Play as the Skipper: Feedback

[Noctover]

As this is an experimental mode, and I've put quite some time in to it since they made it an option i thought it might be helpful to add some feedback as to pros/cons/frustrations etc to potentially help the development of the mode. I encourage others who have put some hours in to this mode to agree/disagree and post their own feedback.

1: A little urgency? Captain?

Getting up from rest. This is more of a nitpick but the speed in which the captain wants to get up from resting is slow, and annoying, it would be nice if he just had a little stretch and got on with it.

2: i have somewhere to be!

This is my biggest gripe. I love the way if i hit time compression my skipper picks an appropriate job so that he's not just accumulating fatigue sat on the conning tower. Good work with this and definitely keep it in! But for the love of all things holy please can we stop the skipper making snap decision's to go and have a sandwich when i open the map for a matter of seconds.

I've tried to replicate this to find out what causes it and i cant. Sometimes i can sit on the conning tower with the map open for 10 minutes and he stays put as I'd expect. Other times you give him an excuse and he's off admiring the xmas tree by the ladder. Yesterday i was trying to manage a boarding and investigation of a Nordic vessel heading to the UK and every single time i went to a different screen he was half way down a ladder, be it the map or the side compartment view. Think at one point i even raised my voice with a "OH FFS!".

3: YOU! FOLLOW ME!

I get this feature, and when you want to use it, it feels kinda cool! You simply look at a sailor and click on him to recruit him, feels almost natural. The issue is, the amount of times I've gone to walk up or down a ladder, or close a hatch and a crew member has warped through me or entered the ladder, and is now following me around until i tell him to go away again, its more often than not a burden. Perhaps, a CTRL/ALT/SHIFT + Click to recruit system? Or just remove it entirely would still be a better option.

Additionally to this, hotkeys...Id love to be able to hit the + key to assign a sailor to me, or hit it twice for 2, same with the minus key to get rid. This would be far less clunky when it comes to adding and removing additions to yourself when changing shift on say, navigation for example.

4: I'm in the zone!

I think the whole thing would feel more natural with zone effects. For example, if I'm on the conning tower, I'm on watch. Just because I'm not glued to the Uzo does not mean I'm not. What if, when I'm on the conning tower i am marked as being on watch, so if i recruit 2 additional sailors when i am up there, they are also considered to be on watch. As it currently stands if i go on watch i have to go on the Uzo and my additional sailors are considered watch stats however, if i come off the Uzo for a minute to look around or use the map...The 2 sailors are filing their nails.

Likewise if i am in the command compartment i could be considered at my command post, etc.

5: Persistency

Currently if I'm on the Uzo, and i lock a ship if i need to go and do literally anything else, that ship unlocks and the Uzo points off in some other direction. This didn't happen in normal mode as generally speaking you'd do everything from gods eye so he could just remain on the uzo/peri indefinitely.

6: Realism perk

Maybe a few % of extra realism points for playing as the skipper? it is a bit harder 0:).


I'll add any additional points as they come up or as i remember them.

[[XIII]Opsec]

Originally posted by Noctover:

2: i have somewhere to be!

This is my biggest gripe. I love the way if i hit time compression my skipper picks an appropriate job so that he's not just accumulating fatigue sat on the conning tower. Good work with this and definitely keep it in! But for the love of all things holy please can we stop the skipper making snap decision's to go and have a sandwich when i open the map for a matter of seconds.

I've tried to replicate this to find out what causes it and i cant. Sometimes i can sit on the conning tower with the map open for 10 minutes and he stays put as I'd expect. Other times you give him an excuse and he's off admiring the xmas tree by the ladder. Yesterday i was trying to manage a boarding and investigation of a Nordic vessel heading to the UK and every single time i went to a different screen he was half way down a ladder, be it the map or the side compartment view. Think at one point i even raised my voice with a "OH FFS!".

3: YOU! FOLLOW ME!

I get this feature, and when you want to use it, it feels kinda cool! You simply look at a sailor and click on him to recruit him, feels almost natural. The issue is, the amount of times I've gone to walk up or down a ladder, or close a hatch and a crew member has warped through me or entered the ladder, and is now following me around until i tell him to go away again, its more often than not a burden. Perhaps, a CTRL/ALT/SHIFT + Click to recruit system? Or just remove it entirely would still be a better option.

Additionally to this, hotkeys...Id love to be able to hit the + key to assign a sailor to me, or hit it twice for 2, same with the minus key to get rid. This would be far less clunky when it comes to adding and removing additions to yourself when changing shift on say, navigation for example.

4: I'm in the zone!

