# Know any good submarine games? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 15, 2017, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024 "2017-06-15T10:12:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/1 "2017-06-15T10:12:43Z")
Do you know any good submarine games, especially ones which are easily available online? I would particularly like submarine games with an emphasis on using sonar and less on the hardcore simulator minutiae of submarine operation. I can live with some minutiae if the sonar part is particularly good. I don’t have any preference in terms of time period although I would guess that sonar operations get more complex as we get closer to the present or near future. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/2 "2017-06-15T10:16:59Z")
Silent Hunter is a good series. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/3 "2017-06-15T10:46:03Z")
[Cold Waters](http://killerfishgames.com/games/cold-waters) has just come out. Might be what you are after. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/4 "2017-06-15T11:51:21Z")
Probably not what you’re looking for, but just in case: the game Subnautica (still in early release, i.e., features are being added still) has you crash-splashing on an aquatic world. Initially you just swim around, but by the end of the game you have a massive submarine you solo-pilot around the planet. There’s sonar in the game. It’s not really a simulator, given how simple the sub’s controls are, so if you want a sim, it’s not for you. But it’s gorgeous and may be worth picking up. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/5 "2017-06-15T12:39:25Z")
Cold Waters is getting a lot of discussion on [the Subsim boards](http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/forumdisplay.php?f=268). My impression is that, as the labor of love of a small studio, that it looks very promising but is still essentially a beta. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/6 "2017-06-15T13:46:53Z")
I have a fun little game called [Sub Culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_Culture), which has yet to appear on Steam or Good Old Games. It’s kind of like an underwater version of a spaceship trading sim. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/7 "2017-06-16T01:05:51Z")
Im such a nerd, I read the thread title and thought, “I’ve heard they play spades and backgammon.” ---
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/8 "2017-06-16T08:53:05Z")
If you want a focus on detailed sonar, you definitely want one of the older Sonalysts games, [Sub Command](http://store.steampowered.com/app/2920/Sub_Command/) would be my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/9 "2017-06-17T11:36:09Z")
I have not played it and it got mixed reviews but you might give [Silent Hunter V](http://store.steampowered.com/app/48110/Silent_Hunter_5_Battle_of_the_Atlantic/) a look. Bit dated now though. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/10 "2017-06-17T12:09:29Z")
Well, dealing with the complexities of modern sonar was a big draw of Sonalyst’s games - 688i and Sub Command. As their company name implies, they were originally designing sonar sims for the Navy before branching into games, and their games uses a (probably simplified/intel sanitized) version of the software they use to train actual sonar operators. So that’s good 🙂 Another good, if especially complex, part of these games (and linked with sonar) is the tracking/solution table. Basically your passive & active sensors keep track of contacts over time on a plotting table, and it’s up to you to figure out where that contact is and is going exactly by figuring out a firing solution. It’s pretty easy with active sonar or radar (since in that case the plot will have both bearing and range) but of course if you do that you’re liable to quickly get shot at. With passive sensors however, all you get are bearing lines and possibly speed (based on listening on their propellor & ID the contact by its noise signature) and so you have to turn your sub this way and that, change speed etc… so that those bearings become usable. And then the target turns/changes speed on you and you can trash aaaaall your work 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/11 "2017-06-20T12:42:15Z")
nm. I thought you were talking about games that submariners play and this was a sex thread. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/12 "2017-06-20T14:12:32Z")
Youtuber “The Mighty Jingles” has two roughly 30 minute videos of _Cold Waters_ game play. Check them out, to see if that title is something that suites your taste. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-good-submarine-games/789024/13 "2017-06-20T14:14:13Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > I have a fun little game called [Sub Culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_Culture), which has yet to appear on Steam or Good Old Games. It’s kind of like an underwater version of a spaceship trading sim. I played the heck out of that game back in the 90s. Not much in the way of realism, but a whole lot in the way of fun! Glad to know there is another doper that liked it.