whats the story?

[GoldenRivet]

Last update i saw was the December 2017 update.

the dev team has been startlingly quiet since, and that has been almost 7 months ago.

since then we have apparently seen a name change from UBOOT to UBOAT, and a release date change from naming a specific quarter of 2018, to just, "2018" which is a pretty broad brush stroke.

I added this to my steam wish-list over a year and a half ago, and their product seemed pretty much in a near finished state way back then.

do we know anything?

seems like this game has gone through a pretty hush hush development

[fullmetaledges]

I share in your frustrations. I’ve been watching this for the same amount of time and actually bought a new computer for it in Jan of 2017. In their last update they stated that they are going to release uboat to closed beta in June to Kickstarter supporters and then a month later to everyone in an open beta. Believe me I’m hoping to get this soon but also I hope it meets my expectations and the longer it goes the higher my expectations become. I think I’m setting up myself for disappointment but it is what it is at this point.

Here is their latest update https://www.kickstarter.com/projects.../posts/2163312

[JuanLiquid]

LOL! I wasn't the only one that purchased a new laptop just for Uboot. I have it even with the factory plastics.

[JU_88]

The Devs have been vocal on the Steam forums, they said not to expect many updates for now as the bulk of there work now involves polishing up their code, and stomping bugs.
It'll probably come out for Q3/Q4 this year. I wouldn't worry though, as a crowd funded project, they raised more than enough cash to keep them going and have an indy publisher on board, so there is no logical reason why the game wont be out eventually, given how far they've come.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by JU_88

The Devs have been vocal on the Steam forums, they said not to expect many updates for now as the bulk of there work now involves polishing up their code, and stomping bugs.
It'll probably come out for Q3/Q4 this year. I wouldn't worry though, as a crowd funded project, they raised more than enough cash to keep them going and have an indy publisher on board, so there is no logical reason why the game wont be out eventually, given how far they've come.

they have been woefully absent - IMHO - in the go to place on the web for all things subsim related... subsim.

As hot of a new release as this thing seems to be, the U-Boat subforum seems to be a ghost town

sad

[nihilcat]

We post regular updates on Kickstarter and there just isn't much more to say as game is still in production. As players ourselves, we love there just is a healthy level of communication for a small dev team to maintain. I'm the only English speaking person in the team and the only programmer. I simply prefer to get the work done instead of speaking about non existing stuff

If you will closely track our development you will see how much has changed using the feedback from the community, we are monitoring all channels. Just have your expectations at bay, our budget for this game is at least 25 times smaller than for Silent Hunter 5.

If you feel out of loop on the other hand and have any questions about the game - feel free to ask about anything, I keep having enabled notifications on all posts on these subforums and will be aware of it for sure.

[makman94]

Originally Posted by nihilcat

We post regular updates on Kickstarter and there just isn't much more to say as game is still in production. As players ourselves, we love there just is a healthy level of communication for a small dev team to maintain. I'm the only English speaking person in the team and the only programmer. I simply prefer to get the work done instead of speaking about non existing stuff

If you will closely track our development you will see how much has changed using the feedback from the community, we are monitoring all channels. Just have your expectations at bay, our budget for this game is at least 25 times smaller than for Silent Hunter 5.

If you feel out of loop on the other hand and have any questions about the game - feel free to ask about anything, I keep having enabled notifications on all posts on these subforums and will be aware of it for sure.

hello Nihilcat,

each time it looks better and better (for sure it seems the best water enviro i have seen so far).

I read at your last update that celestial objects are in correct place now.
Does this mean that celestial navigation will be possible for players ?

Also, can you tell something for the AI manouvers in case of detection ? will it be a random list of possible manouvers or it will be one standar behaviour all the time?

What about the hydrophone, sonar and radar devices? are they detailed modeled so player can use them in an effective way ?

Also, how 'deep' have you modeled the TDC ? will there be any more (than the ones you showed at a previous update) at the manual targeting system such as torpedo run time,spread ,impact angle...etc ?

Lastly, will the game be modable and in what level ?

