by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson

  Q: From the simulation perspective, tell us what we will see and hear from an outside view.

Troy: The outside views are meant to provide a first-person view of the battle from the perspective of a captain observing from the bridge wing. We've provided binocular views for close ups of the action. An external view is provided so that the player can look at his own ship and damage will be reflected in the ship's appearance.

Naturally, weather and the ocean environment are an important part of the mix. We've modeled the position of the sun at various times of day and we're planning on doing this with the moon as well.

Destroyers were actually pretty loud ships according to some of our technical consultants, so you'll hear the noise of the power plant and of course the guns. We expect a battle to be a really noisy experience--we figure most players will have to turn down the sound effects or face divorce proceedings. But that's how it was. A lot of those sailors came back from the war with hearing problems.

Q: Suppose we get a hit on a Uboat with our depth charges. How will we know?

Troy: Well gosh, realistically there were only two ways you ever knew that you actually scored a hit: 1) you heard some sounds over the hydrophones that indicated damage to the submarine or 2) an oil slick and debris would float to the surface. We're planning on doing both of these.

We're also planning on implementing what we call "death cam." Death cam is meant to show the player the final death throes of any of his targets. Death cam is subject to realism settings because of the possibility of revealing additional information to the player unfairly.

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Q: How would I as commander of a single destroyer issue the command to prosecute an attack on a submerged target?

Troy: As with most attack options, there are two ways to do it. 1) You can order your ship to attack the submarine from the CIC interface and select the depth charges as the weapon of choice.

This is a simple "drag and drop" operation. Given this option, the AI will make repeated attack runs over the known submarine position until it loses contact or runs out of depth charges. 2) You can go to the depth charge station and work the controls yourself, guiding the ship over the target, selecting the parameters for the pattern and dropping the charges.

Q: How many other stations can I man from the first person perspective on a destroyer?

Troy: Just about everything..

• Helm
• CIC
• Radar (air search and surface search)
• Sonar
• Main battery director
• Torpedo director
• AA guns/directors
• Machine guns
• Depth charge control
• Engine room
• Damage control

Go to Part IV.