Main idea is the frequent resurfacing due to low oxygen levels. This dictates the dynamic of the gameplay loop. It kind of resembles the Whac-a-mole game where submarine is the mole.
So the loop roughly becomes:
Submarines operate on a close to surface and surface area. This remains as authentic to the World War 1 time period as possible, since submarines of the period could not dive very deep and had to resurface often.
Some submarines will have to surface more often, others can remain beneath the surface longer. Core idea is that they are a sneakier version of a ship. In any case, submarines cannot reach significant depths (it remains to be play tested if depth of dive should be greater than depth of a depth charge weapon, this is a matter of balancing submarine to ship combat).
Default view is at front just behind the tip of the submarine (This has to be play tested, tip of the sub is very limiting view and might be deceiving as different submarines have different sizes, on the other hand the self awareness about the size might be part of the learning curve).
There is possibility to switch to back view. Back view should show at least the propellers. (Similar to default front view exact view has to be experimented with)
Flexibility of view exist differently on 3 different vertical position levels.
When surfaced submarines emit a smoke (as a result of diesel fuel combustion) and sound based on their movement speed (and potentially other factors, for example submarine type perks). When surfaced submarines turn off their engines the smoke gradually stops emitting. So when stationary for long enough they stop emitting smoke but also stop emitting sound from the engines. Also when surfaced and engines are on, submarines emit stronger motor sound similar to ships. When moving they produce also a wake behind them, wake size depends on the movement speed.
When inside sub-surface depth, submarines can be seen from the sky allowing airplanes to easily spot them. Below surface there is no diesel smoke. If periscope is deployed it will produce glitter towards the area where it is pointed at, making it easier for enemy to spot the submarine. (to be play tested if glitter will not exist under certain conditions like cloudy weather, night, fog, smoke etc.) (Alternative or addition to this mechanic is the bow wave generated by periscope if submarine is moving. To be analyzed for balance)
While in hydrophone mode there are no special visual or audio cues produced by it.
When submerged and moving the submarine will emit audio cue for propeller activation, sound will vary based on submarine speed. When engines are off submarine will not emit any sound. Moving underwater does not create surface wake, but it does leave a bubble trail behind it which gradually disperses.
Fast surfacing or submerging causes noticeable sound and splash effect. This makes it easier to locate the sub. Slower surfacing or submerging creates significantly less sound and visual effect.
Submarines need to resurface to recharge oxygen. (Initial idea is to increase depletion rate of oxygen based on movement, idea to be revisited)
Torpedoes. More in front fewer in back. Non navigatable, goes in straight direction. Creates wake visible from surface. Generally slower and without great range. Unable to snipe from edge of the map. After a certain range torpedo drops and gets destroyed.
Deck guns. Machine guns, 37mm, 88, 105, 150mm cannons. Deck gun layouts: One front, One back or one front and one back.
Mines. Classical acnhored mines with horns. Floating in water.
To be authentic to the WW1 period, there are no radars, only way to perform localization of targets when submerged is through hydrophones. Hydrophones allow to listen to sounds in order to determine the position of the enemy. When you are in range of sound emission from other ships or submarines you can hear their engine roaring. Sound is directional, which means if sound is coming to the right of where the hydrophone is pointing you will hear sound on the right side. Rotating the camera allows you to pinpoint the direction from where the sound comes from. Distance to the source of the sound dictates the sound strength. Moving causes noise which makes it harder to read other ships or submarines. Turning engines off causes noise to stop making it easier to detect others. Different ships and submarines produce different kind of sounds.
Ships are equipped with depth charges that can be thrown bellow or slightly around the ship. These charges detonate at certain depths causing explosion and heavy damage to subs.
Ships also have hydrophones so that they can detect submarines.
Ships can ram submarines causing them instant destruction.
Ships can also lay mines.
Surface gun effectivenes is highest slightly under the surface. Ballistic type of ammo is more effective at any angle due to its natural top to bottom arc. Straight ammo is less effective with lower angles.
Very near to the ships guns are not effective but depth charges are. Ship to submarines damage is actually deadliest in this range.
