Crush Depth is a first-person type VII U-boat simulator. Experience operating and maintaining the U-boat’s complex systems, engaging enemy shipping, celestial navigation, survival mechanics, as well as the lighter side of life on the boat.
Please note, this is the
Beta Version of Crush Depth for Early backers who
are already familiar with this project. At this stage, we are still
nowhere near what anyone would consider a
finished product.
We are opening up the beta for your support and feedback. We fully welcome your input, criticisms, questions, experiences, suggestions, and anything else you would like to share with us. Only by getting you, our supporters, involved in the process of shaping this project, can we get to where we want to be. We hope you will accept that invitation and support us by purchasing the beta.
All of the features listed below are what we aspire to, no what is available in the Beta at this time! If you are interested in this project but would prefer to wait for the final release, wishlist it here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1397630/Crush_Depth_UBoat_Simulator/This is not fun
War isn't fun, and we're not going to sugarcoat the realities of history. Out of the 1,156 U-Boats which were commissioned, 765 never returned to port. Out of around 40,000 men that served in the U-Boat arm, 30,000 of them never returned to port (with some sources even citing higher losses of life).
On the allied side, no fewer than 2,603 merchant vessels were lost to German submarines, at the gruesome cost of no fewer than another 30,000 who lost their life at sea. Our goal is to offer an honest glimpse into the brutality of the Atlantic campaign.
Unparalleled realism
To recreate the most realistic U-Boat simulation ever conceived of, we have set up collaborations with numerous archives worldwide to obtain the original blueprints used in the construction of the Type VII-C U-Boat. We are also being advised by one of the last men still alive who served on a U-Boat, Mr. Friedrich Grade, chief-engineer on U-96 and U-183. Even further, we have a partnership with the ‘Freundeskreis U-995’, whose sole purpose is to restore and maintain the last Type VII-C in existence. Your support of this project is the support of maintaining history, both virtually and physically.
We are rebuilding the Type VII-C U-Boat to a level of fidelity that has never been seen before. We’re giving the countless other ships and planes you’ll encounter a similar treatment. All of the units you will encounter in this project are one-to-one translations of the original blueprints and building regulations, built with the utmost attention to detail. To make it function realistically as well, we’re developing a level of physics simulation that takes into account things such as hydrostatic pressure, viscous resistance, electrical conductivity, propagation of sound through different mediums, salinity, temperature, Boyle’s law, and many, and many more factors.
Your actions and decisions will matter. Your engine failure will not be the result of some randomizing algorithm deciding it is time to do so. Your torpedoes missing their target will not be the result of some chance generator determining you have hit enough already. Everything you will see happening will be the result of stone-cold physics. We will be able to create a level of realism that has never been seen before in any other submarine simulator.
Playability
...but don’t get us wrong either. We’re not deliberately trying to scare people away by making something so complicated that you’ll need to get a Ph.D. in submarining first just to have enjoy Crush Depth. You will find interactive tutorials that will teach you everything you need to know: from complex interactions between the engine management, ballast system, and rudder controls needed to dive the boat properly, to how to decode/ encode radio traffic with the enigma machine, to making a tasty Eintopf for your crewmates.
Apart from that, you will be able to customize your experience to suit just how complicated you want things to be. If you’re not particularly interested in performing the ten-odd steps one would have to perform to turn on a compressor, you won’t have to. A click of a button will allow you to simplify that process to a single step. Even further, you can forego having to do that at all, by letting the intelligent AI take control of whatever task you have in mind.
The World of Crush Depth
Crush Depth will offer you a variety of settings. Our main focus for the further development of this project is creating a persistent MMO-environment, set in and around the U-Boat base of Lorient, France. From there, you and your crew members will depart for the Atlantic and other parts of the world. Apart from the patrols themselves, the project will also spend a great deal of attention on life onshore, from repairing and restocking your boat, preparing and planning for your next departure, coordinating radio traffic with those currently at sea, to having a drink or two (or three, or four, or five) with your fellow sailors in the local bar.
Apart from all the valves, dials, and other machinery, you will be able to interact with, other items you find onboard or bring on your person will be fully interactive as well. This will allow you to engage in dozens of other activities, such as playing a game of chess or skat with your crewmates, having a cup of coffee, or trying to nick your captain’s pair of binoculars (The later is probably ill-advised, but we feel we shouldn’t ignore the lighter side of life on board either).
Your own player character will also be fully customizable to your own liking, offering a wide range of options in terms of physique, clothing, accessories, and the like. Over the course of your career, you will indeed be able to obtain medals and other insignia to display your skill and achievements to the many other people we hope to welcome to this project.
The worldwide, persistent MMO-setting is however not the only game modes we will roll-out. Other options will include historical encounters, where you will be put in the exact same time and spot as some of the real skippers were. Customizable encounters, where you can decide for yourself what kind of ships you wish to encounter, where, when, and under which conditions. Interactive training missions, that will allow you to dot the i’s and cross the t’s before you decide it’s time to get in the thick of it. All of these modes are fully networked as well, ready for you to have at alone, or with a group of friends.
Support our project!
Your contributions make a big difference to our project. Building a complex and historically accurate representation of the Battle of the Atlantic is a very significant investment. We’ve opened up the project at this incredibly early point in the project to allow those who see the value in what we are trying to achieve to help us financially by purchasing a Beta and Release key incredibly early.
We have thought about fundraising through Kickstarter but the realities of working in an incredibly niche genre means support is built over a long period of time after trust is built with the community. We are fully committed to bringing this project to life and post constant updates to our Discord. We hope to see you there as well.
Thank you all for your consideration and support!
Crush Depth is the continuing result of unrelenting research based on original construction plans and regulations, rare photos, contemporary sources, and the personal experiences of U-boat submariner Friedrich Grade, ex chief-engineer of U-96; the boat famously portrayed in the book 'Das Boot' and the 1981 film by the same name.
By working closely with the Blueprint Archive, the Bundesarchiv, the National Archive (NARA), the Technisches Museum U-995 and many other sources, we've been able to recreate the type VII C U-boat in all of its complexity.
Oblate Spheroid Earth model
A fully spherical gameworld recreates the horizon and travel times with accurate detail. The entire world is represented by a full bathymetric and heightmap model with 15 Arc-Seconds of fidelity.
A variety of game modes will allow you to engage with the world as you choose. From short, single encounters based on actual historical events, to customizable patrols, to a perpetual PvP/PvE setting in which you can play for days on end and many more. Play cooperatively as one of the members of a crew of up to 18 players, or take complete control of your boat all by yourself.
Multiple Units
Player controllable vehicles include PT boats, destroyers, merchants, and even planes.
Pc & Mac Games