows all green, indicating all hatches closed. Otherwise you might not be saving the boat first. Or at all.

[Stormfly]

iam not shure if it was historical correct, but in a scene from "Das Boot", after a "ALARM" callout (command of preparation process for the emergency dive process) , the commanding (watch)officer and last man on the bridge, after closing the hatch, gave a additional command "FLUTEN" ("flood"), without beeing able to watch on the cristmas tree. In another scene (Gibraltar), a crew member in the "Command Room" gave imidiatly command "FLUTEN" ("flood") after "ALARM" command from the bridge. The "Kaleun" than gave order "NICHT FLUTEN" ("dont flood") while still on the bridge, "LI" (Leading Engineer) than gave orders to blow tanks to prevent sub from diving and so on...

This also let me think, in emergency situations, the cristmas tree was reviewed from someone while the flooding was already commanded and perhaps also initiated...

well movies always "slaughter" reality for "good scenes" so in most cases they do things wrong but in real life there were im sure the occassional times proceedures were cut short because people make mistakes when scared.

[Sailor Steve]

I would tend to agree with both of you. I'm sure in an emergency dive they wouldn't flood until given the order. The 'Christmas Tree' shows the man on the flood valves all the hatches and engine vents - everything that leads outside. While on patrol I'm sure they would keep everything right on the edge of diving. The torpedo loading hatches are secured, as are any other hatches except the one leading to the bridge. As soon as the dive order is given the engines are shut down and the engine intake vents shut. The only light on the panel that will still be red is that conning tower hatch. As soon as it shows green (or white, if U-571 is to be believed) they'll go ahead and pull the plug.

Another thing that's been missed so far is the reality of 'Decks Awash'. If the boat is trimmed positive it isn't going to dive at all. Going directly to a neutral trim and trying to lower the boat just a few feet is going to be very tricky. One slip and the captain and everyone else on the bridge crew is going to be swimming. I'm pretty sure the correct procedure was to dive the boat normally, then trim neutral and come back to the desired depth. Of course this would mean that all decks-awash attacks would have to be made on electric motors - no dashing around at high speed in that condition.