World of Warships submarines hands-on preview
When briefing us on the latest addition to WoWS, the devs described submarines as a new angle to naval warfare, one that would lean heavily into the concept of “risk vs reward.” When playing with the submarines, I found it greatly rewarding when I was able to successfully stealth the waters and scout opponents. I also felt like I had a leg up in a given battle when I could fire a couple torpedoes at an enemy before they were even aware of my presence.
On the other hand, sneaking behind enemy lines is a dangerous gamble. If you’re prematurely forced to the surface for oxygen, or are spotted by a keen-sighted enemy, you can pretty much kiss your ship goodbye. Once you’ve been detected and are face to face with a cruiser or destroyer, the sub hardly stands a chance.
When piloting a submarine, there are three different levels of depth. On the surface level the ship is completely exposed, but has max vision, speed, and will regain oxygen. When you drop down to periscope depth, you’ll be able to use homing torpedoes thanks to sonar pings. Subs in periscope mode will still be partially visible, and take a cut in speed. Deep water is the lowest depth, and is one where subs are virtually undetectable. This is best for scouting enemies and safely traversing the waters. While in deep water, you can not launch attacks and oxygen will be consumed at a high rate. Your surroundings are highlighted a bright color when underwater so that you don’t get disoriented in the dark depths of the ocean.
Even tides
Whenever competitive online games receive new characters/weapons/vehicles, etc. there’s always concerns of imbalancing. The devs at Wargaming detailed to us the steps they’ve taken in order to make sure there is proper counterplay when the submarine surfs into battle. Destroyers will be the main counter for submarines, and will have specific abilities to help them do so. They can use pings to narrow down a subs last location,and deploy depth charges to seek and deal large damage.
When a submarine is located, a large circle will appear on the water and the two ships will enter a cat and mouse type minigame where the destroyer looks to take out the sub before it can escape the area.
Since its torpedo fire can pack quite a punch, the submarines have the weakest armor of any ship class in WoWS. This reinforces the aforementioned idea that a 1 on 1 is usually a death sentence for subs.
When subs go live, there will be a cap in the matchmaker that limits the amount of submarines that can be on a single team. Wargaming is still researching what number would be best. Speaking of research, digging through historical archives and gathering information on real world submarines was a key part of Wargaming’s creative process. The team put well over a year into making sure every detail about the submarines was as accurate as possible.
The United States, Germany, and the USSR will be the first three countries in game to receive submarines. There are plans to expand to Japan and other nations down the road. In just a couple of weeks, WoWS will begin a “super testing phase” in which players can get their hands on the latest vehicle class. There is no current date set for submarines but you can expect them in full release early next year.
Source: Shacknews
