Countdown to Launch

[Onkel Neal]

With the first full-featured nuke subsim since 2008 about to break cover any minute now, I thought I would post a preview and some screenshots.

Remember how spoiled we were back in the day, when modern era subsims were released every year or so? Well, those days are gone, my friend, but prepare yourself for a treat. Cold Waters aims to bring back that Red Storm Rising/Hunt For Red October/Fast Attack/ Fleet Command level of gameplay we remember so well. It's long overdue for us subsim vets and a real plum for the newer members of our community who may have missed the golden era of simulations.



As you know, Killerfish Games made their rep on excellent turn-based WWII naval games. Well, they've upped their game with Cold Waters. It's real time action all the way, and that makes a real difference in the gameplay. I liked KF's previous game, but the realtime pacing makes a world of difference.



The player manages his sub through a tactical map with the familiar naval icons or the 3D viewer. You may not see an enemy in the 3D view if he has not been detected in the sonar suite. However, to deliver a better grasp of what is happening around you, the event camera will switch to action taking place that may affect you, such as an undetected ship launching a SS-N-16 your way. The devs tell me "if you are running with 'hide low solution contacts' on it comes off working much like the hidden aliens in XCOM taking potshots at you." So b warned, there are aggressive enemies out there even if you have not detected them. Raise your periscope or ESM mast for too long and you may get some event camera fun.

Event camera took me to this scene. (The modeling even includes jettisoning the boosters.)

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Followed by this:


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Which resulted in this sad scene:



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I am impressed with the craftsmanship and care. The devs have taken a lot of steps to make this game fun with solid physics and tactics, and most importantly, competent but realistic AI. If you found Dangerous Waters and Sub Command too tedious, you will appreciate the approach Cold Waters employs toward TMA and fire control. You do not have to struggle with the nuts and bolts of TMA and sonar, in Cold Waters you are the captain and your AI crew will do most of the pencil-whipping for you. If you want to get involved, you can help speed up a good solution by using the signature classification tools. But it's optional. You still have plenty of gameplay to manage by determining your course, depth, and speed and using the thermal layers to maintain a stealthy profile.





You do get a nice periscope station, but you better be wise on how you use it. The enemy has radar and extensive use of the scope will be detected, as it should be. And the damage modeling can be pretty neat; I went to flank speed with the scope up and dmaged it, I couldn't even lower it after that. The crew message scolded me and said the repairs could only be made in port. (More about the damage modeling and repair scheme in the full review)





It even has night vision, right? Oh, this guy is gonna get it.




And this guy!



There are no crew voices to inform you about changes in depth, course, passing layers, contact updates, etc but I think that may change in future updates (Can't wait to hear "Torpedo in the water!" in this game). There is a difficulty setting, for easy, Normal, Hard, and badass; plus an option for scaling the speed of the game that should satisfy everyone who may think the game is too slow paced/too fast paced....using this they can get it just right.



That's all for now. Keep your eyes sharp, a full review in underway.