[Onkel Neal]

I agree with you, good feedback, that should be really useful for the devs.

Originally Posted by Furia

I have played around 6 hours so far in (4 one hour and 1 time a 2 hours scenario)

The submarine behavior is unrealistic (all time flank speed, awesome torpedoes that never fail and sink ships at first impact, submarines that despite being hit by the 5 inch guns continue attacking at flank speed and changing depth like an Akula Class...even with a destroyer closing fast at 500 yards the sub goes periscope depth, fires and never misses and in some cases manages to evade the attack)

Yeah, I had the same questions. U-boats seem pretty quick and nimble. I understand that there may need to be tweaks to keep the game balanced. But players do need to feel they subs are playing by the rules.

Do the AI subs have the same limitations as the real ones? Are these limitations scaled for a three hour game (as they are in Wolfpack). How long is an hour of the game measured against real life? For example, a U-Boat could sprint at 6 knots or so for 45 mins. What should I expect this performance to be in the game?

Is it necessary for AI u-boats to raise their scope for ~30 seconds to prepare for a torpedo launch? I would think so.

The lookouts should warn much earlier about possible collisions, actually when they inform you about close merchants, you are about to collide and with almost no time for reaction.

Haha, yeah, 30 seconds would be nice

One of the things I miss most is the possibility of using hydrophones. Obviously in the actual game dynamic there is not much "search" to do since you are hooked to the sub from minute 1. I would like to be able to use hydrophones.

I'm assuming the hydrophones are part of th3e AI sonar operator's call outs, such as when he says, "Strong propeller noises", that also tells me the u-boat is sprinting.

Sometimes while on the bridge the horizon is shaking as if you are driving in a road with some bumps instead riding in a ship.
I do miss more "environmental" sounds like wind, change of ship noises when speeding up, some alarms like battle stations or collision alert...

Yeah, a little more of that.

All in all I think the game has great potential and I believe the development team has done an awesome job in documenting and replicating a Fletcher Class destroyer. The interfaces/stations are great. However I am afraid this is not a game where the usual hardcore (Submarine or Destroyer Command players) will enjoy for long but they may get frustrated or bored after a few hours due to the behavior of the AI subs and the kind of game-play that this generates and this concerns me because I have great expectations for this title but the actual "sub hunt" we can do, does not correspond with my expectations of how a sub should behave or how the game-play should develop. Maybe there are players that like this "dogfight fur-ball style"

I would be great if you could also add a way to additionally incorporate a game mode that has a more historical "tempo" that allows longer search and hunt experiences and that have more credible AI submarines that when detected and attack do not continue kamikaze towards the convoy. As you know, in the real live the actual main task of the destroyer was to keep the subs away from the convoy by forcing them to submerge or driving them away. Here I have only managed to do this one after inflicting sever damage to one sub including generating an oil slick, but usually submarines simply ignore the destroyer un unless they are sunk they manage to eliminate several merchants easily.
Great ship, great stations, awesome possibilities. Just need a realistic sub behavior and game-play and then you have a winner.
In any case thanks for bringing the Destroyers back to life.
I wish you all the best and success with the game.

That makes sense. We have to keep in mind, the game needs to appeal to a wide range of players to be successful. I think there should be exactly the type of missions optional as you described. Like a long-game AI option.

It might take 12 hours to complete the mission (guard against attack, react to attack, prosecute ASW, continue to tie sub down with more ASW, direct other DDs, allow the convoy to escape, destroy sub and/or when convoy is 30 km away, return to convoy.) but that's a great use of the Save Game feature. Imagine starting a game as the sun is going down, no radar contacts or maybe only one, but other than that, it's up to you to guess where the u-boats will approach. Make patrol loops, slow and search, then haul ass (don't want to be an easy target). React to an attack, work through the night, saving every couple hours, picking up where you left off every IRL day. Finally, the game sub starts coming up and you're safe! Epic battle that would give you a week of playing in real time.