Destroyer The UBoat Hunter - Steam Game- Command a convoy escorts in battle

Started by Destraex, June 22, 2020, 10:14:13 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

mbar

The AI ships have zero collision avoidance. They ghost through all the other ships so they have no regard for what is in front of them.

Toonces

This looks pretty cool, so I gave it a buy today (along with GHPC). 
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

Sir Slash

"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Toonces

Well, take what I say with a grain of salt as ASW is my thing.  I just finished a quick mission, small size, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I need to spend a lot more time with it, but I can already tell this is going to be a keeper.  I didn't go through the tutorials or anything, just jumped right in.  It was pretty intuitive I thought.  I can imagine that the larger scenarios are going to be a thorough brain-burn.

For $30 it's a must-buy for me.  But I'm really into this kind of stuff.

Let me spend a few more hours with it and maybe I can give more thoughtful impressions.
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

Toonces

Alright, another hour in, another convoy unsuccessfully escorted.

I guess my impressions are, this game is pretty much exactly what it says it is.  You command a destroyer (and can order the AI destroyer(s)) escorting a convoy against those pesky u-boats.  There are a bunch of features I'd like to see, and are on the list of additions.  But if the idea of controlling a destroyer hunting u-boats interests you, I don't see how you can go wrong here.

Some things that others have noted: the u-boats are pretty nimble.  I understand this will be fixed asap.  I had what I think are two bugs: couldn't turn off the searchlight and my air cover received my orders but then just stopped flying where I asked him to go.  This game desperately needs some sort of AAR function at the end of a mission so you can see what actually happened. 

If you like the subject matter, this is a pretty cool game.  When they flesh out the rest of their development roadmap this is going to be a very unique and awesome game.  I'm pleased with my purchase.
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Silent Disapproval Robot

Only single missions are available right now.  The campaign is to come later.  There really is only one mission available.  You're escorting a convoy.  You detect a U-boat or U-boats on your radar and you try to protect the convoy.  You have some control over the mission parameters to mix things up a bit.  You can select the size and course of the convoy (1-30? ships), the number of AI surface escorts (two different classes to choose from.  Flower class and....can't recall the other off hand), whether air support will be available, the number of U-boats you'll face, time of day or night, weather, and scenario length from 1-5 hours.




Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

mbar

New patch is live!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1272010/view/3546047018716556080

U-boat underwater speed averages at 4kn.
U-boats more often go into silent running at 2-3kn.
U-boats may achieve a maximum underwater speed of 6kn, although rarely and briefly.
U-boats dive to medium and deep more often, but due to lower U-boat speeds the hit probability has increased significantly.
Minimum turning radius for U-boat evasive maneuvers has been corrected.
Battles have been rebalanced to fit the new U-boat characteristics.
The number of 'stealthy captain' U-boats has increased to allow for more uncertainty and the need for better patrolling and sonar coverage.
We have also improved a wide variety of technical imperfections and applied a few fixes. The full list is available further below.

Longer missions possible in 'custom mission' mode (up to 10 hrs)
Fixed errors occurring whenever surfaced U-boats were eliminated with gunfire
Improved U-boat sinking reports, corrected info in the 'contacts' station
3D objects in 'extras' now allow for better viewing
radar aim corrected and should not get stuck to one target
searchlight corrected and should turn off as expected

Silent Disapproval Robot

I played a 2 subs vs 2 escort mission last night to give the new patch a whirl.  Some things I found, in no particular order:

1)  Sonar coverage from the AI was more spotty, which is a good thing as it makes things feel more tense and more realistic. 

2)  With the slower sub speeds, I found I was overshooting a lot and it was a struggle to get my destroyer back into position to make another run. 

3)  The scenarios start with the subs much closer to the convoy now as a way to offset their slower speed.  Danger of collisions is much higher now as it's far too easy to wander into the midst of the convoy while you're busy focused on other screens. 

4)  The sonar operator on the player controlled ship no longer sticks with his assigned contact.  I was prosecuting contact ABLE while my AI counterpart was dealing with BAKER.  Whenever I would lose contact with ABLE, my operator would slave the sonar bearing to BAKER and refuse to conduct sweeps to reacquire ABLE.  Made things frustrating at times as I'd have to order an off-bearing sweep just to clear the BAKER contact so that I could start searching for ABLE again.

5) Gfx look worse on my machine now.  The ships in the convoy all appear as though they have a gauzy, grey filter over them.  They look too light for it to be a shadow effect but it blurs out all details beyond the ship's silhouette.  I switched the settings through all available options to see if the anti-aliasing settings were the problem but nothing worked.  I might try switching time of day tonight to see if that has any effect.

Sir Slash

"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

Silent Disapproval Robot

New patch is out.  Greatly improves the graphics and adds some more features.  I have run into a bug with it though.  Sometimes the targeting glass overlay for the TRR tool disappears, making plotting depth charge runs even harder.

mbar

I'll have to get back into the game. I got pretty good at sinking the u-boats but then Cosmoteer came out.

Silent Disapproval Robot

#59
Another new patch came out.  This one adds icebergs.

I set up a quick scenario with my destroyer and once Flower class corvette defending a 12 ship convoy against 2 U-boats in an ice field.

It's quite a challenge!  The icebergs clutter your radar return, making U-boat spotting difficult.  They also mask sub movements underwater for passive sonar so tracking UBOATs is significantly harder.  Collisions are also a real concern.  Thankfully, they've made the convoy and escort AI much better and avoiding you and added another lookout who will alert you to possible ice or ship collisions.