Die Unterseeboote - By Landon

Hey there, besides hosting for this wonderfull game, I also started making my own sub, which I am done with now (and I already have plans in my head for the next one). Below here I made up some story related to the sub/Unterseeboote and obviously the subtle relation with german subs in both world wars. However, I am not trying to make any detailed version of them, one of the reasons why I don't name them U-boot. My next idea is also totally off from the usual (submarine) design. And will have a noice name

The story
It all started when Professor Shaba Dabadingdong discovered some ancient blueprints from earth, hidden for decades. Soon his team found out that, a very long time ago, somewhere in a dark history of time and mankind, these submarines where crafted for battle and deepsea. "Engineered beyond it's time", "technically very advanced", is what Dabadingdoing said. After years of reverse engineering these blueprints, his team began building them. First off, the original Unterseeboot, typ 1914, now designed for any deepsea European circumstances, and ready for any battle. Many would follow after...


Unterseeboot 1914 - Updated: 24-10-2017 Download: https://landon.stackstorage.com/s/7DnQ5EcuDqjJKZw


Ballast control - read for proper control of "The Unterseeboot" series
It's been one of the known problems with the Unterseeboot, players that have no idea how to get the submarine from A to B. As addition to the finishing update of 24-10-2017, I decided to write a tutorial about how to have full control of the ballast of your Unterseeboot 1914. Always make sure you start the reactor first.

Step 1 - where and what Above is an image shown of a closer look at the ballast control. The ballast control can be found near the navigation terminal (captain's spawn). The ballast control works as following:

• Each row of compartments, vertically from the upper compartment light to the button, can be enabled.
• Once enabled, two lights in the vertical line will turn blue, water will now flow in these two (upper and lower) compartments.
• At step two I will explain how it will look like, and how many compartments is best to use.

Step 2 - Use of compartments Alright, now you know what the ballast control panel consists of, it's time to actually use it. This is very important:
Always use 2 sections for most agile movement. (sections are the upper and lower compartment combined in this case)
It doesn't matter which of the 6 sections you enable 2. However, keeping it spread decreases the chance of breaching multiple already filled compartments.
Once you press the button of one section, you will see the upper and lower compartments slightly filling with water. Now you can start fully controlling your sub. Please note that, disabling the compartments does not drain the compartments! Proceed to the next step for more advanced instructions.

Step 3 - Advanced control Want to escape a nasty Charybdis? Quick manoeuvre required for a speeding respawn shuttle? You have control.
Enabling all compartments will get you up to speeds of 80 km/h, very quickly
Ofcourse, this requires steering skill and depends on the map, always keep close eye on the sonar when doing this. It doesn't only get you down real fast, you can do what you like, adjust the comparments on the situation. The essence of the ballast control is to give the ability to adapt when needed.

Now, the final part, there are also 3 green lights and an alarm in the middle of the panel. Here below I show you what it's for: As you can see in this picture, all compartments are enabled and filled with water. The middle panel is to show you which compartments are completely filled with water, divided in 3 sections (left, middle, right). When all compartments are filled with water, an alarm will ring that shit is hitting the fan pretty much. What does this add? Well...think about when you have rammed a rock and want to know why you cannot go upwards anymore. Is the complete right section of compartments breached? The most right green light will turn off, that's what it is for.

That's it! If you have any further questions, you can always ask me directly or here. For direct contact, visit website: http://www.barotrauma-server.com, click on 'about' in the right top corner and scroll all the way down. When you have read this, you will be able to steer the sturdy Unterseeboot 1914! Congrats!

Definitely grabbing this sub. Sleek simple layout with intuitive operation. Well done LandonGam3r. I really like that the crew has to go outside to fix hull damage, adds a nice dynamic to running the sub.

PinkledWrenis wrote:Definitely grabbing this sub. Sleek simple layout with intuitive operation. Well done LandonGam3r. I really like that the crew has to go outside to fix hull damage, adds a nice dynamic to running the sub.

Nice to hear that you like it , thanks!

Hand's down favourite sub.
So useful and easy to control.

Thanks Wicker!

24-02-2017: Sub updated, added 4 extra vents to (hopefully) solve the oxygen problem. This is a bit hard to test because it only occurs when there is an amount of 16 characters in the sub.

EDIT: Added another extra o2 generator since the problem still wasn't solved.

EDIT2: Changed output of o2 generator, that solved the problem.

04-04-2017: Sub updated, tiny adjustment to some text near horn and airlock buttons (text got pushed down a little due to the font update).

26-09-2017: Sub updated, the grid is finally stable, thanks to help by Nilanth! (modder and host of ARS). You may download the latest version from the update link at the top post.

