Re: Futuristic sub game concept questions

On Apr 9, 12:43 pm, "Paul J. Adam" <n...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Thanks for all the tips.

Really depends on how much detail you want. There's a _lot_ of quirks
about underwater ops, which make a nasty trap: those that aren't
interested in the detail, get confused and annoyed, while those that
_are_ interested (and want it in the game) get miffed at any difference
from their interpretation of how things ought to be.


Yeah, finding that balance is an issue that I'm trying to be sensitive
to. I figure there can be some sort of division between the sorts of
jobs that casual players and hardcore players can do in the game
setting. For example, casual players may be able to handle some sort
of the basic freighter cargo-hauling type missions which can be
largely handled by hitting 'go' on the autopilot. They could also
take some of the simpler stations on a multi-crew sub.

The hardcore players could handle the more complex stations on the
sub, and be the ones tackling the fighter subs.

Since it is intended to be multiplayer, I'm thinking to aim somewhat
low end on the overall complexity.

Remember also that sci-fi lets you make handwavium sensors and use
unobtanium armour: which I guess you'll need to avoid frustrations like
"one hit, one kill" being generally true for current submarine. (It's
not *certain* that one good hit will destroy a submarine, but it'll
certainly eliminate it as a fighting unit)


I think it will require somehow toughening up submarines for the
setting. Part of my concept for the setting is from sub movies like
Das Boot where damage control is an important part of the process.
Breaches should be serious, but you should be able to recover to a non-
fatal, if not quite combat-ready, state most of the time. That may
need some hand-wavy tech for the armor on the submarines.

There was a Microprose game, "Subwar 2050" or similar, which sounds like
it was looking exactly at the sort of thing you describe: Earth swamped
by melting ice caps, survivors fighting it out underwater.


I played that game, and I liked the idea of large mercenary carrier
submarines hosting small submarine fighter wings. It's definitely a
big part of where I'm drawing the ideas for this game from.

I'm still not quite sure if I want to set the game on Earth or not.
If it's on an alien world, you can come up with some rare commodities
that could justify the expense of setting up undersea colonies and
squabbling over resources. There's also the possibility of wanting to
include Jules Verne-y style giant alien sea monsters, not sure about
that yet, though. ;)


Real world - the sensors are large sonar arrays (_big_ beasts), weapons
are torpedoes (either lightweights a foot in diameter and six feet long,
weighing ~600lb, or heavyweights two feet in diameter, twelve feet long
and tipping the scales at two tons each) and power doesn't scale with
size (if you need umpty-thousand horsepower to move a 10,000-ton
submarine at 30 knots, you need rather more than umpty horsepower to
move a 10-ton submarine but you've got much less space to generate it)

Small fighter subs can be made to work in a sci-fi setting but you need
a new power source (cold fusion?) and different sensors and weapons, or
else at least accept that the fighter subs are limited to short-range
ops inside a couple of miles while the carrier subs can shoot it out at
much greater distances.

I had a suspicion that's an issue. I think I'll bow a bit to
unrealism to give people the opportunity to have single-person craft,
which I think would be a nice draw for the game. I rather like the
idea of having large subs hosting small subs, it gives a nice
hierarchy for a faction structure in a multiplayer game.


The pitfall (from other sci-fi type games I've seen) is getting the
balance and purpose right. Why have fighter subs? What do they bring to
the party? (Or, if they're too good, why build a big carrier submarine,
if a couple of fighter-subs can reliably destroy it?) It's doable, but
perhaps you want to look at carrier aviation rather than submarine
warfare for your model.


A big reason for it is the way you can organize factions around the
big subs, with individual players being able to head out solo on the
smaller ones. In terms of the game mechanics of why you'd want that
setup, I suppose it could be that the small subs are cheaper and
expendable (for some reason), and the people running the larger ones
don't like bringing them into combat unless they have to. More an
aircraft carrier than a real-world submarine, but I think it could be
an interesting setup.

I like the water setting because you can have things like minefields,
depth charges, and other "interesting" things sitting between the
ground and the water surface.

--
The nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its
warriors, will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done
by fools.
-Thucydides

Paul J. Adam - mainbox{at}jrwlynch[dot]demon(dot)co<dot>uk


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