A Tribute to the Subsim community

[Kpt. Weyprecht]

Hello!

After a couple of years overloaded with RL work - this actually isn't finished - I'm trying to sail again. My new install on a new computer is about to work, I'm still looking around to find new must-have mods that appeared since the last time I played the sim (I'm amazed by Markman94's work) and I thought it could telle how submarine simulations changed my life.
Well, I didn't enlist to the navy. Even if I'm an eternal newbie who sets for a hardcore sim without having time to master it, I recently realized that I wouldn't be doind in RL what I am doing now if I hadn't known Silen Hunter and this forum.
Playind SH3, I discovered SubSim. Searching for a relaistic way calculate my firing data, I started to read about plotting techniques. Then I discovered Aaronblood's MoBo (which I stay addicted to). Then I learned maneuvering bard techniques. Then I started to read about dead reconing and later, celestial navigation. I still don't know if I would turn to be a sailor - I was born 500 kilometres from the neares sea - but I definitely am fascinated by maps and charts. With SubSim, I learned that it was not barely aesthetical interest and actually could do things with them. In real life, And, since I am a historian and archaeologist, I ended up by working with Geographical Information Systems and databases (that's another thind - seeing modders turn an old game into a great sim showed showed me that computers weren't mysterious "black boxes", and I learnes SQL for my database) on spatial issues like settlement patterns in early Middle Ages. It seems quite far from U-boats but I don't think I would enjoy this kind of work if I had not 'lost' some valuable time playing with submarines.

[RConch]

And my wife thinks it is a waste of time.

[Sailor Steve]

It is. But then, so is fishing or sailing.