New Campaign Focused on Realism - Update 4a Now Available

[gsmith63]

About a year ago I started working on modding the Cold Waters 1984 campaign for improved realism, mainly to increase my personal enjoyment of the game. Over time the project turned into a much larger effort than I originally intended, with changes (and I hope, improvements) to many aspects of the game. Significant changes include the elimination of problems with units spawning too close to enemy surface ships, simulated attrition of enemy forces over time, the creation of a new campaign map with patrol zones for many mission types, moving the timeline to 1990 and adding the 688i & Akula I, and general realism improvements for many unit characteristics. If anyone is interested, especially realism buffs, the updated override folder can be downloaded here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D47ajmqysKCI_YxvMRbrncXGQ1zQAUNk/view?usp=sharing

To use:
1. Download the new override folder zip file (entitled CW_North-Atlantic-1990.zip) from the Google Drive link and scan it for viruses.
2. Go to the Streaming Assets folder (on PCs this would normally be the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Cold Waters\ColdWaters_Data\StreamingAssets folder)
3. Find the current override folder if it exists and rename it to ‘old_override’ or whatever you want.
4. Unzip or copy and paste the new override folder and all subfolders into the Streaming Assets folder.
5. Start the game and go to the North Atlantic 1990 campaign.

A detailed list of changes is below:

Campaign

* Moved to 1990, eliminated older Soviet units, added the 688i and Akula I

* New backstory, to help better explain the lack of other allied naval and air forces taking part.

* Added patrol zones to the strategic map and modified mission orders to reflect this. In reality, submarines would often both move and patrol in specific zones to deconflict them from other allied units.

* Simulated an initial surge of Soviet submarines into the North Atlantic, and generally increased enemy activity overall.

* Increased Landing Force and ASUW surface group speeds from 8 knots to ~15 knots, or one knot less than the maximum speed of the slowest ship in the group. This helped to eliminate the “spawning within active sonar range” bug. The downside to this is that surface groups now zip around fairly quickly on the campaign map.

* Simulated attrition of enemy forces. At the beginning of the game, most forces you encounter will be more modern (Oscars, Victor IIIs, Udaloys, etc) As the game progresses and these units are damaged or destroyed, you will start to see less newer vessels and more older ones thrown into the battle.

* Added new missions and mission locations.

* Modified all surface ship missions so that there is always the proper mix of AAW and ASW escort ships.

* Modified TLAM missions to start as far away as possible from the target sites, in deeper water. Don’t get too excited here - I was limited by the fact that the targets must still be visible on the tactical map for the mission to work. Added back TLAM launch baskets.

Sensor Changes

* Added variants of the BQQ-5 series (A-C), TB-16 series (A & B), and the Shark Gill series (MKG-400, -503 and -540)

Vessel Changes

* Significantly lowered most ship and sub acceleration values based on the type and size of the vessel and the type of propulsion plant. It now takes a 688-class about 1 1/2 minutes to go from 5 to 30 kts. An Alfa will take around 45 seconds, while large diesel cargo ships might take 3-4 minutes to reach max speed.

* Lengthened torpedo reload times. The original reload times in the game were far from reality. For Mk 48s, it takes time to pump a tube dry, open it up, discard the previous wire spool container, load the next torpedo, hook up the new wire spool, close the inner door and flood the tube. Heck, just opening and closing the inner tube door takes around 15 seconds each way. Also, most subs have enough space and torpedomen to reload two tubes at the same time, one on each side, but this is not modeled in the game. So with these two factors in mind I set US sub loading times at 7 minutes per tube. With Soviet design philosophy focused more on automation, their reload times were set at 5 minutes. While I think these times are a good compromise between game play and realism, torpedo reloading is going to seem agonizingly slow.

* Modified default torpedo tube loadouts for US subs. Removed the MOSS decoy (US attack subs normally never carried it) and lowered Harpoons to four. Total number of weapons in the initial loadout was reduced by one - One free space is needed to move weapons around and switch out weapons in tubes without firing something first. Of course, the player can add back the MOSS or change weapon numbers to their liking before leaving port.

* Upgraded Soviet torpedo loadouts, replacing SET-65 with -65M and TEST-71 with -71M in all but the oldest units.

* Significantly improved Soviet ship anti-missile capabilities. Fixed a major problem in the firing arcs of most Soviet ships that left them completely vulnerable to a bow-on missile attack. Also added simulation of defensive missiles. So ships carrying SA-N-4 point defense missiles are more difficult to hit, and ships with SA-N-6 or -9 are much more difficult to attack. Don’t even try attacking a Kirov unless you are shooting all of your VLS and torpedo tube-launched missiles at it, and even then most of your Tomahawks and Harpoons will likely be shot down.

