[TEC]"Hidden" damage and loss of buoyancy.

[akdavis]

A number of players have reported apparent hidden damage after being attacked and subsequent loss of buoyancy with no reports or hull damage or signs of flooding in the DC screen. I had this happen as well with an S-class that had reported damage to the decoy launcher and deck gun, but would begin a tailslide as soon as I submerged. The loss of buoyancy to the back half was to the point that I could maintain the sub nearly standing on its tail using the engines. When originally attacked, the sub had taken a string of bombs across the stern shortly after diving.

Is it possible that damage and flooding of the trim and ballast tanks is modelled, but is not being reported in any way by the sim? The behavior above is fairly consistent with what you might expect. The loss of buoyancy is immediate, but not progressive. The sub seems to lose a certain percentage of its buoyancy, but this does not progress over time.

However, the loss of bouyancy is progressive with depth, leading an increasing down angle the further you dive. However, no additional damage is taken as the sub goes deeper and the same behavior can be observed with repeated dives. This is also consistent with some trim/ballast tanks being flooded. As depth increases, more and more air would be pumped into the intact tanks to compensate for compression, but this would no longer be distributed over the length of the hull.

I'm not familiar with all the files that govern damage, but are the trim/ballast tanks outside the pressure hull modelled as a distinct component?