Sim9 feedback

[Dr.Sid]

Check out the new version:

http://www.commanders-academy.com/comsubsim

Post feedback related to this version in this thread.

[goldorak]

Great performance, I hope that the mk48 in a future release will be fully textured. Great looking torpedo by the way.
It would be nice to have an option that locks to the torpedo (from behind), so that when it changes course we follow it automatically.
The torpedo in comsubsim begs for a fire control station.

[Molon Labe]

And a damage model

Some things that caught my attention:

1.from the periscope view, some "weirdness" took place when going from underwater to above water; a result of the difference in transparency above and below the water with a discrete linear boundary.

2. At flank speed, it takes about -2 to -3 degrees bow planes to maintain level attitude in the Akula. Is this intended?

3. There seems to be very little angular momentum, the subs (and ADCAP) continue straight almost immediately after the rudder is straightened instead of continuing to turn until a little opposite rudder is applied; the same goes for pitching, after the planes are leveled the sub stops rotating almost immediately.

4. The ADCAP only loses 1 knot of speed in a full rudder turn. There is also no roll that occurs for the ADCAP in a full turn, unlike the subs.

5. If the ADCAP broaches and reenters the water (tail first), it immediately snaps nose down. Is this intended? (I guess it does make sense because of the impact of the water on the rear of the torpedo).

[Dr.Sid]

Nice testing !

1) Near surface glitches. Yes .. this is problem of most games with water. I have some trick up my sleeve yet and I will try some approaches to fix it.
2) Pitching up at high speeds. That is caused by the sail drag. At the moment I don't know about effect which could counter it.
3) Angular momentum. You're probably right. Will tune.
4) Will look why it looses so little speed. As for the banking, it behaves neutral on purpose (center of gravity (COG) is in center), and also it uses active stabilization (not much needed anyway). Not sure how real torpedoes behave.
5) It should snap nose down. Why not ? It's not that heavy and at high speeds the waters is pretty tough.
There is however deficiency. The hull itself (or any part alone) now generates no angular acceleration (it does not induce rotation). All stabilization is now done by planes and fact they act away from center of gravity. Hull itself should lie on the water if it is light enough (case of surfaced sub or log of a wood) and it should rotate if just one part of it is in the water (case of the torpedo falling tail first). At the moment the torpedo turns down only because it's rear planes hits the water.
I have nice and quite simple way how to compute both static and dynamic forces on single body much better, I'll put it in the sim soon. Anyway, as I said, I think if torpedo hits water tail first it should turn forward. Even if the hull had COG right in the middle, there are planes even if small and when just the end is in the water there is big unbalance in drag.

[Molon Labe]

As for two, that seems like a realistic effect and not a glitch of any sort. The planesman should just have to compensate as a real planesman would.

[Dr.Sid]

I have one real planesman arranged for testing so I'll squeeze him.

[Red Ocktober]

really nice "cavitation bubbles" coming off the props, and nice underwater "fogging"...

night vision looks cool, but should be restricted to binoc or scope view only (?)...

i think sub "physics" is good enough to go with right now... small anomolies are acceptable, and may even add to the sense of realism (if in fact they are not)...

transition from above to below water can be handled by (1) obscurring view with bubbles during transition... (2) keep scope above and below a range that gaurantees the view doesn't intersect the water plane...

coming along verrry nicely... don't stop

--Mike

[Dr.Sid]

I now have nightvision everywhere because of testing. Sometimes I test so long that night comes or I move sub to other half of the planet and it is dark there. So NV comes handy. Btw. check out how the noise increases with amplification ;-)

Which reminds me .. I've already found major bug in this version. Do not use Teleport function, or it will try to generate wake bubbles from your last location to your current location which can take even hours depending where you are teleporting to.
I will make 9b with fixes as I get more feedback.

[XabbaRus]

OK had a quick spin. I like it. I take it at the moment you are limited to 2 ADCAPs as I couldn't get any more out of the 688 or Akula...

I like how you can crash into the seabed though I beached my Akula and couldn't get out.

Is it me or do the props seem to spin too fast? I also need to fix the pivots on the ADCAP.

[Dr.Sid]

I will get into thorough prop simulation soon, I will tell you then. Anyway it is quite clear that DW has unrealistically slow props. Also in DW props turn at constant rate so they had to choose something which would look acceptable at both flank and rest.

In previous version the physics was rigged so the sub could actually move on the ground. I moved it away. Teleport tool should be enough (if it worked in this version).

Yes, there are 2 adcaps per ship at the moment. They are never removed from simulation at the moment and I can see you guys popping 100 of them at a time :-D

Btw. try to set speed to 1 knot, and check how the prop shines ! The effect is ruined as it starts to turn faster.