New game: Crash Dive

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by dkerfoot

This is a very welcome addition to the stable of sub sims. To me, it strikes a good balance between sim and arcade. I've played it on my Galaxy S3 and on my wife's Kindle Fire (older, non-HD model).

It should not be confused with a highly realistic full blown simulation that requires you to buy a new video card (and maybe a whole new computer). As a former submariner, I have never bought into the "immersion" idea anyway - no game smells like diesel, feels like steel or is nearly tedious enough to make me believe I was back at sea... For a phone game, Crash Dive has remarkable graphics, plenty of strategy and is you know, fun to play.

Crash Dive has the most important game-play elements and is by far the best submarine game available on a phone. Accept it for what it is and you'll get far more than $6.99 worth of entertainment from it.

I personally appreciate that the developers delivered a very playable game, yet have continued to tweak and improve it. I hope that this continues and will seriously consider buying any other games that Panic Ensues releases.

Well said, man

Originally Posted by Hinrich Schwab

I just purchased this game today and I am actually quite impressed with it. Even with the "arcade style" features, Crash Dive is a very solid entry into Subsim library. Naturally, I would like to see more features that cater towards the grognards, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the game as-is. The escorts are aggressive and competent, if albeit attention-deficit due to the engine. The interface has a lot of polish and is quite responsive. The tutorial easily breaks in new players and grandfathers in the "Old Gang" at the same time. If I had any complaint it is the fact that the game is so good that I burn up the battery in my tablet playing. Actually, if I could change one thing, it would be replacing the Yorktown Class carrier with a Bogue Class Escort Carrier, which made more sense in the Atlantic. The fact that the one carrier I ran into was unescorted (C2s and Libertys do not count.) was rather amusing, given my experience with other sims.

The game is a job well done.

Time again to.....
be more aggressive...

That's high praise coming from an experienced Subsim player.

[deadhead1971]

I really like the floating debris.

You could count a ship "sunk" on the score card after getting hit with the required number of torpedoes but let the ships take a little longer to sink, maybe list to the side

[Herr-Berbunch]

One thing I'd like to see is collision damage with surface vessels. If I can I'll hide underneath one and the corvettes just seem to go straight through the cargo above me.

[PanicEnsues]

Originally Posted by deadhead1971

You could count a ship "sunk" on the score card after getting hit with the required number of torpedoes but let the ships take a little longer to sink, maybe list to the side

Good idea; in the next version, ship sink times will be increased with each difficulty level (I still want to get rid of them pretty quickly on Easy so new players aren't confused about which ships they should be targeting).

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

One thing I'd like to see is collision damage with surface vessels. If I can I'll hide underneath one and the corvettes just seem to go straight through the cargo above me.

While transport ships do collide with each other, I was never able to get escorts to collide without giving the AI fits.

Changes in the next version are primarily focused on improving the "sim" experience, so I'm adding more options to the Custom difficulty mode, such as real-world ship speeds (they're currently doubled) and disabling the depth charge markers. I'm trying to add disabling of the 3D ship models when the periscope is submerged, but that's proving to be much more difficult than I expected, so no promises.

Happy hunting!

[v-i-c-]

Originally Posted by PanicEnsues

I'm trying to add disabling of the 3D ship models when the periscope is submerged, but that's proving to be much more difficult than I expected, so no promises.

You are confusing me, are you joking?
Why don't you just add a quick & dirty simple override to a script of the ship instances? Check a boolean which you could set in the script that handles the periscope to disable and enable the renderer of all ships while displaying the map. That takes a minute to do.

[Laufen zum Ziel]

Any thing you do is a PLUS to a super application. Manny thanks.

[deadhead1971]

I mentioned this previously but how hard is it to make the periscope bob slightly (I mean slightly) with the waves or maybe have water splash on the lens? It might be too much of a pain.
You can have the current arcade periscope and then the more realistic periscope.

Also for a future future update. Should cargo ships have deck guns?

Thanks. I'll post your game on a forum I'm on to give you some exposure.

[PanicEnsues]

Originally Posted by deadhead1971

how hard is it to make the periscope bob slightly (I mean slightly) with the waves or maybe have water splash on the lens?

Easy to do, but the bobbing periscope A) quickly becomes nauseating, and B) isn't very realistic, since I don't think a submerged boat would be affected by the small waves in the game, would it? I could add it as an option for when you're surfaced, but I suspect most people will want it off.

Water splashes could be cool, I'll add that to the list.

Originally Posted by deadhead1971

Should cargo ships have deck guns?

I know they had AA guns (that potentially could be used against another ship), but did they ever get cannons? I can't recall seeing that anywhere, can you point me to a reference?

Originally Posted by deadhead1971

I'll post your game on a forum I'm on to give you some exposure.

Thank you, and thanks for the suggestions!

-Scott

[v-i-c-]

Originally Posted by PanicEnsues

… isn't very realistic, since I don't think a submerged boat would be affected by the small waves in the game, would it?
…

Depends on the depth of the submarine and the height of the waves (I don't have the formula in my head). Beside wind driven waves there is always some swell.

Originally Posted by PanicEnsues

I know they had AA guns (that potentially could be used against another ship), but did they ever get cannons? I can't recall seeing that anywhere, can you point me to a reference?

Yes, sure, they had cannons.

For a quick start a look at wikipedia might help:
Liberty ship for example: Stern-mounted 4-in (102 mm) deck gun for use against surfaced submarines

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Well said, man




That's high praise coming from an experienced Subsim player.

Likewise, praise from Onkel Neal is always welcome.

[deadhead1971]

Anything new to report this week Scott?

[PanicEnsues]

Originally Posted by deadhead1971

Anything new to report this week Scott?

I'm off on vacation this week, but I have a version currently out in Beta testing with some requested/suggested features:

• Sinking ships hang around much longer at higher difficulties
• Custom game option: Show/Hide depth charge markers
• Custom game option: Real-world/2x ship speeds
• Custom game option: Show/Hide ship models in chart view when periscope is submerged
• Added secret menu to unlock all difficulties (for those who want to skip straight to the hard-core modes).

-Scott

[deadhead1971]

Thanks. Consider a bobbing periscope as an option in settings to turn on or off. I have been playing silent hunter 3 on PC the last few days and it adds a lot and I think you can turn it on and off in options,

Just askin

Thx

[MikeM]

While I am very pleased with Crash Dive so far, I can't help noticing that the corvettes are nearly twice as fast as in real life. Wiki gives their maximum speed as 16kn, and points out how difficult this made it for them to catch up with a convoy if they had to stick around keeping a submarine submerged, and therefore allowing the merchants to sail on.

After I attack a convoy, they always seem to go away - and come back to protect stragglers - at 30kn.

I am sure the Admiralty would have been very happy if this had been possible

Looking forward to the next upgrade.

[deadhead1971]

See "real world speeds" 2 posts up