[WIP] Wolves of the Kaiser:1914-1918 Mod

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by DominikusRex

Hello everyone. As a player who is new to submarine sims and who has only played sh3 and a bit of cold waters, i have to say that I realy like the idea of a ww1 submarine sim so this mod is making me quite hyped. In general, i like the ww1 period more than the ww2 so i guess i have a bit of a bias as well. Anyway, there is one question that i would like to ask: will this mod have an alt. history path? It would be interesting if i sunk enough british dreadnoughts to the point where Tirpitz goes: " now is our time! Mobilise all our dreadnoughts so that we can brake the british blockade!" and so that there is like a special event where the british blockade of Germany is broken. From there there could be other alt. history radio reports where the war on land goes better for the central powers because of the broken blokade. I'd just like to know if there are plans for that or would it be too hard to code in?
Have a nice day

There are plans for a few alternate history single missions, but there will not really be an alternate history campaign path. In November 1918, Germany will surrender regardless of how much tonnage you sink. And it will be time for you & your men to trade uniforms for civilian duds. And deal with finding work, food shortages, hyperinflation, the Weimar Republic, revolutionary politics, and all that other interwar German drama.

Here are the alternate history single missions I am thinking of:

1) Save von Spee! (1914): U-19 Class. Your U-Boat is to rendezvous with "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" on 12/08/1914 as they run home via the North Sea, having eluded the British successfully off South America. (Historically of course the Germans were caught and destroyed on that date).The "Invincible" and "Inflexible" attack von Spee's task force off Scotland. Sink or cripple the British BC's at all costs - you are von Spee's only hope.


2) U-Boats at Jutland (1916): U-31 Class. You are scouting ahead of the High Seas Fleet and have a shot at the British dreadnoughts as their fleet deploys. Use the confusion of battle to attack Jellicoe's fleet at this crucial moment, throwing the British battle line into chaos and giving Germany a chance to win a decisive victory.

3) Death of the Leopard (1917): U-51 Class. While escorting the Armed Merchant Raider SMS "Leopard" you witness the Armored Cruiser "Achilles" and
armed steamer "Dundee" approaching. Sink the enemy and save "Leopard" from destruction so she can break out into the Atlantic (Historically, "Leopard" was destroyed by "Achilles" & "Dundee" before she could sink a single merchant ship).

4) Raid on Rosyth (1918): U-31 Class. The greatest WWI aerial raid never to have taken place. In a prelude to Pearl Harbor, a large fleet of German seaplanes are launched from seaplane carriers against the British battlecruisers at Rosyth. You are to support the air attack with an underwater raid against any docked capital ships. Very heavy resistance from British aerial and naval patrols is expected.

5) Brother Against Brother (1918): U-87 Class. November 1918. Germany is on its last legs. Ravaged by Influenza and hunger, German sailors in the surface fleet rebel, forming Worker's Councils. Communist revolutionaries take over the HSF's battleships. Flying the red flag, a force of rebel dreadnoughts sails towards Wilhelmshaven - determined to sink loyalist ships and overthrow the Kaiser. Your job is to sink as many of the revolutionary German BB's as you can - demoralizing the rebels and saving the monarchy.

(Historically one U-Boat and the rebelling battleship Thuringen very nearly shot at each other, but the situation was defused. Ashore, several Loyalist U-Boat men opened fire on a rebellious crowd on 11/03/1918, killing several revolutionary sailors. This led to outrage against Kaiser Wilhelm, and rebellion spread like wildfire. The U-Boat arm remained loyal to the end but their support was not enough, and the Kaiser's rule collapsed, ending the war).

Any other ideas for alternate history single missions are welcome!

[DominikusRex]

[QUOTE=iambecomelife;2745350]There are plans for a few alternate history single missions, but there will not really be an alternate history campaign path. In November 1918, Germany will surrender regardless of how much tonnage you sink. And it will be time for you & your men to trade uniforms for civilian duds. And deal with finding work, food shortages, hyperinflation, the Weimar Republic, revolutionary politics, and all that other interwar German drama.

Here are the alternate history single missions I am thinking of:

1) Save von Spee! (1914): U-19 Class. Your U-Boat is to rendezvous with "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" on 12/08/1914 as they run home via the North Sea, having eluded the British successfully off South America. (Historically of course the Germans were caught and destroyed on that date).The "Invincible" and "Inflexible" attack von Spee's task force off Scotland. Sink or cripple the British BC's at all costs - you are von Spee's only hope.