* Made all surface ships 3-5 db louder. This was part of the fix to eliminate the “spawning within range of active sonar” bug.

* Made Soviet diesel subs between 2-5 db quieter.

* Changed some sonar signature profiles. Made the Tango closer to the Foxtrot, instead of similar to the Kilo (pet peeve of mine), and made the Kashin and Krivak a little more different from each other. Also made the Trawler signatures more unique from other ship types.

* Slightly increased American submarines’ TMA rate, while slightly lowering Soviet subs. This simulates the significant computing power advantage the Americans held at the time.

Aircraft Changes

* Reduced the number of depth bombs carried by patrol planes and helicopters, in some cases replacing them with an extra torpedo. This was done to reduce the effect of the unrealistically high accuracy of these weapons in the game.

Some Important Things to Remember

* Many missions will now send you to a particular patrol zone. You will need to remember the name of the zone when going from your orders screen to the strategic map.

* Surface group speeds are much faster on the strategic map. You will have less time to react to surface groups.

* Given the much longer torpedo reload times, it will be extremely difficult to reload torpedoes at the beginning of a mission. Always remember to reload tubes at the end of the previous mission!! Under time compression, each tube will take about 45 seconds of real time to load. This is also the perfect amount of time to reload your drink.

* TLAM missions will spawn farther away from targeted facilities. Those facilities will be at the very bottom of the tactical maps. It will be difficult to directly target them with TLAMs but that doesn’t matter. You just need to fire the missiles in a southernly direction and they will aim themselves once fired.

Initial settings

These changes were designed to be used with game version 1.15g and the following Game Option settings:

Difficulty - Realistic
Distance Scale - 1:2
Speed Multiplier - 1.0

[gsmith63]

OK, when I said 'a week or two' that apparently really meant 'a month or two!' In any event Update 4 is now available! Changes include:

* Completely re-worked Soviet airborne ASW sensors, including adding additional sonobuoy types such as the Korshun series, reworking sonobuoy loadouts, and modifying the sensitivities of both active sonobuoys and dipping sonars, which were often way too powerful. I can expand on this in a future post if anyone is interested.

* Added SSBN mission patrol zones and waypoints in the polar cap, Barents Sea and Kara Sea (in real life HQ is NOT going to tell a sub skipper to search the entire Barents Sea in hopes of somehow running into an SSBN bastion!)

* Added multiple new SSBN Bastion missions and made them much more varied. A new one in the Kara Sea is especially difficult.

* Modified sea ice zones for the winter time period of the scenario, using data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center and the Norwegian Polar Institute. I had thought that sea ice was placed automatically by the game engine based on the season, but this does not appear to be the case. Sea ice zones in the original campaigns appear to have used data from mid-summer.

* Added missions specifically targeting Soviet ASW forces.

* Modified mission frequencies and eliminated a bug that caused Insertion missions to happen too frequently.

* Created additional artwork for “mission end” screens.

* Fixed a bug that spawned unescorted Soviet merchant vessels in random locations.

The mod can be downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D47ajmqysKCI_YxvMRbrncXGQ1zQAUNk/view?usp=sharing

[Sapper]

Thanks Gsmith, ever since I've downloaded this mod, I can't play Cold Waters without it!

[gsmith63]

Here is a screenshot of the first hours of the war using the 1990 Realism Campaign, Update 4. It shows both the new bastion patrol zones in the Barents and Kara Seas, as well as the initial big surge of Soviet subs heading towards the GIUK gap...

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1643216017184975886/A0306D791E5D239ED523B5BDE56E30DA33CE8A94/

[BobTank63]

Thanks for this great mod! A lot of changes like the patrol zones and the false missions make the campaign more enjoyable (and it was already pretty fun). The change in torpedo reload really adjusts the speed of play and the timeline adjustment allowed me to use a VLS equipped sub for the first time.

The only thing I noticed is a bug where the dive planes are set to 30 randomly, causing the sub to breach. It can be fixed by using the depth control panel to set a depth, but it can be really annoying to start a surface group mission and then breach in front of a Kirov. Please fix this, but otherwise its a great mod.

Edit: Sorry turns out the bug was just an accidental key bind swap.

[gsmith63]

引用自 BobTank63：

Thanks for this great mod! A lot of changes like the patrol zones and the false missions make the campaign more enjoyable (and it was already pretty fun). The change in torpedo reload really adjusts the speed of play and the timeline adjustment allowed me to use a VLS equipped sub for the first time.

The only thing I noticed is a bug where the dive planes are set to 30 randomly, causing the sub to breach. It can be fixed by using the depth control panel to set a depth, but it can be really annoying to start a surface group mission and then breach in front of a Kirov. Please fix this, but otherwise its a great mod.

