Blue Water Development Diary

[longface]

Are ship sinkings modeled yet? The Spruance ate a Bazalt, so I guess the rear of the ship should have just disintegrated. Also I'm guessing SAMs have not been modeled yet.

It looks lovely! The tracers spitting out and the rip of the Gatling gun just make for such a cool scene.

[AzureSkies]

Sorry to say, nothing to show off this week. For the next bit much of the work will be with things that aren't quite as show-off-able, so it may be awhile before there's really show-off-able things again.

Mostly just UI code and camera behavior stuff this last week.

Originally Posted by Phaeton

Nice missile exercises! Let me ask a couple of questions.
1) Which kind of operation theathre shall we expect? Will it be Mediterranea only, or northern seas too? Black sea, maybe?
2) Can we expect to see some BIG BOYS in final game? I mean, CVs for NATO forces and Kirov-class cruisers for Soviet side?
3) Will you implement interactions of submerged submarines? Will it be undersea point of view for them?
Thanks in advance.

The focus will mostly be Europe (North Sea, Baltic, Mediterranean, Black Sea and the Baltic) and the North Atlantic, but Pacific action isn't off the table by any means.

And absolutely to all the rest - that's the plan, at any rate, funding from Early Access permitting.

Originally Posted by longface

Are ship sinkings modeled yet? The Spruance ate a Bazalt, so I guess the rear of the ship should have just disintegrated. Also I'm guessing SAMs have not been modeled yet.

It looks lovely! The tracers spitting out and the rip of the Gatling gun just make for such a cool scene.

Nope, still a bit too early in development for that. And thanks!

[AzureSkies]

Hello, everyone!

Threw yet another little video together. Nothing too flashy, but wanted to show off some of the little details I've improved/added, and the UI interface for issuing attack orders. Custom pointer now shows up in the recordings, too.

There was nothing wrong, per sae, with how older naval strategy/sims handled issuing orders, but I decided I wanted the UI to feel a bit more engaging/immersive than right-clicking drop-down menus, so decided to make something loosely inspired by old control interfaces on systems like the NTDS or fire control computers from the 80s.

Harpoon is listed twice for RGM-84A and RGM-84C variants. Experimenting with different settings for showing weapon names - definitely room for a little improvement there, it's an easy fix.



Select target -> Engage -> All weapons that can engage that type of contact are listed, pick one -> either confirm, or go to Salvo fire and confirm after setting the salvo size.

Only the Metels on the Kara and Harpoons on the Spruance have been modeled so far. There's quite a bit more that's been done also, but none of it is quite ready to show off.

Please feel free to discuss and share thoughts on the system.

There's a lot more improvements in store that I'll keep adding as things move along (there's a few environmental ones I'm particularly looking forward to implementing...), but next week will be another vehicle highlight...

Music by Scott Buckley – www.scottbuckley.com.au, music used under CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

[AzureSkies]

Just checking in to say that this week's development update - an expo of a new vehicle - will be delayed until tomorrow. Apologies.

[Herman]

Originally Posted by AzureSkies

There was nothing wrong, per sae, with how older naval strategy/sims handled issuing orders, but I decided I wanted the UI to feel a bit more engaging/immersive than right-clicking drop-down menus, so decided to make something loosely inspired by old control interfaces on systems like the NTDS or fire control computers from the 80s.

Please include a hotkey for every possible command because using right-click menus can be fun the first couple of hundred times, but it gets tedious very quickly; especially if you are forced to drag a mouse back and forth across the entire screen ad infinitum for every small command.

The ability to re-map hotkey commands (like Dangerous Waters) would be an incredible feature.

Originally Posted by AzureSkies

Harpoon is listed twice for RGM-84A and RGM-84C variants. Experimenting with different settings for showing weapon names - definitely room for a little improvement there, it's an easy fix.

It is a good idea to allow for different names. Personally, I prefer the NATO classifications because they are easier to remember than the Soviet designations. Of course, there are always players who like to see "3GMZ-84-EiB mod 4" system listed. If possible, maybe even allow the player to re-name displays/units to something he finds more useful.

[Tnih_n]

Not sure if you have this in mind already, but will the game feature some kind of tactical map ? The control menu "map" is a bit too small. Tactical map with some function to allow the player to set path for ships, subs, airs,... Take DCS CA for example :



Regards,

[AzureSkies]

Originally Posted by Herman

The ability to re-map hotkey commands (like Dangerous Waters) would be an incredible feature.

[snip]

If possible, maybe even allow the player to re-name displays/units to something he finds more useful.

Both should be relatively easy to do. I'll try to keep these good ideas in mind.

Originally Posted by Tnih_n

Not sure if you have this in mind already, but will the game feature some kind of tactical map ?

But of course. This is rather essential for any naval game, really. The graphics for the map display are actually done in very high resolution, and exported from infinitely scaleable vector graphics, so a map display has been in planning since the start, but is still waiting on completion of other core features, first.

[AzureSkies]

Hello again, everyone.

For this week's update/highlight, we'll have some cooperation with a NATO ally, and be joined by the Royal Navy.

Though too large for a Spruance's hanger, given the Spruance is the only NATO ship modeled at the moment she'll have to do for our landing pad.

This is the American designed, but British-built variant of the Sea King.



Made by Sikorsky as the SH-3 Sea King for the US Navy, it was also licensed to the UK manufacturer Westland as the Westland Sea King for the Royal Navy.



Identifiable by the six-bladed tail rotor and larger dome on the spine, this is the HAS.5 variant.



It could carry 4 Mk. 44, Mk. 46, or Sting Ray torpedoes, or 4 depth bombs, giving it a rather formidable armament.

As an aside, one little detail I'm rather happy with is the automatically-switching "rig for red" lighting.



It has a top speed of 113 knots, just one knot faster than the Soviet Ka-25 Hormone, though with a range of 1,200 km, it has three times the range.



An upgraded version built largely off of the HAS.2 variant, the HAS.5 comes standard with MEL Super Searcher radar, Racal MIR-2 Orange Crop ESM and sonobouy tubes.



Many served in this configuration in the Falkland Islands Conflict.



Some were later modified to carry the AN/ASQ-81 MAD. This aircraft in particular is modeled as one with such a modification.



More images:















Keep in mind, graphics are subject to upgrade, especially with regard to certain details...

I apologize again that this update was late, but thank you for joining us. Please feel free to comment and discuss below!