New game announced - Destroyer - The U-boat Hunter

[Kapitan]

Added this to the wish list on steam certainly will be a purchase from me

[Artur Salwarowski]

@Grumpy Pete:
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond. We value community feedback and our intention is to make a game that will appeal to the realistic simulation crowd. We are still very early in development and certain things that you are asking about are undecided, so I guess there is still room for maneuver My answers below.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

AI Crew Ratings. Most naval sims give a flat crew experience to the entire ship's crew ie, a ship is rated as novice/green/average/experienced/elite. That rating applies to all aspects of the ships company. I would like to see this rating broken down into departments. Example: An AI ship can have and Elite Sonar section, average visual search, experienced radarman, green damage control and experienced gunnery/CIC section. In reality, ship crews had their strengths and weaknesses and it would be great to see this simulated.

That sounds interesting, also because it gives a tiny bit of personality and gameplay variety to the given crew/ship. I am not sure how far we will go in making each of the escorts different, but I have always liked unit variety in tactical games, so we will see what we can do

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Merchant crews should have different standards than naval crews especially regarding visual search capability. History shows that "most" merchant crews were effectively blind to surfaced u-boats especially while they were in convoy.

I couldn’t agree more.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Which Sonar and radar systems will you be modelling for initial release? SC or SG radar? QCA? I'd really LOVE to see accurate sonar models for both player controlled units and AI. IMO it has never been done in WWII simulations.

We have decided to set the game in 1942, so I think it’s gonna be the SC. We will do our best to model sonar and radar accurately and we have already done a lot of research on this subject.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Dynamic ocean environments. Will sonar be affected by Wake turbulence/depth charge explosions/thermal conditions and ambient noise generated by other ships (especially convoys). I could go on in more detail but will try to keep it basic for now.

Yes, we are planning to take into consideration a lot of factors that affected sonar performance. Water temperature, plankton content, salinity levels - all those (and more) were important and we are aware of that. Although we might not be able to recreate all such matters to the very last detail, then again, we will attempt to portray the most meaningful aspects of the sonarman’s work and recreate it to a level that will satisfy players who expect a faithful depiction of equipment.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Search patterns/doctrine for reaquiring lost submarine contacts. Box/ladder/line abreast sweeps? This is something that SH3 and SH4 specifically didn't model and I believe was a major over sight. Ironically, the very old subsim Aces of the Deep did model those behaviors...

There were TONS of different search plans that were selected in accordance with a certain key, and as far as I know, they were printed on translucent plastic so that they could be used with the DRT surface. Search plans are going to be quite an important gameplay element and we want the player to have a decent level of choice in that respect.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Zones of responsibilty: It would be great if escorts guarding convoys could be assigned specific areas to cover. Instead of simple right flank/front/left flank/rear, there was a grid system in place in each of those areas. During the day, they could be assigned zones further out and at night be brought in for close escort. This is how it was done historically.

Yes, we want the player to have full control over the formation, as well as zones of responsibility, search plans, and perhaps even manual setting of sonar responsibility (although that could lead too much towards micromanagement, we will need to see about that).

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
Obviously, you will be catering to as many play styles as possible. There will be customers who expect "every-depth-charge-to-be-a-kill people all the way up to those who want as much realism as possible short of getting salt water in their computer. I happen to fall into the last group and while your bread and butter customers will probably be somewhere in the middle, I think it is the grognards who will provide longevity to your project.

Yes, the balance between fun and realism in the simulation genre is a very delicate matter. We will do our best to deliver an experience that has the best of both worlds.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
It appears that your initial release will be mainly scripted so as to follow a story line. I don't have a problem with this but also think that creation of a dynamic campaign encompassing multiple Atlantic crossings would be a tremendous asset. A dynamic campaign definitely adds longevity to a simulations appeal.

That’s why we are planning a series of episodes that will allow us to introduce further missions. There could be more Atlantic crossings before we take things to the Pacific, it’s difficult to say. But as you have noticed, we do not want to bite more than we can chew.

Originally Posted by Grumpy Pete

@Artur
My hope is that you "make it real" for the community who has long looked for a simulation that reflected reality rather than a simplified version of it. If you get this first installment right, I believe you will create a community that will back you with not only their thanks but their wallets.

Our intention is to deliver a game for everybody who has been waiting for a solid, realistic destroyer sim. We also want to change things up a bit by introducing a quality story element and tactical squadron management to the mix. Hopefully, the end result will be on par with the community’s expectations

[PL_Andrev]

Originally Posted by Artur Salwarowski

Our intention is to deliver a game for everybody who has been waiting for a solid, realistic destroyer sim.