Explanation: 2 batteries have been added to keep the power from fluctuating through the grid, causing fire or explosions. The existing battery is also fullfilling a similar job. To adjust the new 2 batteries, open the front wall (cutter) of the inner cabin (right wall in medical room front sub).

Enjoy the Unterseeboot!

24-10-2017: Sub updated, Finishing update!

This update is to fix what was....pretty much left to be fixed

Changelog:

• Water detector most left compartment lowered, water will now be drained completely.
• Pump and water detector added most right compartment. Water ending up in here couldn't be drained, now it can.
• Gap added in medical room, water can now stream down in the most right compartment.
• Removed pump in cabin, not needed anymore, both ends of the cabin have drains.
• Added medical cabinet in cabin middle (where pump was).
• Re-aligned some wires.
• Created a ditch under the ammo box for keeping ammo in place.
• Added specific spawnpoints for diferent jobs at different locations.
• Added and re-located items.
• Re-aligned railgun (cannot aim for the sub anymore).
• Created a ballast tutorial.

Added and re-located items
The worst thing is that I knew that it wasn't filled with items correctly, basically from the start. Thanks to Nilanth (he created a better stocked version of the Unterseeboot), I got a better view of how it should be. It's also been a combination of 'creating the first submarine', but finally it's all well stocked now. Here is some of the additions:

• Equipment is loaded (batteries, tanks, etc.)
• Medical is stocked correctly, aswell more spread across the submarine.
• Some items have been added in quantity and some removed, such as more diving masks and less 02 tanks (can also be refilled)

Ballast tutorial
Speaks for itself , a complete tutorial about 'how to actually get the sub moving'. All in the first post of this topic!

Oh yes, I love this sub!

PinkledWrenis wrote:[...] I really like that the crew has to go outside to fix hull damage, adds a nice dynamic to running the sub.

This and the change with only a fore mounted cannon / no windows but periscope-akin camera / "airlock" or rather realistic hatch
and of course last but not least the unnecessarily complicated ballast system panel "gimmick" all give this a good claustrophobic real-life small sub feeling.

Makes for intense runs.

Thank you!

Oh by the way: I was not able to grab this from your link and had to get it from a game server.
Why do you not simply host this on your barotrauma-server.com site?

My quick opinion;

Aesthetics = unfortunately, pretty ugly, and my main problem with the submarine. I assume you've gone for the ol' decrepit look which would explain the absolutely-no-variation-in-background approach. You've obviously added minor decals in such a way to make it look like an *actual* submarine (I suppose the periscope-esque place can't help but be out of proportion.) However simple things could be done to just make it look a bit nicer without sacrificing the primitive appeal:
-The engine area, and the fact that it overlaps a door, triggers my OCD.
-Honestly, I don't see why you've run some of the wires through the walls, I personally think it would've been more fitting to the theme to just run all of them them through the halls (in an ordered fashion, of course.)
-Flat. It's a box ship, inside and out.
-Cramped. *Too* cramped. Submarines were realistically cramped, but they didn't have much of a choice...You do.
-Don't even get me started on the whole 'half-of-everything-looks-like-it-was-an-afterthought' vibe.

Functionally, pretty good, I guess. It's got decent protection. However;
-Drainage. Smaller subs need alot of drainage, because they fill up so quickly in the event of a breach. Even if you fix a breach that had flooded only one room (which you cannot do without flooding another room, which is death for a small sub) by the time it drains, the entire sub will already be on a direct course with a rock surface, or an inevitable plummet into the abyss.

-The majority of people who play this submarine aren't going to have read this thread. God help the crew if one of those players becomes the captain, because they're not going to know what the heck those buttons do and why they can't go down. Even simple 3 letter labels under the buttons would atleast give them a chance. If you include a complex feature in your submarine that is *needed* for it to function, document it. Really.

-Ballast to standard hull ratio = omg, i pressed one button and we're sinking at 70km/h.

-Labels on the cabinets so people don't have to spend a minute looking for a spare battery.

-That airlock...

-Plan for buttons *before* you start adding in other crap. You've got them all over the place.

-So erm, we have to go outside the submarine to fix hull breaches..? When there's monsters around..? God help us. (I actually like that feature, but still, I imagine most wont.)


Overall, I suppose you succeeded admirably in the goal of making it rudimentary. But you might have taken it a *bit* far, just in my opinion. So I don't believe this'll work as a run-of-the-mill submarine to be played on just any public server. By a group of people with good communication, competence and a handle of the game? Yeah, I'm sure this submarine serves that niche perfectly.

(Disclaimer; I am playing devil's advocate and naming everything wrong with it that I can. Makes for good criticism. But don't read this and think that I hate the submarine, or that it's terrible; I like it.)