[nihilcat]

Originally Posted by makman94

hello Nihilcat,

each time it looks better and better (for sure it seems the best water enviro i have seen so far).

I read at your last update that celestial objects are in correct place now.
Does this mean that celestial navigation will be possible for players ?

Also, can you tell something for the AI manouvers in case of detection ? will it be a random list of possible manouvers or it will be one standar behaviour all the time?

What about the hydrophone, sonar and radar devices? are they detailed modeled so player can use them in an effective way ?

Also, how 'deep' have you modeled the TDC ? will there be any more (than the ones you showed at a previous update) at the manual targeting system such as torpedo run time,spread ,impact angle...etc ?

Lastly, will the game be modable and in what level ?

Hi makman94,

Thank you.

Although you should technically be able to tell your position using the environment, there are currently no tools supporting you in that. Also it's not very practical considering how our travel system works at this time, but IMO we will probably add alternative, conventional time compression during beta... so who knows.

As a rule, I decided to not comment on AI behaviours to not spoil the inner workings and make them look natural. I hope that NPC ships behaviour will be satisfying - if not let us know during beta, if you will have the time to participate.

At this time only hydrophone is manually useable by the player, but we already have a full research done on sonars and radars on u-boats. It's probably a matter of time when we add manual stations for them too, but this may happen even post-release. It's not our top priority at this time as we already have enough bugs to deal with.

Regarding TDC - yes, all these parameters can be set by the player. All data may be supplied by the player and nothing is hidden.

Modding - yes, we are designing the game with modding in mind. You should be able to do everything we can with C# scripts, config files and Unity's asset bundles, but keep in mind that SDK may not be instantly available as we are obviously behind the schedule anyway

PS please post questions in separate topics. I would move the post for you, but I still haven't figured out how to do that.

[makman94]

Originally Posted by nihilcat

Hi makman94,

Thank you.

Although you should technically be able to tell your position using the environment, there are currently no tools supporting you in that. Also it's not very practical considering how our travel system works at this time, but IMO we will probably add alternative, conventional time compression during beta... so who knows.

As a rule, I decided to not comment on AI behaviours to not spoil the inner workings and make them look natural. I hope that NPC ships behaviour will be satisfying - if not let us know during beta, if you will have the time to participate.

At this time only hydrophone is manually useable by the player, but we already have a full research done on sonars and radars on u-boats. It's probably a matter of time when we add manual stations for them too, but this may happen even post-release. It's not our top priority at this time as we already have enough bugs to deal with.

Regarding TDC - yes, all these parameters can be set by the player. All data may be supplied by the player and nothing is hidden.

Modding - yes, we are designing the game with modding in mind. You should be able to do everything we can with C# scripts, config files and Unity's asset bundles, but keep in mind that SDK may not be instantly available as we are obviously behind the schedule anyway

PS please post questions in separate topics. I would move the post for you, but I still haven't figured out how to do that.

thank you for your answers Nihilcat,

Celestial Navigation will be great to have (no need to be in the release version). But as the stars allready stands at their correct positions now,will be great to have the abbility to navigate through them maybe at a later update
And this made me wonder , what about tools for plotting on the map? will the player be able to draw lines-angles-circles-parallels...etc on the map?

about the AI , i didn't ask to spoil anything (i fully understand that this would kill all the immersion). i asked if there would be one and only standar pattern or a randomness at possible patterns to follow.
But ,as you said it is satisfying, i have no reason to doubt and i would like to see it in your beta version

Thats wonderful news that you are planning to add sonar and radar stations too. it doesn't matter that will not be at the release (of course bugs comes first).

about modding , it looks like we are about to have an almost open game for modding . This is just....heaven

ps: i didn't saw any special thread for Questions thats why i replied here.if there is any, i will keep there.

