A few new ideas - Page 14

Fidd · 05-17-24, 09:13 AM

155. 3 axis movement and wave/swell action.

I am not particularly nautically minded, so feel free to differ, but it seems to me that whilst we have roll and yaw about the longitudinal and normal (vertical) vertices, we do not have any noticeable pitch for either wave action, or that of a swell.

This is greatly needed, as they confer the ability to do all sorts of things:

It makes maintaining periscope depth more problematic, as any pitch of the boat inclines or depresses the thrust-line of the prop, making depth keeping more dynamically unstable. The action of a swell is less to cause a pitch-change of the boat, but is going to cause the boat to rise and fall relative to the horizon. This would make ranging more difficult.

The ability to have major pitch changes would allow for more dynamic instability of the boat, if, for example, the bow is lifted relative to the stern by a DC going off under it. Sliding loose objects, objects falling out of lockers would be a nice touch here?

Some means of steadying the avatar to some degree would be helpful, especially in the engine room, where the ability to brace oneself to tune a flame would be most welcome!

If vertical control of a u-boat is degraded or lost - perhaps by an unequal distribution of weight, of DC attacks, then the ability of the u-boat to take on a steep pitch change could lead to the need for large changes of trim, of power, of 'planes to arrest an unwanted ascent of decent? It raises the spectre of completely losing control, and having difficulty regaining it before crush depth, or inadvertently surfacing!

There's a lot of atmospheric external sound that could be added, from the "slap" of the hydroplanes hitting the water if the boat pitches down onto the back of a wave, the creak of the u-boat's structure and so forth, in rough weather. Bots and players could be caused to sway and move in concert with the wave/swell action?

3 axis movement does have draw-backs, for example it may cause sea-sickness, seeing one movement but experiencing no movement, so probably best to make this a lobby, or a personal setting??

In sum though, I think there's a great deal of positives in helping to graduate the game experience from simple to really hard, which is needed to help prevent burnout and with player retention.

Fidd · 06-05-24, 09:56 PM

156. Audible pings not necessarily being detections.

Asdic pings hitting a u-boat, (as heard from within) have been described as akin to "gravel hitting the hull". I take this to mean that rather than hearing a clear-ping and echo, as an asdic operator would hear, the sound was "muddled" and prolonged slightly. I would like to see a transition from this sound becoming increasingly clear and distinct the closer the asdic-equipped escort got to the u-boat. The point of this is to remove the certainty of precisely when a u-boat is detected on asdic. Instead, perhaps, if the hydrophone operator on the u-boat is listening to that escort, he will hear the acceleration and have a short interval to report this before splashes (7-20 seconds?). As the escort comes overhead, it's props should be audible within the u-boat, but, "splashes" would only be audible on the hydrophones.

These changes would mean the hydrophone use on the u-boat would become more important in terms of the timing of going full ahead to escape being hit by DC's, rather than it simply being a case of anyone on the boat hearing "pings on the hull" and therefore knowing when to take measures to escape a DC attack. As a another wrinkle, the ability to hear "splashes" on the hydrophone in the first place could be made conditional on the e-motor being set to silent running?

Fidd · 06-15-24, 05:35 AM

157. Lobby setting whereby sensors/optics/hatches can be rendered inoperable for a period of time, and/or, until certain actions/data entry are performed.

On the face of it, this is a peculiar one. However, if one imagines that the following are inoperable at the beginning of a (non quick start) game:

Hydrophones
Periscopes
Top-hatch

An Enigma message is then sent, decryption of which gives the location of the convoy, and a four letter suffix to the message. The captain then enters the suffix with a "dot command" in the text buffer. This starts a timer for 7 minutes, at the end of which the hydrophones become usable. Once a strong acoustic signal is detected, this starts a 3 minute timer, which then unlocks the ability to operate the optics and the top-hatch.

Why do this?:
This would compel the crew to decrypt an Enigma signal, ascertain the 4 letter letter suffix and enter it. In the meantime the Navigator can plot the position and reported speed of the convoy, project a line from that position the distance at that speed by the interval between the time now, and the time of the report, then lay off a course to intercept, which the boat would then execute. This gives content to both navigator AND radio operator and an Enigma operator (who may be another member of the crew). The crew then dive, using the now available hydrophone, get the strong signal, and 3 minutes later they can now see the convoy with optics, if it is visible.

This mechanism would force spawnage to the front or sides of the convoy, and the distance of spawning would also be organised in such a way that accidental detection could not occur provided the decryption was done in a timely fashion. It would allow for location of the convoy using ill-used components of the game (Enigma and Navigational plotting) to be used, whilst not being unduly time consuming.