I think the whole thing would feel more natural with zone effects. For example, if I'm on the conning tower, I'm on watch. Just because I'm not glued to the Uzo does not mean I'm not. What if, when I'm on the conning tower i am marked as being on watch, so if i recruit 2 additional sailors when i am up there, they are also considered to be on watch. As it currently stands if i go on watch i have to go on the Uzo and my additional sailors are considered watch stats however, if i come off the Uzo for a minute to look around or use the map...The 2 sailors are filing their nails.

Likewise if i am in the command compartment i could be considered at my command post, etc.

Definitely agree with all three of these...
Pretty sure there's somewhere in the data sheet that would allow you to change how quickly your officer assumes a task when idle, however I don't think it's just specific to the skipper so it would slow everybody down.

Yes, accidentally grabbing a sailor and having him follow you around is annoying as hell should definitely involve more than just a click.

Would love to see zones implemented for playing as the skipper, I hate putting my Skipper on the command. task because then I have no situational awareness of what's around me. I can't look at the dials, I can't look at the echolocator, it's a pain in the ass as it is.

[Alex Paen (ljekio)]

After two 6-hour shifts, I realized that I really don't like constantly taking myself to/from rest. And on long trips, it will be a pain in the ass. I wanted to switch to FPP mode, but there is no section view, unfortunately. Why they didn't add it there (also on the spacebar and with pause) I don't understand. So I had to go back to the standard mode, although I would like to give up the external camera.

[Net]

Originally posted by Alex Paen (ljekio):

After two 6-hour shifts, I realized that I really don't like constantly taking myself to/from rest. And on long trips, it will be a pain in the ass. I wanted to switch to FPP mode, but there is no section view, unfortunately. Why they didn't add it there (also on the spacebar and with pause) I don't understand. So I had to go back to the standard mode, although I would like to give up the external camera.

Mhm I want to get rid of all external cameras somehow, even the rendered background on the sideview. I want the true 'Iron Coffin' experience.

[Noctover]

Originally posted by NetQvist:

Originally posted by Alex Paen (ljekio):

After two 6-hour shifts, I realized that I really don't like constantly taking myself to/from rest. And on long trips, it will be a pain in the ass. I wanted to switch to FPP mode, but there is no section view, unfortunately. Why they didn't add it there (also on the spacebar and with pause) I don't understand. So I had to go back to the standard mode, although I would like to give up the external camera.

Mhm I want to get rid of all external cameras somehow, even the rendered background on the sideview. I want the true 'Iron Coffin' experience.

I do often find i very rarely use the last remaining compartment view as i don't find i often need to :). I've kept the "N" external view for screenshots though :).

[PMVP]

skipper mode is my go to mode, despite its early stage.

to distinguish it more from other modes i would like to have more role-playability and direct interaction with your crew and systems instead of using UI


1) be able to ask your officers directly (by clicking on them) to audibly report various things (weather, contacts, fuel/battery level, when the torpedo will be loaded etc) - either face-to face or by using comms in the boat. instead of finding out on your own, you have people to ask stuff!
2) more shaky cam!!!! louder noises!!! when being depth charged or firing a torpedo a simple shake of the view can do a lot in terms of immersion
3) order others to do stuff - again more direct "in-role" approach instead of opening a menu and clicking on stuff, for example to be able to tell your watch officers on bridge to man UZO, calculate distance, to ask your engineer about the battery level and then tell him to start recharging etc

now the skipper mode feels just like a restriction of a camera basically and everything else is still being done in the same way as in other modes. It doesn´t offer much more in terms of "feeling like a captain", so adding some first person ordering of your slaves sailors, would add a great difference and make you feel more in character

[Navytopgun]

Unfortunately the way it works in game feels way too clunky for me to enjoy. I am used to SH3, the way it worked there was perfect. You are the captain and your crew all have their respective jobs and positions, your conning tower has its own watch officer and shifts, and you won’t be blind if you’re taking a rest. It’s feels totally unrealistic to go to rest and see your view perimeter shrink, you have a watch officer for that very reason. If they can make commander mode play more like SH3/4/ and heck even SH5, I’d thoroughly enjoy it much more. I agree with all your points, getting around the ship, as well as going in and out of a certain function/position, feels clunky, especially when some crew get in the way. Hoping it can go in that direction, ofc I understand the WIP nature of commander mode, and hope it can grow and mature in a way that makes sense.

[Alex Paen (ljekio)]

Originally posted by Navytopgun:

Unfortunately the way it works in game feels way too clunky for me to enjoy. I am used to SH3, the way it worked there was perfect. You are the captain and your crew all have their respective jobs and positions, your conning tower has its own watch officer and shifts, and you won’t be blind if you’re taking a rest. It’s feels totally unrealistic to go to rest and see your view perimeter shrink, you have a watch officer for that very reason. If they can make commander mode play more like SH3/4/ and heck even SH5, I’d thoroughly enjoy it much more. I agree with all your points, getting around the ship, as well as going in and out of a certain function/position, feels clunky, especially when some crew get in the way. Hoping it can go in that direction, ofc I understand the WIP nature of commander mode, and hope it can grow and mature in a way that makes sense.

