Once again, I would like to thank everybody for the very insightful feedback. I have read through all of it and the way I see it, apart from fixes and corrections, the biggest task ahead of us is to improve U-boat AI. I am 100% on board with your observations, and I am happy to say that we've got all the necessary tools and procedures implemented - we just need to readjust them to achieve the effect you are after.
As for the AI, the biggest problem that we have had with it was when it was the other way round - whenever we turned U-boat aggression down too much, the game would appear pretty boring. But, as Onkel Neal has remarked, this is a tough thing to get 100% right, and that's also the main reason I have reached out for your help.
The problem here is that I have been playing this game for 2 years now, and it might be that my understanding of pace and intensity might have become blurred. After reading your remarks it occurred to me that I focused way too much on the sense of urgency and constant pressure that I wanted to achieve. It is now apparent that I overdid this, and I am very thankful that you have made this very clear.
In all honesty, I have actually nerfed the U-boats A LOT since the demo. As it appears, however, they need more of that and that is exactly what they are going to get
Therefore, the roadmap towards the release seems very clear: while the programming team continue working on the tutorial, save game, and bugs/fixes, I will focus on cranking up certain mechanisms that will make U-boats more reactive and more likely to take the defensive stance. After in-house testing over the weekend, we will update the project so that you can evaluate the changes and let us know whether things have changed for the better.
Please remember, that we are making this game primarily for you - subsim and naval warfare afficionados. This is not supposed to be a frantic, action-oriented game, but if you say it appears as such, then we will do our best to step down the intensity
Sounds like a plan?