05-17-24, 09:13 AM	#196
Fidd Commander Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Blighty! Posts: 440 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	155. 3 axis movement and wave/swell action. I am not particularly nautically minded, so feel free to differ, but it seems to me that whilst we have roll and yaw about the longitudinal and normal (vertical) vertices, we do not have any noticeable pitch for either wave action, or that of a swell. This is greatly needed, as they confer the ability to do all sorts of things: It makes maintaining periscope depth more problematic, as any pitch of the boat inclines or depresses the thrust-line of the prop, making depth keeping more dynamically unstable. The action of a swell is less to cause a pitch-change of the boat, but is going to cause the boat to rise and fall relative to the horizon. This would make ranging more difficult. The ability to have major pitch changes would allow for more dynamic instability of the boat, if, for example, the bow is lifted relative to the stern by a DC going off under it. Sliding loose objects, objects falling out of lockers would be a nice touch here? Some means of steadying the avatar to some degree would be helpful, especially in the engine room, where the ability to brace oneself to tune a flame would be most welcome! If vertical control of a u-boat is degraded or lost - perhaps by an unequal distribution of weight, of DC attacks, then the ability of the u-boat to take on a steep pitch change could lead to the need for large changes of trim, of power, of 'planes to arrest an unwanted ascent of decent? It raises the spectre of completely losing control, and having difficulty regaining it before crush depth, or inadvertently surfacing! There's a lot of atmospheric external sound that could be added, from the "slap" of the hydroplanes hitting the water if the boat pitches down onto the back of a wave, the creak of the u-boat's structure and so forth, in rough weather. Bots and players could be caused to sway and move in concert with the wave/swell action? 3 axis movement does have draw-backs, for example it may cause sea-sickness, seeing one movement but experiencing no movement, so probably best to make this a lobby, or a personal setting?? In sum though, I think there's a great deal of positives in helping to graduate the game experience from simple to really hard, which is needed to help prevent burnout and with player retention.

06-05-24, 09:56 PM	#197
Fidd Commander Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Blighty! Posts: 440 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	156. Audible pings not necessarily being detections. Asdic pings hitting a u-boat, (as heard from within) have been described as akin to "gravel hitting the hull". I take this to mean that rather than hearing a clear-ping and echo, as an asdic operator would hear, the sound was "muddled" and prolonged slightly. I would like to see a transition from this sound becoming increasingly clear and distinct the closer the asdic-equipped escort got to the u-boat. The point of this is to remove the certainty of precisely when a u-boat is detected on asdic. Instead, perhaps, if the hydrophone operator on the u-boat is listening to that escort, he will hear the acceleration and have a short interval to report this before splashes (7-20 seconds?). As the escort comes overhead, it's props should be audible within the u-boat, but, "splashes" would only be audible on the hydrophones. These changes would mean the hydrophone use on the u-boat would become more important in terms of the timing of going full ahead to escape being hit by DC's, rather than it simply being a case of anyone on the boat hearing "pings on the hull" and therefore knowing when to take measures to escape a DC attack. As a another wrinkle, the ability to hear "splashes" on the hydrophone in the first place could be made conditional on the e-motor being set to silent running?

06-15-24, 05:35 AM	#198
Fidd Commander Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Blighty! Posts: 440 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	157. Lobby setting whereby sensors/optics/hatches can be rendered inoperable for a period of time, and/or, until certain actions/data entry are performed. On the face of it, this is a peculiar one. However, if one imagines that the following are inoperable at the beginning of a (non quick start) game: Hydrophones Periscopes Top-hatch An Enigma message is then sent, decryption of which gives the location of the convoy, and a four letter suffix to the message. The captain then enters the suffix with a "dot command" in the text buffer. This starts a timer for 7 minutes, at the end of which the hydrophones become usable. Once a strong acoustic signal is detected, this starts a 3 minute timer, which then unlocks the ability to operate the optics and the top-hatch. Why do this?: This would compel the crew to decrypt an Enigma signal, ascertain the 4 letter letter suffix and enter it. In the meantime the Navigator can plot the position and reported speed of the convoy, project a line from that position the distance at that speed by the interval between the time now, and the time of the report, then lay off a course to intercept, which the boat would then execute. This gives content to both navigator AND radio operator and an Enigma operator (who may be another member of the crew). The crew then dive, using the now available hydrophone, get the strong signal, and 3 minutes later they can now see the convoy with optics, if it is visible. This mechanism would force spawnage to the front or sides of the convoy, and the distance of spawning would also be organised in such a way that accidental detection could not occur provided the decryption was done in a timely fashion. It would allow for location of the convoy using ill-used components of the game (Enigma and Navigational plotting) to be used, whilst not being unduly time consuming.