These are roughly my thoughts. Yes, in UBOAT conditions a different approach is needed, since crew management is much deeper here. That's why I would like to see a mix of FPP and Skipper modes. Section view would not be needed if there was a situational awareness panel for torpedoes and functions/compartments, like in SH. Until that happens, section view would do. I don't know how you command torpedo loading, manage compartments and damage in FPP without section view, guys.

[Net]

Originally posted by Navytopgun:

Unfortunately the way it works in game feels way too clunky for me to enjoy. I am used to SH3, the way it worked there was perfect. You are the captain and your crew all have their respective jobs and positions, your conning tower has its own watch officer and shifts, and you won’t be blind if you’re taking a rest. It’s feels totally unrealistic to go to rest and see your view perimeter shrink, you have a watch officer for that very reason. If they can make commander mode play more like SH3/4/ and heck even SH5, I’d thoroughly enjoy it much more. I agree with all your points, getting around the ship, as well as going in and out of a certain function/position, feels clunky, especially when some crew get in the way. Hoping it can go in that direction, ofc I understand the WIP nature of commander mode, and hope it can grow and mature in a way that makes sense.

Once you have 2 watch officers you can rotate them for the watch duty so that helps quite a bit.

Captain can be reduced to navigation duties.

[Noctover]

Originally posted by NetQvist:

Originally posted by Navytopgun:

Unfortunately the way it works in game feels way too clunky for me to enjoy. I am used to SH3, the way it worked there was perfect. You are the captain and your crew all have their respective jobs and positions, your conning tower has its own watch officer and shifts, and you won’t be blind if you’re taking a rest. It’s feels totally unrealistic to go to rest and see your view perimeter shrink, you have a watch officer for that very reason. If they can make commander mode play more like SH3/4/ and heck even SH5, I’d thoroughly enjoy it much more. I agree with all your points, getting around the ship, as well as going in and out of a certain function/position, feels clunky, especially when some crew get in the way. Hoping it can go in that direction, ofc I understand the WIP nature of commander mode, and hope it can grow and mature in a way that makes sense.

Once you have 2 watch officers you can rotate them for the watch duty so that helps quite a bit.

Captain can be reduced to navigation duties.

Gotta admit i really miss my 2 additional officers in Pats mode!

[kimdownunder]

I tried the skipper version, not keen on it at all.

[BobbySopor]

#4: the zoning makes so much sense. i love that idea, like staying at a certain station keeps everyone from wandering off, magnificent idea

[Noctover]

Dunno if im going crazy but since i posted this my dude literally springs out of bed when leaving the "resting" post!

[phantombandit]

One thing I would do is disable automatic movement by the skipper in skipper mode. When I open my map while guiding my ship into port from the deck, I really expect to still be on the deck when I close the map out. That forced movement can seriously hinder your ability to react in tight situations because you are no longer in the position you had deliberately put your character in inorder to access a position or vantage point.

[Adam]

Yes, accidentally grabbing a sailor and having him follow you around is annoying as hell should definitely involve more than just a click.

You think that's bad... but the game has some key bindings that can't be changed. For example, when you press E it activates stuff. The problem is that on my (Dvorak) keyboard, E is part of the WASD-style movement keys. So if I just try walking around the ship in FPP, he's flooding the tanks, turning on the pumps, opening and closing hatches, recruiting sailors, and just generally messing everything up.

Plus, if I'm on the scope and press E to lock the current target, it rotates the scope away from the target so it doesn't get locked, and that happens in every game mode/perspective.

It's so annoying that the activate key can't be rebound!

[Kornstalx]

Originally posted by Adam:

It's so annoying that the E/activate key can't be rebound!

Use a simple AHK script. If I had to deal with a Dvorak board all day I'd definitely use tons.

I'm assuming you rebound WASD to ,AOE in the game already, problem is you want E somewhere else since it cannot be rebound in the game. Use an AHK script to make your E key send something else (let's just say X). Now bind X to "Move Right" inside the game for everything relevant (movement, periscope, etc).

In that same script bind whatever physical key you prefer to send the E instead (let's just say period, since that's where E is on standard keyboard). Boom, now you can move with standard movement keys, and also interact separately.

For example (untested since I don't have a Dvorak, but should work fine):

#SingleInstance force
#ifWinActive, UBOAT ahk_class UnityWndClass ahk_exe UBOAT.exe

e::x
.::e

The above script will only rebind the keys while UBOAT is running in the foreground, so if you alt tab out it stops its magic. Change the actual key assignments to whatever you want; you should understand the logic behind it.

http://www.autohotkey.com