by Leonard "Viking1" Hjalmarson

  Q: The terrain system is looking very, very good. Tell us how you are modeling terrain and what we will see.

Troy: Like a lot of other developers, we discovered the USGS 30 arc-second database last year (your tax dollars at work!) and are using it as a source for elevation data. This allows us to basically model the entire world in the game. We melded this with an NOAA database to come up with a combined elevation/bathyspheric database that allows us to track ocean depths as well.

The database provides us with 1) bitmap information for creating our CIC charts 2) elevation data for generating land geometry and 3) depth information for determining when ships run aground.

Q: It sounds like damage modeling will also be very sophisticated in this sim. Tell us about the damage resolution and how we deal with damage.

Troy: Every system on the ship that can take damage has a corresponding location on the ship. When a ship takes damage, we look at the sector where the damage occured and decide which systems were hit. When a system takes damage, you'll see it on the damage control display and you'll be able to assign it to the damage control priority list.

We allow up to five systems in the priority list, and these systems get the bulk of the repair teams, with the highest systems in the list getting the most resources. We felt that this was a little more realistic and easier to use than the repair "sliders" you see in other games. You'll also see parts of the ship catch fire and you'll be able to flood magazines that are threatened to avoid having them blow up the ship.

Q: I believe you are also intending some sophisticated damage modeling graphically. What will we see when we take a torpedo hit? What will the ship look like afterward?

Troy: A mess. We've got damage states built into our 3D models for every ship. When part of the ship takes damage, we will switch in the damage state. Torpedo hits are pretty decisive on anything smaller than a battleship. Though we don't show ships breaking in half (we wanted to, but with over 100 ships in our model database our 3D artists were already stretched to the limit) they do sink in interesting ways. We've modeled compartment flooding pretty accurately, so you'll see ships turn turtle and jacknife, things like that.

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Q: What happens when I am low on fuel or supplies? Is there sea borne resupply as well as port resupply? What do I see when I sail into an allied port?

Troy: An interesting question. We're still deciding whether or not to handle this "between scenarios." Destroyers often refueled at sea because of their limited fuel capacity and range (especially at combat speeds.) Many times they even refueled from cruisers and battleships in a task force situation.

Troy: What kind of research have you had to do as you build the sim?

Troy: Lots and lots of reading, as well as consultations with some folks who served on destroyers. We also visited the USS Kidd in Baton Rouge, which is perhaps the best-preserved Fletcher-class destroyer around. They even fire her guns every year on Independence Day. They very kindly allowed us to take photographs in areas not normally open to the public.

One of the best resources is Theodore Roscoe's US Destroyer Operations in World War II, which is still available from the Naval Institute Press. But we've also dipped into some really obscure references. For example, the 1944 edition of Naval Ordnance and Gunnery, a book put out by the Navy for training its gunnery officers. I have yet to find a better source for working out the details of director fire and other really esoteric topics relating to Naval weaponry of the era.

Go to Part VI.