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I made a tactical map-based WWII submarine simulator (public beta)

Details

External ID
48180924
Source
HN
Company
—
Product
I made a tactical map-based WWII submarine simulator (public beta)
Website domain
silentshark.app
Launched
May 18, 2026
Cohort
—
Upvotes
125
Upvotes percentile
0.9297253634894992
Tags
—
Fetched at
Sept. 7, 2026, 9:26 p.m.
Updated at
Sept. 7, 2026, 9:26 p.m.

Description

I've seen quite a few simming discussions on HN, so thought some of you might like this - I've created a map-centered, tactical submarine simulator and it's been a blast to make.I grew up playing Silent Service II on Atari ST with my dad, then got into Silent Hunter IV in the 2000s, and most recently have been loving the more recent UBoat. In each case, the part I always enjoy the most is the plotting and charting aspect - essentially beating uncertain estimates with geometry.So I decided to see how far I could get making my own sim that focused nearly entirely on that aspect. You listen on the hydrophone, estimate course and speed, identify ships through the periscope to get the mast height, use a working stadimeter for range estimates, and then try to build a good enough firing solution before getting discovered and hunted by any escorts.Things I'm particularly proud of are the working stadimeter, the dynamic music (Holst Mars stings when your torpedo is nearing a ship), and pretty intelligent destroyer logic. I've found great reference materials online and have modeled several of the gauges directly after actual submarine instruments.Tech-wise it’s a Vite/TypeScript app which enables me to offer the whole free version of the app as a browser version.The Steam page is here => https://store.steampowered.com/app/4705650The landing page is here => https://silentshark.appI plan on releasing a full version soonish, including a WWII campaign with progression, patrol zones, and much more on Steam (PC, Mac, Linux/Steam Deck), App Store (iPhone, iPad, Mac), and Play Store (Android).Would highly appreciate any feedback anyone has!

Enrichment

Theme
interactive simulations and creative experiments
Vertical
Media & entertainment
Function
Hardware & robotics
Audience
B2C
AI stance
Not AI
Project type
Hobby / open-source project
Normalized one-liner
submarine simulator game
Manually corrected
False

Could you build this?

No A tactical naval submarine simulation requires complex mathematical models for acoustic propagation, sonar detection, hydrodynamics, and tactical AI behavior.

What it would actually take: The project requires a custom game engine or framework (like Godot/Unity or custom WebGL/Canvas) implementing realistic physical simulation of submarine buoyancy, ballast, torpedo kinematics, and underwater acoustics (active/passive sonar, thermoclines, vessel noise profiles). It also necessitates a historical simulation database and multi-agent patrol/escort AI behaviors. Developing this requires deep expertise in game physics, mathematical simulation, and naval combat mechanics.

Discussion

20 comments analyzed.

Competitors mentioned: Silent Service, Gato, The Hunt for Red October, Up Periscope!, Aces of the Deep

Concerns raised: Stadimeter UI too small to read, Steep learning curve/tutorial difficulty, Marked as 32-bit macOS game on Steam

Feature requests: Single planet map instead of regional maps, Better detection meter visibility in tutorials

Competitors

Other products that read as similar to this one — 84 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.

Attention rank: #14 of 85 (itself plus its competitors, highest first — normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).

Launched 183 days after the earliest competitor.

Other launches for this product

Same idea, different domain

Nobody's really built a hardware & robotics tool for Horizontal yet.