UnderSea Topography | ICE Icebergs / Underwater Mountains / High Low Terrain / Caves

[wolf.jaa]

Flat sea floor is boring. as a suggestion. it would be nice to have a dynamic under sea environment with fish. chunks of ice(damage causing). Mountains. Pack ice. Underwater caves (big enough for a sub to hide in). Old shipwreck hulls.

Others may or may not have thoughts or ideas.

Thanks

[Safetypin]

I agree that the current sea floor is a bit boring to look at but I like the fact that the game is easy on the hardware (graphics wise). As long as adding eye candy is optional, I don't mind the dynamic sea bed and fish and such.

Not sure about the ice stuff, does it not already damage your boat if you hit an iceberg or if you try to surface through pack ice? If not, it should (surfacing through pack ice only possible at 0 kts).

Underwater caves to hide in seem a bit too gamey for me. Try to park you sub in a cave, only using the TMA map. Impossible. The 3d outside view is already unrealistic but I like it, it creates more situational awareness. Evading torps using the 3d view is also unrealistic but again, I use it. It creates more immersion. But backing up my sub in a cave and lie and wait for an unsuspecting victim to pass by is too far fetched imo.

[rokvam]

Originally posted by wolf.jaa:

Flat sea floor is boring. as a suggestion. it would be nice to have a dynamic under sea environment with fish. chunks of ice(damage causing). Mountains. Pack ice. Underwater caves (big enough for a sub to hide in). Old shipwreck hulls.

Others may or may not have thoughts or ideas.

Thanks

I agree that the topography could use a brush up, I really do, and taking dammage when hitting ice, and other vessels should be added. (I must admit I don't know if dammage occur when you hit ice), but I know ramming other subs csuse no dammage at all, not even at flank speed...

But caves for subs to hide in? No!!! This is not something the game needs at all. Subs hiding in caves is something that Hollywood would consider using in a submarine film to add suspence. It's not something that's done in real life... Ever! :-)

-Dolphin 38

[Justicier10-7]

Undersea "clutter" or terrain scattering would be an excellent addition... this is something that silent hunter did years ago and while it was limited by processing capabilities of the time, it still looked better than just a smooth floor:

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/screenshots/970x546/2010/02/SilentHunter5-03.jpg

Even if all that was added was seaweed and other flora, it would be a very nice addition to the vanilla seabed. Shipwrecks would be a decent touch as well... some ports are even famous for them.


But underwater caves large enough to hide a nuclear submarine?

No. Chasms or crevasses *could* possibly work... but a giant cave? Just no.

[Justicier10-7]

The big problem I see with terrain scattering of objects that have hitboxes (can be collided with/damage your sub) will be the increased processing requirements, and... the AI.

Rapid terrain depth changes as the game currently has can sometimes result in AI subs spawning underneath the seabed. This would be a bigger issue if large rocky formations are spawned when you drop into mission... AI sub (or yours, for that matter) could spawn inside a rock... which necessitates even more coding to prevent such an occurence. As much as I would love to see large rock formations and reefs that have colliders/hitboxes... that's a lot of coding to implement properly just for a bit of added eyecandy.

[Justicier10-7]

Originally posted by toinkertoy:

Even if they did have a cave that big, say Carlsbad Cavern sized, You’d still have to worry about the giant eel living inside!

*Flashbacks to Subnautica*

[wolf.jaa]

Fair statement.
All great points.
And forgive my underwater cave comment. lol just being silly on my part.
not sure if anyone here has played the old Tom Clancy SSN game. that was awesome. and I used to drive my 688 in that game fast and close to the undersea ridges and mountains. almost like a jet fighter. if a torpedo was chasing my boat. Id let it chase me then dive deep behind an undersea ridge and let it collide and explode.

As far as having undersea features. in CW. hiding behind ridges and ice all while an Sierra or Typhoon or Kilo is stalking you on the other side. would be interesting from a sonar perspective. Just me. I image it would also put more load on CPU processing and memory to wirte all the environment detail.

Im all about making and keeping the game fun to play :))))

Thanks guys.

[wolf.jaa]

Originally posted by rokvam:

Originally posted by wolf.jaa:

Flat sea floor is boring. as a suggestion. it would be nice to have a dynamic under sea environment with fish. chunks of ice(damage causing). Mountains. Pack ice. Underwater caves (big enough for a sub to hide in). Old shipwreck hulls.

Others may or may not have thoughts or ideas.

Thanks

I agree that the topography could use a brush up, I really do, and taking dammage when hitting ice, and other vessels should be added. (I must admit I don't know if dammage occur when you hit ice), but I know ramming other subs csuse no dammage at all, not even at flank speed...

But caves for subs to hide in? No!!! This is not something the game needs at all. Subs hiding in caves is something that Hollywood would consider using in a submarine film to add suspence. It's not something that's done in real life... Ever! :-)

-Dolphin 38

indeed. caves would never be practical :))))

[wolf.jaa]

Originally posted by toinkertoy:

Even if they did have a cave that big, say Carlsbad Cavern sized, You’d still have to worry about the giant eel living inside!

LOL

however. lets say. you were using the Seaview submarine. you could use the boats electical outer shock to shock or scare the giant eel and continue sailing.

[gettinbissi]

I would love to see this!

[Julhelm]

We used the GTOPO30 dataset for the DEM terrain. If the seafloor is flat, that's because it looks so IRL. Can we add clutter? Sure, but can't say when.

[wolf.jaa]

Originally posted by Julhelm:

We used the GTOPO30 dataset for the DEM terrain. If the seafloor is flat, that's because it looks so IRL. Can we add clutter? Sure, but can't say when.

Thank you very much.
appreciate it.

:)