2) U-Boats at Jutland (1916): U-31 Class. You are scouting ahead of the High Seas Fleet and have a shot at the British dreadnoughts as their fleet deploys. Use the confusion of battle to attack Jellicoe's fleet at this crucial moment, throwing the British battle line into chaos and giving Germany a chance to win a decisive victory.

3) Death of the Leopard (1917): U-51 Class. While escorting the Armed Merchant Raider SMS "Leopard" you witness the Armored Cruiser "Achilles" and
armed steamer "Dundee" approaching. Sink the enemy and save "Leopard" from destruction so she can break out into the Atlantic (Historically, "Leopard" was destroyed by "Achilles" & "Dundee" before she could sink a single merchant ship).

4) Raid on Rosyth (1918): U-31 Class. The greatest WWI aerial raid never to have taken place. In a prelude to Pearl Harbor, a large fleet of German seaplanes are launched from seaplane carriers against the British battlecruisers at Rosyth. You are to support the air attack with an underwater raid against any docked capital ships. Very heavy resistance from British aerial and naval patrols is expected.

5) Brother Against Brother (1918): U-87 Class. November 1918. Germany is on its last legs. Ravaged by Influenza and hunger, German sailors in the surface fleet rebel, forming Worker's Councils. Communist revolutionaries take over the HSF's battleships. Flying the red flag, a force of rebel dreadnoughts sails towards Wilhelmshaven - determined to sink loyalist ships and overthrow the Kaiser. Your job is to sink as many of the revolutionary German BB's as you can - demoralizing the rebels and saving the monarchy.

(Historically one U-Boat and the rebelling battleship Thuringen very nearly shot at each other, but the situation was defused. Ashore, several Loyalist U-Boat men opened fire on a rebellious crowd on 11/03/1918, killing several revolutionary sailors. This led to outrage against Kaiser Wilhelm, and rebellion spread like wildfire. The U-Boat arm remained loyal to the end but their support was not enough, and the Kaiser's rule collapsed, ending the war).

Any other ideas for alternate history single missions are welcome![/QUOTE

Ah, i see. I guess one day once your mod is out someone could make a 'Victory of the Kaiser' submod for us alt. history Central Powers fans I know that it is doable as i have played the victory mod for sh3 and found it quite enjoyable, i guess i will just have to wait a bit longer for a Kaiserreich ending to your great looking mod. Still, i am looking foward to playing your mod once it is ready and i wish you a nice day ]

[Aktungbby]

DominikusRex!

[iambecomelife]

Exciting times ahead! I spent the weekend "polishing" the first Capital Ship to release state.... "Von der Tann". She is one of the oldest models and required the most remedial work. This polishing basically consists of the following steps:

-Correcting collision detection via .zon file's spheres and boxes
-Cloning hex ID's
-Checking 3d model for parts "ghosting" into each other
-Measuring vessel size to ensure 100% correct historical length, draft, etc.
-Adding moving parts
-Implementing special new damage effects
-Adding working torpedo tubes
-Adding crew

Not hard to do, and it really improves the mod craftsmanship.

I am adding many new compartment types to the stock zones.cfg, so ships will have many different levels of resistance to damage. "Von der Tann" like all German battlecruisers, will generally have better damage resistance and pumping capacity than British BC's.

I am also giving capital ships a "fail safe" compartment to make them sink fast if they take huge amounts of damage....solves an issue whereby Battleships/BC's used to stay afloat after getting 9-10 torpedoes. Now, 3-4 torpedoes will be big trouble for most ships. Seems like a reasonable damage model IMHO given the following data from early capital ships:

Barham - sunk by 3 torps
California - sunk by 2 torps
Oklahoma - sunk by 3 torps (took 2 more as she was already sinking)
Kongo - sunk by 2 torps
Royal Oak - sunk by 4 torps
Repulse - sunk by 4-5 torps
West Virginia - probably sunk by 3 torps (took 4 as she sank for a total of 7)

I know Yamato & Musashi ate a whole bunch more torpedoes, but they are outside the scope of Early 20th Century dreadnought construction.