@Artur
I understand that implementing idea which we're waiting for (convoy battles) is too hard to implement at this stage.
No multiplayer at this stage - clear.

But...
Don't you think that multiplayer cooperation option as active hunter-killer group is a better solution? It this way we can play single player or play together with our friends to hunt enemy (AI) wolfpack group.
For sure escort cooperation is more playable option for me.

Originally Posted by Artur Salwarowski

Yes, we want the player to have full control over the formation, as well as zones of responsibility, search plans, and perhaps even manual setting of sonar responsibility.

Do you plan to simulate only one ship to command convoy / owner ship, or you plan to jump to another escort ship to take control over her to provide direct attack?

This looks fantastic! Wish-listed and will be a definite purchase from me.

[dsawan]

I still think you shd release on your website a non-steam version in addition to steam. I for one like a hard copy on disk so I can play if i lose internet connection

[Sonarman]

@dsawan ....Most Steam games can be played in Steam’s offline mode

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...3160-agcb-2555

[Artur Salwarowski]

@PL_Andrev:

We know that a co-op multiplayer could definitely work here, but as I have already mentioned, we are reluctant to set goals which we might not be able to fulfil to a reasonable level of quality. That's why we are starting just with ASW, instead of going all-out with surface and surface-to-air combat from the outset. Perhaps this is an overly cautious approach, but being gamers ourselves we know that it is better for a game developer to promise less and deliver more, than the other way round.

So, to answer your question: IF we manage to get it right and IF the game is well-received, then we will definitely consider both co-op and PvP multiplayer, as well as full VR support in our future titles (including prospective future instalments of Destroyer).

As regards your other question about the philosophy of playing the escort ship game, there will be no 'jumping' to the other escorts - you will have full command and control over your own destroyer and you will be coordinating the actions of the remaining ones without leaving your ship (via the radio, TBS, semaphore, etc.). You will be able to order them to carry out deliberate, urgent, or coordinated attacks, search plans, pick up survivors, adjust formation, etc.

[Sonarman]

@Artur
Sounds better & better, thanks for answering my questions earlier, been waiting a long time for a game like this and glad to hear that you envisage a whole series based upon the first game. VR would be an amazing experience in a game like this.

[darkdrone]

Look's good as someone mentioned Destroyer Command......can I turn my destroyer into USS Iowa ?

[Bubblehead1980]

Look forward to this. Could do without the cinematic aspects. Give us a full ship to roam as well. Make sure convoy composition etc are accurate. Don't skimp.

[PL_Andrev]

Originally Posted by Bubblehead1980

Give us a full ship to roam as well.

^^ this feature is nicely welcome, but completely unnecessary: cost too much work and give a small amount of fun.
You should focus to find enemy (f.e. by binoculars, searchlights) and attack him than walking thru whole ship.

[Grumpy Pete]

Tossing out another wish-list item.


Convoy formations--It would be great to see convoys like they actually were historically. Standard convoy doctrine was 1000 yards between columns and ~500 yards between ships in the column. Station keeping then came into play with some ships getting out of position. How about giving merchant in convoys a "Station Keeping" rating? Example 0=Perfect, 1=within 50 yards, 2=within 100 yards.


Stragglers and Runners. Merchants that straggle out or run ahead of the formation. Now--as the escort commander--I have to make a choice to gather up the wayward chickens and bring them back to the roost or leave them to their individual fates. Another pita escort commanders often faced.


I'd also like to comment on something I read on your website about sonar. It mentioned "Up Doppler" which I admit--really caught my attention. My question is if you plan to incorporate "Red Shift/Blue Shift" in your hydrophone modelling? That would be awesome!


Wishing you all the best with your project!


btw: I definitely added your project to my Steam wish-list!

[Furia]

Oohhh My GOD!!!
How could I have missed this??
Are you kidding me that this awesome and incredible project has only one thread as part of a sub-forum here??

This is the type of sim I have been dreaming from the Destroyer Command.

I have just added this to my steam wishlist and I will make sure my friends hear about it.

You have made my day, my week my month

I will surely purchase the tittle.

I do agree with your conservative approach regarding development but I will keep dreaming to have again something like the combo Destroyer Command vs SH3 with multiplayer scenarios.
The pictures available in Steam are awesome and mind blowing. I have not seen them here on this thread so I am taking the liberty to post them here.










Thank you for bringing new life to the Tin Cans

[Fearless]

Looking forward to commanding the Tin Can..

Any further news or updates in the pipelines especially early access?

On my Steam wishlist as well

[Aktungbby]

yeah BBY!