coldwaters-modding

Minor tweaks to suit my preferences.

Installing

Just to use the mod, download the zip and extract the contents to this directory in your Cold Waters install folder.

ColdWaters_Data/StreamingAssets/override

If you're going to be working on the mod, cd into the StreamingAssets directory and clone the repo. Rename the resulting coldwaters-modding folder to override.

Changes

• Changed the default controls to my preferred layout.
  • W/X for planes up/down. More consistent IMO with Q/Z and E/C.
  • S for level out. Nice and central.
  • Shift-F for noisemaker. Too easy to accidentally hit Shift-D.
  • Numpad 8/2 for torpedo up/down Consistent with W/X.
• Changed the hud layout to have all controls visible above the mini map.
• Don't load videos on the menu. They always hitched a bit at the beginning for me, and I'd rather just get into the game that much faster.
• Made the later Los Angeles class variants available in the 1984 campaign. It's kinda cheating I know, but I really like having VLS.
• Removed TLAMs from default Los Angeles Flt 3 and Seawolf loadouts. They're useless in combat, you always have enough time to return to base when given a land strike, and I think having 8 of them makes the game think you have enough weapons and not give you the return to base prompt when it otherwise would.
• Weapons
  • Added straight & snake search patterns to both the normal Mk 48 and ADCAP. Even if it's not reflective of reality, having both available is useful sometimes.
• Modified Difficulty Settings.
  • Campaign: Easy and Normal are now basically identical, with Hard and Elite being slightly more difficult. I found the Easy campaign to be too short to be interesting, but didn't like the reload and time in port penalties applied on harder difficulties.
  • Combat: Enemy ships now get more hull points across the board, and the player gets less on Easy and Normal. Having a single harpoon take out almost any surface ship made Tomahawks useless. Likewise for every sub besides the Typhoon being a one-hit-kill.
  • Combat: Slightly upped player TMA values. You're the elite of the US Navy, your crew should be good at this. Would rather make enemy quieter to balance as needed.
• WIP: 1989 Campaign.
  • Essentially the 1984 campaign with some tweaks.
  • Added Los Angeles flt 2/3 and Seawolf.
  • Increased possible count of SSGNs and SSBNs in their respective missions. Knowing there would always just be one target ship in a "wolfpack" made things repetitive. Now you need to scout the formation so you don't miss a target.
  • Modified probabilities of mission types. Insertion and Land Strike are less likely. Enemy Landing Force and ASUW Strike upped to compensate.
  • Change of an SSBN lurking somewhere around Murmansk, if you're feeling daring after an insertion or land strike.