All the best to your efforts

[makman94]

Originally Posted by makman94

thank you for your answers Nihilcat,

Celestial Navigation will be great to have (no need to be in the release version). But as the stars allready stands at their correct positions now,will be great to have the abbility to navigate through them maybe at a later update
And this made me wonder , what about tools for plotting on the map? will the player be able to draw lines-angles-circles-parallels...etc on the map?

about the AI , i didn't ask to spoil anything (i fully understand that this would kill all the immersion). i asked if there would be one and only standar pattern or a randomness at possible patterns to follow.
But ,as you said it is satisfying, i have no reason to doubt and i would like to see it in your beta version

Thats wonderful news that you are planning to add sonar and radar stations too. it doesn't matter that will not be at the release (of course bugs comes first).

about modding , it looks like we are about to have an almost open game for modding . This is just....heaven

ps: i didn't saw any special thread for Questions thats why i replied here.if there is any, i will keep there.

All the best to your efforts

pump

[nihilcat]

Originally Posted by makman94

thank you for your answers Nihilcat,

Celestial Navigation will be great to have (no need to be in the release version). But as the stars allready stands at their correct positions now,will be great to have the abbility to navigate through them maybe at a later update
And this made me wonder , what about tools for plotting on the map? will the player be able to draw lines-angles-circles-parallels...etc on the map?

about the AI , i didn't ask to spoil anything (i fully understand that this would kill all the immersion). i asked if there would be one and only standar pattern or a randomness at possible patterns to follow.
But ,as you said it is satisfying, i have no reason to doubt and i would like to see it in your beta version

Thats wonderful news that you are planning to add sonar and radar stations too. it doesn't matter that will not be at the release (of course bugs comes first).

about modding , it looks like we are about to have an almost open game for modding . This is just....heaven

ps: i didn't saw any special thread for Questions thats why i replied here.if there is any, i will keep there.

All the best to your efforts

Apologies for a late reply makman94,

Map tools are currently in a basic shape as necessary buttons are missing in the current iteration of UI... we will certainly add them back during or possibly before beta though

Regarding the AI - that's correct, there is some randomness. Characters, ships and groups of ships (like convoys) are driven by the same core AI system. It has some fuzzy logic built in and is moddable too, but in practice some calibration may still be needed. I'm not sure, how seasoned players will see all of this and I'm personally lacking perspective. Technically it's a flexible system and there shouldn't be a problem to do anything, if there is a solid feedback.

PS no problem, don't worry about the thread thing Thank you!

[DiddumsJ]

Originally Posted by nihilcat

... we will certainly add them back during or possibly before beta though..

so... able to give us any rough sort of timeline regarding when we might expect a chance to sign up for/participate in beta?

Gotta make sure to get a couple of days off work to hunt them bugs!

EDIT: To clarify, Im talking about the option for a non kickstarter-backer to buy-in to become a bug/beta-tester. I would be more than happy to buy the game in advance or pay for beta access. You hinted towards this being possible earlier, is that still the case?

[Niume]

I am wondering if we even get the testing until the autumm.

[nihilcat]

Originally Posted by DiddumsJ

so... able to give us any rough sort of timeline regarding when we might expect a chance to sign up for/participate in beta?

Gotta make sure to get a couple of days off work to hunt them bugs!

EDIT: To clarify, Im talking about the option for a non kickstarter-backer to buy-in to become a bug/beta-tester. I would be more than happy to buy the game in advance or pay for beta access. You hinted towards this being possible earlier, is that still the case?

Thank you very much, we appreciate everybody willing to help

We don't offer any form of buy-in early access, but everybody will still be able to participate in beta testing for free, one month after Kickstarter backers. There may be some limits, if interest in testing will be higher than expected, so watch out for news and fill the form.

Having that said, you probably wonder when Kickstarter backers start to test the game. That's harder to tell, it's summer and our contractors are delayed a bit.. but not long.

Animations were probably most important for us here and we should have all of them done today. We are going to need some time to implement them correctly into the game though, so we will have to test your patience for a few weeks more. Animation bugs are usually especially embarrassing and make quite a comedy out of the game, so that time is actually needed. There are also other alph-ish bugs left to fix, but we are getting there

By the way - let me tell, that these new animations are of really good quality - far better than any you could have seen on our earlier videos. We are really happy of the cooperation with a new animation studio, it adds so much into the game.

[succerpunch]

Since the post, has there been anything new yet?