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Today's play-testing: It's hard to nail a sub

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Turbo Tape Games Dev
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  • Naval War: Arctic Circle
We have now implemented evasion as part of the AI, and submarines are sure harder to take out when they run away from incoming torpedoes at flank speed.

NWAC_DifficultSubHunt.PNG

In theory, you want to fire torpedoes at it from different angles, so when it runs away from one, it runs into the other. Easier said than done!

The area was blanketed with sonobuoys, active and passive mode, and three helicopters and one Poseidon had to expend every torpedo before we finally got the elusive Akula.
 
I just finished watching the series 'Submarine School' following the 'Perisher' command course for the Royal Navy, the toughest such course in the world.

The blurb is "At the naval base in Faslane, Scotland, submariners undergo the world’s toughest command course, nicknamed ‘the Perisher’, in the hope of becoming a commander of a £500million nuclear submarine. This series follows five elite submariners who after three months of simulated training, spend a month in a submarine to test their coordination on the open seas and their ability to perform under pressure in real-life situations."

It's full of quite interesting tactics and it gives a great look at submarine (even anti-sub) operations. The SSN the students were commanding, HMS Triumph of the Trafalgar class, managed to sink the Norwegian sub Ula and HMS Turbulent during the NATO exercise Joint Warrior off the coast of Scotland that took place during their training. (Don't worry, it's shown in great detail how the students beat an Ula! :p ). I advise anyone interested to check it out, it can be found on Channel 5's on demand web service.
 
That's a lot of micro...
 
Gytis said:
I like the concept, but I hope the team will really work on graphics.
Click to expand...
I hope you don't think NWAC is going to be some ships-are-half-a-mile-apart action game with a focus on graphics. Naval War will have great graphics, but it is intended to be a realistic simulation of modern naval combat, not a console action game.
 
Check some other Paradox games, especially new ones in development, and you will see what I mean.

Even if NWAC is a game on a grander scale, a team should still put a lot of hard work on visuals, as they are the first think a player sees when starting the game and one of the most important things thereafter. If a team hopes players will spend dozens of hours staring at PC screen playing this game, they should make that you enjoy what you are seeing.

I know a lot of indie game makers due to limited resources tend to favor core game play a lot and skimp on graphics, but a balanced approach must be found. UI and graphics aren't just a tool to help players enjoy the game, it is an organic extension of the game.
 
Yes, but also consider:

PI games are at their best when they give you the right feel for world you game in. (Something why many popular mods put more accurate unit names and far more pictures, so you stop playing with a Medium tank VII and get something more satisfying).

I dont see a problem with this game. We get cool visuals (displayed in the smaller screen when on the "grand campaign map") and i believe that the team will put in many names and nice descriptions too. No firing unnamed missile IV at Heavy Cruiser VI.
 
We will put a lot of resources into the visuals, including the 3D animation of units, environment and the action. Obviously, we have limited resources compared to triple a titles, but we're planning to have something that looks good.

Certainly, only real units, weapons and sensors will be in the game, so there is no generic missiles or cruisers. Well, some of the 3d models for missiles are pretty generic, but they look much the same and move too fast anyway :)
 
But im pretty sure theyll have very non-generic names. The usual suspect (aka a gamer) wont be able to notice the difference between two AA missiles.

And then you have fanatics who can tell the difference at a glance... But even Total War doesnt satisfy this group ^^. So no AAA titles arent really that much better than you are. Silent Hunter V actually has an aft torpedo room for the VIIA.

Id say the Udaloy (spelling?) etc. all fit in nicely with the world of gaming titles that represent complicated military matters.


And what i really wanted to add. RUSE a good looking title has you pushing Pershings across the Italian campaign (demo) and then gives you nuclear artillery. Optics arent everything :)
 
JanH said:
We have now implemented evasion as part of the AI, and submarines are sure harder to take out when they run away from incoming torpedoes at flank speed.

View attachment 39613

In theory, you want to fire torpedoes at it from different angles, so when it runs away from one, it runs into the other. Easier said than done!

The area was blanketed with sonobuoys, active and passive mode, and three helicopters and one Poseidon had to expend every torpedo before we finally got the elusive Akula.
Click to expand...

You shouldn't have that big a problem with subs running away from air-dropped torpedoes. You might want to tell your programmers to make sure the helos are dropping their weapons at appropriate ranges--ideally, enough for immediate acquisition or less (might as well drop it right on top of it). It might also help to have an option to order ships and subs to be able to fire either at maximum range (taking into account the target's heading and speed, minus a little bit of range to account for searching and terminal manuevers) or at no-escape range to help reduce micro-management.
 
i really hope the subs are almost imposible to detect unless i do anything offensive.. i would love to just lie there in a multiplayer game and slowly follow their mainfleeet. then suddenly when i have their attention somwhere else BOOM!
 
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