Edit: Sorry turns out the bug was just an accidental key bind swap.

Thanks for the kind words BobTank! One problem I personally had early on was hitting the "planes up" key (S) when I meant to go to silent running (Shift-S). Sometimes I would lean on the S key for too long when hitting Shift-S and would end up going full-rise on the planes, with predictably poor results if I was already shallow.

[gsmith63]

Update 4a for the North Atlantic 1990 Realism Mod has been released. Mostly minor tweaks this time, including:

* Modified Land Strike missions to make the amount and type enemy activity near the launch basket much more variable.

* Modified SS Wolfpack missions to increase the number of enemy subs encountered, especially early in the conflict.

* Corrected the language in some ASUW mission orders and eliminated some contradictory information.

* Added one knot to the max speed to the Sturgeon class so that it is capable of performing knuckle maneuvers.

* Added additional artwork for "mission end" screens.

The update can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D47ajmqysKCI_YxvMRbrncXGQ1zQAUNk/view?usp=sharing

[FirestormMk3]

Thanks a million for still being committed to updating this incredible mod.

[The Inept European]

Yes many thanks and kudos.

[Delta_Assault]

Great mod, but I have a question. Did you change anything about the SSBN missions? I remember them being in really deep water and not having much trouble with finding the boomers in the vanilla campaign. But playing your mod, I finally got to the mission and it's in really shallow water (300-400) and it's a lot harder to avoid detection.

Just wondering if you made em harder or if it's just bad luck.

Also wonder if you made the wires more likely to snap. I had one mission where the first 3 out of 4 launches snapped the wires immediately. Again, maybe it's just bad luck...

[gsmith63]

@Delta_Assault - Thanks and yes, I added four new SSBN missions in Update 4. Some of them are pretty hard, with more than one SSBN and up to several advanced SSNs defending. The one in the Kara Sea is probably the most difficult and is in very shallow water. I played that one last week and it took me over an hour just to get into a good firing position where I had a decent chance of surviving afterwards!

I have not changed the wire break parameters so that might just be bad luck. Wires tend to break more while diving quickly, if that is any help. I try to remain on a steady course and depth when firing and that seems to make a difference. Also the slower speed you are at the better. Anything above 14 knots will likely snap your wires too.

[Searry]

If you want to go deeper while you have a wire, I suggest using a little bit of ballast but not changing where the sub is pointing at.

[Delta_Assault]

引用自 gsmith63：

@Delta_Assault - Thanks and yes, I added four new SSBN missions in Update 4. Some of them are pretty hard, with more than one SSBN and up to several advanced SSNs defending. The one in the Kara Sea is probably the most difficult and is in very shallow water. I played that one last week and it took me over an hour just to get into a good firing position where I had a decent chance of surviving afterwards!

I have not changed the wire break parameters so that might just be bad luck. Wires tend to break more while diving quickly, if that is any help. I try to remain on a steady course and depth when firing and that seems to make a difference. Also the slower speed you are at the better. Anything above 14 knots will likely snap your wires too.

Oh cool, glad to know my memory wasn't playing tricks on me. And yeah, I usually launch at 9 knots to avoid any wire breaks.

Did you also get rid of the mission for the carrier? In the vanilla campaign, the last two missions are always an SSBN hunt and then a carrier task force. With your campaign, it ended after killing the SSBNs.

[BobTank63]

引用自 Delta_Assault：

引用自 gsmith63：

@Delta_Assault - Thanks and yes, I added four new SSBN missions in Update 4. Some of them are pretty hard, with more than one SSBN and up to several advanced SSNs defending. The one in the Kara Sea is probably the most difficult and is in very shallow water. I played that one last week and it took me over an hour just to get into a good firing position where I had a decent chance of surviving afterwards!

I have not changed the wire break parameters so that might just be bad luck. Wires tend to break more while diving quickly, if that is any help. I try to remain on a steady course and depth when firing and that seems to make a difference. Also the slower speed you are at the better. Anything above 14 knots will likely snap your wires too.

Oh cool, glad to know my memory wasn't playing tricks on me. And yeah, I usually launch at 9 knots to avoid any wire breaks.

Did you also get rid of the mission for the carrier? In the vanilla campaign, the last two missions are always an SSBN hunt and then a carrier task force. With your campaign, it ended after killing the SSBNs.

I never had a carrier task force after the SSBN hunt. The SSBN mission is always the last in a campaign, even in vanilla.

[Delta_Assault]

Just realized... I don't think I've seen a single Akula in the game. It's supposed to be added to the campaign, isn't it?

[BobTank63]

引用自 Delta_Assault：

Just realized... I don't think I've seen a single Akula in the game. It's supposed to be added to the campaign, isn't it?

I've only see it appear in the SSBN missions.