Naval On/Off-line Sim?

[28sweep]

I'm a Naval "Slappy".  Love Naval combat stuff.  Any good offline/online sims out there.  Destroyer Command looks ok.  Does anybody have any experience w/ it off/on-line?

[vorticon]

prolly not were flight simmers the only thing we do with the navy is take off from carriers and sink em

[Swoop]

Harpoon 4 due out in a couple months......

[gofaster]

You can steal a copy of "Silent Hunter: Commander's Edition" for $10 at CompUSA.  That game is absolutely addicting.  Real simple command interface - all you need is a mouse, really.  Everything is represented by pictures, so you don't even need to speak English (although it helps to understand your crewmen when they call out destroyers).  The premise is that you're an American submarine skipper in WW2 hunting the Japanese convoys in the south Pacific and around Japan.  Lots of good action there.  Good for 15 minutes, good for a couple of hours.  You can even make your own quick missions.  The graphics are older, but its amazing what they could do with games before 3D cards came around.  Bonus: the video walk-through of a US submarine by a US Navy admiral and the short essay contained in the game guide.

The sequel - "Silent Hunter II" - is good too.  The premise in that one is that you're a German U-boat skipper.  I haven't gotten as far with that one as I have with the first one, but from what I've played so far, the sequel is much more challenging.  They did a good job with it.

I've also tried "Jane's 688(i)" and "Sub Command".  Of the two, "Sub Command" has better play.  A lot of what was in "688-(i)" is also in "Sub Command", so there's some duplication there that can be skipped.  Just get "Sub Command" and you won't miss anything.

Check out http://www.subsim.com and you'll get a lot of good information from the guys over there. The guy that runs the site is also an active volunteer in the restoration efforts of the US WW2 vintage submarine in his home town.

[Hangtime]

Harpoon II (DOS) was the most gawdamned addicting sim I ever played.

Last thing any commie would ever wanna detect would be the two E2C radar pickets guarding my fleet. Somewhere very close by would be the combined firepower of a modern CVBG with a cocked and locked stiffie. Getting an Aplha Strike onto target, on time, with the correct munitions was a huge challenge... and oh, so very satisfying.

Shame they stopped developing it... just when my machine speed got to the point it could juggle the entire battle group in action they came out with 'wespac' and the damn machine turned into a crash fest. If they ever get it working as a multiplayer sim, I'd reload it in heartbeat.

[28sweep]

Thanks Gofaster .....great info !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gofaster]

Glad to help.  Not much out there in the way of surface combat, but I guess the good thing is that submarine combat is 3-dimensional, just like air combat but without the inverted rolls!

[Sikboy]

Check out:

http://www.navalwarfare.net/content/index.html

They have mods for Janes Fleet Command that make it a tolerable game.

This website is the only place you can get "Harpoon3" which is a revamping of Harpoon2, done by one of the lead designers. I don't have this yet, but Harpoon 2 kicked so much bellybutton that I know I need to get it.

If you are into WWII, then they have mods for "Fighting Steel" which is a great Naval Surface warfare game.

They also have sub crap there too

-Sikboy

[SKurj]

http://www.subsim.com

all you ever wanted to know


I have SH2 i enjoyed it for a few days...


SKurj

[DmdBT]

Does anyone remember the DOS Microprose game of the early WW2 naval battles in the solomoons with "3-d" ships and effects? Geez I would play that thing for hours and hours... absolutely loved it.

Lonz

[senna]

Task Force 1942, was a good game.

[Saintaw]

Ah Swoop, I WISH, but I've heard this so many times now

I still have Harpoon 1 Zipped here if ya want, 31Megs

[Charon]

Harpoon 4 due out in a couple months......

Yeah, and I hear it's getting co-released with the Duke Nukem follow up. I'll believe it when I see it (but hope you're right.)

Fleet Command is OK, but I couldn't find out whow to create a carrier strike package with it and never got into it. Can you create one, or is it just launch and control individual units?

Just got Sub Command... getting up to speed on the various sonars, etc.

Fighting Steel is a pretty cool WW2 capital ship game, not as good as the DOS Great Naval Battles... series but better eye candy.

Silent Hunter 2 is good, but I don't personally have all the patience needed for an extended evasion under contact.

Charon

[Sikboy]

Originally posted by Charon

Fleet Command is OK, but I couldn't find out whow to create a carrier strike package with it and never got into it. Can you create one, or is it just launch and control individual units?

Fighting Steel is a pretty cool WW2 capital ship game, not as good as the DOS Great Naval Battles... series but better eye candy.

No, you have to launch each unit, then control them like in a RTS game. That, and the fact that you cant change loadouts are the biggest flaws in that game IMHO. Eye candy was nice in 1999 though. In the end, Janes tried to please both the RTS players and the Naval Simmers, and wound up pleasing neither. But the mods from navalwarfare.com do give the game some legs.

And you're right, GNB was a great series, and in my opinion, they have NEVER been as cool as GNBNA. That's one of my all time favorites, and definately my favorite WWII Naval game.

[Saintaw]

Ah, and you wouldn't be able to reload Sonobuoys(sp?) either on the ASW planes. a bugger when you have to catch multiple Subs in my book!