[iambecomelife]

Just FYI this is still WIP stuff - No complete group of ship's boats because I am creating a new group of lifeboats/launches for the ingame ships that will be better looking AND lower poly.

Don't worry, the crew will not "man the rail" in combat. This was just an experiment to see how figures affect framerates (very minor impact, it went well)

Masts and certain items are not the right shape, but over all pretty easy stuff to correct.

[propbeanie]

Ooo-ooh, very nice smoke and fire, sir! I love that "haze" effect.

[KleineUboot]

Where I can download it?

[Hitman]

Originally Posted by KleineUboot

Where I can download it?

In the future

[Roebuck]

Will there be roaming enemy subs? Those would be fun to duel against.

Also, are any of these subs not being added anymore or has the list stayed the same?
(UB-1, U-9, U-19, U-31, U-93, U-139 classes)

[Niume]

Just started reading Business in Great Waters: The U-Boat Wars, 1916-1945 book, while reading I learnt that U-boats had great success in WW1.In the past I didn't knew much about WW1 submarines. Now I can't wait to be a WW1 U-boat commander fighting for the Imperial Germany. I think this questions has been asked countless times, but as I see that we are reaching the release may I ask? WHEN CAN WE EXPECT THE RELEASE?

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Roebuck

Will there be roaming enemy subs? Those would be fun to duel against.

Also, are any of these subs not being added anymore or has the list stayed the same?
(UB-1, U-9, U-19, U-31, U-93, U-139 classes)

The U-139 class may not be included, but aside from that there are plans for all the other subs you mentioned.

There will be both enemy and friendly AI subs, with torpedoes.

The main backer and I are trying for a holiday 2021 release! Cannot confirm, but certain things have been going very well and helped the mod along. One main boost is that the roster of high poly battleships and battlecruisers is complete.

[Bubblehead1980]

Did WW I U boats use the surface torpedo attacks such as at night used in WW II? Did they have a TBT?

[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by iambecomelife

The U-139 class may not be included, but aside from that there are plans for all the other subs you mentioned.

There will be both enemy and friendly AI subs, with torpedoes.

The main backer and I are trying for a holiday 2021 release! Cannot confirm, but certain things have been going very well and helped the mod along. One main boost is that the roster of high poly battleships and battlecruisers is complete.

I may have to pick your brain on the AI subs w torpedoes. Having some issues implementing them into TMO.

[iambecomelife]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead1980

Did WW I U boats use the surface torpedo attacks such as at night used in WW II? Did they have a TBT?

Yes! Night surface attacks became very common from 1917 -1918. According to Labourdette:

"From 1917 onwards, [daylight] torpedo attacks became rarer and were replaced with night attacks or at daybreak. On a dark night, the U-Boote operated on the surface or half submerged using direct sights and not the periscope, giving them an incontestable advantage over surface ships. At the end of September 1917, the British Admiralty wrote in its report:

"It is obvious that, despite a widespread feeling on ships carrying personnel or goods, the night does not bring safety against the German submarine threat. Our protective measures need to be as complete at night time as they are during the day. It is because these measures are not put into practice with all the care that they require that the success rate of U-Boote night attacks is 75% whereas in the day it drops to 50%."

This is a major reason why U-Boat warfare escalated and became much more deadly after 1916. From 1914 - 1916 there was still a pretty substantial effort to stick to the Prize Rules - boarding & investigating merchantmen in daylight, and allowing time to abandon ship if a ship was carrying supplies for the Entente war effort.

By 1917, U-Boat commanders and the Kaiserliche Marine were frustrated with defensive measures that made it more risky for submarines - thousands more merchantmen were armed, and several U-Boats had been sunk by Q-Ships while trying to play "by the rules" and give warning before attack. Thus, in the vicious Spring 1917 U-Boat offensive, attacks without warning became more common. And thus the death toll increased - if you check statistics from that date you will see more Allied merchant ship sinkings with heavy loss of life, or even with no survivors, because unrestricted torpedoings in the warzone were more acceptable to Germany.

Re: TBT - the most closely analogous thing was a primitive "computer" utilizing slide rulers to "lead" close range torpedo shots. Unfortunately I do not have any images of it:

http://www.subsim.site/phpBB_archive...ic.php?t=46289

[Hitman]

You can have a look here:

http://www.tvre.org/en/torpedo-attacks-during-wwi