Fast - low damage but high manuverability and overall speed. Good for in your face engagement, close combat, objective conquest, fast flanking, requires often surfacing, small size
Medium - balanced damage and agility, good for medium range, objective contest and defence, and slow advance, medium surfacing, medium size
Slow - highest damage but slow, good for long range sector control, low surfacing, big size
Fast submarines have a torpedo distance limitation. They can effectively attack only from shorter distances. Idea is to have them exposed for a certain amount of time to give enemy a chance to respond. But chance should be very brief. Only effective counter against fast submarines is observation, reaction time and precision, with importance in that order. Idea is that these submarines will need to be in gun range before submerging, or will need to resurface earlier thus making them possible to target. Going head first into ships is often a death sentence, idea of subs is to flank and suprise ships.
Faster submarines are easier to detect while slower submarines are harder to detect.
Smaller submarines have lower inertia and are able to stop vessels faster, slower submarines have bigger inertia and need more time to halt. This enables same amount of time from detecting a mine or obstacle to being able to stop and avoid it. Usually time reaction needs to be faster and player has to pay attention and be on the edge otherwise they will collide with mines.
Weather can change making combat rules and gameplay change, and battles more dynamic.
Submarine to submarine collision causes instant mutual death regardless of speed or angle of contact.
Visibility drops with depth.
Precision matters, higher precision deals more damage. Aiming at certain parts does more damage. General shooting often causes less damage. Mechanics similar to headshots.
Health of submarines is not regeneratable. Only way to fix a sub is to return to HQ area which will act similar to redeployment but without causing death. (Concern about this mechanic is that it will encourage players to withdraw often causing significant objective disadvante and spending most time withdrawing thus making gameplay rather boring. On the other hand it could be part of learning curve and strategic thinking about when to withdraw and when to stay, also space for team wide tactics like ship rotation.)
To stop abusing of withdraw mechanism there is a buffer desert area zone between playable map and HQ. If you stay in the desert area long enough you die. This area should be wide enough and timer short enough to force player to go in straight line without stopping, only this it counts as successful withdraw otherwise player dies. This is to avoid HQ hugging, where player is intentionally sitting near the HQ so he can withdraw fast. The buffer zone also leaves the player targetable for a duration. Once player reaches HQ he becomes untargetable.
Initially player spawns from near HQ spawn points, after some time expires player can also spawn from additional spawn points on maps edges that are closer to middle of the map. This allows for a higher opportunity to counter the enemy, if enemy has upper hand, they cannot pin down enemy to their spawn points. There has to be more spawn points than players.
Thre is a mechanic to force enemy to withdraw if one side is too dominant. With mechanic being increasingly stronger if one side is too much dominant. However the dominant side must be able to fight back and overcome the enemy. Mechanic needs to be fair for all players. Mechanic should be able to swing the tides of battle dramatically, initially it does so in a little way but increases if weaker side cannot retain control. Idea is to allow comeback opportunities.
There is a skilled based matchup and casual matchup. Skill basede matchup is based on one metric: damage done per minute. Higher the damage higher the skill. There are groups and each player is placed under a certain group based on this metric. Groups are held tight gradually expanding based on wait time. There is a limit to expansion at one point rest of players are filled with bots. Casual matchup is server based. Or remove server based and introduce community where you can choose which players you want to matchup with, you can choose any player even if they are not same skill level.
Movement has lever which dictate speed of the submarine, different speed for forward and backward, faster forward, harder to manoeuvre backward. Mouse dictates rotation of the sub, the tilt. W and S dictate speed and direction. Being in neutral makes the submarine drift by inertia.
Desired speed and actual speed are different parameters.
Acceleration is larger if the gap between desired and actual speed is larger. Higher acceleration higher the kickback camera movement (simulating inertia).
If in neutral, double tap W will set desired speed to max for forward movement. If in bacward this will stop the engines. Pressing W will increase the desired speed level.
If in neutral, double tap S will set desired speed to max for backward movement. If in forward this will stop the engines. Pressing S will increase backward desired speed level.
When switching from moving state to engine stop deacceleration time depends on current actual speed. Deacceleration value is fixed.
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